RANDOM SHOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS.

\BY„ ZAMIIEL

fome write, a neighbour s name to lash, ome write—vain thought! for need fill cash, Some write to please tho country clash.

_. And raise . din, Forme, an aim I never fash —

I write i'or i'un.

Btranoe, is ib not, that ever since the days of Mobher Eve, women have a hankering after forbidden fruit. I was visiting a well-known orchard the obher day, which,

unfortunately for the owner, is fifcuated Bear a favourite nnde-eout of picnickers. Said I, "Do you fuller much from tho .mall boys who generally accompany family outings for the day ?" "We do not have many of them," ho answered. "It is the ladies who aro the greabesb thieves." I looked shocked, as we, 11 [ might, and he continued : "On Boxing Day, there was a large parby up bore. I was standing -juab outside tho fenco talking to a gentleman ■who had jusb asked mo the samo" question. I remarked thab tho ladies were worse than bhe boys, and pointed through bhe Jiedgo to my pot Irish peach apples. Two gentle dames, fancying themselves safely screened by the thick foliage, wore knocking down bhe apples with their sunshades, and catching thorn in their up-hold skirts. The gentleman rabhor hastily .quitted my sido. Later on, I discovered that the two fair delinquents were his wife and his daughter !"

Now, this is very sad, and whilst I was pondering tho Eve-like propensity of tbe gentle sex, I was startled to learn thab at a large garden-party lately given in Auckland ono fair damo vvas discovered knocking down tho pears in the orchard. Ib was gently pointed out bo her thab if everyone ■were bo do likewise our gonial entertainers ■would find themselves very short of pears for their summer consumption. Somo one else held tho terrors of bho law over Ler, bub our fair pear-appi-opriatiess waa a woman of resourco. Ib happened thab a dignitary connected with the police force was represented by his jbetter half. This second daughter of Eve was lured into tho orchard by tho poar-temptross, and offered "ono of these delicious poars." Unwittingly she accepted tho bribe, whereupon the pcarappropriabross cried oub, " Well, I'm saved Bow ; so-and-so won't prosecute his own wife, and the receiver is as bad as tho ■thief."

Bub, badinage apart, how can mothers Expect their boys to refrain from stealing fruit when bhey themselves sob such a bad ©xamplo ? Even thoso mothers and sisbers who would think ib wrong, or at leasb undignified, bo take fruib which did nob belong bo bhem, frequenbly laugh ab bhe compl .inbs they hear of their children's sins in this respecb. A boy who will bake even an Apple bo which he has no right, has in him aomo moral defect which, if uncorrected, may lead to very seious crime in later life. "He who would bake a pin, may also sbeal a greater thing." Nexb week there will be another holiday, consequently more picnics, more chances of tasting whab should bo forbidden fruib. For bho sake of bhe harm ib does your own characber, for tho sako of the bad example it affords to others, I entreat you, reader, young and old, Adams and Eves, stay your hand and refrain your lips from the inviting fruit which does not, belong to you, bub oub of which some hard-working fruibgrower hopes bo oarn an honest living.

We hear a great deal nowadays about all the good land being taken up in certain parts of the colony. Some people, evidently, are very hard to please, others are not so. I have ib on excellent authority that ono of those venturesome individuals ■who made an abtcmpb bo "survive" on Sunday Island, and who has reburned bo Now Zealand, now proposes bo take up a section on Mount Rarigitoto. Indeed, I understand some such proposal has actually been made to the Devonport Domain .Beard, which has control -over this conspicuous landmark, and that the subject will receive duo consideration at an early date, to use stereotyped phraseology. My ideas of Rangiboto and my acquainbance wibh tho island mountain aro associated with boulders, a-nd scrub, and inaccessibility, bub a mar. who has been ab Sunday Island is prepared to tackle tho property, and I say by all mean.« leb him do bis besb. Leb 'enterprise be encouraged by all mean?-*'

In connection with the anniversary Regatta I may remind the citizens of Auckland of bho substantial claims which this annual event has upon bheir cheerful recognition. For over four decades past tho Regatta has been the acknowledged. aquatic gala of the year in Auckland, more especially as ib so fibtir.gly marks ,tho founding of the city and the colony. Wibh such a maritime : pre-emiuenco as Auckland possessoe, ib would be worse than a pity if bhe people of the port allowed tho Regatta to fall through for lack of financial support, and I can assure those who are accusbomod bosubscribetowards tho Regatta iundsbhatthetinancialprospecbsfor tho 29th arp go far bho reverse of cheering. Wibh such a short space of time in which bo collect funds ib behoves tha subscribers bo tho fund to liberally assist the committee at once. The committee have drawn up an excellent programme of events for tho 29th. Neither sailing nor pulling races predominate unduly, and the prize-monoy has been allotted very sensibly, while a wise course has been adopted by considerably increasing bhe amount of the champion whaleboab race from the amount originally fixed on.

Now thab the Russian warship Djighib hus loft us, and our Muscovite visitors aro well on their way to Capo H'.irti, I ara_ at liberty to ring in a little anecdote bearing on tho pardonable ignorance of bhe tcrnolo En-dish language manifested by the very courteous and obliging officers of the cruiser. I can qivi'.e sympathise with foreigners who find it a. difficult matter bo acquire a knowledge O fourtom:iie, and :_.y expressionsot sympathy made to a foreign, visitor the other day' elicited the forcible bub truthful coinnietib that "the English was ..tie most damnable lau-jungo." A few days before the Djif-hib left this port a certain consul rcidiiK-- it) Auckland was entertained at" lunch on board with Ids wife. Dm* in- the meal, the lady asked cne of" the officers if they had yet had la qrhor on board the ship. "I beg your ti-itior, madame," courteously cxclaimeu the sailor. "Have you hud the influenza on board ?" . ropeatod " madamo. Ihe reolvwas ur.oxpcctod : "No, no, ma am; unfortunately wo do nob possess one ; we have only one dog and a monuoy. Ihe consul's lady asked no more quesbio,is about la grippe-

The noble Maori is nob always reluctant io leave his native wilds and immure him-

soli in a common prison. At any rate ib would appear so from an incidenb which occurred in tho Hot Lake country the obher day. The native policeman stationed ab Rotorua lately captured a horse_b._c.ler of his own nationality at Fort Galatea after an exciting bhreeroiles ehaso on horseback. The same aboriginal constable, so the le.gend runs, once "ran" bis own dusky father in on a charge of being drunk and disorderly in the streets of Rotorua, so bhab lie is evidently a stern and impartial servant of the law. On this last occasion, after arresting his man, tho policeman advised him, as a distant kinsman, to plead npt guilty when he was brought up before bho magistrate at Rotorua, " Not guilty ! No fear," quoth tho handcuffed Tane to an admiring crowd on tho verandah of a Rotorua hotel as he was brought in. "Me. want go gee Auckland, boo much ■ ■ fool Tane say no guilty ! Kapai Mount Eden." The wide-awako prisoner was fully a ware of the advantages of getting a free trip to Auckland,even ab tho cost of a few months in Mount Eden Gaol at tho end of ii, and be embraced the opportunity with alacrity. lie was brought down to bovvn by train a few days ago, in a state of hilariouo excitement. •i. * * * * * *• •). * Some people's ideas of honour aro, to say tho least, peculiar. Recently wo beard thab a member of the Wellington Harbour Board named Heafcnn had resigned that position and also bis position of J. P., on tho ground that they were obtained for him by Mr Fisher, M. 1i.1t., to whom he ia now opposed in politic.. It now appears that Mr Ilea ton has boon re-appointed a member of bho Harbour Board by tiio Government. Therefore Mr Hoaton is for tho Government, - and ho regards Mr Fisher as against tho Government. Mr Hoaton is apparently endowed with an ovorsensifciveiiess on tho score of political honesty, or ho has. a very poor estimate ot his own qualifications for bhe publio ofiices into which ho was in tho first instance elevated by Mr Fisher and in tho second instance by tha present; Government. If tho principle holds good that Government appointments should hold good only so long as tho party remains in (lower, we must; have a wholesale clearance throughout tho Civil Servico at. every change of Ministry. But I don't think many Civil Servants will bo found to bo so seiißibivo as Mr Hcabou—bhe question o; pay or no pay would perhaps make a dilforence in blic results arrived at, and most of bhem would probably bo found to claim that they hold their positions under Governments upon their merits. What I havo to say about Mr Hoaton is this : If his appointment by Mr Fisher was a proper appointment mado upon his ability to till the positions in question, his conduct in resigning for the reason assigned was in very questionable baste. If Mr Heaton waa not quali.iod to hold tlioso positions to which he was appointed by Mr he certainly should rob accept ro-appoinbracnt, ab tho hands of the present Governmonb.

lb is nob generally known thab the Civil Sorvico Association have a guarantoo fund to provide for tbe requirements of their respective departments in rospocb of individual members. I am informed that this is tho case. In the evonb of a Government official bsing found guilty of default his guarantee fund is made tip by a general levy, and to that extent the Government is protected. It appears to bo a one-sidod arrangement, nnd must surely fall rather heavily upon well-behaved officials.