RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 41, 17 February 1900, Page 4 (Supplement)

RANDOM SHOTS

' Citizens of Auckland will require to exercise patience before they possess a water supply sufficiently ample to ensure no scarcity in. the dry season. The big- hydraulic engineer has come and gone away again and will forward his report in due 'time. Meanwhile Aucklanders have had vouchsafed to them the information that it will take three or four years, to provide a permanentsupply, therefore in the meantime attention will be paid to securing a temporary one. A spring on the Asylum grounds will supply it is estimated 500,000 gallons a day, but the authorities have demanded payment for the water. The old idea of giving a cup of cold water has no dionbt 'been disposed of, and in these practical times one man's extremity is Jthe othevr fellow's opportunity. No doubt too the authorities of the Asylum, like some local bodies, have a lively recollection of the high prices charged by the city for supplying water, for it is an open secret that at present rates the Council does a traafl good business in the sale ;of this important article. I hear the Harbour Board is considering the advisability of "having1 a water bloat ■wherewith to supply ships lying- off the wharves. The City Council had better look to it that energetic Devonport does not cut into the water (business, because it could be aa easily obtained from the Victoria as from the Queen street wharf.

One would think a.n extra 500,000 ■gallons of water per day would be but a meagre additional supply for a ei/y like Auckland, but of course if things get bad the hydraulic lifts could be cut off. It would no doubt interfere with commerce considerably, but that is perhaps the best Sthing that could happen, for then men, in business would perhaps be willing to devote a little attention 1o public matters, and in time Aye might even find another merchant who was prepared to snatch a few hours from the fascinating employment of making money and give the benefit of his ■business knowledge to running' city affairs. Contractors and lawyers are no illoubt iinsaful members of the Council, but all the same a few business men on that body would be a change and might be beneficial to tthe city, for one thing is certain, that any commercial man who had a big demand for any article that paid handsome profits would not go on year after year without arranging for a sufficient supply to meet requirements.

To what cause are we to attribute our lack of enthusiasm in the national game of cricket. Is it because we play inferior cricket, or because cricket is "too slow" for the spectators. The extent to which a. game interests non-players has a great deal to do with its popularity amongst the players themselves, and cricket ill Auckland is undoubtedly suffering- on account of a craze for more exciting sport.. There was a time when the visit, of a veteran cricket team, or any representative team of cricketers, would have been quite a big event in Auckland, but this week we seem to have. been almost incapable of taking ordinary interest in the subject. The war excitement probably had something to do with the lack of interest manifested by the public in the Auckland v. Victoria cricket match, but I venture to say that had it been a rep football match it would have excited ■ the keenest interest and criticism, and that there would have been a bumper attendance of spectators.. Those who understand tennis are enthusiasts in the game, and

bowlers go "clean daft" on their favourite pastime, but cricket—oh it's too slow. Such is the general impression, but I am of opinion that the. cricketers themselves are largely responsible for the apathy which the public manifest in their doings. There are ways of arousing and maintaining public interest, and the cricketers should set about the task of securing, the patronage and interest and support of the community.

. Of course, "the war" is still the only, topic of conversation, so it is just as difficult for "Zamiel" to talk of anything else as : it is for the body of his readers. One thing1 that strikes me in the general discussion of the great British public on the question of fjfe war is the way in which the mildest of pro-Boer arguments are cried down. Certainly, I don't want to uphold the Boer end of the quarrel, but the average Britisher is so intolerant of any excuses for the other side that a man who ventures to speak his mind and give the brave Boer soldiers a little "taffy" as well as the English is scowled at almost as if lie were in the pay of the S.A.B! It is pretty evident that when John Bull makes his mind up to a certain line of action he carries out thoroughly, but it is certainly true that he won't hear anything' but his own side of the argument. I fancy that if I were a Boer—which I am rather pleased I am not—and were bombarding Kimberley just now, I ■would be very pleased to lay my hands on Cecil Ehodes and "remove" him by martial law for his real or imaginary offences against the Boer nation. That would be the Dutch view of the situation, and a very natural one too, considering- that Ehodes is regarded by the Boers as the greatest enemy they ever had.

A recent arrival in the colonies from South Africa, the other day said that, in his opinion, the Boer war would last a year before the Transvaal and Free State burghers were finally subdued. This seems not unlikely, judging by the present rate of progress on our side. The farmer-soldiers of the v,eldt are fighting far better than they were ever expected to; and, moreover, they-have the advantage of some of the besffttraineci. soldiers of Europe. An Austrian, in Auckland the other day let drop a little item of information which throws a somewhat significantlight on this feature of the war. He

said that he had just received a letter from a friend in Austria informing him that thousands of his fellowcountrymen Avere volunteering for the war in South Africa, and many were being- enlisted (no doubt by Dr. Leyds' agents) for the Boer army, where they were to get a sum equal to 3/6 a day. They were to go to Delagoa Bay as civilians and thence through to Pretoria. All these Austrians have done their term in the array, and are trained men, and as mercenary soldiers they will be a valuable addition to Kruger's forces.

The beginning- of the end, however, is at !hand, judging by the cable news that "the Pretoria mint is coiningBritish gold and silver coins, there being difficulty in passing President Kruger's coins. Things must have come to a bad pass when "Oom Paul" anticipates the inevitable in that fashion. I don't know whether the cunning Boer soldiers are clamouring for British money so as to put them* selves on the right side in case the game collapses; but at anyrate t'ho Republic must spend money outside, via Delagoa Bay, and Kruger's head isii't very popular in the money market. It is rather curious, to say the least, of it, that a country should have to resort to its detested enemy's coinage brand and the emblems of Britain in order to procure powder and shot.

The warlike spirit is "fair roosed" in New Zealand, judging by the number of young" men who are tumbling1 over one another fin their haste 'to go away and get shot by a Dutchman with a gun. Many of the young fellows who have come forward lately will make good soldiers—they are smart, intelligent and strong—and most col« onia-1 boys may be depended on to get the hang* of their guns and belts and things very quickly. Many, however, are on the "weedy" side, more especi' ally some of the town boys, whose narrow chests and physique gene-* rally show them to be unfit for the rough work whic'li "Rough Riders'* will be expected to perform.

Still more war cries. The Canterbury troop of the third contingent have got one now—"E tn pa, whaahia." This is an old Maori war cry, and it may be interpreted as, "Arise, like a wall and charge." The cry waa suggested to the Canterbury people the other day by an old Maori from Kaiapoi, near Christchurch, a native well acquainted with flic past history of his people. He stated that the cry was iised by his tribe, the Ngaitahu, when they proved victorious over the Ngatimamoe tribe (now practically extinct), some 200 years ago at the battle of Te Ika o Whaturoa at Kal« koura. . "E tv pa, whnahia" has the advantage of being short and easily learned. The leader first oil all cries "E tv pa!'' Then the whole of the warriors yell "Whaahia!" and tho next time the whole of the cry is shouted by the company, with as much eye-ball rolling and grimacing as possible. We'll make good old savages of our contingents soon if they go on like this.

Robert Buchanan's frenzied and uncharitable onslaught on the great Rudyard may be very faulty and In the worst possible taste, and, o± course, we indignantly repudiate such a criticism, we patriotic sons of t'lie Empire; but to most thoughtful critics it is merely a somewhat exaggerated reaction against the fulsome adulation that has been showered on Kipling for some years. Such praisfr cannot last, simply because most of it is thoughtless and .indiscriminate. We are told, for instance, that Kipling is the lineal descendant of Tennyson and Browning! Could any two pbeta differ more widely than Tennyson and Kipling, and do Kipling's admirers really rank him with Browning? The fact remains that though Kipling is in many respects a great writer, yet hia really first-class work is not sufficient at the present time to entitle him to one 'half of such praise. And the annoying part of the business —and Kip* ling- must feel it himself—is the way in which the public rave over hia jinglei and 'ignore his -reaJfly ,good work.. "The Absent-minded Beggar" has done good work, but is merely jingle, and here in Auckland we have it sung nightly, while, to "Zamiel's" knowledge, that splendid, awe-inspir-ing hymn, "Recessional," has never yet been heard 'here. If people knew a little more about such poems as tha "Recessional" and the "Song of the English." and left "Tommy" and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" alone it would be better for Kipling and better for the nation. We should then have no more raving adulation of Kipling, nor should we hear the amateur critic say, "Oh, Kipling? Oh, I never read him. He only writes jingle, and he is so dreadfully vulgar."