DUNEDIN GOSSIP.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2203, 11 July 1910, Page 5

DUNEDIN GOSSIP.

(From our own Correspondent.) Dunedin, July 8. Contrary to expectations by a majority of one, the City Council declined not to give Mr, Richards, the town clerk, a salary of .£IOOO on giving up the position, of city engineer. Mr Richards must be a talented man and a man of great personal magnetism. With the general public and with those who do not know him it is not unfair to say that he is disliked. Why this should be so no one seems able to say. It seems to be a case of Dr Fell - “ I do not like thee Dr Fell, the reason why 1 cannot tell.” And yet no sooner do those who think he is an overrated man come into close contact with him than they become his greatest admirers. Mr Richards as may be remembered, came to us from Sydney, where lie was an aiderman. Sydney, notoriously had the poorest municipial government in Australia, and it may be that some of the prejudice against him may have been due to this. He had not been long in ollice when his salary was raised. The olhce of city engineer becoming vacant and Mr Richards being an engineer, he induced the councillors to combine the two offices and give him a salary of .£IOOO per annum, with an assistant engineer to attend to the outside work. Of course it was patent that he could not hold the dual position and give satisfaction, because the day was not long enough to attend to the requirements of the two positions. But the City Fathers were slow in realising this and when the conviction was forced upon them, a considerable section of them thought Mr Richards was well worth the salary as town clerk that ho received for the dual position. Had a vote been taken at once he would probably have got it, but as there was an outcry in the press, and it was even insinuated that the arrangement about the engineership had been only a blind to enable the increase to be made, some of the weaker-kneed councillors bowed to the storm and Mr Richards loses £i per week. On a superficial view ,£BOO a year seems a large sum to pay and .£IOOO sheer extravagance, especially as supervisor of accounts and a city treasurer have been recently appointed at substantial salaries, but when shrewd, levelheaded men like Mr Peter Barr, a clever accountant and men capable of appraising work, support the higher salary, it would he ridiculous for an outsider to dogmatize upon the point. The Henry-Potts mission has struck us, but so far the excitement has not been worked up to the Torrey-Alex-ander pitch. The Garrison Hall is crowded nightly and the mid-day meetings for business men are well attended, so that the missioners are evidently able to interest those who attend. But as with most missions the bulk of those who attend are church-goes and professors of religion and they are scarcely the people one would think, for which the mission is intended. The fact appears to be that so called missions are overdone. Scarcely a week passes without someone or other putting in an appearance from some distant field, either bn furlough or as an agent for some special object, so that there, is little novelty to attract the unregenerate. How limited is the ripple caused by the Henry-Putts mission is shown by ever y seat available being booked for the Opera season, while the pictures at the Princess Theatre attract crowded houses nightly and there is no dimunition in the attendance at the Vaudeville entertainment at the Alhambra Theatre. It is to he feared that the impression made by fissions is somewhat transient. Women attend just as they patronise “ East Lynne ” and others because they like to have their feelings worked upon and many men attend to set an example to others supposed to be lower in the social and moral scale, offering themselves as a sort of vicarious sacrifice ns it were. One of many stories told by housewives is to the effect that Mary Ann came home in a tearful hysterical state fiom a mission. Bhe had been particularly partial to dances, but after that night she would attend no more such sinful gatherings. This determiappeaied to become moie fixed as the mission proceeded, but within a week of its close, the mistress was somewhat surprised at a request by Mary Ann to go out one afternoon to see a dressmaker, hut more so on learning that the dress was for a hall. “ Why Mary Arm ”she remarked, “ 1 thought you had decided ..that, dancing was sinful.” Mary Ann had ,to admit the soft impeachment, hut .added that while she was convinced of that at the time she had concluded she must attend this ball. And she did and the weekly dances were renewed. Mr William Belcher secretary of the Seaman’s Union and a. member of the Harbour Board is apparently developing a liking for being “ in the public eye,” At any rate he loses no opportunity of departing from conventional lines. He has been worrying Mr Hatch of Invercargill who is engaged in the oil trade, by denounc-, mg the alleged callousness displayed in not sending for the men “marooned ” on the Macquarie Islands. At the monthly meeting of the Harbour Board he always manages to raise a sj;orm. Exactly why he was ever appointed as a government representative on the board is not clear, and as some of the other members have evidently been making inquiries of some kind, and Mr Belcher has been informed of this, he took advantage of the last meeting to announce that he didn’t care a continental dam for any of his fellow members individually or collectively. He broke out again when it came to making a grant to the Sailors Rest aud wade a most unjustifiable attack

on the ladies who are the chief support of that institution and the good natured man who conducts it. Mr Belcher seemed to imply that when a deep sea sailor came into port what he wanted was to go on a good spree and not to be entertained by playing the harmonium and singing hymns for him, or entertaining him at tea, at which benevolent ladies mostly elderly assisted and afterwards engaged in prayer. One might have expected something better from Mr Belcher, himself a sailor. Unfortunately the sailor who sets out to have a spree when he comes ashore readily finds the opportunity, provided he has the money. But were it not for the Sailors Rest he would have a difficulty in finding any place where he could sit down after a run through the streets, see the papers, or write letters to his wife, sweetheart, or friends. This he can secure at the Rest. It may he that Jack does not feel quite at home at the tea party, nor what to say to the philanthropic ladies who take an interest in his moral and spiritual welfaie, but the tea parties are not of frequent occur* rence. And if Jack does not appreciate the New Testament with which he ks presented and the little bag which contains a few articles for repairing his clothes and increasing his comfort, he can easily dispose of them and be none the worse for having accepted them. As to Mr falconer, the missionary, he may be too simple-hearted anil too easily imposed on by your " Sea-lawyer," but he is just the kind of man likely to impress the Jack Tar because of his transparent sincerity. What Mr Falconer, the missionary, does on behalf of the sailor is known to but a very few. That he has kept many a young sailor in the right path by giving him the hospitality of his own home and providing him with rational means of spending his spare time, there can be no doubt. The testimony of Bullen as to his good works are infinitely of more value than the diatribes of Mr Belcher.