THE CHANGING SCENE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 110, 1 February 1908, Page 5

THE CHANGING SCENE

A BIRD'S EYE VIEW. V (Bt a Casual Cheonicleb.) The friends of Judge Sim noted with grief these headings in a contemporary: Woek Fon the Arbitration Court. . Livk Stock Market Dead. .An Appeal. Surely the jurisdiction of the Court has already been sufficiently confused. ■: , "The men are satisfied," says a commentator upon the Denniston settlement;' "tba, company is satisfied, the Dominion,is satisfied —not to say sensibly relieved. True; it may perhaps be said that amidst this general satisfaction Jjtfjtice is not satisfied," Which j is, when you conic to think of it, really the .most satisfactory thing about the affair. • "No doubt from the point of. view of the r vulgar newsmonger a stern enforcement of' y the ;law has much to' recommend it."—'" Strange idea of a local paper. The Mad Ilatler (corroborativelv): When Adam ate the apple that his lady bo , admired And front Eden's dreamy pleasaunce was incontinently fired— ' ... tflio this drastic application of . the criminal : - law inspired?. AVhen, instead of intervention, came a Deluge , large' and wet . \ To destroy a wor|d of sinners, alone felt no regret?. ■ ' . y l . .' " ~ The ".vulgar reckless journalist who;'ran the "Ark Gazette." ". : . . So through all the circling ages .'twas tha "blatant editor . •• . Who incessantly demanded the enforcement of the law;- - V But wo finer-fibred • moderns such . vulgarity abhor. ' > Too long we've 'heard the' fiction that the law - ;/ should be' applied: .' i , , Shall' an outraged world allow the malefactor ' to be tried Just to- please a vulgar paper and its 'notions . petrified? ;. _ ' . . . .

It is seldom that the visiting tourist, when he 1 becomes critical, hits .the bull's-eye with such persistence and qlTcct as Sir John Mad-... den, wlio has been recounting his grievances , , this - week"'"""'. Nor is lie a mere factious grumbler: Consider, his . case: ''The-train ... always started'so early in the ■morning that hve did not get any breakfast," , ,>Nor wa? that all, for "tlm food abng-the line was. , ' hot easily got, and was not very attractive when-secured."'Surely this js a substantia. . grievance.' The hungry : Judge, • unable by 10 a.m. .to endure his emptiness: any longer, steps off the train, and, finding 1 tlio grass Uiirned vto -blackness, :goes in quests of rabbits.. /Aftera long chasplie secures one,'.and it-turns out to be so tough and disagreeable . ... - that, abandoning it in disgust',' lie. trots on j' and-overtakes the train., At any rate dinner waits him at the end of the journey. I)ufc ' - this confounded train', bent on. annoyance, ; ■'arrives just as dinner is. Qn. the table." j And when lio is dressed, dinner, ii ' "off." , designing. Himself, to 'his evil destiny, the Judge decides, that, as before, lie must mako a bath do instead of food. vßut "there was • only one batk : , for fifty or sixty people." After .'waiting 60. teiyninutcs from 8 p.m., , .! the ftTjUige .rushes to the 1 liithroom. It. ia ' 6 a.m./ and. "as : he. 'turns' the water -on, 1 :•' ije"hears'tlie porter shouting? ■■'Any more.for V . the train?" Foiled in the, very hour of his. 1 long-deferred hope'of getting something—a - '. bath; a shampoo, anything to stay • his hunger',- His 'Honour rushes ; off. to the train [ to continue his vain pursuit of'last Tuesday : ; week's breakfast. ■

; v Headings, in' k' contemporary: . CHARCED ANO FINED. 1' -' A Second Owenck. Even.so; the penalty seems severe; and the order oir procedure strides us as being thoroughly unconstitutional, and certainly uncoi> stitutionally thorough. ; ( 1

: Tho new British destroyer Tartar, according to. tbn evening; paper's London' corre-' •spondent, -'.maintained ths ' unprecedented speed of; 35363 knots throughout a' continuous run of six hours' duration." 1 What. ; makes the feat-even more- unprecedented, as'the reporters-say, is the fact' that ,it , N , took place without the. vessel < leaving the ■ solar System, a result probably due to the ~ wonderful,' steering. ;, ... v .; :

"Ono of -Sir Joseph Ward's' admirers in Southland," runs a current newspaper paragraph, "posted upon an envelope a pliotp- .. graph of tho Premier in Highland' costume, taken'at a gathering of the Caledonian Sonicty of Southland recently. f Wellington' ; was added, and,the Post OiGce, without delay, 'sent tho'letter to the right iiidiyidual.": It. reflects great credit upon the Post Office : that ,it : did not confine its attentiini to tho kilt-, but, with' a happy inspiration, studied, r ;. tho face in tho picture. ;% • From The Dominion, February 1. 1909:— ■ Tho Arbitration Court yesterday delivered its award in the Artificial Flower Workers' dispute. 'The . President' announced ,;,that ■. wages had been fixed at £10 per week of 16 hours. , Loud.cries of ''Nol' greeted \hun, when he iisked if that would ,do. "Then ■ shall it bo £11 he asked. A-small voice \ in the baok of tho Court 'said "Yes," and its owner was at once hustled cut. Ho turned out to bo, not a blnckleg, but, an, employer who had disguised himself as , a worker by the simple expedient of don- . ning a fur , overcoat, a silk ; hat, : and , patent vleather : shops. "At eleven— Gentlemen,' will you not* agree ; to eleven? Eleven, eleven—Well, say twelve.'! ''Twelve... will do," said , the Secretary of tho .Union.) • "We'll agree to twelve for .the; present." • The award' was - finally, arranged and duly , , ; signed. In the afteraoon, hoivover, tho W workers struck onpo more for an increase £1 a week, as price of living had advanced by 50 per cent sin:.) tho delivery) of ,<. the award; Tho Court refused to vaiy its terms, and some sensational reports spread v through the city. ;At 2.30 p.m. 9, milk-carb dashed at ful). gallop through the streets, . tearing tl)a Premier to the; scene •of tho trouble, and Mr. Millar, who had been in a : hairdresser's establishment, arrived half- - shaved.' A long eonfoienco ensued, the Court having beeii sent to U'ait in tho passage.' By 5 o'olock the conference was river,'tho men having agreed to accept. £1.5 per week. The Court was sent' for and a new award drawn up. An employer who was found attempting to have a charge laid against the men was arrested. Interviewed subsequently, the Pre- ' micr said that tlio men had behaved with the greatest courtesy, and had exhibited ad« mirablo forbearance. He considers that there has been no.loss of dignity whatever, for he was very careful not to offend the *- umour propre of. tho workers.