WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 48, 20 November 1925, Page 8

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM,

(By

T.D.H.)

Mr. Lloyd George has hurried in to offer Mr. Chamberlain a “Welsh leek” to add to his Locarno nosegays.—The Wizard of Wales, ot course, has no bananas now.

It is rarely indeed that an election ends up with two returning officers each having a member of Parliament of their own. In the old days in Britain Parliament itself used to settle dead heats, and the returning officer, or sheriff, or whoever it was conducted the poll, ended his duty in such cases by making a double return. In 1852' Knaresborougli, n Yorkshire, which constituency seems to have a disposition towards dead heats, actually achieved the feat of putting three candidates at the head of the poll, each with exactly the same number ot votes as the other two. In ■ this historic case a triple return was made. The three candidates returned duly presented themselves in the House of Commons and were all sworn in on November 8, 1852, after which they were requested by Mr. Speaker to withdraw below the bar until it had been fixed up which one of the three the seat belonged to. Since 1872 the solution of these cases has been by the returning officer giving a casting vote, but in 1878 one returning officer refused to do this and made,a double return in the old stvle instead. «* ' •

Quite a lot of important things in tlie~ world’s history have been settled by one vote. The House of Hanover got on the throne in that way, for it was by one vote, that of Sir Arthur Owen, member for Pembroke, that the Act of Settlement was passed, and that gentleman killed several horses in a race-trom Wales to Westminster to do the deed. The present French Republic was established in 1870 by the one vote of M. Wallon, an obscure deputy who wanted a monarchy but voted the wrong way by a mistake. It was by one vote that the American Congiess decided on the War of Independence in 1812.

After a rest of about eighteen months «• Mount Ngauruhoe is providing another display, with the unusual accompaniment of earthquakes this time. Ruapehu, which is under suspicion of intending probably to start out in business again as an active volcano some time within the next few million years, was reported to’have been behaving peculiarly early in the year and shooting out curious mixtures into the Wangaehu River, which is supposed to derive its waters from the crater lake. Ngauruhoe was last reported as in eruption in May and June of last year, when it belched out great clouds of smoke, rising on one occasion to a great umbrella-shaped cloud estimated by one observer to extend to a height of 5000 feet above its summit. The Ketetahi hot springs, on the slopes of Tongariro, were also reported as especially •active; and altogether the eruption was described as tlje most impressive since 1916.

In January, 1924, there was another outburst by Ngauruhoe, when volumes of dark grey smoke rolled away from the crater on the wind, but did not rise to anv great height. New Zealand’s only active volcano has been extremely well behaved so far as our limited records go. but tHere is, of course, plenty of evidence that he who runs may read, showing that she has erupted in a most expansive and determined way at remote periods in the past There, is a difference of opinion among the experts as to whether there has. been a lava flow from Ngauruhoe since the advent of European settlement. On the northwest side of the peak there is a lava flow of comparatively fresh appearance, and some authorities hold that it. issued from the crater during the eruption of 1869. Others declare that this is not supported bv historical evidence or observation. However, red-hot lava is most certainly to be seen in the crater itself, and Mr. E. Phillips Turner, of the Forestry Department, on one occasion made a special journev to the summit to see it for himself, after hearing ' reports that a red glow had been noticed over the mountain at night. Mr. Turner saw the lava all right, and so did Professor Marshall, who went up a week or two before.

“C.A.P.” writes from Feilding: The kea, or mountain parrot, is a muchdiscussed bird, even within the portals of the House of Representatives, as to whether he is a sheep-killer or not. A bonus has been paid for the beaks of these birds for many years, yet there always has been a doubt as to the guilt of the kea. No one in my long experience on the highest elevation of the South Island, where keas were very plentiful, had ever seen a sheep being attacked and killed by these birds. I have camped out on various occasions to watch the kea and discover if he was a sheep-killer, but it was in vain. But as to the kea devouring dead sheep, that is another story, for the kea, although an insectivorous bird, has undoubtedly acquired a taste for dead mutton. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of sheep annually die on the back-block ranges. Hunger is no respecter of persons—hence the kea becomes a carnivorous bird. Some of the back-blockers are afraid to keep many of their ewes too long on their country, naturally with old age or a severe winter they succumb, and the kea is blamed for killing them.

It is recorded that Captain E. G. Fairholme, chief secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, recently visited Barcelona, with a view to establishing a branch of the society there. The idea was warmly taken .up, and then a question arose as to how funds should be raised to carry on the good work. “Have the members of the committee any suggestions?” asked Captain Fairholme. “Yes, Yesl” came a chorus; “It is quite simple. We will hold a bull-fight.”

“L.G.” sends the following, overheard in a Wellington tramcar:— Mother, to a small boy, doing himself well with chewing gum; “Bertie, don’t chew like that; gentlemen don’t chew’ like that; learn to chew properly.”

THE NILE. Out of the unknown south, ■ Through the dark lands of drouth, Far wanders ancient Nile in slumber gliding: Clear-mirrored in his dream, The deeds that haunt his stream Flash put and fade like stars in midnight sliding. Long since before the life of man Rose from among the lives that creep, With Time’s own Tide began That still mvsterious sleep, Onlv to cease when Time shall reach the eternal deep. From out his vision vast ■ I The early gods have passed. They waned and perished With the faith that made them: The long phantasmal line Of Pharaohs crowned divine Are dust, among the dust that once obeved them. Their land is one mute burial mound, Save when across tlie drifted years Some chant of hollow sound Some triumph blent with tears, From Memlion’s lips at dawn Wakens the desert meres.. —Sir Henry Newbolt.