UNDER THE VERANDAH. [WRITTEN FOR THE "WEEKLY NEWS."]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5799, 29 April 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

UNDER THE VERANDAH. [WRITTEN FOR THE "WEEKLY NEWS."]

"Xur, me from iny fuends" might, his Worship the 'Mayor, well have said onSatuiilaj last, when lie tea'l tlie lit, aid of that date. In the lcpoit of the L'oliee Couit proceedings appears t lit following :— " In a lepoit giCen in the //</, /(/ ot the previous day of the meeting of the Cit} Council, the Mayoi was made to say that, in bringing eases befmc the Police Court, he (Mr. Barstow) pi of erred that they should be conducted by counsel, and that if this were not done, thtie would not be much chance of justice being dealt out. Mr. Russell thought if the Major had said that he must have been guilty of much rudeness and bad taste; but from what he knew of that gentleman's chaiacter, he felt assured that he had beun mis lepiesented." In a " local" of the ,same issue, I lead, "We ha\e only to bay that oia icpoifc of what took place at the Citv Council w as accurate, and the Resident Magistrate and the Mayoi iuu->t settle it between them." Yes ; but how about Mr. ,}. 13. Russell's pronunciamen to .' "There's no such thing," said a learned iudge at the late Ciimmal Sessions of the iSupieme Court This was in reply to the plea of a pusoncr, that though he had killed a man, that man was only a practisei of witeheiaft The prisoner, ui peifect good faith, wished to reason with his Honor, but was not permitted to do so. If the learned iudge meant what he was reported to have said, but what I did not hear him say, " Thcie's no such thing known to the English law,' who shall gainsay his dictum' lie speaks < < irithodra, and his utterances as to points of law are, so to speak, infallible But if lie meant to say there is no such thing as witchcraft among the Maoris, how will he account for what appears to be something very like it ? At least I have heard ot facts which go a long way towards establishing my faith on the matter. One w Inch I heaid liom a friend (now dead), who vouched for the truth of what he told me, Without offering any explanation of it, was something to this effect. Unforfortunately I know very little of localities m -Maorulom, or of native names, so cannot remember more than I now give. Some years ago, a certain lake which, in times past, had been a favourite fishing ground, had been bewitched, since which time no fish could be seen within its translucent waters. This was its condition when my friend first went to live among the Maoris in the neighbourhood. 1 do not remember now what was the cause of the ban having been laid upon the watcis, but the natives applied to one of then most powerful priests or wizards, or whatever \ou like to call him, to remove it He consented to do so, and this was his course of proeeduio: He embarked upon the lake in a small canoe, having previously ordered all othcis to withdraw their c woes. He then paddled to and fro on the lake, singing a^> he went The weather was fine when he .staited, but as night fell the wind lose, until, in the middle of the night, theie was a peirct hiumane, such, as inymfoimaut haid, ho had never experienced before oi since Theio were some islands on the lake, and probablj the wizard took shelter on one of those, otherwise his frad bark must ha\e been swiaupcd by the angry billows. lie that as it may, with the at rival of dawn the storm had subsided, and shortly alter sunrise the lake had resumed its placid appealante. Then the wizard was seen making his way from the middle of the lake. He landed, and told the expectant natives to go now and fish. They did so, and caught a large number of excellent of hsh, of some of which my friend partook. As long as my friend remained in that locality, which was for some months, there was always abundance of fish in this same lake, where, when he first kuew it, not one was to be seen. L have no doubt that the ti uth of this story can be vouched for by others besides my informant. As I said at first, if there is no witchcraft among the Maons, there is surely something very like it. The Rev. Benjamin Backhouse, in speaking of the Japanese Commissionei s at the Melbourne Exhibition the other night, described them A r eiy graphically. As I do not see that his remaiks. have been reported in any of the newspapers, I give them, as given to me, for the benefit of the ladies : — " The Japanese Commissioners were very small, but extremely intelligent, and in constant com ciaatiou with tlie blooinmg Australian lasses, who ciowded around them 8o small weie these little Japanese, that any one of the damsels could }iist put any one of them acioss hei shoulder and do what she liked with him " I have heard Japan recommended as a fine field for enterpiismg young men, but after this description I shall think it an equally desiiable spot for young ladies on the look out for a suitable match. What very desirable husbands these Japanese must be ! " >Skolnstiko3" makes a capital suggestion in his letter to the Cross on Tuesday last, when he pioposes the use of t*hc word hilo'ircm for that abominable one < able/ ram. 1 do hope the word will at once be adopted by all concerned He must not, however, expect that his plural will be adopted — L'llnfjruninirita would be too much of a good thing When we have epigiammata and diaqi. nimata, instead of epigrams and diagiams, Yc may, perchance, have his taste for •"•oirectiic-s indulged Will " Skolastikos' 1 »ive us vv.oid for that other ''bastaul' — [u<l< Oll'li Ui)l J Ttwasanite question: who shall decide it ' A man, moie or loss under the liilliu nee ol dun!', was walking up Nhoifclaud sheet at midnight The flock w ,is stilling 12 As I parsed him he mutteied. vi suth'uently mlellV'il ' toiici, " iSaidhomuicIoseousepas t\, (!■..," J'wdcutly some hmitedly-con-scicntioiH publican had refused to supply the man with more liquor, seeing that he appcaicd ilready " fou " His const lence, howevci, 1*1(1 beea sufficiently elastic to allow him t > /ive as the reason ot his refusal that it vai pi I hours. My jm<s*-eady fuend, wlu u ho lie ird the < lock strike, w as at the saire inno •,<" nick witli the want of veiauty sho\. n by the publican. The question to wh 1 ii I i- f( ,' m the beginning of this paia'^tapli, Uowevei, is this : Chanting that the imbh< 'i ic fu^ed to "apply my friend ically !)(.er.i lL -e li ■ had already more than was good tor him \> as he wai ranted in supposing this to !)c ri'o fact when my friend's reasoning ,ioweis weio st 11 so p ifect* I should be inclined to sufport the publican, for experieiu" teach' n me that man] men still retain very cle ir notions of ratiocination lon^, after thcu tUfco»v.ncos h -coi. .• thick and their nppeaiance generally that of intoxicated men. Who will say the publican was wiono "' In an account lately of the walkingmatch against time at the Lorne-street Hall, ve r.ie told that Mr and Mrs Wiltshire exhibited, their powers at the same tune. ' r hey d'd not walk side by side, howevti, I learned fiom those who were present. Tlie dcsci lpiion to which I refer £ suppose means t > 1'iloim its icadeis of this fact. Tt does <-o . i th^si^ -dianw words : — "Each being at an i ;iial ('stance horn each other." Can those "cntl^'H a who devote their tune to tin oluuo'i of the coimndi urns, &c, published m anotlm column in the Wfim,\ Ni\\i, rxplaiii Iil.vMi. Wiltshue could be iaitliei fiom Mis. Wiltshhe than Mia. W. fioin Mi., oi Sic i'cr<*a, and that being done, how erti'/i could be the same distance fiom each other ' Awoitei in in Auckland paper speaking of l!ie false a urn of i\u> on Sunday evening ].• t i>v, , " It w Vo simply the nilectionoi the bnll'antlmht in Lorne-street Hall, wheie fie l!fv Mr. Edger had been discouising on tii" ' 'I i tie nobleman,' whose destiny it would bo to shed light upon the wastes of hiHiiJUL 1 / " Powerful preacheis have often (Iioul h Ixen described as "burning and "■h'tnng lights," but I don't remember to luuc lead of the fire-bells being lung for the put pose of calling out the fueincii to oxtino\u-\\ them. This appears to have been a distinction reserved for the Rev. Mr. I'Jdger. That gentleman muat really moderate his .u dour, or be prepared to fee the firemen who have to turn out at such personal inconvenience. What have I doiie, I wonder, to induce my bosom's partner to put the following ia

i Monday 'b AWiuwj Star ' "1 thmu. ic a, gieat I pity that publicans should eneomauomarncd ! men to stop at public housws md spend ■ money when their own home-. .!>• open to I receive them, and [hereby notice to a certain pe; son in Auckland that n mkI eoni duct is not at once stopped, the names m j lull of everybody connected w lth the affan j w ill be published — Mis (' I low painfully mystenous ! Who is this cut.im peiaon? j Does Mrs. 0. mean me ' What is the " s>aid j conduct '' which is to bo " .it onto stopped '' ' ! Who is— in spite of Lindley Mm ray or I Men ell I must sa\ -who an "everybody \ connected with " the aii.ui ' ' "and what is the attm '" Mis. C. denies all knowledge of the ddveitisement, bnt " conscience makes eowaids of us all, "and I ticublc. Some little comment has heen f\cited dm niy the p.ist week fioni it& h.n ing been | bunted abioad th.it Mr. B. Turner, " the j first Go\ crnor of New Zealand," lrtid taken time by the foi clock, and cuu&cd a tombstone to be cut and a gr<u e to be piepaicd loi hi-. j reception aoanibt the tune when he shall I shuttle oil this moit. il coil. For my pait, 1 [ don t think thcie h anything voi) singular m such a eomse of pioceeding. In fact, I know an old gentleman who has for a long time had deposited £30 in the Havings Bank for that veiy puipose, and nil arrangements are made for his body being laid beside that ot his son in the cemetery. The spot chosen for his interment is beautifully kept, coveied with lioweis, and tended e\eiy day with the most sciupulous caie. Another m ell-known gentleman in Paincll has had his collin piep.ued foi jeni-. : ind anothci 1 could name uses his co tii n i)o\ a° lwoksheh es— which only requn e to be t, 1 ken down, and screw ed together and he ia i eady to be laid with his fatheis. Camfo.