BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 8736, 30 January 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

BY THE WAY.

Let jour sense be clear, Nor with a weight of words fatigue the ear. Boraoc.

The story of the convict Middleton respecting the treatment of pmoners at Milford Sound certainly seems to call for inquiry. Oae does not repose much confidence in the statements of a fellow who seems to have cammitted almost every offence in the Decalogue barring murder; but all the same it strikes me that there are some grains of truth in bis narrative of the state of affairs. The condition of the food supplied is pro bably exaggerated ; but the bare picture of a sick and helpless man lying in a tent r wharf without protection from the sandHi-s is revolting. It reminds one of the brutalities practised by the Van Diemen’s Lvd convicts, who are said to have punished their task masters occasionally by lay ing them, fast-bound and etark-naktd, ou ants’ nests, 1 know somethin,; about sand flies. Their sting is most exquisite torture, compared to which the occasional bite of a mosquito is absolute luxury. For when they come to the attack they *■ come not as single spies, but in battalions.” I observe that the Invercargill justices who heard thec.ss told Middleton that he should have laid his complaint before the visiting justice. Now, I understand that the visiting justice is our old friend Sutherland—“ the hermit of Milford Sound” as he has been known to us, but who now appears to have blossomed out into a full blown hotelkeeper at the Sound, More power to his elbow ! I know Sutherland tie is not a man of excessive refinement, and cannot boast of a collegiate education ; but he is a man of shrewd, sound common sense, and what he does not know about potatoes, meat, and sandflies —especially sandflies—is not worth knowing. And 1 do think that be should be sent up to the works to make full Inquiry into thr■-.-(? matters. I would rather tako his opinion than that of any di'etlanti J.P. There is no getting over the fact that if Middleton’s allegations arc even spiced with truth the management must be mended. "Rotten po.a toes,” "stinking meat,” "no medical com forts”—l do but quote from the newspaper report—aud, above all, no protection from the bloodthirsty sandflies. Why, this is Fort Arthur, as described in ‘Tlis Natural Life,’ over again, minus the persona, brutalities, la the interests of humanity there must bo an inquiry into this, and cs toe Minister of Justice is about to visit the locality he should see to it. * * * *

A settler down Southland way has been horrifying the Lind Board by asking permission to use a section of land on the etc - dition of keeping down the vermin on u, such as rabbits, stoats, ferrets, and weasels. The Commissioner rose at this, and warned the settlers’ agent not to contemplate such u shocking offence as destroy ing stoats, ferret, and weasels, which he very properly observed are “protected’'by law. Yes, and the wretched beasts are brought here at the public expense. Game, native or imported, are their favorite food, for it js well known to naturalists that there creatures will not touch “fur” while' they can get “feathers.’’ Poultry yards are being devastated by them, aud instances of their feasting on the blood of lambs are not wanting. Nay, for the matter of that, a nno fat baby is a toothsome morsel for them, and when in number they do not hesitate to attack a full grown man Of ail the curses that the Acclimatisation Society have brought into the colony—arid fchey are not few—this stoat and weasel pest is the very worst. la their native habit..*, they only attack rabbits when they cannot Bad more choice food, such as rats aud mice and birds of all kinds. What aro the Acclimatisation Society about ? They do good one day and mischief the next. They imported game, pheasants and partridges, and those things 10 destroy them, which they have done most effectually in this Gland. They introduce trout, aud perch to prey upon them, and put them both into the same Waters. They bring sparrows here to eat up the farmers’ grain, and get the Legislature to protect the hawks. They let loom upon us the lively rabbit, and bring i worse thing to combat with him. I not quite sure that the rabbit is .such a pest altogether as he is reprinted. At any rate, he has furnished employment to a large number of people, aud the value of rabbitskins and tinned rabbits forms no inconsiderable item of our exports. The true and only cure for the rabbit peat is population snd settlement, and when these come the reptile ferret, the stinking stoat, and the in ailways abominable weasel will bo extirpated by the “unborn millions.” Then future generations will wonder what their fathers were thinking of when they introduced such filthy creatures into the Lind. They were supposed to keep down rabbits, but I cannot find that they do. On the other baud they are destroying the natural enemies of tho rabbit, such as the weka, which devours the young and fights the old rabbits to the death.

VVhat a grim irony attaches to the bitter cry of the London waiter ! “ The waiters in London are appealing to public charity, owing to the cessation of festivities in consequence of the death of the Duke cf Clarenae.” True it is that there is little room for sorrow, idle sorrow, in this world of ours. The wealthy and the frivolous cannot pretermit their luxuries and gaieties for ever so short a space without causing' hardship and want to the humblest ministers of their enjoyment. If simpler manners and fewer dinner parties were to be the permanent order of the day—if the Lord Mayor and his friends, for instance, spent more time in the Council Chamber and leas in the banqueting ball at the “Munching” House—what would become of Eobert the waiter ? His occupation would be gone, and such a contingency would assuredly kill the old gentleman by breaking bis heart if not by starving him. Listen to him on the last iLord Mayor's Show, for Robert is one of Mr -Punch’s’ most honored contributors: “ Upon tho bole. I’m quite reddy to bear my teatimoney to the fack that, if we coud by any posserbility have left out the horful rain, and the ir.ui, and the pore soaked and dismal looking mothers and children, it would have been Auoa£ the werry finest-looking sho ewer seen. The baskwet at nite was jest as good as usbal, and indeed raytbur better, and just to nho how tkuroly eweryboddy had recovered from his morcisg’s drenshing, the oompny ncshally larfed at the Lord Chancellor’s impeach and cheered the Lord Mare to the iSekko !” When Ministers go to dine at the Munching House, Mr Labouchere informs the House of Commons that they are holding an orgie with a corrupt Corporation ; but, once more, if there were no “ bankwets” what would become of Eobert and hia satellites? Charles Lamb’s Chinaman had to bur a down his house in order to achieve roast pork, and the modern Londoner must go in for “ festivities ” to afford a living for the waiter.

I am profoundly indifferent personally to the taxation of capital, and find, curiously ocough, that under the land tax, the income tax, and the graduated tax, either all put together or taken singly and separately (for, still more curiously, it doesn’t matter which), I pay precisely tho earns amount to a fraction as I used to under the property tax. VVhat that amount is nothing shall induce ma to disclose, since I learn from ths papers that it “sacred." If you are curious, perhaps Mr M'Lean can enlighten you. I do, however, take' a certain amount of interest in what the authors of the taxation i*y about it, _ and_ I have several times mentioned in this column that every time a Minister undertakes to explain it he contradicts some other Minister or falls foul of the Tax Commissioner. Now, however, I observe the Agent-General in London (a gentleman elected on the labor ticket in the worthy companionship of Mr Sydenham Taylor nod Mr Social Pest Reeves) has undertaken to ■*< abiy expound the new taxation in * The "Times' in a way which contradicts flatly ifaotb the Commissioner of Taxes and the entire strength of the Ministry. This as exactly ia accordance with what Ministers do here. They have one set «of speeches with which to flatter sod gull the conntry settle*’ £cd another

set (somewhat threadbare now from overuse) wherewith to express their abjeot servitude to the town unions; one set per themselves for New Zealand, and one (as diametrically as possible) per Sir Robert Stout for Australia ; and, as we now see, oae per their Agent General, expressly for London use, which is absolutely contradictory of both the New Zealand and the Australian edition. This is what 1 suppose is called the "art” of government. It is artful enough ; but is it government ? * * * * Ibis is the scale of concessions arranged to suit the times: To Pxksons Behind with Tims Rknt. S'pin'lrr.- (Uni, without warning. Small Hiinhotth'i •. One pound a day, or GOO pet cent, per annum t05,000, according to his “color.” Mci.'it mi Defined Payment*,— Three months’ grace. Perpetual Le**ee. --Three years’ ditto. Pilltvie Settlev, -Needn’t pay at all Unme-tead Settler -Ditto, with LlO or L2O thrown in lucvconally from the Treasury, according to duration of default;. Friend of the Minister of Land*.— Ditto, ditto, ditto; but with the light to a C! jvormnent billet in the Lind or Rabbit Departments, in addition to the cash. It is hoped that this syllabus, which has been arranged with the usual liberal regard to the public interests, will be found to suit, all cases—except, of course, those of politico 1 opponents, or those who fail to sell their votes for favor. Persons who are kind enough to supply the Minister of Lands with suitable bogus additions to the imaginary “settlement association” list are informed that they may rely upon their names being used for oratorical aud electioneering purposes only, and will in no way be expected to follow up their alleged notion of taking up land. This notice is issued to allay apprehension, as several such associations have expressed anxiety as to rumors that they were to bo called upon to actually take up the land alleged to be applied for, '» -k * *

Ah, welladay ! Glancing over the programme of the "Great Scottish Festival” celebrated at the Garrison Hall last Monday night-the “Dunedin Boros Club Reunion, ’’ tho " Birthday Anuiver.-ary of the Immortal Bard ” —I come across the following strangely incongruous annouucenunt : " Refreshment!) on temperance principles strictly enforced can be had in the band room upstairs at moderate coat.” Ichabod ! luhabod ! has it come to this? A nioht wi’ Burns and nao a drap o’ whusky to be had for love or siller! Times have changed indeed since tho banquet of nearly five years ago, when Sir Georgs Grey stayed / nrl oj the lime. The managers of Monday’s entertainment would teem to have recognised the anomalous character of their stern proviso. In the programme of an ordinary concert it would hardly bo necessary to state that temperance principles will be "strictly enforced ” ; I take it that "light refreshments can be had in tho band room'” would quite meet tho case. But at a Burns festival—well, I am helped out by our new Agent-General’s playful apology : " 1 almost feel it necessary to explain to you that I am not a drunkard.” I suppose that in the interests of progressive civilisation one ought to congratulate the Dunedin Barns Club on having “ sworn off” and donned the blue ribbon of a blameless life. Nevertheless, that same incongruity haunts me ; my imagination cannot readily away with tho idea of enforced drouthiness and painful sobriety on Rabbie’s own nichfc. Is Dr Stuart responsible for this ascetic departure? I notice he informed the (let us hope) horror-struck audience that he was present not as chief of the club, but (tell it not in Gath !) as minister of Knox Church. No doubt Kabbie and the auld doctor will get on famously together in the next world (though I trust the bard may have to wait a long "time ere the forgathering), but I scarcely think that it will be in his official capacity that the minister will be welcomed by his country’s poetic hero. It will rather be as “ chief,” aud as a leal-hearted jolly good fellow.

Apropos of convivivality and the cloth, Charles Lamb tells a tale of his friend La Grice, who, when called upon to say grace at a supper party, looked round with tho inquiry “Is there no clergyman present?” and, on receiving a negative answer, murmured “Thank God.” And in the week of a Burns festival it would be wicked not to quote once more that other tale of Lamb’s re the party at which a son of the bard was expected to be present. “Ah!” observed a southron, “if it could only be Burns himself !” whereupon he was solemnly assured that such a thing was impossible, “ as ho is dead.” There is yet another yarn of EIL-.’a which I will venture to repeat; it, like the first, relates to the sacred office. A lady was bothering him with eulogies of the particular minister “under" whom she sat, winding up with “ Ah ! Mr Lamb ; I know him aud I bless him.” “ Well, stuttered the graceless Charles, “I d-d-don’t know him, but d-d-d-d m him at a venture.” Harking back to that temperance entertainment on Monday night, I observe that the programme was not purged with such scrupulosity as the refreshment bar, for amongst the songs appears ‘ Gae bring tae mo a pint o’ wine.’ I seem to hear a worthy brithergroan “Impossible, mon, slreeHly proheebitf.il." TheAutocratoftheßreakfastTable tells how, having written a convivial poem at the request of some association or other (not a Burns Club), he received it back with thanks and emendations—each Bacchanalian word being changed into a teetotal equivalent. In a year or two we may expect a Burns festival programme containing such items as 'Gae fetch tae me a cup o’ tea’ (rhyme and reason both added in this case) or ‘Coffee for my Johnnie’; and the day may come when or.ly a few hardened old identities will be able to tell their grandchildren all the glories of a “Burns nicht” ere the club took the pledge, and made tho “ birthday anniversary of the immortal bard” eminently respectable but slightly slow, it- * * *

I went to the theatre last Saturday night to see Mr Bentley in 1 Hamlet ’—and very well worth seeing he was—and to witness the presentation of the testimonial by tho mayor. Certainly, oratory is not His Worship’s forte—indeed, we very seldom do get a mayor who can “ open his mouth without putting his foot into it”—but that is no excuse for tho abominable rudeness and inconsiderateness with which Mr Chapman was treated by a section of the groundlings on this occasion. The “chivvying” and cries of “ er” in which these precious idiots indulged showed clearly that they had never paid tho extra penny for manners, and I imagine they were about as capable of appreciating Hamlet as the form on which they sat. Mr Bentley, in the course of bis speech, read an extract from a Scotch parson’s sermon, in which the theatre was described as an “outlet for semi-savage elements.” It is possible, according to the preacher, to make people ashamed of themselves in the theatre. Well, there was certainly a semi-ravage element present on Saturday n : ght. I wonder how many plays would have to be attended before the shame began to show itself. Hamlet’s lecture to the players evidently had small effect. But it is difficult to persuade some folk that

Manners are not idle, but the fruit Of loyal nature and of noble mind. I suppose Bishop Moran would put the state of matters all down to our “ godless ” schools, and find in it a typo of our base injustice to the Romanists—an explanation utterly wrong, of course, but withal ingenious, convenient, and plausible. By the way, Mr Bentley told bis audience on Saturday that he felt prouder and. happier than at any previous moment in his life, from which statement I conjecture that he is still a gay bachelor. * # * *

The iteration of Bishop Moran’s anathemas against the national education system of this colony is losing its power to amuse, and people are beginning to suspect that, as regards this usually amiable prelate, the schools question represents the proverbial bee in the bonnet. It would not do to compare the Bishop to Mr Dick in * David Copporfield,’ for, whereas that " touched” old gentleman always tried strenuously, if unsuccessfully, to keep King Charles’s head out of the memorial, Dr Moran has vowed a vow, and keeps it with an equal mind, that the education question shall not be kept out of any speech which he delivers, sermon which he pr.eaohes, or letter which he writes. Nay, the contemporaneous Moranio effusion ia hardly characteristic unless it treats of the godless grievance and nothing else. The and ri^ljfc

reverend warrior is now making himself ready for battle in yet more praotioal fashion. The block vote is to be brought into operation—not the first time, by the way, that the block has been fonnd useful by hierarchs of the Romish Church. And shall Treiawny die? Then twenty thousand Uarnishmen

Shall know the reason Why. And shall taxpayers still be made to shell out, whatever their creed? Then twenty thousand Romanists shall make themselves consummately ridiculous. So toys Dr Moran, who has his shepherd’s crook ready wherewith to drive the docile flock to the poll, and to painfully prod the “ worse than infidel” strayers who don’t periodically curso the “godless” schools. Well, we shall see what we shall see ; but I suspect that when all is over, when the hurlyburly’s done and the block vote oast, the education system will remain in statu quo, and, as at Rhoims, nobody will be a penny the worse for all the cursing and all the mobilisation of Romanist forces. Nemo.