BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 8772, 12 March 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

BY THE WAY.

Let your sense be dear, Nor with a weight of words fatigue the ear. Hoback.

White, I waa taught at school (I think a certain fossil "horn book" called the * Guide to Science' is responsible for the statement), is the presence of all color; black, on the same authority, being the absence of any. There is a White on the University Council, and a Black on the Professorial Board, and this may possibly account for the fact that at present the two lights of the age don't mix freely. Bat that, aa Mr Rudyard Kipling would say, is another story, and not what I was going to write. By the way, the mention of this " inharmony in Black and White" reminds m?, somewhat naturally, Grey, of whom it was said dur JRR the early Maori disturbances that he the only medium—but the quotat" iMI j 8 worth making in full, It occurs in t Q^ n , terbury Rhyme' on the historio the Maori prisoners, and des h ow Titus White, the chief wardc- flying on the fact that they had no p for a oat «' except the copper ore," a' himse if to forget that they still hj u thoir native craft," and so found hir one fine mora . mg begging the now f warriors to come back and be 10 ,«j^n. Coroo back untr Governor, £,;»»«» <* owy Medium Bctwcon .rtK)lilwkß and Whites. I may as *• having digressed so far, quote the

hx A ttioy; " No, no, thir?s very fine, Rut Grey will never do; fle is not b!«ck cnouith lor us, Nor «rhlto enough lor you " iSaid White: " You aro his children dear, And don't he love you—rather! So be aiviaed, and leave your pah. And corns unto your lather." " Perhaps," they said, "we uvre his sons, But now we're better nuraed ; We're Royal Maori lulantry, And we'll Bee hitu farther first!" However, that also is another story. What I really meant to point out when I began this Note was : that far a gentleman who should scientifically combine all color to produce the most phenomenally colorless set of resolutions ever printed seems at first sight a trifla anomalou?. Any who are interested in the subject must phase turn up last Monday's Star for the ipdmma verba, as I havo no space for them here. * * * *

Mr White begins with a sentence which takes up thirteen linos of closo print, and which, wheu you have struggled a few times with the first half of it, appears to be devoted to portrayirg the difficulties of a freshman. To the astonishment of the reader who baa complacently decided upon this as its real meaning, however, it turns out when you get to the end of the sentence that it hasnothing to do with freshmen at all, but is a lament over the grievances of full-blown graduates. Having thus mystified hia readers as to what is the matter, MrWhite proceeds withoutdelay to thestartling suggestion with which resolution 2 begins —no leas a resolution, in fact, than "That eometning should be done." May I venture to hint a doubt as to the entire originality of thi3 solution of the difficulty (whatever the difficulty may be) ? The only thing distinctly original about it is that Mr White regards the suggestion as so solemn and epoch-making that he could not moye it there and then, but gave a month's notice of ii, ao that any consequent disturbance of the direction of the earth'i axis might have time to adjust itself before the dread reality should be effected. The doing of "something," however, is not all that thw daring thinker proposes. He goes on to claim that the something should be done by "an organisation of some kind"—the vertebrate virility «l which declaration will be admitted to be equal to that of the original proposal. Then wo get to details. The organisation is to consist of, "say, three members." Mr White is not dogmatic—thirty would do as well. Lastly, these members are to be chosen "either by the Council or the Professorial Board"—or, "Bay," by the W.C.T.U., or the Otago Lawn Tennis Association: Mr White, 1 am sure, would be only too happy. I have not yet gathered from Mr White's resolution what is driving whom into the toils of which ; but I am quite sure that the conditions of his remedy are sufficiently wide to cover any grievance under the sun. Let us therefore hope that some day something may be done by an organisation of some kind, consisting of some number of members, and elected by somebody or other (with or without the concurrence of s)mebody else) for some purpose or purposes unnecessary to specify. Nemo.