Notes and Comments.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 371, 16 September 1907, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

An interesting little political pill was wrapped up in an otherwise unintoresting press telegram from Wellington on Saturday. It was stated that ironmonger Georgo Winder, one of the city's self-made men who is in the process of making, had been elected President of the district branch of the Liberal-Labor Federation. Further, that that over-faith-ful soul, Edwin Arnold, basketmaker and prison visitor, had become treasurer. Then cam© the pill to turn people pale who follow politics. Thus said the message : "E. Gallichaii, -general secretary of the federation, leaves Wellington next Tuesday on an organising tour." Who was Mr Galliehan- 1 Nobody, who came- from nowhere in particular until ho got into Seddonian £>olities in the Capital City. But he has bocomo somebody now. He is the successor of Edwards and Culver, the first and second organisers of the Seddon Scheme of Politics. Since Mr Culver, now Inspector of Factories in Napier, retired (hurt) from the arena after the last general electiou ; the position of organiser has kind of lapsed into disuse. Minister Carroll took on the job at the New Plymouth contest— and was largely the moan^ of securing victory for the Opposition Party. Mr Galliehan has boon acting quietly as secretary of the federation ; hut it is evident that he will no longer hide his light under a bushel. To-morrow he goes on the wallaby, and the campaign of publicity will begin. Just as one swallow may not make a«spring, oni> organiser nuiy not r»«k<> a general election. Still, the executive of the Liberal-Lahor Federation might have come to the conclusion that it would bo a good thing to prepare for a dissolution. It is hard to say upon what grounds it would base' its ideas of such a contingency, unless it had been sent marked copies of the AYairarapa Daily News. Tn a late issue the Ort'orton luminary published this il"iii from its Parliamentary correspondent : "Some people are beginning to helievo that, after all, your member was not so far out when he prophesied a dissolution this year. There are indications of developments that certainly are not of too peaceable a character.' and there is still a disposition on the part of some of the men on tlie Government side to become restive. When the three most important Bills come along, namely, Land and Income Bill. Land Bill, and National Endowment Bill, there may. at any time, come a crisis." The member for the district is Mr Hornsby, who also happens io lie one oi the proprietors of the Daily News. Nuf sed f One of the things we could never understand was why men and women who professed to be filled with an overpowering love for humanity should volunteer as missionaries for service in foreign parts when there was so much work to ho done for their next-door neighbour. We are reminded of this old-time thought by publication of the news that a Dannovirke school teacher's offer io servo in New Guinea has bv.vn acceptod by the Australia)) Methodist Board of Missions. What is the. matter with Dannevirke as a mission field? The harvest is ripe, the workers are few. and a soul saved up there is just as valuable as one savr-cl in New Guinea, if not more valuable considering the influence exercised by a reformed Dannevirkean. New Guinea is a place of dangerous diseases as well as of savage and treacherous peoples; and salvation, like charity, might well begin at home. Dannevirke can ill spare the saving grace of a cultured, sympathetic, and enthusiastic woman. Some folks have absolutely no idea of the fitness of things, if tho following item from tho Taranaki Herald is accurate information :— "An idea of tho public feeling- at Opunake in regard to the tarring mid feathering episode may be gleamed from the fact that the accused are to be given a sond-off social the night before their trial. This, not in anticipation of their being detained at Government lodgings for a short period, but as an appreciation of the action they took." What has Palmerston done that it should be threatened with Mr Andrew Collins, of Wellington, as the supplanter of Mr Wood? What an alternative ! The ex-baker and so-called conciliator has solemnly announced that he intends contesting the Palmerston seat at the next election. But, then, Andrew has a keen sense of humor, and probably he wants to give the sitting member a preliminary headache.