The Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1885. THE POLITICAL MICAWBER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7176, 30 May 1885, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1885. THE POLITICAL MICAWBER.

The ruost fervent admirer of the "Grand Old Man" will scarcely contend (out of Gladatonian priuts or off " Caucasian " platforms) that he numbers amongst his political qualißcations a readiness in dealing with emergencies or even the ordinary foresight which to men of less exalted minds makes it apparent that certain results must in all human probability follow a certain course of action— or, perhaps, as far as regards Mr Gladstone's foreign policy, it would be more correct to say faction. Like "Wilkins Micawber" Mr Gladstone "is a man of great talent." Also, like Mr Micawber Mr Gladstone's habitual attitude is that of " waiting for something to turn up." He muddles into difficulties with the comforting, if slightly fatuous, hope that if he can only procrastinate and temporise enough some unbooked for stroke of good luck may enable him to muddle out of them a^ain. Sometimes, alas ! the "thing" which does "' turn up " only adds to his perplexities— e.g., he sends into the Transvaal troops utterly insufficient in point of numbers for the work they have to do, and aa might have been expected they are defeated. The_ our Micawber rises to tbe occasion, being great in excuses and explanations, and]/ demonstrates clearly that we were defeated, not through any fault in the conduct of the war, but because it was an unjust war, and therefore Providence did not intend that we should win, and thus Providence, like a Deus exmachina, gets our Mr Micawber out of his difficulties. Another Micawberian characteristic of Mr Gladstone is his resiliency under reverses, which make a nation look grave. Say that a garrison is massacred for want of the timely relief whioh the Liberal Government could and ought to have sent — Mr Micawber drops some natural tears, but wipes them soon, goes and cuts down a tree, has his prowess recorded iv the papers, and is comforted. We have to knuckle under to Prance over a wretched EgypfcoFranco newspaper, but Micawber has his two tons of congratulatory post cards on his birthday. We are bullied by Germany, but Micawber finds sweet solace in presenting his photograph to a local Radical Olub, and when we have been both bullied and cheated by Russia Micawber will have the alternative of exhilarating himself by singing " Campdown Races," or soothing his feelings by reading the lessons in a church, as the fit may take him. '

Of course our parallel would not be I : complete without a Mrs Micawber. Accordingly we find Mr Gladstone's majority ready for the role, and declaring by their vote in a resent division "Mr Micawber has hia faults. I do aot deny that he is improvident. Ido uot deny that he has kept me in the _ark as to his resources and his liabilities both, but I will never desert Mr Micawber." This being so, there is nothing for it but for John Bull tp eat, with the best grace he can assume, the mccessive helpings of " humble pie " :o which he is so liberally treated by Prance, Germany, and Russia. For;unately " praotice makes perfect," and rohn under Mr Gladstone's able tuition s how a proficient in the art.

land disputes. More work for the lawyers is expected to grow out of the meeting. Shortly before 12 o'clock last night a party of young men found a horse and cab "out for a quiet walk." After riding about for some time looking for a probable owner, the finders determined to hand the vehicle and horse over to the police. I A team of landsmen will play a match at football to-day against a team from the crew of the Northumberland. The match will be played at Petane, a coach to carry the town contestants and visitors being arranged to leave the Clarendon Hotel at 1.30 o'clock. Mr T. Waterworth, superintendent oE the Napier Volunteer Fire Brigade, has received from Mr R. H. Robinson a cheque for £5 53, as an acknowledgment of the valuable services rendered by the brigade in staying the progress I of the recent fire in Emerson-street. The subject o£ the Rev. J. G. Paterson's sermon to-morrow morning will be "Toiling in Rowing." The subject of the evening lecture will be "Four young students— the vow they made and how they kept it." There will be a special collection for Assembly expenses. The steamer that left for South yesterday took 110 bags of lime, to be used in the works now in course of progress at tbe Mount Cook gaol, dawke's Bay lime is found to be cheaper and more reliable than that from other districts, which sufficiently accounts for the new line in local exports. Mr Haggen's motion re native lands at the Waste Lands Board's meeting yesterday, though strictly speaking a little out of place, will awaken a respon- | sive chord in the minds of settlers in and about Danevirke. When the native land in that district begins to be settled Danevirke will become a town second only in importance to Woodville. The settling for the Petane races took place last evening at the Caledonian Hotel, when the following amounts were paid over:— Mr W. Wood, £14 ss; Mr C. Johnston, £14 ss ; Mr John Morris, £23 15s ; Mr P. Murtagh, £28 10s ; Mr G. Hunter, £80 15s ; Mr W. Y. Dennet, £57 and the ladies' bracelet; total cash payments, £218 10s. "Better late than never" might be said of the Government's determination uot to allow any more totara land in Hawke's Bay to be sold, as intimated in a letter r<jad at the meeting of the Waste Lands Board yesterday. Forest conservation is good, even at this late period, but ordinary mortals cannot but wonder why such a sensible proceeding was not thought of before. The "Silver King," which has created such a furore wherever ifc has been played, will be produced for the first time in Napier this evening. The company will arrive to-day by the Manapouri, and as the scenery and stage appointments are now " ship-shape " there need bo no doubt as to the completeness of the performance. The curtain will rise at a quarter to eight sharp. Ada Mantua is treading her already well- beaten track, and as usual has forwarded to us the names and addresses of the principal winners in her last consultation, and also the names and addresses of the gentlemen who comprised the committee. The first prize, £288 net, went to a well-known saddler at Greymouth ; the second, £144, to an employs' at the Bull and Mouth Hotel, Dunedin ; and the third, £96, to tho poundkeeper at the Dunstan, Otago. Mr W. Ashton, of the Telegraph Department, has received orders to proceed to Wellington, and will leave by the Te Anau to-day. Mr Ashton is a first-class operator, and his shift is probably due to the fact that his services will be found valuable in the Wellington office during the coming session of Parliament. In view of the approaching session the staff here is to be increased, three operators being added to it besides one in the place of Mr Ashton. The new men will arrive to-day, and comprise the following : — Mr Tregonning, from the Thames; Mr Brewer, from Balclutha; Mr Eoss, from Oamaru; and Mr Craig, from Feilding. At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday a telegram from Sir Julius Yogel in reference to the South Sea Islands trade was read. The telegram stated that if the Chamber would appoint a delegate to visit the islands, to report on their resources and trade, the Government would provide him a free passage there and back. At the request of the members present, Mr J. W. Neal consented to aot as delegate, aud to communicate with Sir Julius Yogel on the matter re fixing the date ol the delegate's departure. Mr Neal is to be commended upon his publio spirit, as his acceptance of the offer of the Government will involve considerable inconvenience and loss of time. A correspondent sends the following query : — " I am summoned to form part of tbe Grend Jury afc the nexfc sittings of the Supreme Court, and will have to pay my fare from the country, and my expenses, and submit to great loss of time, for nothing whatever in return. Yet I observe that the Government are going to pay the expense of a representative to visit Australia about the time that the New South Wales contingent will return, 'to congratulate them.' What I want to know is this : Would it not be better for the Government, if they have any spare cash, to provide for the remuneration of citizens taken from their occupations to serve the Stale, rather than to spend money in theatrical * congratulations ' that could, if necessary at all, be sent by letter or by telegram P " We oannot undertake to answer conundrums. All we know is thafc a " Liberal " Government is in power. The quarterly meeting of the Napier Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday afternoon afc their rooms, Brown, ing-street. Present — 'Messrs J. W. Neal (chairman), J. S. Large, J. M'Vay, E. W. Knowles, T. Tanner, E. Lyndon, C. B. Winter, P. S. M'Lean, C. B. Hoadloy, and J. W. Craig. The secretary read the committee's quarterly report, which was adopted on the motion of Mr Tanner, seconded by Mr M'Vay. The report contained a brief

resume of the business transacted at the I several committee meetings held during ' the quarter, fully reported in these columns at the time. The Chairman explained that a reply had been sent to the letter from Sir Julius Yogel, read at the last committee meeting, informing him that the Chamber had appointed a sub committee to report on the trade and resources of the South Sea Islands. A letter from Mr H. Hill, Inspector of Schools, was read, stating that the local exhibition committee desired to exhibit a comprehensive map of the district at the Wellington Exhibition to show area of land, density of population, buildings, imports and exports, &o. The map would cost about £60 to prepare, and the writer asked the assistance of the Chamber, the map to become the property of the Chamber after the close oi the exhibition, provided that £30 was contributed. It was decided that the Chamber were not in a position to accept the offer. Messrs Jas. Irvine, H. S. Tiffen, and Jas. Stephens were elected members of the Chamber, and the meeting then terminated. A disgraceful scene was witnessed at the early celebration of" Holy Communion at St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, the, Sth of April. A respeofably dressed man made a rush at the com-'

munion table, and before he could be intercepted smashed a decanter of wine. 1 He was at once secured and given into * custody. He was subsequently sentenced to a month's imprisonment * without hard labor. Guku, the Greek to whom General Gordon entrusted his diaries, and who accompanied Nousri Pasha, complains t bitterly of Sir Charles Wilson's unnecessary five days' delay at Metemneh before starting for Khartoum. He states that he daily urged Sir Charles* but in vain, not to lose a moment, as every hour was of inestimable importance. Guku, who accompanied Sir Charles Wilson's expedition to Khartoum, declares that if it had started at once upon reaching Metemneh it would have arrived in time to save General Gordon. A remarkable scene was witnessed in j Constantinople recently. An immense crowd of infuriated women surrounded I the Minister of Finance, and despite the effortß of the guards to resist their entry, forced their way into the building. An advanced party burst yelling and gesticulating into the office of the Minister, and, to his great alarm, demanded with many threats the arrears of their husbands' pay. In the meanwhile the crowd of infuriated wives poured into the building, and the situation of the Minister became every moment more oritical. A large body of police were summoned, and soon afterwards made an attempt to clear the premises ; but their efforts were unavailing, and they were at last forced to retire, leaving the Amazons in possession of the field*' The Minister managed amid the confusion to make his escape by a back window, after having made plausible promises to the enraged women. , A memorial, signed by nearly threefourths of the members of the City of London Corporation, was recently addressed to the Government, urging the repeal of the law prohibiting marriage with a deceased wife's Bister. The memorialists — among whom were the Lord Mayor, the ex-Lord Mayor, the two Sheriffs, the Recorder, the City Chamberlain, and twenty of the twentynine Deputies — said :— "The prohibition j of such marriages has been repeatedly I condemned by large majorities in the House of Commons; it has become a part of our jurisprudence through a doubtful interpretation of Scripture ; it is habitually infringed, without loss of respect, by persons of admitted virtue, who do not believe they are acting at variance with religion or morality ; and a law which, like this, fails to secure the general assent of the community, ought, in our opinion, to be abolished. We therefore urgently appeal to Her Majesty's responsible advisers to take such steps as may be needful to carry the desired reform into effeot." A correspondent of the Australasian sends tho following to that journal :— I think the following extraordinary occurrence is worthy of being recorded as something perfectly unique in the history of that formidable brute the shark.. It was witnessed by the lato Captain Mills, formerly harbor-master of Belfast, in this colony, who related the circumstances to me, and I have not the slightest doubt of its truthfulness. Captain Mills was then engaged in whale fishing. One day he and some of his orew were standing on a headland looking out for whales. Below them a narrow opening in tho cliffs led into a small bay, in which they saw a great commotion going on between a whale and a number of immense sharks. The The whale was trying to get out to sea, but every time he made the attempt the sharks fiercely attacked and drove him back, and several of them kept cruising about the narrow entrance. By and by, the whale began to show symptoms of exhaustion, when suddenly one of the largest of the sharks sprang out of the water,, and threw himself across the whale's nostrils, thus preventing him from breathing. In his terror and distress the whale opened his jaws and roared. Instantly the other sharks, who were evidently expecting this, darted at his tongue and tore it out. This Beemed to be all they wanted, for as soon as they had devoured it, they made off to sea, leaving the whale to its fate.