A TRIUMPH FOR ARBITRA TION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 19 June 1912, Page 6

A TRIUMPH FOR ARBITRA TION.

Once in an out-west bar-room in America a lot of men were discussing the authorship of Shakespeare's plays, with special reference to the notion that Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, may have written them. The logicians became so excited that they drew their knives and revolvers with* a view to a final definition of opinion and history on the subject. Then someone, less intoxicated or irrational than the rest, suggested that the matter should be left to arbitration. The arbitrator selected with an Irishman, who had all the time sat quietly smoking and not saying a word —which circumstance probably suggested his suitability for the office. When he had heard the arguments on both sides formally stated, he gave his decision: " 'Well, gintlemin, me decision is this —Thiin plays was not ■wrote be Shakespeare! But they was wrote be a man iv the saanie naame!"