WEEKLY WHISPERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 169, 27 July 1901, Page 2

WEEKLY WHISPERS.

If there' 8 a hole in a' your coats f rede ye, tent f it. A chicl's amang ye taMn' notes. And, faith, he'll prent it. — BtTHNR

No end of funny stories nave been brought back by the people who went acrfss from Wellington to join in the Commonwealth festivities at Melbourne I here us one, for instance, about a newly, married couple .from New Zealand, who arrived in Melbourne on their honeymoon tap while the Duke was there. They had a weary hunt for accommodation, aid at last were glad to rest their weary aching limbs on a mattress spread for them bf h hotel-keeper in one of his baths. In the middle of the night the house was alarmed by loud Ska What was the matter? Well, only this : a case of the deluge over again. The chief of the Montreal (Canada) Fire Brigade has shown up the laxity of the local inspectors of buildings by his report on the lack of fire esca™ appUof ? e h« a i ßßVer^ 0f the P ubJic institutions of the city. He says m his report :- Up to the present the chief haVfound many buildings that are perfect firetraps ; m certain large buildings where scholars assemble there are no fir! escapes and in one educational institution, which 1S n fiT ol^^ 6 eBCa P ed > the pupils sleep on the fifth floor. In quite a number o^ wholesale houses goods are stored from cellar to garret in such a way that, in the event of a blaze, it woold L impo" sibte for the firemen to make their way through -them and fight the flames. Some of the wholesale houses are also constructed in such a manner that if afire started in them it would spread from ground floor to roof in a few minutes. One large institution, not of a commercial character, has a clear sweep of 350 teet under the root, from one end to the other, without a dividing wall." * * •

Mutato nomine, and the remarks may be applied to certain institutions in Netson and other parts of the colony. When last night s fire broke ont some speculated that it was at a certain educational budding -and the rejoiner was prompt of n UfeT erSal ' " Tbe " there wiU %» * • # It is interesting' and in a manner inlh?tZ 6 to /f^ mto with the returned » Contingenters," and hear opinions and estimates of the capabiliSE,? < ? B "£ 8h war S eneralß from the point of view of the rank and file. The interchange of impressions between the man who " has been there - and the man who haa merely heard and read of things that have happened is apt to upset priconceived notions in / very manner. Of course one molt takethl opinions of "Tommy Atkins »lsh£ 3 Of t^ t col K s a ga^in or fcwo t|;assU%rpr heroes hesitate ere be condSs newspaper scapegoats, • • •

ST 'JT d Methaen . *ho in Colonial and British newspaper-readers' eyes is to ™n« ?*if P a sP° Be a discredited because of the disastes of Magersfontein xs one of the men's idols. They love Md admire ham personally, and would follow tb \ d °f hin Perfect trust 2J the other hand, the hero of MafeW, is about as well hated § the men as any commander in the Army 1 hey say without any hesitation that it was not he who was responsible for the long and successful resistance of Mafekrag, for the simple reason that it was some.one ehewho looked after the defences and that half the time the aiece was only^make-boUeve. TheY deffi teSiS? Baden - p o-* left MaSg 1 for another command.he failed to score a single success, and that it is f&KS he *ent home. He is said to be bolstered up by the war correspondents

Another leader who comes in for condemnation from the rank and file L Sir fredricjCamngton, now recalled who led the Australasians from Beira to Bechuanaland but failed to be in time at SV 1 S ! Mafeking. They say he is a fat ; little .to n oivant a clothed face, and the delays on the march were as frequent as they were indefensible. PoleCarew is a favourite, but Colley, who has , b ? e ° m of trouble, is greatly disced and he has little sympathy hi hi downfall. It won't do to disclose what tne men say of some of the colonial leaders, more than to state generally that some they would have died for— and others they would have liked to see well not at the war. Tommy, whether in th© field or in barracks, is apt to get queer notions of things and persons - notions some times quaintly inverted. But if newspaper writers could only first obtain War Office accounts of things, and then temper down the incidents by means of [ interviews with the rank and file the true bearings of events might be placed betore the reading public. Finally all the men are agreed that letting Kruger get away was the big mistake of the campaign, and that De Wet would have been captured months ago had it not been for the personal jealousy of each other by the minor generals. As to De Wet, it is declared that he is not a fighter, and that he is never in an actual engagement if he can help it. * • *

f An Australian Colonel at the war was teld by headquarters to expostulate with bis men for killing sheep. He spoke on parade :— " I've been told/ he said, •< to pat my foot down upon this sheep-killine and I'm going to do it." Then (quietly?- --" Of course you know, men, if a sheep a> lacks you I catfb blame you, should Von m self-defence » A yell of laughter drowned the rest, and fresh mutton remained plentiful in the gamp.

River mud- beg pardon, river graveL haa been frequently carted at great ex pence to the debit of street formation" especially in ILuL niodtd stretch ?n Bridge-street from the Bank of V o South Wales to HounselTs, near «. '• Mail "office. Hence it iniStanW during the regent wet spell fa g^^J