LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8670, 12 September 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

i,, „> me have audience for a word or two." 1 —Shah-expert. Tmk soldiers of the Imperial forces, and the members of Colonial corps, who fought V New Zealand, were always credited with great courage and with dogged per.•i4eney in combating the enemy. That hey are game to the last is proved by the WH y in which they have stuck to their claims for land. The Naval and Military Settlers and Volunteers Land Bill which is now before tho House contains a list of all those whose claims were admitted by the Commissioner of Crown Lands in the different provincial districts. Why, they amount to an army. Tho Maoris are now passed »way as a belligerent power, but in case of an invasion we should only have to call out the military land claimants, and we .should have a powerful and ready disciplined force. Tho idea in America is, that those who escaped death on tho battlefield in the civil war, live for ever to draw the liberal pensions conferred by the State. Here it would seem that the fresh air and exercise a man got from ISSS to 180.") had such a wonderful effect that tie maintains full vitality still. At all events, here they are about 700 strong, with claims certified to, and most of them, no doubt, having burnt powder in tho face of the enemy. But these warriors, who have been kept out of their rights for a generation, are being practised . oil .in another direction. The (lovert)men are evidently afraid that with

• • it :;0 acres (that is the extent usually awarded) they will become " social. pests," a; ,ii that as they have held on to their claim :,-r a generation, that they would live for "Jo v . i:> more to bo unimproving landowners, i ,it length to become rich by the tin.l increment. It is therefore enacted she Crown grant shall not issue unless \ii-.%•;: live years the claimant, has brought ;a;o cultivation one-tit of the land by i and laying down in grass, planting . ,i < inevard, &c. In a great many eases the iaianrs are quite unable t.o do such work ■:-elves, and cannot atVord to hire laii i-,r fur the purpose. What they want is ;:u: i he Government of New Zealand should fiiitil its promise. They want to be able to .„.;i -lie land so as to raise a few pounds for ••medical comforts" in their declining sears. As land values go in New Zealand iunv, the amount of money which they could get for their 'Jo or DO acres would bo something infinitesimal. Bub the present is a Ministry of land nation-ali-ers, and it is against their principles to give away the land of the State in fee simple. It is true that these men were promised land, but then that Mas before the publication of " Progress and Poverty." Ministers are anxious that they should not become double - dyed social pests.

There has been great trouble about rooms in Parliament Buildings. Members are not content with endowing themselves with £-40 per annum paid monthly, but they show a disposition to bring their belongings and take possession of rooms in the House, and convert these into a private dwelling-house.'. So bad has the thing become that there has had to be a committee on the subject, and one member has received formal warning to clear out— bag and baggage. This sorb of thing has been occasionally done before to some extent. -Mr. Vincent Pyke at one time looked upon himself as "a fixture-in the House, and a comfortable room was known as "I'yke's room." It must be remembered that when a member takes possession of a room, it means that he receives attendance. The room is swept and dusted, The member sits in a luxurious armchair ; when he wants a whisky and water he lias merely to touch an electric button and a messenger appears from Bellamy's ; when more coal is wanted for the lire 'ha summons a messenger to do the work. The Speaker has established his wife, and I suppose his family, in a suite of rooms, and it is said that he has a " right" to this accommodation. Ido not know the foundation of any right. lie receives ■ juite a large enough salary to live at a comfortable hotel, or even to rent a furnished house. But it is a Labour Parliament, ami all these things must be winked .it. It is the beginning of the new order of things, when the State is to do everything . nd everybody is to throw themselves upon it..' People who did that used to be called " paupers the new order of things is that ■ very person who cannot manage this, will be made paupers.

I do think that the -Legislature lias treated women shamefully. I use that word advisedly, as being specially appropriate to the occasion ; and at the risk of being had up for contempt, 1 say that every recipient of Parliamentary payment ought to be ashamed of himself. The Bill was brought in by Sir John Hall,'unci went through, as it were, with a rush and by acclamation. Only eight members had the courage to vote against it. Mr. Ballance declared that the Government would take the subject up. All the women of the colony thought the thing settled. But then there seemed a mysterious hanging back. Ail the enthusiasm ebbed away in a day. If the Government had really meant it, they might have put a clause in the Electoral Bill securing tie object. But they sent Sir John Hall's Kill to the Legislative Council. Neither gallantry nor enthusiasm were to be expected there. liven the representative of the Government, the Colonial Secretary, is against it, declaring that by giving woman the right to vote they were drugging her out of her sphere. The old gentlemen who compose the Upper House seem to have had quite a funny time over it. imagining what would happen when women were honorable members, and they had to encounter them in debate. One of them said if they introduced ladies into that House " lie feared to think of the con«ei|uences." The numbers were pretty close, .however, being 17 to 15. The Maori members, Taiaroa and Wnhawaha, were against this terrible innovation, and they carried with them the Auckland members, Messrs. Svranson, Whyte, and Williams.

Possibly the reason why the Legislative Council went against tho Bill was that they thought they had enough "old women" in their branch of the Legislature already. One lion, member said if women were torn from the domestic circle it would lead to the deterioration of f!ie race." If some hon. members were torn from the Legislative circle it is possible that it might lead to an improvement of the Upper House—in the standard of brains and intellect. Evidently the Upper House, like the Bourbons, have" learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.

The Municipal contested elections turned out a very hollow affair after all. Mr. Parrell romped in ahead of his opponent, who had to explain that though lie was not a prominent man locally, he had been elsewhere ! 111 City North, beer, as usual, got the best of water. There is an old adage, that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well, which the defeated candidate did not lay to heart. It is a pity that somebody did not give him a "helplni? hand " how to nominate and autho''J'" a scrutineer. As it was, the J'eturning Officer did not make " two \i^ eS _of a cherry," and requested ' r Smith's representative not to stand J'Pon the" order of his going, bub go at onceho skipped. One of the "lost amusing incidents of the contest took place in tho afternoon. A man came along Jo the Y.AI.C.A. polling - place, feeling deeply agitated" with a sense of his political responsibilities, and being bound 0 vote. A wag at one of the committee rooms, knowing he was not on the roll, pacified the man by giving him his ticket j' 1 number-" No. 60,000." The soi-disant "rgess waltzed into the booth, but the Officer, who was not on for looking that sort of thing, led him out 'th u high hand, and when the would-be ot ® r found himself como squat down on the 9 ■F'halt like a pile-driver, he calmly ejaculrttea—«« Just joy L«(c)kj"

That's a nice little " arrangement'' by which the Sergeant at-Arms also becomes librarian of the Parliamentary Library. I admit that with a so-called Liberal party in the louse, the holder of the first office is all the better if he lias the qualifications of "a chucker-out," but there is nothing in common between the qualification for oflico of Sergeant-afc-Arms and that of librarian. The dual combination is perfectly absurd — a perfect "Pooh-bah" arrangement. As most people are aware, the session is the only time of the year that the librarian has any real work to do, and that is the very time the Sergeant-at-Arms requires to boat his post, sometimes for 1-1 or 15 hours a day. However, in the name of common sense, can a man be expected to do the work of the librarian, and at the same time, "snore the happy hours away" in the green baize caboose under the gallery:. The only explanation is that the " lvuniel'' will get the kernel by drawing the screw, while some other poor devil does the work. Poor Collier, the former librarian, was said to be overtaxed with the work of the library alone.

Touching that cheque of £100 which the Minos Department arranged Air. Witheford was to pay to Her Majesty the Queen if he did not succeed in forming his mining syndicate, it, seems a lot of trouble would have ensued if taken as drawn, namely, payable to Her Majesty the Queen or order. Had tho cheque been sent on to Windsor Castlo for Her Majesty's endorsement, it. might have led to the Hon. H. Seddon being "sent lor" to explain matters. As the invitation of royalty is a command, there would bo nothing for it but for " Richard I." to go home, invest in a court suit with the court, tailor (sword thrown in), and put his best foot foremost with " the Widow of Windsor." In such a case probably our gold fields would lie brought into such prominence among British statesmen as would have enabled Mr. Witheford to follow up his cheque 'into the very precincts of royalty, and after a judicious reference to the Duke 'of Edinburgh's profitable investment', i" " Long Drives" on the Thames GoLltiokl, Her Majesty might have put in a cool half-million to start the mining enter- '

Tho lamentable accident which took place last Saturday on the 'football field, raises again the question as to the dangers of the game sis an athletic game. Why do the public crowd to a football match, and a section " barrack" it: the choicest Billingsgate, save that the savage instincts tire aroused. Scrape the veneer off and its popularity arises from tho fact that it is a mild form of prize-fighting. Cricket is as manly a game, but where are the crowds and the cheering spectators— echo answers, where? It is because the combative feelings are not appealed to or aroused, but thegame solely oneof science and skill. Dr. Girdler, in his evidence at tho inquest, professed too much, and gave his evidence almost a" if he had a retainer for footballers and footballing. As showing howdoctors differ, I may remind him that when voting Pilling was killed tit the Domain football ground, Dr. Philson, the coroner, a military surgeon of long experience, who would not be expected to be over sentimental, expressed his opinion that football was a gams only fit for savages." .However. people may disagree as to the merits or otherwise of football, all will agree that the moral of the late mournful episode is that men with wives and families dependent for bread upon their daily labour, have no business to take part in a game so fruitful of serious and dangerous accidents as football. Mercutio.