ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9560, 11 July 1894, Page 3

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

DOOMED INSTITUTIONS. Bellamy's—Municipal and Parliamentary ■-■ —both have had sentence of death passed ■■'"■ upon them. In the former case the fiat bat been carried ; into execution. Time was, not so long ago, when there was invariably a considerable attendance of the public at the fortnightly meeting of the City Council. As members of that body never, wax so eloquent as when discussing some drain or other, the deliberations are not, as a rule, attractive in extreme degree. -But the never - absent public used to wait on, no matter what the , hour might; be, until the end. '~ Then came the reward — the 'adjournment to the committee room, turned for the succeeding hour into a refreshment room. One visitor more than once boasted that he had not missed a meeting for years. No one doubted him. His constancy was always in evidence. Now the grand institution has been abolished, where is the public At the last gathering of the Council it waa absent. Civic discussion interests it no 'more. . '.. ""." .. ... , .: NOT AN EASY MATTER.. Nob so easy a matter, however, is the abolition of the Parliamentary Bellamy's. Threatened lives last long. So does the snug little bar at the far end of the lobby at Wellington. \ Last session a snatch voto was taken, when the Liquor Bill was before the House of Representatives, and Bellamy's was in a minority. Within a few hours, however, a change came o'er the spirit of the dream. The prohibition iconoclasts had it not all their . own way. Once again the dread decree of destruction has gone forth. And probably in years to came it will constantly and similarly go forth. There it will end. Nothing is meant by it except perhaps tc check too ardent members who forget to settle up their accounts monthly. \ Is then this forgetfulness, it may be \asked' • Rather ! Ask a member of the committee in whose charge Bellamy's is placed, and they'll be able to say why credit has had to be stopped before the season is hall over. ••','■ \ QUEER AUDIENCES. \ Audiences are sometimes queer 'things, and occasionally a speaker finds himself before queer audiences. But. assuredly,, few have had stranger than bad theii \ worships, the chief magistrates of Auckland and Onehunga the other day. ... The occasion was the opening of a poultry show, and though Mr. Holland is generally a cool-headed man, and one whom it takes a lob upset, he certainly must have been nonplussed to find his remarks punctuated, in the most reckless fashion by some sixty cocks, the compass of whose voices ranged from the soprano of the bantam to the baas of the Brahma. Auckland's Mayor, however, had not had a training at the Onehunga Council, or perhaps he would not have felt as he did.

NOTHING DONE. Councillor Atkin is nob going to " play speaks," with the Harbour Board. Ho has a very high opinion of the body to which he belongs, and will nob see it snubbed. Rightly or wrongly he thinks the Mayor should fill the chair in the Board room overlooking the water* of the Waibemata. Judge then his chagrin when, after he and other members of the City Council put themselves out of their ways to attend a conference yesterday, he found no conference could take place, because or' insufficient attendance on the part of Harbour Board members. Certainly his anger was nob without cause. The Board, on the one hand, have been asking the Council to do this, thab, and the other thing, and when there is an effort to come together, the members fail to turn up. True, this was the first time for very many years there was no quorum, but ib is usual, when invitations are sent to outsiders, to make special efforts to be present. RETRENCHMENT. The broom of retrenchment has been at

work, and the Mayor seems determined to make it sweep as clean as possible. Some past mayors have been in the habit of drawing pictures, full of grateful colour, of the city's financial position. Mr. Holland, however, is of Opinion that these pictures were bub hideous caricatures of the real state of

things, so he has set himself to pub things right. He has discovered that up to the time of his investigations it has been every man for himself and the city treasury for us all. In other words members have taken unbo themselves the office of foreman of

works, and according to all accounts have ordered the workmen about here, there, and everywhere to do what they thought was needed. Now they are shorn of their dignity. It was very nice to be looked up to as something more than a mere rule 01 resolution restricting expenditure to certain lines. Bub their irresponsible wings are clipped. It's a great pity though that something was not done to spread the volume of work, reduced as it is, amongst all the city employees. Bettor to do this than discharge fifteen men out and- out. Half a loaf is better than no bread any day. "GOD'S OWN COUNTRY..

Americans, like New Zealanderg, are fond of calling their home "God's own country." If it be so, then, as baa been observed by some one else besides the General, Old Nick must have along lease upon it. Perhaps in no other part of the world, civilised or uncivilised, could such scenes have been witnesed as have been in America during the last few days, in connection with the railway strike. But then America is a free country, and people are free to do just as they please— other people's property, apparently, when they have none of their own. It's all a matter of bringing up. I suppose. Even -Dr. Talmage appears to look upon things generally, in the land of his birth, with a lenient eye. According to a report of a lecture of his, delivered just before leaving for Mew Zealand, he, in a comparison of America, is said to have stated, '.' In our country almost every official has a chance to steal, v ■In other lands a few people steal everything. That is why more of them don't steal. There is nothing for the others. Salaries are so great in European countries that there is little left for appropriations," and, further on, "though official stealing in the United States may be a cause of complaint, it is more probable that the money will get back to the people to whom it belongs, if distributed amongst the . Congressmen, than if it passes into the purses of a few monarchs." The rev. Dr. we know is an optimist that likes to look on the cheery side of things. He has told us so.

... INTERESTING READING. And, by the way, the report of this said lecture, a three-column one,which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, is very in- ; teresting reading. Here is a sample :— "He (Dr. Talmage) seemed to enjoy recounting the supernumeraries of Queen Victoria's household: The ' master of the hounds, who gets 8500 dollars ear; the gentleman of the wine and beer cellars the groom of the robes; the grooms of the bedchamber; the captain and gold stick ; the lieutenant and silver stick; the page of the back stairs, the hereditary grand falconer; the clerk of the kitchen. And so on and ad infinitum, ad nauseam. It is said, added he, that the Queen suffers, from thirst because it is so much trouble for her to get a drink of water on account of the number of her lackeys, each with a separate duty. AH this expense is paid for by the sweat and blood of the [-pie.. However much the Germans may like; William or the English Queen Victoria, or any other European people its; rulor, the tremendous Government .expenses are built on the dissatisfaction as broad as Europe." If this is so, one can, well understand why it was that Dr. Talmage, when in Auckland, averred that he never prayed for the President of the United States but he felt inclined to ad' " God Save the Queen. The General.