ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9656, 31 October 1894, Page 3

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

ONE BETTER.

Lord Rosebeby has gone one better than his Radical predecessors in England's Premiership. They, in their moments of chagrin, only threatened to buy the

with which to chastise those naughty boys in the Lords when they showed signs of eelf-will. The new Premier has actually bought the cane. Will he do mora than put it over the mantel-shelf, as is the wont of matronly ladies, just to keep the terrors of chastisement more vividly before the eyes? Great Britain's Prime Minister went in for a large order, when, as a callow fledgling, he wagered that he would marry the richest heiress in the country, win the Derby, and sit in the seat of Pitt, Peel, Palmerston, and Gladstone. All these he accomplished. Bub all three were as nothing compared to the big thing he has now taken in hand. He himself does nob appear very sanguine of success. THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE. The biggest obstacle be will have tc negotiate will nob be found in his " bitterest political enemies," with whom he associates in the " gilded dungeon." He will come to grief in the house of his friends. For years many of the best men of both political parties in the old country have been prepared to "mend" the House of Lords. Even the pick of the peers themselves were agreeable to it. The "mending" would have been performed long ago, had it not been for the rabid Radicals who did nob care to lose one of their favourite weapons ; the hereditary Upper Chamber was too good a glass house at which to throw stones to allow of their sanctioning protectors over the glazing. It was just the same with reforming the Established Church. The keenest opponents of that reform were found amongst the Liberationists. So Lord Rosebery will find the noisiest of his party refuse to abate their howl for total abolition —which they know they cannot getfor mere reform. They are the sort of men who will not take half a loaf. If they did, the whole of their bread would be gone. NOT A NEW WOMAN. The new woman has not yet made all her sisters sexless and unemotional. The old capacity for deep sentiment remains still, thank Heaven ! though it has to be sought, more and more, in the lower ranks. What matchless pathos is there in the story thab comes in regard to the last great colliery explosion in the Old Country catastrophe which, in a moment, hurled between two and three hundred souls into eternity ; and which occurred in a seam of coal responsible for the loss, by explosion, of upwards of 1600 lives since 1845. One widow hovered constantly around the pit's mouth, anxiously waiting for the possible recovery of the body of her husband, who, poor fellow, was probably buried by hundreds of tons of debris. D&y after day she searched amongst the dead, and washed the faces of more than twenty of the unfortunate victims of the disaster, in her fruitless endeavour to identify her husband among them. Truly the gift of love is oft' times pitiful. Yet, who would change it for "a yellow aster." A BAD OMEN. Miners' wives, however, are nob all so hard to console in bereavement as the one above referred to. They are very much like other men's wives—good, bad, and indifferent. Some years ago the General was at one of these terrible explosions, when he was told, by a chief inspector of mines, of a rather gruesome experience which, to his knowledge, had occurred to a woman made widow at a Scotch colliery explosion. Her husband's name had been included in the death roll, bub no trace had been found of him in the pit. The spot where he was known to have been working was buried underneath a "fall." Soon recovering from her grief, the widow consented to marry anothei young fellow. The wedding duly came off, and the festivities were at their height, when a knock came at the door, and the body of husband number one was carried in and laid before the astonished bride and bridegroom. The remains had only been recovered that day, and as a matter of formality had been despatched to their last known address. The mining folk at the wedding looked upon it as a bad omenthat was all. MUCH TO LEARN. They have much to learn in the little village of London. By a recent cablegram we were informed that the women of the metropolis have commenced a crusade against Music Halls, and the manager of the "Empire" has only had his license renewed on condition that the promenade is closed, and the selling of drinks in the auditorium discontinued. He, in disgust ab what he considers ill-treatment, has closed up the place and thrown some seven or eight hundred innocent people out of employment. Had that manager lived a little while in Auckland he would have known better than to be so rash. He would simply have accepted the condition and then gone on as before. Look how successfully we can do it. At the last licensing day, all licensed victuallers' licenses were renewed, with tho proviso that private bars should be abolished. The proviso was accepted, the licenses renewed and—we have been going on merrily in the old : sweet way without restricting private bar areas one single inch. The "Empire" manager should come to New Zealand for a trip ; he would then be able to finish off his education, go back and teach the London County Council something. A QUESTION. To those who know anything of London music halls, it is questionable whether good will really result from the action of the crusading women. Pretty well every hall, certainly all the leading ones, have their bars attached to tho promenades, which are used by ladies of the shady sort to a very considerable extent. But this keeps them, as a rule, from sitting in the auditorium, where a man can thus take hit- wife. Here, too, he can get liquid refreshment. And as the programme lasts from eight till twelve o'clock, without break, he frequently wants it - badly. Tha practical effect of the new rule most probably will be that the Music Hall will bocome no place for respectables, and the entertairiment sink to what it was a few years ago; a thing better to be imagined ihan described. And as other halls, not fifty yards away from the Empire, have their promenades still, it is difficult to see where beneficial results will come in. The nut, however, is a hard one to crack. DIGNITY. Some of our Anglican clergymen do nob uphold their dignity sufficiently. One ab least is so lost to any sense of his own importance, that he has actually left his seat to lend a hymn book to a stranger in his congregation. And the force of his evil example has made itself felt. Some members of the church choir have begun to copy his example. This has fired the wrath of the church choirmaster, who has instructed his choristers that on no account are they to leave their seats to lend a book to anyone. If the parson does nob know what dignity is, the musician intends teaching him. It is hoped that the clergyman, who has dared to perform a courteous and Christian acb in church, will now feel properly crushed. A SUGGESTION. The Native Minister would do well to import a few Fijian chiefs to New Zealand as missionaries of taxation. These Fijians, it appears, meet once a year to agree upon the sum to be paid in taxes by each district, and if one chief is assessed Iowa? than another his pride is wounded. "Why," he asks, "should I pay bub £1500 when my neighbour pays £2000? I am as good as he any day." That spirit would gladden the heart of the Minister for Native Affairs and all ' the other Ministers as well. Could nob some of the Fijians be brought over? Or, better still, could nob Mr. Ward arrange to deport some of his colleagues to Fiji They would be at home there and we could well spare them. The General.