LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12853, 29 April 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

" Let me taav# audience for a 'word or two." —Shakesviero.

1 he municipal elections this year reminded one of the good old times. long ago. when contests for public offices were battles royal and everybody iti the community threw themselves into the fray with ebullient enthusiasm. The only difference is that, wo ik. longer crack heads in the heat of our excitement. If we. crack anything it is only jokes, and generally bad ones at that. The i test for the Mayoralty w-.is fought with extraordinary vim, but at the same time with admirable temper on all sides. Even Mr. Julian, who lost so heavily. did n<>t lose ..is good humour, and 1 have no doubt w ill pav his forfeit, with a smile. His laudable ambition to till the Mayoral chair has received a check, 1 nit lie will lia\>» i lie pleasure of retaliating by giving the City Council a cheque, so that, as the pioverb In- it. " it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good."

As for Mr. Me.Leod and his allies, t he Prohibitionists, 1 beg most respectfully to tender them my condolence. The latter lam told are very down-hearted. '1 hey meant to show t.he city what a power they were in the community, and that no candidate for .public oflica who did not command their august favour had any possible chance whatever of success. Honest John was the whitehaired darling on whom they smiled with a smile that was Pickwickian m its bland exparsiveness. "It's all right, my boy." they said to The hopeful candidate. " we have laken you up and your election is assured. Trust in us. We shall teach Master Brewer a lesson he is not likely to forget 111 a hurry!" And honest John's poor fluttering heart was tilled with the deepest emotion at their words. So sanguine was he mad.» by them that he. forthwith sat down and drafted a speech which he meant to deliver when the result.of the poll was declared, and iu which such phrases as "the proudest moment of my life," the confidence you have reposed in me" were writ large with lingering fondness. But alack and well a day, all is vanity and vexation of spirit! When the bugles sounded the charge the big battalions of "the Probitionists—ah, where were they"/ Where were the kilts, the petticoats and the regalia that were to lead on to victory"' Where were the followers. of the gallant McLeod It pains me to ask these questions; it pains me still more to add that echo answers "where?" In the crucial hour his forces failed him, and like another distinguished character in history he was left lamenting.

Mr. Myers, the M; ivor-elect, lias 110 doubt been inundated with congratulations 011 bis success. J will not swell the Hood, Rather do I offer him my sympathy. He lias been placed-upon a bed. of thorns—and thorns prick. That is one of the drawbacks of public life. The moment a man is raised above the heads of the crowd he becomes the target for all sorts of missiles. As Mayor of the city, Mr. Myers has a tough task before him. He has to reform many things, and the role of the reformer is by 110 means a pleasant one. He will meet with many obstacles and difficulties, and disappointments and discouragements. It is the lot of every public: man. It is Mercutio's. But Mr. Myers has youth", enthusiasm, energy and ability, and in his lexicon there's ho such word as failure.

• The new Council suggests the fly in the ainbev; one wonders how some of the members got there. lam not going to particularise, but I should like to know by what pisces s of selection Jones was preferred to Robinson. To me, il; is past all understanding. But it must be capable of an explanation. Weigh them in the scales, ami i Robinson is infinitely the better of the two. But Robinson is rejected, and Jones the unsuitable is chosen. Why.' I hat is what I want to know.

One remarkable tiling about the City Council elections was the immense number of voters who did not manage to find 12 candidates to their liking out of the 24. One well-known citizen tells me that he strolled up to vote ill the ordinary confident way, and found after marking eight names that he was at the end of his resources, and gave the rest up. Walking back with several friends whom be had met, he found that not one of them had managed to vote for 12. This ought to encourage prominent citizens to come forward, as it practically ensures their election.

The Mine difficulty in selection appears to have been experienced in Wellington, where one careful ratepayer occupied a box for half-an-houi, trying to decide who to vote for from their still longer list of candidates. It. has been suggested that if more accommodation were provided. I lie voting might be quicker, and the turning awav of voters in the busy hours be thus avoided. But if a man can take halt-an-hour to vote, a. ]>olling booth would have to be built as large as an exhibition penyard to provide enough accommodation for everybody. Wo want a voting machine of (»., mo sort. I inc. is said to have been recently patented by one of the leading American inventors, and to have sto'-d trial successfully. Voting would i» made easy if one had only to touch a button while the machine did the rest.

Mr. Massev Las been aniusin? the Dunedinites with "elegant extracts from fh p book about, New Zealand which Mr. Neddon anil •Sir Joseph Ward commissioned Mr. McMurran of New York City, to write—at the cost of the colonv, of course. Here is one. Speaking of the Bluff, the American scribbler says:—' was ill this town, among the beautiful hills that surround the port, amid everything that Nature could do to ensure refinement and good taste, in a home of beauty and happiness, that a. little boy spent* his early years. He was not only fortunate in his parents, but good fortune endowed him with the best gilts of the Creatora master-mind and a strong, healthy physique. The world at large has heard of that promising youth, now grown to manhood, who has won his way to a high and responsible position in the State. '1 lie name of Sir Joseph Ward is suggestive of pluck, enterprise, energy, and rectitude. Isii t that beautiful! Isn't it touching! I can picture in my mind's eye that. Garden of Eden at the Bluff, and the little boy with the master-mind and '.ealthv physique, surrounded with beauty, happiness, and refinement. We have no liUle boys with master-minds nowaday*, dreaming of honours and office, and oat 1 -. Our little boys are disreputable urchins who spend their Sunday morning playing thieeup. When I think of it, I am disconsolate for the future of this great and prosperous British colony. Who says that McMniran's stuff is all flapdoodle? Oh, ye generation of vipers! I have no patience with the race of parsimonious economists who grudge tha paltry shilling a line which it cost the colony for this charming description of the earlv days of the great Nil Joseph, of the little boy with the mastermind. If we are going to advertise the ... colony or rather the leading lights in the iSeddon Ministry, wo must do the thing handsomely, and not forget to lay it on • thick. lt ifl thickness that tells with the s great. 'Murrkau l"** • tumrn*.