LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12991, 7 October 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

•"Let me have audience for a word or two." i.' : < — Shakespere. The presentation to Parliament of a paper on the ctecay of teeth in modem children reminds mo of a story being told by a friend who recently became the possessor of artificial teeth.' As everybody knows, there are easier things in the world |'v than talking with a dental plate in the mouth until one becomes familiar with it, and my friend talked as thickly as though he had begun celebrating Christmas. Now, the joke comes in in the fact that he is an uncompromising Rechabite, who has never touched strong drink in his life. Yet when in a railway carriage one night, at Auckland station, lie met two friends of long standing, they immediately thought lie had been indulging, and treated him accordingly. Not being Rechabites, they treated him with suaVe forbearance. He tells me that he never met such sweet reasonableness from argumentative men in bis life. ■ They get talking politics, it appears, and though he had meant not to talk, this stirred the Rechabite up, and' in a very thick voice, that came its from a month full of pebbles, ami was very slow and distinct in order not to lisp, he began to give his views on the situation. His friends began to argue, then suddenly stopped, • glanced at one another, and began to !*;" agree with him. This stirred him into making the most outrageously argumentative statements, and still they agreed, gently, kindly, softly, with a conciliatory accent that was new in his experience of - men. And when he came to his station, leaving them to go on, one of lie in stood up and held his arm as he opened the door, and warned him to look out how lie got off, and said that they'd close the door, and they both bade hint " good-night." with a friendliness that was never in their voices before. And it wasn't until lie was nearly home that he groped his way to a solution of the problem and realised that they thought lie had fallen from grace, and that they had immediately combined to keep him quiet so that nol>Ady would notice him. Whereupon, having a sense, of humour, lie laughed until he had to lean against a fence, but when lie reached home and invited the partner of his bosom to share his mirth, she said that she didn't sec anything to laugh at in that. It lias always been a puzzle to me that there should ,be such a rush of applicants for Government billets considering how notoriously unjust the Government is to. many of its employees unless by some means or other they are able to get the right ear of,a Minister. Kissing goes by favour in tie- Civil Service, and- it : you aie out of favour your lot is by no means a happy one. The chances are that von will get more kicks that ha'pennies. The case mentioned in the House the other day of an exconstable permanently injured while in the execution of his duty pleading, and pleading in vain, for i', little consideration is an example of how callous and' hard-hearted the Government can be when it pleases. • This man's case"had been repeatedly recommended by a committee of the House. to the favourable notice of the Government, ' but their recommendations had been always ignored ; indeed, so little attention was paid to them that Mr. McGciwan, the Minis- . ter whose duty it was to deal with the case, " s n>?ide the astounding admission that he had - never read or troubled his head about them. This is ccandalou.v ' Vet while this unfortunate ex-constable is left to battle' with the world as best lie can, relatives and con - nectionii of Ministers can be 1 provided with Government billets in he most unblush- ■ ing manner. • At a certain place up Noith (which shall tie nameless) the aiitiuaal meeting of the tennis club lapsed for want of a quorum, ' only four rolling up- One member of brilliant ideas , determined to secure a good muster for the adjourned meeting; so he notified the secretary that he intended to move that the rules be altered to permit f ; of playing tennis on Sundays. ' This raised great indignation among the pious country . ' i folk. The papers took the question up, and politics took a back seat. The member was importuned and threatened in ; vain. The Anglican parson preached, a sermon upon Sunday observance. The /adjourned -meeting came on and a record • attendance re- ' : 1 ted, 24 being present. When the notice •' of motion was read out the proposer got up, -nd after thanking the members for the interest ; taken in the affairs of the iluk, withdrew his motion. At latest advices, search parties were out looking for the missing member. Time was when a member of Parliament who had decided to retire from politics intimated his intention to his constituents. ft was a mode of procedure both becoming and courteous, and in accordance with the close personal relations which ought to ~ exist between a representative and the electors. Mais tioU6 avons change lout cela. The retiring member absents himself from Parliament for a whole session, and towards • its close informs the Premier that he will not be a candidate at the ensuing elections, whereupon the Premier communicates the fact. by telegraph to his particular coterie in the electorate, and winds up his message by telling them who the Government, candidate will be, and urging them to' keep the Seddonian flag flying. Mr. Witheford, who is somewhere in England looking after something of "vast .importance," lias told the Premier that lie will not seek re-election, and the Premier in his turn has told Mr. P. J. Nerheny, and has also notified him that Mr. Kid'd will be "the Government candidate" for Auckland Central. In the eyes of Mr. Kidd, Mr. Seddon is a generous "donor," and in the opinion of Mr. Bed- ! don, Mr. Ividd is just tho sort, of follower ho wants at his heels. It is a happy arrangement, and with the help of Mr. P. J. Nerheny and his redoubtable Liberal and Labour Federation Mr. Seddon, and I suppose Mr. Kidd, hope to fix it up all right. Evidently the electors don't count. In these careless days, when constitutional rights are so little regarded, it is quite refreshing to find our city coroner valiantly contending for his right to hold an inquest on a foreign subject even though the latter's death took place on what is technically or legally known as foreign soil. The unfortunate young officer who terminated his v existence on board the Panther could little have dreamt that his rash act would give rise" to something like an international crisis. But so it proved, for when his body was brought on shore Mr. Grcsham set the law in motion, and claimed that an inquest must be held. The commander of the warship protested; so too did the Austrian Consul, but the coroner was inflexible. The Premier of the colony might play ducks and drakes with the rights and privileges of Parliament, but Mr. Grcsham was determined that there should be no impairment of his coronial authority. For a moment it looked as if a serious situation would be created, but happily a satisfactory modus vivendi was discovered, and without in any way compromising the legal position taken up by the coroner the difficulty was solved. Ail's* well that ends well, but the incident shows how even a comparatively small thing in itself but embodying a. great principle may in certain circumstances give rise to really grave consequences. ( notice from the. list of candidates for Parliament published in the Herald that no fewer than 208 gentlemen are anxious tc secure e seat in the House and £300 per annum. -Of this number 88 are Government k \ supporters, : 67, are Oppositionists, 43 are t-pw- described as independent of either side, and a modest 10 are avowedly Labour candidates. In the North Island 37 Opposition i candi'iVi;- ; dates aro in the field, 42 Government candidates, 28 Independents, and 7 Labour candi- . dates. the. numbers in the South being 30, 46, 15, and 3 itjfgwiixcljt " • Mfiassays . r