THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13452, 3 April 1907, Page 9

THINGS IN GENERAL.

THE INSINUATING CELESTIAL. WbCUNOTON 1 has up to the present been able to maintain the unenviable position of giving quarter to more Chinese dens of the very worst description than any other city in the colony, and also of allowing the almond-skinned, poll-tax paving immigrants to seize hold of the fruit and' vegetable markets, but so far as the firstnamed evil is concerned Dunedin appears to be Wellington's rival. A pressman and some witnesses recently effected a surprise visit to dens in Walker and Stafford Streets, and found a disgusting stale of things not previously suspected. Houses influentially owned and rented by Chinamen proved noisome warrens, consisting of labryinths of rooms, only six by six, no ventilation, no light. These were occupied bv hawkers, who sleep among their vegetables overnight. In one room a tuberculous Chinaman was found, spitting among his wares sans ceremony. In some places the kitchen, eating-room, latrine, poultry run, scullery, coalyard and vegetable depot were practically all one compartment. One gambling hell was so constructed that a raid by the police was a physical impossibility- Beside larger evils, opium-smok-ing was a mere detail. European women were found consorting with Celestials. In one room a stylishly-dressed woman, ladylike, in company with a sinister-looking Chinaman, said she was twenty-four and had come from Waihi and was visiting the Chinese dens in the principal centres. Evidently the level-headed sons of Scotia, who are in the majority in the Southern city, have either been outwitted by the Celestials or else have been unconscious of the encroachments steadily and quietly going on. An incident occurred there a little while back which should have put the people on their guard against the wily, insinuating foreigner. A tender tor a certain contract was accepted, and when the tenderer, who had "Mac" prefixed to his name, went to sign the necessary documents, he was found to he a Chinaman, and his explanation lor the misappropriation was that thereby he had a better chance of success. RAILWAY MEN. The railway men of the colony are not as contented and satisfied with their lot as their outward ■ calm and complacency would indicate. They have numerous grievances, and it systematic organisation tan do anything they are on a fair way to getting redress in the near future. Anomalies and injustices, big and small, require settling, and the Department will be confronted with the matters complained of so soon as the reorganisation scheme being pushed forward by Air. J. T. M Horasby, M.H.E., gives a greater- influence to the men's representations. In the past delegates who have gone to the authorities with grievances have been twitLed with not being fully representative of the men in the service, Out merely a small section of them. Under the new" scheme this position will bo altered, and in addition, as Sir. Hornsby pointed out to the recent gathering ot Auckland men, at Newmarket, the society membership ot oQQG would equal about i24,G(JO votes at an election. Such a sceptre would have a magical effect on the Minister in charge. Ail reasonable complaints would be adjusted, improvements in conditions of work effected, and the men given that position to which they were entitled. Through the men being " pinched" and receiving barely a living wage, the Department is able to annually produce a Dig surplus. Mr. ■'■.Hornsby said his investigations, intp. the service had 1 shown him some of the things that were done, and others that were left undone, but he was confident that when members of Parliament were made acquainted with the actual condition of things a better system than at present obtains would be ordered. CONDUCT OF BILLIARD SALOONS. By moving in the direction of forming a Billiardkeepers' Association, with a view to improving the conduct of saloons, the Wellington proprietors are seeking to save their skin, which threatens to be torn to shreds by the agitation of the Ministers' Association, led by that irrepressible cleric, the Rev. J. J. North, who, since his descent on Wellington, has stood out prominently as a reformer of the public morals. Unquestionably there is room for improvement in the conduct of public billiard-rooms generally, and Auckland is not blameless in this respect. If there is 'one regulation needed more than another it is in the direction of putting some restriction on boys worshipping at the green cloth and ivory balls, it is a sad but a common sight to see a room full of young fellows stunted in growth, with stooping shoulders, smoking cigarettes and using language not mentioned by Webster, wasting the most precious time of their life, ruining their health in the stuffy atmosphere, and fouling their, minds, besides losing money which should be spent to better advantage. If the proposed association is able to check this one blot on an otherwise congenial, though luxurious, recreation it will have justified its existence.

COINCIDENCES. There is no easier method of explaining a set of circumstances corresponding in every particular than to call it a coincidence—

A "strange coincidence," to use a phrase, By which, such things are settled nowadays.

But a strange .series of coincidences, connected with two ministers, Revs. W. H. Beale. and J. G. Mori is Taylor, which is reported from Sydney, will make the thinkers think. It commences in 1891, when Rev. W. H. Beale was appointed to the Armidalo circuit. He was then in the twentieth year of his ministry, and Rev. J. >»• Morris Taylor, when appointed to the same circuit, was also in his twentieth year. Each in his second year there was appointed chairman of the district, and each was removed to the Ryde circuit in his twentvsixth year. Rev. W. H. Beale was called to the chair of the Conference in the twenty-ninth year of his ministry and his last year at Ryde, and Rev. Morris Taylor was likewise called in his twentv-ninth year of ministry and last year at Ryde. To pursue the coincidences still further, each delivered his ordination charge from the same text from Timothy, and the coincidence is made still more strange by the fact that each delivered the charge on the same date. Rev. W. H. Beale on March 8, 1901, and Rev. Morris Taylor on March 8, 1907. Last, but not least, each gentleman is the father of five children girls and three boys.

A FAMILY RECORD,

A singular family record, which goes to show that a, house appearing to be insanitary is not on results what it seems, comes from an English rural district, and though not put forward as an infallible guide for the Auckland authorities when condemning a dwelling, still it may be kept in view, so that a possible injustice may be avoided. The house in question was ordered by the County Council to be demolished, but the tenant, an old man, appeared before the Council, and told a remarkable story " in stay of execution." He stated that he was 73 years of age, and had lived in the cottage with his wife and three children for 60 years. There had not been a case of illness in the family. His father and mother lived in the cottage before him; his father died at 96 and his mother at 89. His father's wages were 8s * week, and he reared a family of 10 children. He did not think that there could be much wrong with the cottage in face of ; these facts. In reply to the clerk, the old m fallow said that personally he had never had a doctor, and the only time a medical man had been in his cottage was when his little son scalded his leg. Under the exoptional circumstances the Council de- : cided to adjourn the matter for further inmmines to be made,; Sfes.-

A ROY'S SCHOLASTIC SUCCESS. A case deserving of special consideration was recently brought under the attention of the Wellington Education Board by Mr. A. W. Hogg, M.H.R. A fifteen-year-old Masterton boy named Syverston. had shown exceptional ability, having matriculated, passed the junior Civil Service with credit, and had won ■~ senior board scholarship, the latter entitling the boy to two years' tuition at a secondary school, a district high school. or a technical school in addition to £40 ,i year, allowance to a pupil boarding away from home. The headmaster and the School Committee of Masterton, were very anxious that the boy should have the full advantage of the scholarship; and his widowed mother, who was in poor circumstances, was also eager for her hoy's welfare. The boy could not, however, attend the Victoria College till next year, because he was still under age. and the idea was to get the Board to make a simple amendment of the regulations so that the scholarship would be available for two years from next year. The Masterton Trust Lands Trusteescontrolling a valuable educational endowment —was prepared to contribute £25 towards the boy's boarding expenses. He contemplated taking a law course, and at present is employed in a solicitor's office. It was pointed out that Victoria College authorities would not recognise matriculation by a boy under 16 years of age, and other members mentioned difficulties in the way which deterred the member for Masterton from moving tuitber in the.matter. A GHOST DANCE. Americans generally manage to evolve something in the " freak"' line, and another entertainment coining under this category has been held. Mrs. Arthur Brooks, a prominent society woman, wanted to entertain her guests in a really novel style, and gave what she called a "spook patty." a ghost dance, or revel of apparitions, at a leading hotel in .New York. Some of the invited went to the festivity in autohearses, ami upon entering the drawingrooms, filled with weird creatures garbed in white sheets from head to foot, one got the impression that the very graveyards had yawned to furnish uncanny sensations. The favours were sweet little toy skeletons, and death's heads, whose orbits were illuminated by green electric lights, added to the beauty ot the decorations. A Hindu palmist, under a canopy of erossbones, foretold pleasing events beyond the Styx. The climax came at midnight. The lights were dimmed, chains were clanked, tortured fouls in cosy corners shrieked, the ghost dance grew more furious and then the costumes were cast off, and from their wind-ing-sheets emerged lovely women in gay gowns and gallant men in swallow-tails*. As a freak entertainment, Mrs. Brooks' spook party ranks with the Newport function, when a well-known hostess invited a. huge number of people to meet Jacko," the latter being an educated baboon, dressed in evening clothes, which secured fame at the American music halls. Jacko "received" with great dignity, and sat down to supper like everybody else. AN UNRULY SPIRIT. • Quite a Quixotic story is recalled by the news of the death of Mr. Stanbury Eardley, a Birmingham solicitor, who in his younger days was a barrister on the Oxford Circuit. Mr. . Eardley was a man of fine physique and impatient of authority. At an early age he showed his contempt, for laws of which he did not approve by trespassing at Solihull, and then began a crusade against the administrators of justice that led to many lively encounters with magistrates and more than one of the judges. The most remarkable instance of his pugnaicty and dogged determination arose out .of a charge of assaulting his father's coachman, when his violence in the dock led to his being put in irons. To a man who expressed sympathy with him, he retorted, with characteristic vehemence, "Don't pity me, sir, I don't want pity. I take pleasure in fighting for justice. Give the glory to God.'.' . Being sentenced : to four .months' hard labour and removed to .Winson Green Prison, be set the rules at defiance, and refused either to wear prison clothing otto eat. It took the united efforts of nine warders to put the prison garb upon him, and next morning he was found stark naked and more refractory than ever, and the nine warders had to go through the struggle again. After he had fasted six days, food was forcibly injected, but no amount of force would induce him to take exercise in the yard. The case attracted wide interest at the time, and efforts were made to induce the Home Secretary to intervene, but without success. THE PASSING OF WHIST. Lamenting the decaxlence of whist, shunted by its modern rival, bridge, Mr. Edward Dicey mentions two old friends who, in their day, were devotees of the older game. Twenty years ago the card room at the Reform Club was a shrine that attracted a faithful band. Amongst them were men cited by Mr. Dicey—Mr. W. E. Forster and James Payn, both, alack! passed into the silent land where there is expectation of only one trump, and that the last. As Mr. Dicey says, Forster, though an eager player, was a poor one. Payn used to tell a story (not recounted by* Mr. Dicey), in which the Chief Secretary appeared in the rare character of a humorist. Having bungled his way through a critical hand, he looked across at his. silent, but obviously anguished partner, and said: "My dear fellow, if it would be any relief to your feelings you may call me' Buckshot Forster." This, of course, is a reference to the opprobrious name given to the Chief Secretary by the National members in connection with what was designed to be a humanitarian precaution. Instead of riling bullets on armed mobs the constabulary were directed to use buckshot, which might disable, but would not kill. When Payn's painful and fatal illness closed upon 'him with a grip that confined him to his room in far-off Kensington, his old companions at the whist fable of the Reform Club arranged a system of relays whereby twice a week three spent the afternoon "with the sick man. making up a hand of four. There were tears in Pavn's eyes when lie told Mr. H. W. Lucy of this, which he thought one of the tenderest, kindest marks of sympathy that ever occurred to the mind" of man. The General.