LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14888, 13 January 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MSBCUTIO.

I* l«t! There " to be a February Partvgmfist, in which sir Joseph Ward has << assurances" that ho will command a majority, and in which Mr. Massey is mjfc comfortably positive that tho Government will have a very short shrift. If Ifomises count for anything hero can be no doubt whatever as to the result of the first Parliamentary division on a want of onfidence motion, but the Ministerial view f political promise* is naturally somel hat different- from that of an unsophisticated citizen like tho member for Franklin. The Government has so generally regarded promises aa so much pie-crust that, it can hardly conceive of over 40 men not breaking a definite political pledge between them. Mr. Massey, on the other hand, takes a promise seriously, and as over 40 members havo been elected who have openly pledged themselves to put the Government out, lie takes tho issue as preordained. time will show which view of the political promise is sound.

,! Personally, I am hopeful that tho time ;'■ is at hand when a politician's word will again have value, and when an official promise will be as good as the " yea" or I "nay," of an honest man. It says something for our national truth-telling and for th» character of the old-time politicians ! whom it has become customary in certain 'circles to denounce as though they were fiends in human form—that tho confiding public could be deceived and humbugged for so many years by the more recent tariety of politician, who promised anything he thought would please, and made pledges which he had no intention of keep- .", fug, It may be rather difficult for Beform Ministers to get the multitude accustomed to the fact "that you can't possibly promise as much when you mean to keep your word as when you don't; but it ought to bo possible. For the multitude visibly treated the mass of official promises offered during the general elections as only fit to go to the destructor, and should, therefore, be in the mood to make a ■',{ j shrewder estimate of political promises.

... Speaking of administrative difficulties jeminds me that many will be speedily settled, iacluding Mr. T. Mackenzie's worries over Hanmer Springs, and Mr. Millar's sleepless nights wondering how to light the Three Kings without spending any money in the North. In another six ■ waeks every Minister ought to be free to take an unofficial trip to any part of the world, leaving sill his political troubles behind him.

Apropos of politics, a correspondent writes to me urging that both "the prohibition and liquor crowds should be given ■ 60S yeais' hard for disturbing the peace." Aaiaig other things he says: >*ow, tlie driveni of the voter waggon army i- ',•»(» nominally ouli laiib Nov amber to chase off i ■' she earth any candidate who didn't support bare . »*jMity irrespective of his political creed. Yet , 1 they worked tooth ami nail in every tine for the . . Ward candidate, and cam leading prohibition light mi to Waitemata to' work against the Reform }«mlaee, who is a bare majority advocate, and • lot the Ward nominee., who isn't. At the second :'. : ballot and after, the electors of Grey Lynn were told that the "trade" were running Payne. fat Fayns wa» and it » bare- majority advocate. in ex-Minister ascribed his defeat to a Heformliquor coalition, which ha described as " simply ■ iofdy." What he meant I don't know, but I ,60 know that hi* opponent wasn't reform and ** prohibition!*!, And likewise I know there ate at least two brewers in, Parliament, and they are 'en ll» aide the ex-Mlniater was on. Now, I want OHftto know how the "trade" and the water waggon people sink their apparently deadly hatred and * barrack" for a defeated Govemmen*, join- -, hi in fee itratuai ehorwi <* By and By," Which in ■ latin is Tiilioa. Then this interesting proposition ; , amiss in, - —ln Auckland. Central a prohibitionist candidate was standing. Did. he receive an ounce at ifippart from the prohibition leaders? Now Mme sharpen my axe for the other, crowd. If pink ribbon millinery went out of season after too flirt ballot, why didn't the pink motor-ears Main in the garage for the secondf Now, the i pink brifode went out on the warpath for the | "By and By" party's candidate*, as also did '•■■' th» blue ribbon army. la this a Liquor-Prohibi- I , ■* fa coalition? ■ ' ..." ;..«...,.,... -

, I It was recently predicted by on© of the [ ; tatwJogical seers, who read tie* future in i the leavens and tell you all about it for , mtiii rtiotal, that the year 1913 would be • 'disastrous for Germany, bringing her great troubles. A respected Auckland citizen, whoso memory carries him back to the middle of last century, gives me some .-flccalt figuring in reference to the above, '' which will make many wonder whether there may not be something in the abracadabras alter all. Her© it is :—" In 1849, wr.ra the then King William of Prussia re-entered Berlin after the troubles of the ' '43, which shook the Prussian throne, a ; gypsy woman in the crowd shouted to aim, " Hoch! Kaiser!" with other words |||aot understood. Now, if you add to 1849 . the separated figures 1, 8, 4, 9, you obtain i 1871, in which year the same King William of Prussia was crowned German Emperor at conquered Versailles. Again, if yon add to 1871 the separated figures 1, 8, 7,1, you obtain 1888, in which year the first Emperor William died, and his grandsen, the present Emperor William, suc- ' ceeded to the throne, * Frederick William, the second Emperor, only reigning for a few weeks. And yet again, if you add to 1888 the separated figures 1, 8, 8, 8 you obtain 1913, the year now announced as pregnant with troubles for the German Kaiser. We are told that prophecies fulfil themselves. Does this explanation apply j-.wfigures also?"

iA friend of mine, who has heard and wen various interpreters of Shakespere's ■play*,* wishes to know who first set the I particular form of enunciation which seems | , nwparablo from the great man's expon- [ as. He recognises that there is a cerh tain set form »f expression in various I i]| ,PIH " m parliamentary addresses, in de. : wing contents, an even in plain com- :' i ttttcial auctioneering; but why, ho asks, ~ should Shakesperean actors all rant and • i Oouth in a certain special manner? He -J* 8 heard a Scotch Shylock who would . ' f ha* his pun' o' flesch"; he has listened «* Down-east American Wolseys and Richards; but no matter what accent or 'Ojaiect they had they always ranted and pithed in much the same way. This 38 *>, marked, he declares, that even jwwgpners have acquired it, and that, Ifi °°$i. ""acquainted with either the owedish language or the German, he has . >gnise< * Shakesperean recitations in «K»e tongues just by the form of tone-t»fi-!l used. Ho avers that he could 1 :£» Hie Anglican sermon tone in Dutch, out he could swear to the Shakesperean tone even in Yiddish.

'■'•''' 2*»i W lum ' B " comments upon New *«aiand manners and climate do not meet ™» approval of "Another New Chum," V ™ writes to me:—" Correspondents liko ;;-.ffjw New Chum' should have died when "Jtf were teething. What use are they „]/ Wa^- T *. am a new chum, six months I ' tliiio a live m * no same house with ' '; *w others, and I have seen quite a lot ■ «x moro in this city, and so far as i ■ tfutK experienco goes there isa ' l a word of 8 »v« i ' iat your waster correspondent t& * Bay 'waster' because I can't than +1? * a i ny other reason *°r his tirade «o'»i A e' 3 one 0i those whom we are dilf., , to fir ° out from England. If I he i t low P rett >' well what sort of duffer ' Ufa? t * oulcl be ? him to go bock by the jg'Mrti but there are about a million ' 'N 6 w^ ny , o£ , llim tliere already, and you ittle aland er3 do manage to knock a :We f* 18 ? ? to him in time, oven if you KverVV i° sometimes with a mallet. t &a J »? y , lias been decent to us since we ■ . to it" Itf business takes mo right through iUitfL uff ' and folks in m trade were ' i'WL 4 « 1 " 01 ' 0 civil than the y would have ||S V fome. If the weather lately has ; 'Wife HJt wad liko an English summer ! VoJ- • /**• ei S h t weeks in the middle of -, ad^T nten Believe mo I would be the ill t to?: ma in Auckland if I heard that ■ C» jo back to England to live any i , iflwP =» would any of the ten folks I Jtoi.ll . I su Ppose he wasn't pulling