ROUND THE CORNERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 915, 13 September 1889, Page 17

ROUND THE CORNERS.

There is another tjueer case before the- puhltir that revives th,e doubtfulness so often expressed in the jurg system. This was a coroner’s jury, and the body sat upon that of an infant supposed to have met with foul play. A certain. j»pdical man declared he had been advised note to attend the confinement because the child was* not to be allowed to live. The nurse the ehild would not live from the fir sit. and! found it dead on the mother’s arm. No preparations in the way of clothing had been madefor the baby, which savoured of a foregone conclusion, and the mother being, spoken to om the subject replied, ‘ Nevea mind, you camthrow it outside.’ And yet the coroner did note detect anything suspicious about the affair andt the jury found accordingly ! Now what doeeit all mqan T> Did the man who disseminated 1 the. news by- telegram make a. mess- off it or" were, the coroner and jury beside themselves Z Nothing suspicious quotha ! Seems to me tober particularly queer. And moreover, what ani odd remark of the doctor !. He found, the child healthy and strong,, though inanimate l Iff

inanimate, where the health and strength ? I supposed he meant well developed physically.

This is the age of books, pamphlets, and brochures. Should imagine from the flood of them that every man’s enemy had written one on the other. There are works upon every imaginable subject under heaven but one, and that is New Zealand finance. Plenty of works on finance, but not one that I know of on the finance peculiar to this Colony. If there is such a thing I shall be delighted to give it a blushing notice if the author will send it along. If there is not such a work why does not somebody write one ? What a boom a really explicit untechnical work of the kind would be to M.H.R.’s and editors of newspapers ! Both of these species homo profess to know all about it, but bless you, they are only * bluffing ’ when they say that. There is only one man among the 690,000 of us who really does understand the ins and outs of the blessed thing, and that is ‘ Sir ’Arry.’ And small credit to him say I, for didn’t he and Vogel build it all up? They were the architects of the wonderful and excruciatingly ingenious financial system of New Zealand. And people have got so used to one man piloting the financial ship that they cease to interest themselves about it and, year by year, the public know less and less about it and apparently care less. And yet it ought to be an interesting subject if plainly put. But is it possible to put it plainly ? Has it not become too involved for simplification even by the great magician himself? However, some one might try. By the way, talking of the Great Magician, some of the ‘ bhoys ’ have the proroundestfaithinhim. ‘Say, Bill.’saidoneto the other; ' who’ll get Hislop’s billet, who d’ye think Sir ’Arry ’ll choose.’ * Choose, ’ growled the other in scornful accents, ‘ why take it hisself to be sure. It’s a one horse show, anyhow, and he can run the whole bloomin’ affair without much trouble, you see.’ And with thi3 oracular flourish he winked and went his way.

While on the question of books, let me accord a meed of unqualified praise to a most delightful narrative of travel by our much-esteemed fellow-townsman, W. T. L. Travers. He went to the Old Country via the States, and on his return published an account of his trip from New Zealand to Lake Michigan. As a rule, narratives of travel are nauseating, there is so many of ’em, and they are all mere or less trite. But W.T.L.T. has avoided the beaten path and stilted style, and, although he has passed over well-trodden ground, he has dressed up old facts in a most attractive garb, and has combined amusement with a whole mountain of instruction. Since reading his book I know more about Honolulu and the Western States of America than I ever did before. His graphic

descriptions, not a little of which he has borrowed from authors who have preceded him in the work, bring the various - districts and routes quite vividly before one. He commences with the very early days of California and sketches the progress of settlement with a free hand right down to the present day. The book is scholarly written as well; the master hand is apparent all through it. Bead it, everybody, especially you youngsters.

It may be Parliamentary tactics. I suppose precedent can be advanced for anything that takes place within the four walls of the House of Kepresentatives now-a-days, and that’s not saying much in favour of politics. But I don’t think anything, more contemptible needed a precedent to justify it than that miserable at. tempt made to pick the Ministry to pieces. Hislop had been disposed of, and then the pack of Opposition wolves thought they’d try and pull down Fergus, who seemed to be the weakling of the Ministerial flock. The good mastiff at the head of it was, however, one too many for them. Such tactics may suit a sort of politicians, but they are not the tactics of gentlemen or good fighting men. ’Twasn’t a creditable exhibition.

Well done, Victorian Government. You have emphatically pronounced against Sunday newspapers. Stick to that through thick and thin, and if you would only introduce the pillory as a punishment, or say flaying alive, for any attempt to mutilate the day of rest by publishing on it, you would confer a still greater benefit upon suffering humanity. I can imagine nothing so detestable as a Sunday paper. What a blessed relief it is to be free one morning every week from the agony of looking under the front door, or round the corner, or at the bottom of the garden, or down the street to see someone walking off with your pennyworth. Free to yawn and stretch ones-self and go out in the sun, or poke among the fl ovver beds, or have a chat with the chickens; hut, at any any rate, to feel there isn’t any brain work to be done. Ah, me, bar Sunday newspapers, good Mr and Mrs Public, don’t have anything to do with them.

Well, I suppose we have heard the last of the Chemis case now. A fitting wind up to it was the pitched battle between opposing counsel. Anri what further light has beeu thrown upon the mystery by the evidence in the perjury case does not by any means strengthen the position of the emotional advocates of *ha innocence of, and the wrong done tc, the party whom justice has placed in safe (keeping. Yes, Mr Crown Prosecutor, there were a few mares’ nests discovered. And what H want to know is, who planted that knife and shot pouch among the watercress ? Well, until the police ' nobble ’ a more deserving individual I shall maintain that the man in custody is very much better than nobody. Assiodeus.