SHOTOVER BILL.

NZ Truth, Issue 62, 25 August 1906, Page 5

SHOTOVER BILL.

I ■ '. ■ (For "Truth.") ■■■";___ Not a friend could he see as he stoo<?. at the Bar, v For Dick was m Heaven and Joe was afar ; \ , And the old man had been on a bit ol

a spree, His- brains were like those of __ chim«

panzee, A Maori hen,..or a bush J.P., And he gazed on the Bench -with an mi ward qua,ke, l , ' ' ■For liberty, fortune and fame were a$ stake. s ;

"What- is- he charged 'with ?" "Break-. ing the peace ;. Disorderly drunk and\ resisting th^'v pieeee. /_. ''Al larrikin . playfully knocked .off >hr hat, -- . And he: up with his>-_ticlc and he wood-* ened .him- flat. v — -m- ,— For a man of his* years he'srll vet^ bad lot, And I hope that your worship will - give it him hot."

"A pensioner ?" "Yes,- sir, and rain ty at that— A couple of drinks and he sings like a cat ;

He's seen better days im his. time, iii appears, But his coat is m rents; and his} rent's m arrears." "Any former conviction^-!?' ~"Well*

none that we know ; But he's been- m the district a lon# time ago. ; That scar on-* his cheek was a. shot iii the jaw ;. ' They say. he was here at the tinie o^ the war. He came to the place with- that tur-* bulent breed '

That* followed the footsteps^ of Gabriel Reed. An expense to the State when ha ought* to b 3 dead ;

I'd give him a month, sir ? come* hold up your head ! 'Twill look better, perhaps, when it'&\ decently .cropped, And his pension, your worship, hadf better' be stopped."

"Now, prisoner, stand- up ancfr answel! the charge ; Any reason to state why. you> should! be at large; Debauching yourself at the country* expense ? That can't be allowed under* any, pre-* tence ! ■ . .

Your pension half gone for. the beea that you've mopped ■! The officer says that it ought to bete stopped." The old man stood up and he shoos his grey mane, And he glared on the Bench' with aj look of disdain ;

"Your worship, for forty long years* and the rest, I've battled the Pig Islands, doing my best. Their forests I've rifled, their gorged I've mined ;, Till through age and through hard-* ship my vigor declined. ' If that Government pension that' 9 granted to me In the light of a hard life's compass sionate fee ; With its puerile conditions, and mea-* gre and bare, Depends on the nod of that meair flunkey there, These hands cannot touch it— Ttt rather to quod, Or starve m the gutter, so help m* my Godl Let others crawl down on their knee 3 if they will, You won't find a smoodgei In Shot' over Bill !"

• • ■* <r ■#■ v " Outrageous !■ Insulting ! You'va played your last card ! Your pension is stopped, sir, and taka one month's hard. JACK VINCENT, i