WANGANUI WHACKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 3 November 1906, Page 4

WANGANUI WHACKS.

WJio would buy up New Zealand on paper if he only owned a penny postage stamp.— Toko. Who thinks he , is the great commercial Pqobah of the hub of the Universe .—Toko-

There was a great hubbub over the presentation to the accountant of the Bank of N.Z. The swindlecate and their touts rolled up m strong force, and voiced them selves the leading commercial men N of the town. If the question was put •; "All those who have ne.ver required an. overdraft, put up their right hands,- - there would be no right hands. But, to the question : "Those who always require as much overdraft as they can. get, put up their left hands'," they would be all left hands. > A dirty piece of business,, showing such contemptible meanness of spirit and spite, was m not asking the Mayor to be present at this symposium. The BanU of N.Z. is the Council's bank, and the Mayor being our leading citizen, by virtue of his office, should, without doubt, have led the deputation. A silk purse cannot be made out of a sow's ear, and the action of the swindlecate company shows what class they belong to.

The tote regulation may not pass this session, so that the machine and the racing question will be thought out and get a firmer grip of the people by next session of. Parliament. Thal> the first death knell of the tote has been sounded is plain. For my part I think that the tote is as clean as it is possible to be Under the conditions it is worked ; but that it could be cleaner there can be no doubt. The Government should have an- officer having; supreme control of the machine. It has been known that the public have been nnid Ipss dividend than they should have, also, it is a common occurrence <f or stewards, or persons known to the proprietors of the tote, to bet an the nod. This is

purely illegal, and the Jockey Clubs connive at this illegality. This system hits the cash man m more cases than it benefits him. Another serious matter is the holding by the totemen of the money representing unproduced winning tickets. It would astonish your readers to know the nice little sum that has passed into the pockets of thp machine runner. If the Government take 2£ par cent, the Jockey Clubs will want their machines run from i to 1 per cent., which should pay well. At, a two days* meeting about fifteen thousand goes through, so at one per cent, the tote men get too muoh of a cut out of I/he public.

I am told that the profit at the "dog box" for the last hatf-year was about £40. The poor old "dog box" is m a forsaken spirit— members, they say, are leaving ; and walking home with a member who was sorely depressed m spirit over it, I asked him the reason. "Reason," he yelled, "it is all through the damned idiots of committeemen. They want to thrust. down the throats of the members what they like to buy ; not what the members are used to, or asked for ; and they hfvve brought the good old show down to a perilous position and then have the effrontory to safest a rise, m wages for the 'scratchet,' although he gets £75, and deny the other servants a living wage." The writing is/ on the wall. "Haeremai the kick putt" The members have had enough of promises not to stand asam, and they are anxious to know why they do stand— but the boot is ready next time.

When men do not let their right hand know what their left hand doeth' that is charity ; but out W.L.V. Ass. having found a peg to hang their philantrophic impulses on— in a distressing case, and no doubt a deserving one— immediately gave relief to the family, but spoilt the good eggs m their basket by soliciting the morning "wowser's" sympathy. It (the paper) accordingly did so, m the heat' of the moment, and appealed to its readers for assistance. When the cold print was read by their biblepunchinf and bun-eating readers they found that they had put their foot m it, and it would never do for such a pious, hypocritical, and paste-pot rag; to join hands with publicans and sinners •' so they, m the manner that has become chronic with them, admitted that they did not mean what they said, 'and oan't say what they mean But anyway they were riot going to havo the Charitable Aid Board's management auestioned. Of course they never told the public that their championing of the Board's administration was a !?6rt of appreciation of the work doii-e m synopsis of the current magazines by an' individual who has a bee m his bonnett over General Mac Donald, and, there" fore, his great journalistic" abilities might be i'l.cfs.t if there was a y rumpus; It 'is; a. pleasure to know that many willing hands gave speedy help; 1 independent of the ' rhapsodical rag; ■•'

Sir Joe Wand s^ys he ; raiise his little .fliigei. to help* oi^ River Trust, tyanganuites . don't wonder. The Trust was; iilver well adnlinistered ; for years one man's command was law i and tlie'Tfiist itself had to do his "bidding. >Qeiieral dissatisfied ion was repea'tecliy .expressed, througW the iiewspapers', and officially that things were not what they should be. Thk> Government said they had a contract, 'but? '.it waS ft dead letter, no one saw ■ that . the conditions were carried, out. As far as t-he tourist is concerned he dp^s no good 'to the town. What we w^nt is roads; "amd all tne money we can get should v go there, and let the river tip. Our member said he thought that .roads should" be before railways. Well, at our door we want roads a thousand times before the river. The Govern? ment have given Sogan a promise of considering a vote for the Trust— the usual official form of promising tp keep it steadily i»vie,w. Wha.t wey want is not the parrot cry. "My heart bleeps for the settler," but all the money we can get to mcuke roads, so that the settler . has ingE&ss and egress. One settler is worth te^ tourists, and the settlor, as lie mV creases m wealth, increases many other businesses ; but the touiist, at the outside, only two— Bung and the river service. . '

Wanganuites could pick at once all about the Psyche case— how it came before the court. The modus operan-r di was to edge on the police to a certain line of action, and then to raise all kinds of quibbles during the hearing, so as to give the public the idea that great care for fairness and legal acumen were the essential principles. Well, I am sure Aucklanders must feel annoyed ;at being made- the laughing stock of the colony for prudery. It is a wonder that prominent citizens attended as witnesses m such an idiotic prosecution^ Several members of the House have this, opinion.

.Debating Societies are all the go here and some of the contestants think they are Prio-ht, Burke, or O'Connell's m fluency, and become "intoxicated with the exuberance of their own verbosity." The hyphenated had; a go, but his oratory is about the same value as his articles, three farthings a yard. He has noi; the lightness oi a three-cornered puff, and surely he should know something about that.. Ambition will teatf, thetm to seek election and three hundred a year. What oh, she bumps ! Won't it flow 7

Has the Ministry got 'any backbone ? It has not up to the present n-iven the common electors the credit of having a stiff backbone m them. It may be too soon to judge, but" the snailers should, he rounded up and told straight that if they still continue to. bark "and snarl around, an appeal to the country is straight griffin for them. Wouldn't they heel up quickly and lie as obedient as a cattle dog. -\