A TALE OF TWO TILES.

NZ Truth, Issue 135, 18 January 1908, Page 6

A TALE OF TWO TILES.

"W,HERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT?" The interesting subject of hats is occupying the attention of Tom Wilford, who takes the same size m roofs as the late lamented William Ewart Gladstone. The Hutt's versatile representative has ,t startled the Dominion by appearing m public m a white hard hat, not of the "tile" va^ riety affected by Vigor Brown, of Napier, but a real snow^hued hard-hit-ter. The fashion has been set by King Ned, who rAigiht be a really useful personage to society if he came out here and abolished black-cloth and sundries now worn beneath the rays of a semi-tropical sun. Royalty wore the white head-gear mentioned iri\some swagger public place like Ascot, Epsom, or Whitechapel, and his accommodating subjects are following the lead with enthusiasm. His original Mtejesty has sworn to kill the black egg-boiler, and substitute the white ditto for three reasons (1) Because the white eady can he kept clean ; (2 ) because it is less expensive ; (3) -because it is lighter. Wilford 's unexampled Was ac« tually made by the K4ng's hatter for Ned VII-up, and for that reason it staggers under a sentirrfental worth m marked disproportion to its intrinsic value. In the hands of an unscrupulous,, unprofessional person, the sin-' gular bun might be placed m a glass case and a charge made to inspect it, with highly satisfactory financial results, i . A halo of romance, surrounds Barrister Wilford's possession of a green beaver hat, which is girdled with green ribbon, the ends of which tail out behind when the gentle breezes blow. This unusual brain .cover was obtained -jfrom the hatter 'of the Seventh Edward by Charlie Kennedy, of Far ietf, who combines the dual professions of surveyor and solicitor, and WAS PRESENTED TO JIMMY CARROLL by the globe-trotter. The Native Minister didn't have the moral courage to wear the extraordinary thing, and meeting Tom Wilford m/ Auckland he offered to give it to him if he would wear it. In the opinion of this appreciative newspaper, Wilford would tweak the nose of the Governor if anybody dared him to do it, and Carroll set him an easy -one wthen he c s r 'ed him to attend the sale of yearlings at F-apakura m the verdant beaver. Wilford would have worn a surplice for a side bet, for that mutter. ' The consciousness that one is wearing a king's potae is refreshing to the sensibilities ; therefore, consider the horror and mortification of wilful Wilford when he dropped across Teddy O'Rourke, some time amateur rider and popular sport, just out from, 'Ome and garbed m the latest from Bond-street, and, moreover, wearing a green beaver apparently identical with the costly and unique iid on the generous thinker of Thomas! A near inspection of the rival attraction, however, demonstrated -that it didn't bear the impress of Royalty and was a base imitation of the real thing. It's a pity Parliament isn't sitting ; otherwise, what a sensation the honorable member for the Hutt would create with his conspicuous tile m the august Chamber. . -. j