THE PEACE OF ASIA.

NZ Truth, Issue 340, 30 December 1911, Page 5

THE PEACE OF ASIA.

I SHIK DIN'S MA-IN-LAW. | Confusion m a Coffee-colored I Chap's Chateau. I Dia m the House oJ Din. 1 'A versifier named Ivipling, who I took the hint from the genuine poet,£ once commented upon the disincline- f tion of East and West to pLay m I the same back yard, and the jingling j jingo was doubtless influenced in| his opinion by the mother-in-law as-;] "pect of piebald unions. In Christchurch a coffee-colored Asiatic bear- ] .ing the suggestive moniker of .Shik'Din married into a white family and: might have been happy ever after-; wards were it not for the terrible fe^ male whom his missus called mother. Din, who doesn't Shik, from all accounts, appeai-s to have taken a l^ handsomely-furnished place, and ig-j horant pf the fact; that it was l,oaded? invited niother-in-law and his wife's i sister to board with his family on :i payment of lOs'per week each. Th a t | ■Was - : : '"■ ■ •■' . . ' ■■■■ ', „ I ■ THE END OF ASIA'S PEACE J of, mind, for a week later an aston-lj ishingly eloquent elderly female i .named Elizabeth Olsen was charg- 1 ing him with assault, .and took \ full possession of the court for the I time, being. The family ..moved bpdi- | ly m, there being a child m arms and J another Din infant m a magnificent I perambulator, furbished m whitb and | gold with cream silk' 'trimmings and I decorations. Prosperity enveloped | the tribe . Din himself was got up re- I gardless of expense. , j When Elizabeth made her appear- j ance she was seen to be- a well-dress- f red, female, wearing, gold-rimmed I pince-nez and an exasperated * expres- ] sion . She couldn't get oft the mark f quick' enough and. recited her -wrongs j at jbhe- rate 'of forty to the dozen, to | the utter bewilderment of the court. J .-^Kes ;. 'he thumped, her when she was | .going to have some tea. She went -4 there' against her will and they paid | UOs in.' advance. ' 'She didn't want to | :go, 'because she knew what - I ■■31 7A' WICKED-MINDED, :' : |. vile, bad- beast : he was. He /expect- | ed her to -w&rk,* even to carrying v the £ -meat, after paying him 10s, and not 4 ia. cauliflower m the plac.e could she' $ pick -without his having, his dirty, :| -black- fingers on it. ! And him all 'the | while making spprt of his wife .for all | the world to look at.-- He locked || Elizabeth, out ;at nig-ht and wouldn't t-j :ilet' her have any tea, notwithstand- I ing her a-os. ..And the brute struck )j "Her.' He wanted Elizabeth to kiss | Iris feet. Ho said he could do it vfith if i'all. the w,omen.' on the peninsula. She £ didn't want t,o kiss his § i"foots ! ,"< as he called them. She » ftWouldn J t kiss his -black, ..ugly face. 4 The orderly m vain ti'ied t,q stifle yl rthe hilarity m court. | Hunt (for Din) remai-ked m | "tones of commiseration that this was 1 tne dark' gentleman's mother-in-law. A \ Counsel : ; Where's your husband ?— 1 ■He's not staying ..with me. V k . The lady sprinted, verbally for. 4 several hundred yards on ' . I :'"■ . THE SUBJECT OF HER | HUSBAND ■" " J iYou were always pulling your hus- j .found up to- court at Lyttelton. ? — Jfor^i Hpw -many .times did you have him =| »up ? — Not half as many times as I | ought to have. (Three chapters of '.£; private history swiftly recounted here.) >i Didn't they take your children from %. you;? — They stole my little cho-ild. ;■% Din promised to got it back, "au«i- I paid him 10s m advance. ■•V;' 1 ". V Wlien he could get a word . m edge- h ways, Mr Hunt said that •. EAizaLeth .M had been placet! under restraint be- % "fore: ■ '■";[" , . S Elizabeth": Yes, thanks to a drunk- g 'en .husband. ,. j | "Counsel remarked that m ■, ■" - J THE HABITATION OF DIN-, ' j the lady . had armed hersel f with si | breatl knife and dinner knife.. • 1 Elizabeth was still holding forth % without pause. • - | Counsel .said that Din and , his wife \ were compelled to go up and ; see i 'Magistrate Bishop 'about her. . , | ' Magistrate Bailey : They came up ."?, ■to 1 - my ■■ house, .'too, but I was out. ;} Elizabeth,: He didn't tell you that "j he camp. : iip\ with, a jap tor ear and | 'tried to iiget tier away:' , ( * The oi'derly : Silence: . Elizabeth : My other daughter— . His W.orship : Stand down. ; Elizabeth proceeded imolbas'ned, and was removed, .still yapping, from, the I witness box. She talked m \ .THEFOPY OF THE OOTTRT. v and made remarks while Din gave his ; evidence. . . i Tiangi's -co.urii.i-yma'n 'acknowledged :. sadly, that Dlizn,taet> was,, his moth- | • er-in-law . a.n-i it was inie'he hnrl :> taken her m, but gave her notice 'o d Quit before' work had expired. . She '■'] Avouldn't g-o. He objected to her' and ; ] "lier unmarried daughter coming: mat ;| 13 and 12 o'clock at night. d I ■ .Elizebetlr here interrupted the pvn^ :"( ccedings m shrill accents. 3 Accoi'ding- to Shik the lady went to ? i market two nights previously and I 1 tliTeatened ' him with a knife. He j -took it from her but didn't a'ssaiilt liox\ . He never hit a woman. "T^ook at this," he remarked, '' an.o this," '• pointing' to imperceptiDle marks, on the iback of his, hand and m the vicinity of his right eye. Asia decided that ■it was ; NO. PLACE FOR HIM, ... and with some of his family interI viewed ;the police, and moved on to the dwellings of the magistrates. Elizabeth was called upori to- ask "•questions . arid eagerly seized the op- ., vortunity , , infl icteel an in cohoren t length of chin music on the court. !>She hurled reproaches r>nd defiance .at Din, whose eyes biased, n ml. breaking, forth into remarks delivered with ■Oriental fire and rapidity he nearly [succeeded m talking Elizabeth down. P A weary 'magistrate dismissed the ['information. Elizabeth still talkinir [the while, and when the. nowe was 'communicated to her by the orderly 'she made appalling observation.'; doj rog-atory to the future peace of Shik [Din. , " :V -- : -