PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10601, 22 February 1896, Page 2

PASSING NOTES.

Another Dnnedin Onp Day has oome and gone, taking with it "some emotions and a moral." It is a curions and instructive spectacle to watch the pavements surrounding the Grand Hotel during Cap week. Hawks and pigeons abound. Little sharp-faced jockeys 101 l about, straw in month, clad in the tightest of nether garments, while weather-beaten trainers and knowing " bookies " exchange confidences in the most familiar and engaging manner during the intervals of expoctoration. Surely the Cup Day as a public holiday is a thing of the past—an anachronism. I conld well understand how, in the old goldfields days, when trains were not and people seldom travelled, the Cup Day at Dunedin formed a pleasant outing for our conntry cousins, and gave them an opportunity for coaching to the city and there " knocking down " their hard-earned cheques. But nowadays all tbis is changed. Wa all travel up and downthe railway lines as business or pleasure calls us, and we have too maby public holidays instead of. too few. However,'.' Cap Day" is a local institution, and threatens to die very hard. For the " unco quid " there are, temperance .conventions, V.M.C.A. picnics, and other forms of wild dissipation, wnile from the adjoining sandhills tbe penniless punter" can watch the scene of his former gains and losses. To the general public Cup Day is but a day of relaxation, and to the average parson it supplies a theme for his annual disquisition on the evils of gambling.

To me this evergreen subject of gambling is a never-ending mystery. What is gambling ? Where does speculation end and gambling begin 7 These are questions that I have never been able to decide satisfactorily. : No doubt some of my. clerical friends could provide me with answers conclusive enough—to them,—but for me it remains an insoluble problem. Possibly, as an old newspaperman, my conscience has become warped or seared through a long course of journalistic experience. When I observe in one column of my pet paper a long and able leader on tbe evils of racing and gambling, and on turning the page find a still longer account of some local race meeting, wifch the odds and dividends calculated to a sixpence, I simply shrug my shoulders and give the whole thing up. It has always seemed to me, too, that it is, to say the least of it, somewhat inconsistent for the Government to raise some LII.OOO or Ll2,ooo'ayear from the tax. on tho totalisator receipts while prosecuting with the utmost rigour those unfortunate bookmakers who dare to ply their ostracised calling. However, it is not for a humble scribe to dictate to the powers that be. We have driven atfay the consultation men from our shores, and are doing onr best to banish whisky. Possibly in time we may be able to eradicate from onr midst the gambling spirit that is so much abroad in our little community.

The "Bitter Cry" of the children has reached me in the shape of a piece of mnsic entitled " The Children's Lament." The name 'of the writer of the words is modestly' concealed,, bnt the composer of the mnsic is. nakedly unashamed. Nor does he disguise the fact that tbis is not his first offence,'for the cover of the work divulges undated deeds known by the sofnewhat suggestively erotic titles'• By the River" and "My Love." It is, perhaps, my misfortune tbat the credentials referred to are valueless to me, for I must admit, that it has not, .been my good fortune to become acquainted with these productions. And it seems tbat darkness is still to be my lot, • for by one of those inscrutable accidents that seem to lie in wait for the efforts pf genius, a 'fly seems to have meandered over the music while ifc was, still hot from the composer's brain, or wet from the lithographic stone, and destroyed what was doubtless intended to be a succession of magnificent chords. Ido not profess to bave enough musical genins to penetrate the Intention of ths composer. No doabt the printer will be duly called upon to answer tor this among his many sins. When.l: come to tbe words I am on firmer ground. The reader is asked to believe that the teachers

, Bam it iv, cram it in! .Children's heads are hollow. Slam ifc in, jam it in I Still there's more to follow, Hygiene and history, Astronomic mystery, '_ Algebra, histology, Latin etymology, • Botany, geometry, Greek and trigonometry-* Cram ifc in I Children's beads are hollow.

And after two more verses 'to the same effect, enumerating a number of subjects never mentioned in daily life, we are told that the teachers have (accelerando) —

Bammed it in, jammed it in ! And iaffrettando) -

Crunched it in, punched ifc in, Bubbed it in, clubbed it in, Pressed it in, caressed ifc in, Bspped it in, slapped it in, AVhen their heads were hollow, With a refrain (dolente)

When their heads were hollow. v l do urifeignedly plead gnllty to a feeling of sympathy with children when put on the examination rack, bnt I would rather bear tbe stings of an inspector's conecienca than plead guilty to' an ; atrocity like "The" Children's Lament."

I am sorry to observe that the recent Medical Congress seems to have left a slight tracd of bitterness behind it. ' It/appears that (unknown to ■ " Civis ") snobbsry was rampant during the .congress week, and some of our local,, scribes are angry , jvith Dr Batch.lor and the'other celebrities who took a prominent part in entertaining:our, recent visitors. Now, I think this is scarcely fair. If a citizen chooses to put himself to a vast deal of trouble and expense in entertaining his neighbonrs and visitors, surely he'shonld not be dabbed a snob because he is found blowing his own trumpet ever so'little at the conclusion of a snocessful week's entertainments. I have no personal feeling in the matter. For me dances bave no charm. Even choice' Suppers are not appreciated as they used to be, and;the dulcet tones of the Hon. Mr Seddon and of Dr Springtborpe do not appfeal to me as perhaps they ought to do.. But I can appreciate the .kindly efforts of other men, medical or not, to make the stay of their guests in our fair city as enjoyable as possible, and I think it quite pardonable in, them .to; indulge in a little judicious "Wow" at the finish. Possibly "A.R.8." and his friends were, like myself, left out of the list of those invited to some of the various "functions" of the congress week. I would advise " A. B. B." to read tbo "Snob Papers " once again, and to cultivate a more philosophical and perhaps less snobbish frame of mind.

Mr H. S. Fish is simply irrepressible. He is no longer in Parliament. He has ceased to occupy the mayoral chair. , No more is he the chosen friend of publicans and sinners. But still we find him " bobbing np serenely" in all sorts of odd corners—among all and conditions of men—and frequently talking good sound common sense in a voice neither still nor small, with a cheerful disregard of the feelings of those around him. The Free Public Library movement for the present has ceased to interest him. As tbe butterfly flits from flower to flower, so flits our ex-mayor from subject to subject of contemplation and discussion. After doing bis best to checkmate ■ the tactics of Mr Downie Stewart and bis follow " guineapigs " on the board of' directors of tbe Westport Coal Company, tho redoubtable Fish turned np smiling at the Good Templars Convention, and took an active part in discussing with bis usual freedom and vigour Bro. R. N. Adams's paper on " The Principles of Good Templary." I fear that Bro. Fish is not thorough-going enough for the "truebine" Good Templar. In fact, by his criticism he roused the ire of the learned chairman so far as to irripel him to declare from the chair that Bro. Fish did not understand the English language. The bone of contention was prohibition. Bro. B. N. Adams, it appears, contends tbat prohibition is a plank of the platform of Good Templary, while Bro. Fish maintains. tbat, it is not, and that it ought to be a matter of individual opinion. Bro. Adams is in favour of the whole hog, for "while they did not prohibit their members from nsing alcohol medicinally, they required that no one shonld be the judge of his own medicine in this case, and, even when prescribed by a medical adviser, a member's lodge had a right to determine whether alcohol taken in this way did not constitute a violation of the pbligation of total abstinence."

Bro. Adams, ifc will be observed, is for prohibition even to the extent of challenging a doctor's ~ prescription, fearing, no doubt,that .doctors who hold the opinion of Dr Stenhouse may prescribe a little alcohol ad lib. Perhaps this uncompromising attitude is not surprising in Mr Adams, and I shonld not have referred to it at all, well knowing the futility of aigament in such uncompromising company, were it not for what followed and fell from Bro. Fish. Bro. Fish, it seems, favours prohibition, but thinks it undesirable to rush like a bull at a gate, and coercively force the prohibitionists' ideas upoaothers. -He was proceeding in this strain when he was abruptly called to order by the chairman, who, it may be remarked, was Mr Adams himself, and told that if he raised the question of prohibition in connection with Good Templary he did not ; understand the English language. Now, ttiis Was far too'sweeping. If Mr Adams had qualified his remark by adding " as she is spoke by Mr Adams," the rabuke -would easily have been understood. Mr Pish has never laid .claim to tho benefit of a liberaL education,, and to expeot one so unassuming; to disentangle Bro. Adams'* sentences was to go beyond the limits of even fraternal forbearance. • I do not belong to any branch of the Thirteen Club, and consequently do not willingly court death by passing under ladders. I therefore go.round them, and have frequently of late narrowly escaped death or a devastating 'deluge of paint from ladder's bearing the legend "H. S. Fish," and reared against the exterior of hotels undergoing renovation. To expect Mr Fish to appreciate fche advantages -of prohibition under such circumstances is worse than futile—it is criminally foolish; and if Mr Adams were even to couch his arguments in English I shonld doubt their efficacy, taking the premises into consideration.

Was it not Sir Walter Raleigh who gave up in despair tha task of writing a history of the world, becanse he was unable to learn the facts about an altercation that had occurred under his prison window J The difficulty 'which Raleigh experienced is repeated every day, and- hence it is not surprising thafc the gentlemen whose daily task it is to procure and purvey to us information about the incidents that appear on the bill of fare in the newspapers wear a harassed and jaded look, as if they despaired of finding truth. These gentlemen are entitled to onr sympathy. They have to contend against an armed host, including ignorance, indifference, and self interest. It seems impossible to gain a plain and unvarnished account of anything. For instance, the other day a misfortune met a bather in the St. Clair baths. It was said that he took a fit. The account then proceeded to state with the usual minute circumstantiality how he: was rescued, by whom the feat waS performed, and su on until the point was reached at which the man happily recovered. It is, therefore, disappointing, though not surprising, to find that a " Looker-on '7 comes forward and states that the acconnc is " slightly" incorrect. By "slightly" he means that' it is incorrect to the extent of awarding the praise for the rescue to the wrong persons. I should not call this "slightly" incorrect, biit totally so. Tbis is not an isolated case, and the prevalence of the habit of inaccuracy offers an inviting field for the exertions of a reforming educationist. Teachers should be encouraged, and, if necessary, tanght, to teach their pupils the art of succinctly and correctly describing an occurrence.. Think what a blessing the prevalence of such an art would confer. St. would reduce tho number of lawsnits immeasurably. It would totally prevent the propagation' of scandal and lead to neighbourly peace. Just reflect for a moment how easily tha Waiareka case conld have been settled if it had bsen possible-to obtain an absolutely unquestionable account at the outset of what really did happen. When I reflect upon the magnitude of the- benefit that^would be conferred by the spread'of the art of accuracy, I am sorry I did not write this note a month ago for,the special benefit of the candidates for seats on the Education Board, Perhaps it is not yet too late. Civis.