PASSIM NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13876, 13 April 1907, Page 6

PASSIM NOTES.

I begin t-o fear that my esteemed friend the Minister of Labour is taking himself —and the delegates to the Trades and Labour Councils and the Independent Political Labour League—too seriously. He is losing sight of that " light side of Nature" which is a great statesman's safety-valve. When we find. Mr Millar springing a speech on the slaughtermen's strike i:i the interval of a dance programme it is but friendly to remind iiim of the time-honoured warning as to the results of " all work and no play." To take his pleasures sadly is an old tradition which Englishmen, the world over, feel bound to live up to; but to sandwich' a political speech between the dances of a social is to show a reckless disregard for that finest art of all, the "beauty of fitness,".which is positively pathetic. Even the elderly and toughened heart of a Minister of the Crown should have sympathised with those waiting waltzers! Small wonder that the chairman almost dropped into poetry and platitudes at the close of the unique, interlude, and spoke of "hearing" Mr Millar and "listening to the voice of Labour"—a> subtle yet obvious distinction, That the Minister of Labour has—in conjunction with his coadjutor—been treated ungraciously is, however, undeniable. The sentiment expressed by that, cynical old proverb, " Soft words butter no parsnips," is a dangerous one to go on, even though it may be truer than we like to admit that "gratitude is a fine sense of favours to come."

Day by. day the business of pleasure in the older countries becomes a more exacting science. Such tremendous conditions are required to supply the necessary "tit-up" to jaded appetites that it looks as if nothing short of the amiable distractions of a bull-fight or the gladiatorial combats of. ancient Rome would, ere long, fill the bill for tho amusement of the idle rich. To realise the tenseness of the delicious delirium of danger which is possible, one need only read an account of the race' for the Vanderbilt Clip—the supreme event of the AmericAn motoring world. The mere getting there, in the guise of an ordinary spectator, represented a scries of strange and bizarre experiences, if we may believe the brilliant impressionist illustrations to the article. The ..mile-long line of moving lights on the 'Jericho Turnpike, which "poured in a splendid torrent" down the long slope on the night before the great race, and showed where the cars of intending spectators illumined the darkness, is in itself an almost unrealisable impression. The Long Island racing-course is a 39-mile one, and along its whole extent the automobiles of the sight-seers stood at dawn in troops and squadrons. "It is," says the writer, " a singular panorama of luxury; rampant, flaunting, overwhelming in its significance; forty million dollars' worth, of automobiles assembled in this small bit of Long Island County."

T give the following IctteiS in all its original and engaging modesty :— Dear Civis,—From reading your notes I seo yr.i'i Mro a recognised resolver or a dissolver. ol doubts, enigmas, etc. Now, as you are a, professing Christian I would remind you of a duty that is laid upon you by tfco command of ciirist'3 inspired apostle, who .writes ihußt " Bo ready to give every one that nsketh o[ thee a reason for the hope that is in thee." From past notes, some of which had reference to myself, I know that you hope you are possessed of an " immortal soul." Now will you please give me. mid your readers a reason for this hope that is in you.

From Monday morning to Saturday night a man's doctor and his lawyer are privileged to put him in the witness, box by virtue of the position they occupy towards his personal affairs; on Sunday his parson—entrenched within the pulpit —takes his turn in spiritual matters. All these persons are privileged. The Salvation Army, 100, lias long arrogated to itself a stylo of its own in the matter of pertinent inquiry on questions of spiritual welfare, which, curious as it is, may well be pardoned (as faults much graver, would claim pardon in so splendid an institution). The questionable reverence and undoubted bad taste of the above correspondent's query are best answered by the following dialogue, which I think even he will scarcely fail to apply. The scene was the hall of a newly-opened branch of the Salvation Amy; the personages, a number o! villagers intent on observing the strange methods of!' the young captain and her sub. Touching the shoulder of a weatherworn old woman, the captain demanded in a high, clear tone, "Are you saved? Ilow is your soul ?" There was a pause, broken by the old woman's comfortable rejoinder, pointed by a shrewd smile,- " Well, my dear, that's my' business." Some queries of more general interestthan the .personal convictions of Civis reach me in the following letter What is the origin and 'difference implied , by tile two terms " Kentish m'pn " aud " Men of Kent"? Can you also give mo the derivation and meaning of the slang word " bouser," or should it be " bonza." Inquirer. In reply to the first query, " A man o£ Kent" is a phrase applied" to those born cast of the Medway. These men went out to meet the Conqueror, and obtained in consequence a confirmation of their ancient privileges from the new King. ' They call themselves "the Invicti." "A Kentish man "denotes a resident of West Kent. As to the origin of the slang word " bonser," it is, I lake it, derived from t-lio Spanish "bonanza," which lias been absorbed, through Spanish-America,' an Anglicised equivalent for "best" nr "largest." It had its first world-wide association in connection with the Bon,!iim silver mine, which in tifrn rendered i'.-imoiis the name of the millionaire "Bonanza" Mackay. A note or two from that Exhibition which will all' too soon be a memory of , ihc past reaches me in the letter printed i below. Members of the musical profesj sio;; will read the first portion with the i smile born of understanding. 1 Djar Civis,—Being unablo t° attend the i concert given by the Dur.«lin Philharmonic I:ere, I expected my quota of blossic.; (ro:n the eulogistic report which I surmi?c<l would anpotir in the nwrning paper. Judge my

.dismay on finding the performance chtiracterisocl by ovory bad word and phrase in tlio musieal dictionary. To-day, however, tho matter appeared in a- new light, a friend of mine who was present hazarding the opinion that that report vwa a, theoretical, i.hir.c framed outside tjw concert-,hall; hor grounds tor thinking so being that whilst the report followed closely th 0 lines of a printed programme the concert itself did not. Then I fancied I could understand why audiences which would ha-vo packed the. largest concert - hull in Duncdin—or any other music-loving t town—were ,fo bo found on th e water chuto' in Christohurch. Apropos of nothing: An old 'wcatherboaten Wcstcoaster mads a special pilgnmago to tlio Art Gallery here to inspect Holman Hunt's great picture "The Light of the World." After critically examining it for a considerable time, he walked. ii way, muttering "It's a good painting no 1 doubt, but it isn't a, bit like Dick." Old Dunedinite. Tlio. anecdote "apropos of nothing" ■which my correspondent vouches for, would have seemed less -.far-fetched flattery to honest. " Dick " himself, probably, than to anyone else; his digestion for compliments plain, or with " fixin's," being always of the healthiest. ' Cms.