PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18050, 25 September 1920, Page 4

PASSING NOTES.

Tho manner in -which City Councils of different cities conduct their deliberations varies according to the city. This wo have always known. But tho worthy oxMayor who has just returned from a visit to Australia suggests other reasons for tho variation. He says : The Lonl Mayor at tho Molboumo City Coujieil enforocd preater discipline on the council than prevailed in Dunedin. In Sydney, however, tho very opposite state of affairs was notiooablo, councillors tackling «ieh other conversationally in great stylo. Tho implication probably is that tho methods of the Dunedin City Council represent tho golden mean between the rigid discipline of tho Melbourne Council and tho " great conversational stylo of Sydney." According to newspaper reports, however, tho allegedly "great style" m •which the Sydney councillors tackle one another must surely bo superior to tho lame, schoolgirlish e'tyle of gibo and retort prevalent in the Dunedin"" body. Tho special meeting of the Dunedin City Council held on Tuesday last to discuss the Citv water supply showed that even such a chill subject as cold water lias the power to work men up to ebullitions of temper and talkativeness: Councillor A. said that he had moved his amendment to obviate the difficulty whxh had arisen. Councillor B.: Yes. after you got a whisper from th 0 chairman of the committee. Councillor A. asked that Cr B. should • withdraw his statement. Councillor B. said he would withdraw. Ho might, however, say something more if Cr A. was not careful. And a moment later: Councillor B. made an interjection which prompted Cr C. to retort "that Cr B. should be quiet—he was yapping tho whole time."—(Laughter.) •The amendment (Cr C's.) was not carried. Cγ C.: lam quite satisfied. I did not think jt had a chance. . B-: x Now y ou ' r e sure of it.— (Laughter.) Which is further proof tha,t much mischief in the world is done by want of a habit of reticence, and that some men would be more forcible if they resisted the temptation to speak.

The same remark applies to tie argumentative methods of the South Otao-o contingent at Tuesday's joint meeting mi the subject of "Hospital Separation. 1 ' ine bouth Otago case was certainly stronger on the day before than on the day after. According to tho Chairman of the South Otago Hospital Committee, "the Utago Hospital Board is dominated bv old ladies of both sexes" ; "the Dunedin "Hospital js only a bog-hole, rotten with microbes, and the whole thing should bo scrapped "; " some of the Board should also be scrapped." Verily, as Dryden Men are but children of a larger growth. ° Another speaker—from Milton—had expert ideas on the progress of medical science, and correspondingly expert notions on the way in which the proposed South Ota»o Hospital should be run : . He believed that new methods of curJng should bo introduced. Had thev over considered the power of mind over matter, for instance? He would underwnwT° a ., llumbOr ? f ,.P e °P ls Mnwdf vitliout the aid of specialists. To this speaker wo may apply what Byron wrote of a much more famous man : When Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter," and. proved it tvnis no matter what he said. Or, in the words of Lowell, " The mind can weave itself warmly into the cocoon of its own thoughts, and dwell a hermit anywhere. As long as Milton possesses this mental healer, this power-of-mind over-rnatter-without-the-aid-of - specialists specialist, there does not seem to be much need for a Sou,th Otago Hospital

Between the rival cities of London and Kaitangata a contest is raging. For the moment victory rests with Kaitangata According to a cable message of a°fow weeks ago. Professor Kemp of London had established a new record in piano-playing by playing for 110 hours without intermission. Not to be outdone by London ivartangata, alone among the cities of the Empire, at once took up the challenge and this week we have the result: ' ti °(- U vt Kaitan^at a correspondent writes tnatilr——,the piano player, who commenced playing at 9.45 on Tuesdav last finished the task at midnight on 'Saturday, thus establishing a new world's record of 110 hours 15 minutes. Much interest was taken locally in Mr 's eilort, and as midnight approached tho hall was densely packed with a most cntnusiastio cheering crowd. It is to be hoped that London papers will duly copy. The victory of Kaitangata wm b ,° ™ ore complete if the incidental detail of Professor Kemp's takings for the occasion—£lo,ooo—were exceeded This detail is tho only factor which, to mv mind, would enliven the yawning futility of the whole proceeding. It i s evident that both m London and in Kaitangata there live some people whose time hanss heavy on their hands. Such forms of sport seem inherent in human nature—at certain stages. The small boy brags about his ability to bounce his ball more often or stand on one leg for a longer time, than Billy Jones next door. A small boy also might-take a pride in the mimber of hours he thumps the piano. But Professor Kemp of London and Professor — 0 / Kaitangata are, I take it, grown up Once upon a time a man who had acquired a remarkable facility in shooting peanuts through a finger ring came to exhibit his talents at the court of an Eastern Sultan He was confident that his ability would procure him some royal boon in the shape of a well-paid official post. When the Sultan said, "Your marvellous, power merits reward," tho man's hopes ran liMi Bring the man a sack of peanuts," continued the Sultan. I should similarly present the two professors with a dummv keyboard each. They might then be able to exercise their talents to their hearts' content—and noiselessly.

Time was when the frequent mention of pnze-money in old-time naval stories invariably made my mouth water. And how often did I picture Jack Bowline or Ben Locker retiring as landlord : of the Red Lion or the Green Boar on the procoeds of his many cruises! It 5s long since I discovered that this was not real life, that by the time tho distributor of the prize-money has reached down the long scale from the flag officer to the ordinary seaman, the shares have become thin to the vanishing point. There are some old Jack Tars in Dunedin whoso reminiscences merit a wider publicity. One of them sends along the following: Reading in the "Times" a few days ago of a naval hero who received the sum of 3/9 for his share of prize money for operations in the Dardanelles puts me in mind of what happened when Benbow was going into action on ono occasion. One of his officers came upon one of the men praying. He asked him whether ho was praying because ho was frightened. " No, sir," replied the man, ' I am praying tliat the shots may bo served out like tho prize money—tho biggest share to the officers, and tho least to the men." Some used to say, says my correspondent, that when prize-money was about to be served out it was put in a bag; a ladder was procured and placed vertically end up ; the bag was then emptied down the ladder. The money that got to the bottom went to the officers. The money that went on the rungs was given to tJie men.

A further reminiscence from the same: I was laying in Nagasaki in H.M. 17-gxin corvette " Rattler" one day in '64, and a hurricane came on. . We"had both anchors down. We had to strike our lower yards and topmast and get up etoam to take the strain off the cables. When it was over the Captain received word that some wrecks had taken, placo pJong tho coast. On the following day wo put to sea in search of them. In tho evening wo found a barquo called the "Stirling," dismasted and dragging on to a reof of rooks. Our captain scat a cutter's <rrow with n, bucket of fresh water and a pannikin to her, and we put out a. ta-wijor, Sock h«r in. tow, end

towed her into Nagasaki. Although she (low tho British (lag slio had American owners. My s |, aru o f t ho salvage money ra 9d. But 1 was then only 11 years of jige. The. wonder is that a ship's boy received anything at all. He came at the tail end of a formidable list of ordinary seamen, nblo seamen, petty officers of different classes, naval cadets, midshipmen, sublieutenants, lieutenants, commanders, and so on. A middy received six times as much as an ordinary seaman, and twelve times as much as a ship's boy, while, a commander's share was nearly "four times that of a middy. Where more than one s up took part in a. capture, the seaman's sharo was.not worth a whistle.

From a Gisborno correspondent: — Dear ;■ Civis,"—Will you lcindly permit mo in all meekness to question your paragraph of a fow weeks ago beginning Are fat men .slow-witted," in which you say, " expressed in Scott's words, fat, fair, and forty.' " May I suggest looking up Byron's "Don Juan"'for Hie original. I am simply trusting to my memory, so if I am wrong pfeaso pardon me. " Fat, fair, and forty" occrrrs in Scott's " St. Ronan's Well," chapter 7. Whether it is also to bo found in" " Don Juan " I am unable for the moment to saw I mav find it. .j Dear " Civis,"—Would you pleaso enlighten mo on the following: "Why is tho Pope a prisoner in the Vatican?" I read tho other day that they were thinking of making an underground passage to the sea, so that he could do a little yachting on the quiet. Is this a j u ilavo several people, and they all say, ask " Civis," he knows everything. If you don't know, would vou Pkaso ask your friend the Editor of the Tablet for an answer. The first question is of the same genus as " Why did yon leave off kicking your mother?" Or "Why and when did the lung of Dahomey cease to eat his wives?" Further information is necessary before a reasonable answer can be given. The phrase " the Prisoner of the Vatican " is an old ome, and lias as much reason and sense as many old phrases. The building of an underground passage to the'sea a Distance of 20 miles or so—is evidently a scheme taken from a comic journal. Civis.