passing Notes.

Otago Witness, Issue 1241, 11 September 1875, Page 13

passing Notes.

The proposal to hold an inquest nn the skeleton of an ancient Maori found at Mount Pleasant reminds me of the story of a very hard-up Coroner in a Western American city. A sum was voted for a museum, and the first contributions were a petrified Indian and an Egyptian mummy. The Coroner straightway impounded them and sat upon them. In the first case a representative from the neighbouring tribe which had contributed its petrified relative objected to the jurisdiction of the Coroner, on the ground that his duties did not go beyond perishable flesh, which was held a valid objection, so far as the jnry fees were concerned, and the petrifaction was ordered to be restored to the museum on payment of the sum of eleven dollars to the Coroner. In the Egyptian case, the mummy being unrepresented, the jury found he had died four thousand seven hundred years before, whereupon the Coroner ordered the mummy to be restored on payment of his fees with compound interest from that date. As tho trustees of the museum objected, on the ground that the person in question had died outside the jurisdiction of the United States, the matter wa3 ultimately squared for eighteen dollars and a free pass to the museum.

Questions seem to be constantly arising in England as to the definition of the term gentleman. In one place a clerk claimed to be fined according to the degree of a gentleman when he had offended against a law providing a sliding scale of punishments for various degrees. In another place colliers claimed to row in a regatta as gentlemen amateurs, and were allowed to do so on the strength of their drinking champagne and riding first class by train. Long ago a dispute of this sort aiwe and had to be decided by a Jury. The question was whether a certain person riding in a race was a gentleman rider, and the counsel engaged made very merry over it. In the end the Jury found that 'the person claiming to be a gentleman was not one, whereupon he challenged the barristers who had chaffed him. They replied thafc duelling was a practice of gentlemen only, and they could not think of fighting a man who had been found no gentleman by a Jury of his countrymen. Adam and Eve were not gentleman and lady, but a modem translator has suggested an alteration more in accordance with the spirit of the times. I once heard a man describe himself as a gentleman who had been a shoemaker, but was out of work owing to his havin« become bankrupt. Finally, the best definition I know of was given by a gardener, who told me he considered a man a gentleman " who could get drunk when he liked without asking nobody's permission."

I was present at a very interesting ceremony at the Jewish Synagogue last Sunday, and was struck with the way in which things were managed. The only drawback to the dignity of the performance was the bell-toppers worn by the Rabbi and those who accompanied him in the procession. In rel'gious ceromonies a hat of some kind adds greatly to the dignity of the appearance of most men. It makes a man look taller, and hide 3 any auch defect as bad colour or baldnessbut the conventional bell-topper does not effect this object without adding a ludicrous element to the thing. Apart from this, my Jewish friends are certainly to be congratulated on their ceremony. The singing is certainly better than in any other church in Dunedin. The voices are finer, and the training is far superior, la another little matter, too, the Jews beat their Gentile brethren clean out of reckoning. I never saw auch a collection of handsome women in New Zealand 5 a»d in this there was a general agreement 0! epinion f me»g all preisut.

There was a decided expression against abohionmthe Parliament of Fowls assembiod in the Drill Shed lwf week, me crowing and cackling of the feathered members was more entertaining than the common run of speeches at meetings, and quite as sensible. The Mayor, in opening the House, is reported to have said, « I the snow had taken place a week or two r!m H° ?OVLh\? OVLh \ - that little P lace called Baiclutha township would have been well represented." It i s a pity the honourable members for Balclutha were not in their 2wai4ST" they are Wng aciw

Proi !l m ?J beCOme o{! Auckland Frovmce the old women of Auckland do not intend to be abolished. Thirty of them have got their namesonthe burgess roll at the Thames, and if these thirty go to work properly, they will simply control the elections. It ,s hardly to be expected of women that they can be so unanimous as to vote m a block. However welf the thing might be arranged, a new silk or a flash bonnet at the poU might break up a party and turn out a Ministry. But the beginning is well made. The Auckland people have utterly failed to govern themselves—why should they not put a little lite into the thing ; honestly confess their failure, and give women the franchise No harm could be done, for things could not get worse than they are. To those who object to seeing old women in Parliament, there is the obvious answer that it would be quite unnecessary. Have they not Sir George Grey ?

Among the stories current about the violent efforts of distinguished citizens to get tickets for the Clutha affair, one was rather good. A large and imposing-look-ing individual in corduroys marched into the contractor's office and asked, " Can I have a ticket ?" « Well, sir, the fact is," replied an extremely polite Bro^denite, we have not got the disposal of them It reats with Mr Blair, who *ffl doubtleaa be de- lighted." " Well, sir, all I can say is this-of course, I don't care about the thing myself in the least degree ; but, sir, lam a representative man. I repre. sent the Society of Primitive Methodists. and I feel bound to inform you that, unless justice is done to my Society, something very awkward will be said." The Brogdenite, though not absolutely annihilated, was laid on his beam-ends for a while, until he happened to hear that, during the late municipal contest, the same individual had acted on the committee of a well kuown candidate, assur* ing him that he could guarantee him the votes of all the horsey connections.

Night after night we have warnings in Danedin that very so.n, when we are without a Fire Brigade, th* greater part of the City wi!l be in a perilous position. Long lines of street .ire filled with wooden buildings, which, unless very well looked after, might burn down in blocks. J f the Fire Brigade is allowed to die unreplaced by any efficient subatitute, we shall have to thank those who forcod them to resiTn for any disaster that may happen to the City.

Spelling bees are growing in favour on this side of the world. At St. Kilda, in Victoria, one has been established with peat success. It would be a good thingto have something of the sort here, and compel every candidate for Civil Service bar, or electoral honours to pass the bee by sitting under fire for a certain time I am afraid it would play sad havoc with some of our Parliament men, and, to judge by some specimens I have seen some members of the legal profession would have to brush up a little before they went far with the bee. In thia country, Auckland has taken kindly to the bee. How this will agree with the well-known affection of Auckland for education is yet to be seen. Sir George Grey may not be able to attack the bee as another infringement of the liberties of Auckland, but it is a serious menace to tho principles which he represents.

A curious fact turned up in the course of a Chinese case the oiher day. It appeared that one of the Chinese had struck another with his shoe, whereupon the othbr replied with an axe. The affray was not very serious, and nobody was much hurt ; but there was a good deal of bad blood caused and a little thereof spilt on both sides. The cause of all the mischief appeared to be the shoe. It is the custom in China to administer slipperpie to ekves, and to offer a dish of thia kind to a free man is the greatest mdte* mty known to the Oriental mind A, Chinaman gravely assured a legal friend ot mine that it was "welly bad China iaw strike man with ,\ shoe." The Chinaman m question did not think much of the axe, but the idea of uaing a shoe was, something horrible.