Flotsam and Helsam.

Otago Witness, Issue 1343, 25 August 1877, Page 14

Flotsam and Helsam.

' • aiqui&novixHrictituuiii' C<mdidtutmperti ; tinm,hiiuteremtattK < "If you know' anything better' than, the*) remarks of mine, kindly 'tell mej if not, use these' withme."- ' • -...■' Header Wood had the Government over the Railway Commission, .report. .. .That Commission said. that 1 the ;charges an Auckland were too high, with one excepjtion — namely, Auckland to Onehunga — which was one shilling, and which was very reasonable ; on which the Government doubled that fare and made it two shillings, to the great delight of the omnibus .people, who instantly did the work for one shilling And loaded their 'busses. ' • A diligent reader of Hansard will gefc not a little real amusement out, of < its pages. ,Mr Joyce on pretty girls is worth reading. Does anyone come to wonder how the question of the best pose for, a pretty girl came to be discussed in the House 1 It was on the second reading of the Charitable Institutions Bill. •Mr Joyce gave it as his mature opinion ([ imagine that he had studied the question) that "I think it would be far better for a great many good : looking young girls if they were engaging themselves in some

charitable object of that A kind. " I have" never seen a good-looking girl look better"' than when she had a ticket in her hand and was going round for contributions." Mr Joyce, in the course of his speech (he had, I expect, been,. reading about the Circumlocution Office), said that, "frequently, I believe, men have died from pure fretf ulness, caused by being under the iron routine of officials who, if they! had mat some outside people, and had, been relieved of their grievance, would' have been cured." I think Mr Joyce' thoroughly understands the' work, of a' relieving officer, and if he would go in: for a regular, course of Oliver Twist he would soon be Al. , ! Canon Oakley, a man of some standing in the Anglican Church, deals thus! with^ a question that is convulsing the' public mind here just- now, 'ile., the opening of public institutions on Sunday.' After ; a meeting of the Sunday Society,! attended by such inebngruous elements! as'Profesgbr Hiixleyand Mr Arch, Lady! Coutts and Miss Helen Taylor, the Dean: of Westminster and Mr Mackonochiej we" are told that' lie was " most civilly told, as'l came out, by two. grey-haired meii,f who .assured;. me that, they had been' fighting this battle for twenty year*/ that' what I had said was quite true, but f dfc was not what they wanted ' to hear; it' would have been? well - enough: " for ' thes House"of Commons. "What We had this meetiqg for to-day was to tell them Saba-; tarian'parsonß that they couldn't go on having it all their own .way on Sundays,' like they do now.' A non-Sabb .tarian parson- was more, or less of a. marplot to; these worthy gentlemen." He. goes on to say very, wisely that -he appeals 1 "to his brethren to make up their minds whether they can support the! opening of public institutions on Sun^ day afternoons within • the suggested limits, and if they can, to say so ac once,; and help to- influence the public mindj both for the sake of extending a new! means of mental and moral culture to the' people,, and in order, that a prapticvl reform. may. be effected with the goodwsL, and 'co-operation of the Churchy,and' natlef^ by. our indifference or cowardice, to be scored to the, credit, of the forces which have -so' long- tried' J to secure the' leadership of the people.',' ' They do things' in a very .simple easygoing fashion, after allj ; in the Assembly. While common people are troubling their minds about pounds, and even disregut-i able coppers, th!e politician's deal in; quarter millions. What is the ' undiscovered pleasure that make - people delight in talking about millions ?• The poorest person .is usually the > readiest to ! treat millions as so many shillings. .The House passed an Imprest Bill, for d quarter of a million just &s Mrs.. Short-i cash might deal with a overcharge ,of , qne farthing on' the butcher's t bill of £29.* Tt passed the measure right slick through without winking,* and" then set H greedily to work to talk theories about the method of taxation. • =It strikes me- that' all methods will ere long be not only lawful but, necessary., .. > •': , ,•' ; Sir, Julius "Vogel has broken put in an article again in Fraser. This' time, . he floora A. J. W., who has been abusing us i with all his might and main.' "This in 1 Fraser ; then, in the Nineteenth Century, s we have ?' Greater or Lesser Britain.'! Statesmen seem to have- taken a mania, ; the example being set by Gladstone, for! influencing, public opinion through^ the! magazines. Has this anything to dolwitK the fact that people-no longer read the' .debates in the Houss of Commons^as ,they used ? I remember when everyone, who' read at all used to "read these debates j now it is so decidedly the fact that 'th^y don't, that hardly any , papers n. report them at all. .Consequently, I, suppose that members will take 'to 'the' magazines! more and more. I wish our Colonial politicians would take, to enlivening the pages of the New Zealand. ' _" < j '" ' " ■■'•' "' ' ' ' ' Cbctstacb'an. j -