PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1700, 21 June 1884, Page 18

PASSING NOTES.

Somebody — I think it was Mr John Hollingshead—once defined "government" as " the blue bottles on the chariot wheel." The definition has its points of excellence, and it supplies a much-felt want in our constitutional dictionary. The author of the simile probably intended to convey something very slighting to the importance of legislators as a body ; and if so, it ib a pity that he has not had an opportunity of witnessing the " rumpus " in our political arena during £ho past week. The blue;bottleß have been flicked off, or nearly bo —they are hanging in desperate straits— but the wheel goes on revolving all the same. The position is interesting to the naturalist, and worth studying for a moment.- Major Atkinson, tho biggest and bluest of the crew, damaged as to his wings, draggled and dußtyi clings on harder than ever, and will characteristically continue to do so while a leg or a claw remains. (N. B. Major Atkinson should have been an Illinois "bruiser." When utterly knocked out of time, and prostrated beneath the bulk of a too weighty opponent, he would have calmly lunched upon hiß enemy's ear and awaited better times.) The remaining bluebottles, more faint of heart and scant of breath, are anxiously looking and longing for the signal to relax hold and drop off into the dust— a signal which will not be given while tbeir leader has a bite or a buzz left in him. If, however, drop "they must, their places will not long remain untenanted. Sir George Grey is buzzing blatantly overhead, watching his opportunity -to settle ; Mr Montgomery is making loss noise, but will get a foothold somehow if he can ; whilst two formidable insects are travelling up fast from the rear. This pair— Sir Julius Vogel and Mr Robert Stout — are the more formidable by reason of the unlooked-for friendship that appears to exist between them. Having joined forces they evidently moan business. If, as I said a week or two back, the situation was dramatic then, it is thrilling now. It seems, in fact, hard to believe that «o much has happened in so very short a time. A sudden blending of antipathetic particles among the Opposition ; defeat, dissolution, chaos t If a ton of dynamite, a comet, or any other disturbing force had obtained entrance at Parliament House, and begun bumping restlessly about among benches and galleries, it could not have produced a more complete disruption of affairs in general. lam reminded of the words of a comic song. The time has now come for a general disappearance. We shall wait and see the fortunate ones who, after a general election, will " bob up serenely from below."

There is something after all sad as well as sensational in the downfall of a Ministry, especially a Ministry which has lived so long and become so much of an institution as has the Hall-Whitaker-Atkinson combination. Anyone, not a party politician, can find it in bis heart to shudder at the fierce exultation of Mr Wakefield or Sir George Grey over an opponent who has defended himself bo gamely as the Hon. Major Atkinson. The rules of knightly courtesy would seem to demand that at this stage the victor should dismount, raise his fallen antagonist, restore to him his sword, and lead him — cay, into Bellamy's for refreshment. This, in fact, might, and would, perhaps, be done provided tho Major would only remain quiescent. But he will not. Such is his martial Bpirit, that nothiog but the coup de grace' will render him absolutely passive. We all know how dangerous, it is to approach an enemy who, although fallen, still kicks. What is this dissolution but an expiring, yet very lusty kick ? and as such surely pardonable. Life is sweet, and Ministers naturaily shrink, and delay for & month or two longer to face the black gulf that is yawning at their feet. Ay, but to <Mo -to go we know not whero ; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot.

But courage ! For some of our late rulers at least it will be not oxile, but merely a brief seclusion. • Major Atkinson for one will not " rot." Neither, unless I am much mistaken, will he lie long in " cold obstruction." He may carry with him into his temporary retirement a few bundles of red tape, and a few leaves from past financial statements. These relics will help to keep his memory green, and maintain him in proper official trim against the time of his reinstatement. Of one thing we may be certain. The Major's return to office will be a consummation kept more " steadily in' view" than has been our new railway, station, our cemetery extension, or any other political question of tho day.

Of course, with the announcement of a dissolution, the time has come round for the usual display of pub ie spirit on the part of a number of obscure, but nobly self-sacrificing gentlemen. They have, " at the urgent request of a large body of personal friends, consented to offer their services to the electors of &0., &c.'' There are invariably a fair number of such candidates at eyery general election, and most people fully understand the solitary unit represented,by the " large body of personal friends;' 1 N ( ow, candour ia virtuous and delightful 1 : why, Should it not be exercised by these aspirants in tblo matter of their electioneering manifestoes ? If I may tender s, word of advice, they will address the intelligent voting body somewhat as follow^ :— " Gentlemen; it has long been my desire to add the letters M.H.R..to my name ; and even though it were but for the, limited term of one Parliament, my enjoyment of that gratification would, I submit, do you little harm j whereas, from my disastrous failure as a politician, I myself might gain a valuable lesson in humility. As it is better to be damned than mentioned not at all, so I would I prefer to cut a ridiculous figure upon the hußtI ings, or in the House, rather than remain in the respectable obscurity of private life. This may not be common sense, but it is a not unlovely trait of human nature, and as such ii entitled to your consideration and indulgence. True, I am utterly inexperienced in politics

and in the majority of the world's pursuits, but past observation has taught me that this need be no bar to the success of my candidature. After all, gentlemen, what is an M.H.R. ?—? — an amateur legislator who haa served no apprenticeship to his business, I perfectly fulfil that requirement, and if returned shall earnestly devote myself to the task of forming an opinion upon Borne subject — an undertaking I have never so far had occasion to attempt. My tasto for gardening, which has been most pronounced from childhood, will render the question of land tenure one peculiarly eaßy of solution to me ; whilst I Bhall in all probability be opposed to Federation. Knowing as I do that ' birds in their little neßts agree,' I hold — and logically — that the smbiler and more divided the nests, the better the chance of agreement. With these few remarks, gentlemen — I am, &c." This would, 1 believe, be a fife and proper formula for o, very respectable number of the candidates who aro likely to stand at this election. Let us hope that they will adopt it.

Nothing has for a long while pleased mo so much as Mr W, Wathen's announcement that he is. to be a candidate for Parliamentary honours at the ensuing eleotion. I had heard rumours of such an intention on his part some months ago, but I feared he had begun to relent as the time for action approached. His letter in Wednesday's Times, however, has removed my fears. Mr Wathen expresses himself Btrongly as to the " beneficent influence exercised by the reappearance (as it' were

Lite s> reappearing star, Ot * glory from afar) of Sir Julius Vogel, whose masrtorly address to the electors of Ashburton is calculated to restore the confidence, of the people iv the great resources of this Colony." This ha 3 the true ring about it. It is a clear, manly, statesmanlike expression of opinion, and forms, as it were, a prelude to Mr Wathen'B coming campaign. My metaphor is perhaps a little confused, but the joyous excitement in my breast consequent on the reading of Mr Wathen's signally opportune letter must bo my excuse, I notice that ho will stand, or run — I am not quite «Ure which is the correct expression— «>n tho working men's ticket ; but Mr Wathen is too broad-minded a gentleman to restrict the term " working men " to such people as labourers and artisans and poor penny-a-liners. AH classes of this community, excepting the ladies, of course, ho rightly says, oome under the designation ; so that he aspires to represent not any particular class of the community, but the whole community itself as it happens to be found in little, so to speak, in the particular district which he may choose to honour with his canditature. I need not say that as a fellow scribe I wish Mr Wathen all success in his noble adventure.

Our acclimatisers may thank their stars that they are not responsible for the iutroduction of stoats and weasels. To do these worthies justice they have all along stoutly protested against the introduction of all such vermin. Not that their protestations have been quite disinterested, for they were in truth made in the interest of their favourite pheasants and partridges, whose precious lives they would protect even though the Colony were to be devoured with rabbits. One pheasant is evidently in their eyes worth many sheep. But none the less are they to be congratulated on their innocence in respect of stoats and weasels. I read that these creatures are likely to become a greater pest than the rabbits themselves. The latter would only starve us out of the Colony, but weasels, it seems, will, unless proper precautions are taken, kill us right off. An alarmist, or perhaps a naturalist, writing to one of the papers, says that a mob of them will attack full-grown men (I have heard of this in the Old Country, and have myself seen a single specimen threaten dreadful things from the heart of a tussock), and that it will be absolutely necessary to keep our children within doors, or at least under (proper protection whan out of doors, wherever these natural enemies of the human race rather than of bunny become numerous. This is a very charming prospect indeed. Only imagine the children of the Colony, probably our most valuable native production, decimated by stoats and weasels— little things on their way to school, or on the return journey, waylaid by such vermin, and their little lives sucked out of them before their parents or their schoolmaster can come .to their aid 1 This would certainly be worse than the depression; and what with the said depression, and the rabbits, and weasels, and Major Atkinson and Sir George Grey, to say nothing o! cheap wheat and wool and dear bread and clothes, and the Otago Central stuck in the mud, and a double honorarium evory two or three years, and Mr Stout turned Tory, I can only conclude that the Colony iB going to the bad, and that the sooner we clear out and leave it to the vermin and the politicians the better.

I am extremely sorry to notice that Mr D. M. Stuarc did not take his caatigation meekly. J am not indeed sure, that I should have liked such a drubbing myself, but I imagine it is as a rule judicious, however much against tho grain of our corrupt nature, to kiss the rod. Mr Stuart soems to have been most aggrieved by the statement that he was a youth, a fault which, as he remarked with a singular originality, was daily mending. I trust he will soon be old enough to cease boasting, even implicitly, of his physical stature and prowess. His boasting at any rate would appear to support the charge brought against him. There is Burely a very evident greenness in such a challenge aa the following : "I was not aware that my age was a matter of much public interest, but if your representative (or two of them if you like) would call at my office, I shall be happy to exhibit the certificate of my birth, or possibly afford him, or them, further and mor» convincing ' domonßtr^iion that tr>y ye?,rs aro not quite so tender as you ! may imagine." Or is this Mr Stuart's notion

of what is gentlemanlike ? I would advise him> with all defprencc, and in the true spirit of charity, to confine his " demonstiatiens" to his friend Mr J. G. S. Grant. " A whipporsnapper," so Mr Stuart's letter' to the Daily Times concludes, " once said to Be Johnsoni ' You aro no gentleman.' ' Sir,' replied the great lexicographer, turning to his pigmy assailant, ' Yon aro no judge.' " Mr D. M. Sappears from his lettor to bo learned in tho Scriptures. I beg him therefore to remember what the little whipper-snapper David did to the great Goliath ; and if ha will turn to his Psalter— l bog pardon, his Psawm-book— he •will find it .written, as he doubtless knows, that the Lord taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.

I observe that an Australian bishop has recently taken to task one of hiß parish clergy for proposing to perform "Pinafore" in the church school-room, by the help of the church choir. Move correctly speaking, the clergyman had sanctioned the performance. It does not appear' that the reverend gentleman proposed to take any part himself, except that of patron, and probably, also, that of receive* ot the funds. The bishop interposed, averted the threatened * desecration, and admonished the erring cleric in an episcopal bull, or pastoral, through the newspapers, some of which, I regrei to say, have made themselves merry at the revorend delinquent's expense. Why not announce, asks one of them derisively, that the clergyman will dauc'o the " Highland fling" in the communion rails, whilst "the curate does the pea trick in the vestry, and the Indies of tho choir render the last ballet in tights ? If .embarrassed churches once enter on the policy of raising funds by performing comic operas, where will you draw the line ? Long experience of this " where will you draw the Jine ?" and " thin and of the wedge " argument has made me profoundly suspicious of it. If a man eats a mutton chop at breakfast why shouldn't he devour a whole Bbeep ? Where will you draw the line ? If he takes a hand at whist by his own fireside what is to hinder his becoming an inveterate gambler and ruin* ing himself, at unlimited 100 T Parlour whist is but the thin end of the wedge ! When the argument on a moot point in morals takes thia form there is really no more to be said. The arrival of the " thin end of the wedge " means that what ia objected to has nothing intrinsically objectionable about it. The poor parson who was getting up " Pinafore " would at least have given his school-room audience their moneys worth and sent them away contented, which is more than can be said of some clerical gettere-up of bazaars and tea-meetings. Moreover, he had a commendable anxiety to see the church debts paid, a point upon which some of hiß brethren show an indifference little to their credit. The gravamen of the bishop's objection to " Pinafore " was, most likely, that " Pinafore" sets people laughing. Probably he holds that to laugh in a world meant to be a vale of tears is sinful. Somebody has said that laughter is intrinsically' as sacred as tears, and, for my part, I am very much of that opinion.

Speaking of M Pinafore " leads me naturally, on to remark upon the full and satisfactory manner in which our own musioal needs are being ministered to just at present. For whioh, may that special Providence which pro Tides us with fifes, fiddles, and fun be thanked ! Musical appetite among tb.9 masseß is various, and calls for different descriptions of food. But there is sufficient for all and to Bpare. 3?or the simplest (a very simple) taste, we have the Salvation Army always with us ; opera-bouffe we have had with us until very recently ; and now for the genuine " upper crust" — the lovers of Hollander, Gade, and Mendelssohn —we are promised Herr Felix Schmellitschek. Concerning the latter gentleman I have absolutely no remark to make. The obvious connection between Mb name and the fact that his visit haa partly a financial object might induce a lighter spirit to pun ; but the occasion is altogether too solemn —too severely classical. The performances of the Salvation Army provide, however, a more popular topic. Nightly through the open windows of the Temperance Hull the band may be heard " worrying it out," and wonderfully well they seem to stand the strain. The music has its peculiarities, but it is music which "grows upon you," and it is useless to repine at the strange whims of art. The cornet appears to the fastidious too pronounced and perpetual, and tho singing "has, perhaps, something nasal in its style. As a frequent passer-by, I have had occasion to reflect painfully upon these points, anil have arrived at what appears to bo a satisfactory solution. The cornet used is probably one of these instruments which, like a bicycle or a seaside donkey, is difficult to start, and once started must at any risk be kept upon the move. Better all cornet than no cornet at all. As regards the singing, there is also Boms explanation possible to the reverent inquirer. What was that very sago observation made upon the stage a short time ago ! " The more you sing nacred music through the nose, the more sacred it becomes." j The Salva. ticn Choir thus seek to preserve the charaoter of their songs by what is, in fact, the only means at .their command. Viewed in which light, tha expedient ia most worthy and com-, mendablo.

Since writing my Note last week about the comparative earnings of singers and literary men I have come across the following:-- " Wordaworth's returns from literary labours up to 1819 had not amounted to £140 (all hia best poems had been written and published before that) ; and he himself remarks, even in 1829, that he had worked hard through a long life for less pecuniary emolument than a public performer gets for two or three Bongs." Poor Wordsworth ! Not that he needed large returns from his muse. He was a very frugal bard. In tho early yearn of his famo he used to charge hie rich admirers who came to see him for their board. When Scott visited him at

Allanbank, he found the breakfasts so economical that he judged, it expedient to slip down regularly in the forenoon to the village inn to fortify himself with a beefsteak and pint of porter. Such a self-and-gueat-denying bard could afford to deßpise riches on a crust and a glass of water , and as the years went by and his necessities increased, heaven sent him what a stingy unBympathic public withheld. Like the Apostle Paul he had all things and abounded, because Providence was kind and his wants few and simple. But I fancy I can detect a tone of envy ■in that statement about his total emoluments during a long life, not equaling what a Binger gets for what our latter-day art-critics call the rendition of two or three aonga. When Coleridge said that genius ia never envious he must have forgotten hia friend W. W. Peace to hia memory 1 He was in his own opinion at least, the greatest poet of hie time, and why should he whose brows were bound with an immortal wreath long before he died, have envied poor singers their transitory fame, and their good pay. , ,

I have been awaiting in dreadful anticipation communications upon a certain subject, and th9y hare come — by the ream — by the hundredweight, almost. Now that the blow has fallen lam easier. I never doubted that the sin of Dr Gordon Macdonald would find me out. Only one— the briefest— of the budget of complaints, I append :—: —

Dear Mr Civiß, — Aa your pen ia always reacly to do service in the cause of the ladies, I wish you would notice what Dr G-. Macdonald Rays about hysterics in his late lecture to the Y.M.G. Association. I would like to know which he regards the seyerer of the two diseases, " whisky or hysteria."; At all events, his remarks cannot be considered but the reverse of complimentary to the ladies, and if. a fit of hysteria ever does seize me, I will certainly not send for Dr Gordon Macdonald, as ho would probably tell my friends it was whisky.— l am, &c,

STIiVIA. Now this is a neat little difficulty brought about; by a too-outspoken medico. What he said -^m. I believe, that an attack of hysteria produced similar effects to an overdose of whisky, and that the best cure was to let the patient alone, or words to that effeot. Further, he quite hinted that hysteria was not confined t» women alone, and by inverse reasoning suggested that men have not the sole monopoly of whisky. All true, perhaps ! but how very impolitic an utteranoe ! Domestio traditions will be altogether upset. In future we shall have gentlemen returning home in the small hours suffering from an untimely attaok of hysteria which has communicated itself to their latch-key, and left palpable traces upon their personal appearance. As regards ladies of nervous temperament, they may lay themselves open to imputations -at which I dare not even hint. My advice to Sylvia is to eschew henceforth both hysteria and whisky. Both are, I know, soothing at times, but both under present circumstances are dangerous. Concerning her question, which is • the " severer " (where is Sylvia's Lindley Murray !) disease of the two ? J. unhesitatingly # answer— Hysteria with a man, [ whisky with a woman. Oivis,

A disastrous fire is reported from Sydney, where Sutton's tobacco-factory and contents have been destroyed. The stock of tobacco ia the building was valued at £10,000.

An accident occurred at the railway works on the Nenthorn contract on " Monday afternoon by ,which a man named Bradbroqk bad his ieg broken and his collar-bone put out. The man was working in a, cutting on the line, and was buried by a fall of earth; resulting in the injuries named. He was taken out by the workmen, and Dr M'Brearty, of Outrarh, was sent for, and arrived on the scene about four hours after the accident, and attended to the man's injuries.

The New Zealand' Shipping Company have received a cablegram stating that the British King arrived at Rio de Janeiro on Wednefday. The refrigerator was working welt, and the meat was in prime condition.

In the Supreme Court on Wednesday a rather peculiar libel action was decided — Wright v. Balsille. The plaintiff, a young man newly married, sued for damageß for a libel contained in an anonymous letter sent by defendant to his wife prior to their marriage. The letter warned the young lady in most impressive terms against the step contemplated, and alleged delioacy of -health in the plaintiff and hereditary disease in his family. The^ defence was that the communication was privileged, being written by an old friend of the family at the request of the young lady's mother. The jury awarded plaintiff £50 damages.*"* >■ According to the New Zealand Herald, quite & scare ocourrad'on the' Queen's street Wharf on the 10th inst. owing to the discovery of a small tin box containing dynamite, detonators lying in the hold of the Northern Company's steamer Macgregor. The men, it appears, were busily engaged in tho discharge of vessel's cargo, when suddenly the small box was espied lying in the bottom of the vessel, neatly wrapped in white paper, and bearing, in bold type, the dreaded word " Dynamite" printed upon it. A rush for the deck, it is -almost needless to say, wag at once made, and in great excitement the tale was told to Captain Johnston. That officer at once communicated with Sergeant Clarke, of the Water Police, and together an investigation was carefully commenced. The box was found lying in theplace indicated by the men, and after a little • beating about the bush " it was " taken into custody "by Sergeant Clarke. The outside wrapper was carefully removed by the sergeant, and a small tin box came to view. Proceeding with his investigation, he managed to get open tha box, and exposed to view some two dozen dynamite detonators, snugly packed in sawdust. Then, but not till then, did the goodhearted skipper breathe freely, for, on seeingthat the box only contained detonators, he was convinced that no plot had been laid for the total destruction of the good ship Macgregor andiier merry crew. Up the town the news of an attempted plot to blow up one of the Northern Company's steamers travelled like wildfire, and it was not until late in the evening that the excitement abated.

From further particulars of the case of drowning of Catherine Brogan, at Waiwera Creek, near Clinton, on Monday, it appears that tho child went oufc about noon to gather chips in a billy-can. She is supposed to have gone to lift water from the creek on the oppo.

-fke side of the railway-line from the house of t er SLr. who is a railway surfaceman. A 'L-TJh in 10 minutes' time, by her mother reSed'inVndSthe body of the child floating suibßu v o | Q , n q Ueß fc W as held £'*&£«£^by tie Coroner? Dr Smith, of Balclutha. Thftre was a lcnsr sitting of the Waihemo County Council on Wednesday, and the greater rwrt of tbe time was taken up by the Council in committee on the questioned tres- - «ass on Mr Kitchener's property. The late chairman's action in the matter was rathor ' severely commented upon, in consequence of hi., not having consulted the county solicitors -before entering in and upon Mr Kitchener's irround to proceed with the erection of a bridae. The resignation of the chairmanship ' by Mr M'Kenzie was also the subject of much disoussion/and from what could be gathered • from tbe utterances of councillors on the subXthey appeared to think that he had placed the bouncU in a very awkward fix indeed with Sard to several county matters, the proper sSment of which had been entrusted to settlement o meeting of the Council will be 'held ot Saturday, 21st inst., to consider Be era? questions which could not be satasfac torily dVouased until something further was known concerning thorn. The general opinion throughout the country district! appears to be that the frosts of the past few days have been the moat severe expe- ' Seed since the days of the Dunstan rush, wS horses and drays were taken across the -2on WaiholaLake. .At Tapanui and m the ■ Tuapeka district skating xa tho order of the day. ■ ■ . since the stoppage of the Kaitangata and Shag Point coal-mines the several companies intefested in coal-mines in the Green Island ,dLtriot have very largely increased their out- < nut. Walton Park inine,.which with the ex : Option, perhaps, of the Bay of Islands mine, .recently abandoned, is one of the oldest, • established in the Colony, is now doing a large • business in coal. A large quantity is consumed daily on the railways, m addition to an increased trade for household consumption. Altogether there are fully 50 acres driven underground in the mine, and the coal m the seams which are now being worked is of a better .quality than any hitherto worked. Between 70 and 80 men are employed, and ' close on 200 tons of ooal of various qualities ' turned out daily. The larger portion of the ooal is brought up the main shaft by steamr, power, while the other part of the mine is worked to supply looal consumption, delivery ' being taken on the ground. A very kind and neighbourly act on the part ' "of the settlers of Mount Stuart (aays the Tuapeka Times) is worth recording. A fow days ' ago Mr James Thompson, who has a farm in that neighbourhood, bad the misfortune, while oarting produce to the railway-station, to receive a kick from one of his horses, causing a "fracture of the right leg. On hearing of this " xnißhap to Mr Thompson, and knowing that he " waft very bußy at the time of the occurrence in ■ oarting grain to the station, the settlers turned out and gave the use of their teams for a few dayß to remove tho grain to Waitahuna rail- • way-Btation. Very little time was lost, aud the lastlruckload of the produce was forwarded "to Dunedin on Saturday. Such neighbourly acts as these apeak volumes in favour of tho good feeling that exists between the settlers of the Mount Stuart district. (In this connection ' ws'may note that Mr Thompson, who is an ininate of the Tuapeka Hospital, is making satisfactory progress towards recovery). . - Mr E, B, Brftdshaw, Jetty street, has phosphoiuß for Bale In large or small, quantities, Mr John Everest will held a clearing sola of, hpwef, bu?RieF, &o. at tho Empire Hotil livery Stabler, Palmereton, on Tuesday next, at 12 o'clock. ' Messrs Nimmo and Blair have tarred sheepnets for •ale, Messrs 9, Battray and Co. have fencing materials for, tale. The trustees in the estate of the lite G. W, Good?er offer the Cromwell Brewory for Eals by private '' treaty,

. "The Committee of Management of the Taleri Agricnltutal Society have appointfd the road boards within the boundaries of the Society as committees in . their several districto for the euppreaelon of 'the small- - birds nuisance* The Hampden ploughing match la unnouneed fcr " Tuesday, July 1, The ehamnion prize will consist of a set ot double harness valued a; £i 5, '' ' Mofsw B, T , Stanford and W, D, Milne have entered into partnership as barristers and si llcitor*. Messrs J, S, Shanks and O. will ecH a 200-aere ' farm at Cbnttob, at their room?, Gare, on tho 27th inst. The Outram Rqad Board invite tenders for road formation, . Mr F. Fulton has sheep-nets for gala. The P. T., E., and A. Go. will Bell a farm at Blue- ,- ekin, at their rootn°, on tho 28th mat. ,* --Applications are iuvited for a vacancy In the Deaf ,- and l)uiut) Asylum at Suraner. •". "> ,Mr lan S. Bimson will sell a house, stable, &^ , fn Gordon, on the '28th inst., immediate y after tho i ale - of Mr Duncan's farm. . Dr A. J. Fergusson hog removed from High street ■• -lo the house formerly occupied by the late Dr Hulme, • Djwlinß street. -■' tit lan S Simson will hold a clearing s&le of' stock, - &c. at Chatton, on the 3rd prox.