PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1973, 12 September 1889, Page 21

PASSING NOTES.

The word " depression " has now vanished from our vocabulary, and I would mention it even in quotation marks only to say that we have seen the last of this incubus for a time. We have now spare cash in our pockets, and are looking out for somebody to relieve us of it. We are likely to find ample opportunity in that most crazy of all speculations — gold mining. Crazy, inasmuch as an extremely small percentage of those who invest know anything whatever about gold mining, and have therefore to trust for their information to prospectuses and sharebrokers lists. We owe this " boom " in gold to Mr Sew Hoy, a Chinese gentleman of great sagacity and shrewdness, who some two years ago saw that a good thing was to be made by dredging a certain abandoned claim known as the Shotover Big Beach. Mr Hoy did not keep the good thing to himself, but invited a few friends to throw some of their cash with his into the concern. And the Sew Hoy claim has prospered, so that the original holders of £10 shares are looking to receive the Tery magnificent return of £340 a share. If they get it, which, having no shares myself, I sincerely hope they may not, the Sew Hoy will be to its promoters another Broken Hill Proprietary. The mere prospectus of the company is a good thing to look at, measuring as it does 16in by 2Jin of closely printed matter. If one thinks how impossible such a prospectus would have been some four years ago there is every reason to be reassured as to the immediate prospects of the colony; reassured from one point of view, but from another good reason for a little apprehension. . By discovering the workable character of the Big Beach, Mr Sew Hoy is as much a benefactor to his fellow colonists as that proverbially useful subject who makes two stalks of wheat to grow where one grew before. All power to his elbow! No one will begrudge Mr Sew Hoy and friends an ample return for their shrewdness and enterprise. But £340 for £101 I thought to have invested a few passing notes in some rich gold venture, but Mr Sew Hoy's is not good enough at 34 to 1 ; so that I think I shall direct my attention to another prospectus 26in by 2£in, by which I am promised abundance of tin if I only have faith in the "Tucker's" Tin Mining Company, Limited. After all I feel sorely tempted. Making your fortune at so much per word is a slow process ; you have to work for every groat. Now if you can only peg a claim or two and float a company, there you are, the ducats come in whilst you sleep. Altogether I can see that mining is going to empty a good deal of money out of certain pockets into other pockets.

Speaking of tin, it is quite clear that this metal is not a consolation for everything. Tin is no plaster for a vote of censure by the University Council. Dr Black absented himself this year from the University capping ; bo did Professor Sale. Professor Sale does not approve of the goings on, and therefore stays away. Dr Black has had greater occasion to disapprove of the proceedings than Professor Sale — but this is not his reason for staying away. He is under a cloud— the cloud of the council's censure passed upon him about a year ago; and until this is removed the professor will appear in no public place. For it must be noted that the capping has no offioial connection whatever with the council that censured Dr Black. Most of us took Dr Black's letter of explanation-as one of the professor's characteristic dry jokes, by which he meant to poke fun at the council — and show he was no whit the worse for their displeasure. But Dr Black is in serious earnest — and the explanatory letter about his absence from the capping has been followed up by a letter to the council formally asking it to reconsider the vote of censure. My own opinion is, that there is no vote of censure recorded against Dr Black, since it appears that the council passed a formal resolution acquitting him of " intentional discourtesy." Why, the very essence of a discourtesy is that it is intentional; if it is not intentional it is no discourtesy ; and therefore a resolution that acquits Dr Black of intentional disconrtesy, acquits him of all discourtesy. There may be other shortcomings for which Dr Black maj deserve censure ; I do not know. Dr Black's offence was leaving his proper work to attend a meeting of the Australian Society for the Advancement of Science in Sydney without having received the formal permission of the council. Dr Black thought the chancellor's nod as good as his wink, and assumed the permission. This, in so far as

it was an offence against the dignity of the council, ought to have been condoned as soon as the council satisfied itself that no discourtesy was intended. If the council has no further fault to find with Dr Black than this flight to Sydney, it had better make terms with him — that the censure for unintentional discourtesy to the council be erased from the minute book on condition that the professor write no more foolish letters to the papers.

The march of science again I Bead the following advertisement copied from a respectable English newspaper : A LEX. BOSS' NOSE MACHINE. Applied to I\. the nose for an hour daily, bo directs the soft cartilage of which the member consist a that an informed noße is quickly shaped to perfection, 10s 6d ; post free, 10s Bd, secretly packed ; pamphlet, two stamps. 21 Lamb's Conduit street, near Holborn, London. Alex. Boss' Bar Machine to remedy outstanding eara, 10s 6d, or Btamps. Considering how much has been done for the hair, the whiskers, and the teeth, it certainly seems high time that the aid of science should be invoked for the nose and the ears. Though smooth as a billiard ball, your cranium may be thatched with flowing locks, colour to taste, straight or curled, as preferred. At least so say the advertisements, and of course advertisements cannot lie. There are depilatories for the removal of hair from places where hair ought not to be, and there is cantharides lotion for. hastening tardy vegetation on the dimply chin of adolescence. In the matter of teeth, you can be supplied with crushers and grinders of pearly whiteness, warranted never to ache, removable for cleansing and transmissible, along with other personality, to your heirs. It is remarkable, considering the natural prominence of the nose as a feature, that its capacity for improvement has not received attention before. But at last this felt want is supplied. The snub, the pug, the tiptilted, the Eoman beak, and what other misshapen noses there be, may now be " shaped to perfection" for half a guinea and the wearing of a "nose machine" one hour daily. Ears likewise; no more prick-ears, long ears, or ears that flap like an elephant's ; these errors of Nature are now remediable. It is a pity the advertiser does not give a diagram showing his nose machine and ear in action, in position, and at work. But his inventions are bound to be popular, and doubtless we shall all be able to see for ourselves . before long aotual specimens of machine-made ears and noses.

" Cursed be he that moves my bones." If Shakespeare had foreseen the wrongs he was to suffer at the hands of editors and critics he would have launched this parting benediction in another direction and written, " Cursed be he that mends my text." It is curious that the repose of the perishable part of him should have been protected by the poet's anathema, whilst the integrity of the writings which were to yield him deathless fame gave him no concern. In " Blackwood's Magazine " a Dr Oreiguton attempts to improve the received text in Dame Quickly's account of Falstaff's dying. Note the last phrase of the following passage : —

" 'A made a finer end, and wont away an it had been any Ohrißtom child j 'a parted even just between twelve and one, c'en at turning o' the tide ; for after I saw him fumble with the sheeta and play with the flowers, and smile upon hia finders' ends, I knew there was but one way ; for hia noße was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze." The common reading is : " His nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields," — exquisite touches, both ; for which we are asked to accept, "his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze"! Nothing shall persuade me that this "emendation" is not execrable, not even the authority of Collier, the editor who, it seems, first proposed it and had even the temerity to assert that Shakespeare must have so written. Credat Judaeus twn ego ! I noticed the other week the attempt of a leading Shakespearian actor to make an end of "mobled queen " in Hamlet and substitute for it "the ennobled queen"! Can such things be, and overcome us like a summer cloud, without our special wonder ? Doubtless the text of Shakespeare is often corrupt, but one feels inclined to prefer it that way. Anyhow, perdition catch" all such tinkering emendators as these.

Here ia someone who objects to my proposal anent the " capping " of Burns :

Dear Giviß,— -Your remarks about "poor Burns sitting forlorn in the Octagon," exposed, bareheaded, to the inclemency of an Otago climate, are not, if you will permit me to say so, in the best taste, They betray an intention to poke fun at the bard of Scotland, as well as at the subscribers to his etatua, which statue, aB you ought to be aware, ia an exaot replica of the national monument in Edinburgh. Your idea that human statues standing in the open air ought to wear hats or carry umbrellaß is ridiculous, and I don't suppose anybody ever heard of such a barbarous notion before. What would an ancient Greek or Roman have said to it ? Surely there were statues enough of gods and heroes at Athens and elsewhere exposed to rain and sun. Did they wear hats ? Kindly give your attention to this.

Certainly I will give my attention to this, and with the more alacrity because the question " Did they wear hats 1 " reminds me of an interesting fact .in the history of art. Amongst the ancients, statues placed in the open air were capped by gilded disks of metal to protect them from defilement by birds. In mediaeval Christian art this disk appears as the nimbus or glory, always shown around the head of an apostle or saint. You may see — from the Eoslyn tram— examples in the painted windows of St. Joseph's. Finding it always over the heads of heathen gods and goddesses the mediaeval artists in their ignorance supposed the flat disk to be the symbol of divinity or special sanctity, hence their transfer of it — -in bad perspective — to the picture of saints. By way of authority, let me quote from the notes of Orellius on Horace, preserving the Latin for my correspondent to try his teeth upon. It is a note on Sat. I, viii, 35, where the effigy of Priapus in the Esquiline gardens speculates .on the possibility of his sacred head being defiled by the dropping 3of crows : —

Quod ne ticctferet, capitibus simvlacreium sub do posHorum imponebantur opercula area inaurata, ex quibus orti sunt " nimbi " quos dicunt Sanctorum. Priapus was a low-class deity, dirty and

obscene, often set up in gardens for scarecrow purposes; hence, it seems, not protected by a disk. In fact he was left in the condition of Burns in the Octagon. - Now, I have not suggested . that Burns should be finished off with a bell-topper, nor even with a " felt " in any form. Keverence for art forbids. Still more unsuitable would be the classic disk or mediaeval nimbus, which might suggest that we were setting up Burns as a saint, — a character he never professed. The proper thing is a cast-iron Tarn o' Shanter. This would not only answer all practical purposes, but would embody a graceful allusion to the most popular creation of the poet's genius.

The Christohnrch Press has been informed that the Bench of Bishops have accepted 1 Bishop Harper's resignation, to take effect on 31st March next, and that the Bishop of Nelson, as senior bishop, has instructed the Dean of Christchurch, as commissary, to convene the clerical and lay members of the synod for the election of Bishop Harper's successor.

It is stated that the plaintiff's costs in the libel action, Bell v. Jellicoe, amounted to £250, and that that amount has been paid over.

The large hall of Mr C. Humphries, at Mataura, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning. The fire is supposed to have originated in the cloak room at the back of the building, and it is feared was the work of an incendiary, as part of the same premises was set on fire about a fortnight ago. The hall was insured in the New Zealand, South British, and National offices for £65 in each case, or a total of £195. Underneath the hall was a cellar in which Mr Humphries kept his liquors. These were destroyed, and were insured with the above companies for a total of £60.

The Grey Valley Goal Miners' Association have voted £100 towards the London Strike Fund.

The Tapanui Courier reports that the first poultry and dog show held in the district last Saturday was a pronounced success. Exhibits were sent from luvercargill, Gore, Lawrence, and Dunedin, attracted, no doubt-, to some extent by the liberal prize list. There was a good collection of birds in game, Polish, Plymouth rooks, Cochins, Leghorns, Hamburgs, and bantams. The principal prize-takers were Mrs Humphrey (Gore), Mesßrs Crosland (Invercargill), Aitken and Cursey (Dunedin), and Hart and Pottß (Lawrence). The dogs exhibited were regarded as a really fine collection. Some good prices wore realised for some of the birds after the show.

The boy Blom, who was stabbed by another boy afc Napier on Sunday, is now expected to recover.

At the last meeting of the Dunedin Horticultural Society Messrs Gordon Bros, and Mr H. Matthews exhibited some pot plants and cut blooms which were greatly admired, Messrs Gordon Bros', collection comprised some polyanthus narcissu3, a novelty, omphalodes vernum, &c. Besides a fine grown specimen of primula obcoaica and other plants, Mr H. Matthews exhibited a new apecieß of acephylla, found by him in the Hollyford Valley.

It may be remembered that a man named Jas. Bradford was murdered at Waitahuna about the 20th of May last, and that his dog disappeared in a rather mysterious manner. It has now turned up in the possession of Mr Wm. Livingstone, a farmer at Waitahuna, who states that about two months ago his sons were out rabbit shooting about four miles from Waitahuna when they found the dog in company with another, hunting by themselves. The dog returned home with them, and Mr Livingstone did not know who it belonged to until Mr M'Caw, butcher, at Waitahuna, told him a few weeks Jago that ifc was the one owned by Bradford.

At a meeting of Auckland volunteers the following motion was agreed to: — "That the Auckland volunteers are surprised to hear that the Government intend to issue Martini-Henri rifles on payment only, and consider that competitors at the Dunedin meeting should receive rifles free of cost on their companies becoming responsible for the same, as otherwise many of the regular competitors will be prevented from taking part in the meeting." A copy of this resolution is to be sent to Major Hamlin, who is to be asked to bring it before the Government.

The wreck of the Tararua, at Waipapa Point in 1881, will still be fresh in the minds of the public. She had on board a considerable number of __ silver coins withdrawn from circulation owing to their lightness or defacement. They were shipped at Auckland,~and their value has been variously estimated. Some Bay they were worth £3000 ; others say that they would bring £20,000 after re-issue from the mint. But it is believed a correct estimate of their value is £7000. Some time after the wreck (says the Mataura Ensign), and at the instigation of the insurance companies, a party with an experienced diver visited the spot and endeavoured to become possessed of the coins, but without success, for tbey found that the strong room in which they were contained was inaccessible, and there were other almost insurmountable objects in the way. The £7000 had almost been forgotten until last week, when Mr William Batsou, an experienced diver, arrived at Forfcrose with half a dozen men determined to probe the bottom ; and on Sunday the party proceeded in the Kakanui to the scene of the wreck, where they are prepared to remain in camp until the weather admits of an exhaustive examination of the wreck, which, lies only a few dozen yards from the shore. At first the kelp will require to be cat away, and if a minute examination shows that the strong room cannot easily be penetrated the whole wreck will be blown up by dynamite, a plentiful supply of which was taken down by the Kakanui.

Mr T. B. Missen is gazetted as registrar of electors for the Waihemo district, and Mr W. G. Filleul for the Oamaru district.

We beg to refer our readers to the list of new books at Braithwaite's Book Arcade, which appears on the first page of this week's issue.