PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2056, 20 July 1893, Page 27

PASSING NOTES.

The weather statistics for 1892 are another vindication of our Ofcago climate against the calumnies of envious or ignorant northerners. When reading Mr Paulin's forecasts I Tiave been tempted to ask why we cannot hire a weather prophet who will prophesy io us smooth things — but after all there is litfcleneed. Mr Faulin's bark is generally worse than his bite. Our climate is the best in New Zealand, and that is equivalent to Baying that it is the best in the world. Consider the following official figures from the volume of Transactions of the New Zealand Institute for 1892, just published :— : , Mean Days on Total rainI degree of which rain fall in moisture. fell. inches. Auckland 81 177 - 41331 . Previous 28 years 72 182. - 40%Q8 Wellington ... 76 184 67"656 Previous 28 years 73 159* 50-014 Dunedin ... ... 73 160 ' .47"552 ' Previous 2B years 73 159 34590 • How is it that in the face of these figures, and similar' figures published in previous years, the cruel slander is still current in the north that itia "always raining in Dunedin" ? Envy, it must be,— mere envy of our superior dryness. We have had fewer, rainy days tban either Wellington or Auckland, fewer inches of rain, lesß moisture in the atmosphere. The tables go on to show that Dunedin has less cloud tban Auckland and less wind than Wellington, the latter beirg a fact of which we were well aware before. And yet a muggy Aucklander and a windyWellingtonian though they agree in nothing : else will always unite to vituperate with one voice the " beastly climate "of Dunedin. It must be their way of consoliog themselves for the inferiority of thek own.

Th 9 Opposition papers have suddenly discovered Mr Earnsbaw to be a man of mark and likelihood. Hitherto they' have either ignored him altogether or regarded him with contemptuous curiosity as a specimen of the strange things thrown to the surface by: the volcanic forces of the labour movement. Bat. he has dared to lift his heel against Mr Seddon", and able editors (of- the other colour) are straightway awakened to the fact that he possesses principle, firmness, intelligence—every gift and grace, in .short, that i 3. to be desired c£ mnn. Which is very magnanimous of the able editors, and of course quite disinterested. How far the little gentleman's revolt is due to principle and bow far to spleen it is not for me to judge ;

bb u d true it is- that the Government has shown a brutal , indifference to that child of his hopes— the Alcoholic Liquor Bill ; squelched it in fact. .And they say that the pang of a politician at the murder of his bill is as keen as the pang of a mother at the murder of her child. Moreover, after coquetting with both publicans and prohibitionists, Mr S addon has surrendered himself to the former, and is consequently cheek by jowl again with Mr Fish, between whom and Mr Earnshaw the relations are said to be simply unspeakable. Finally, dear brethren, there is Sir Robert. Causes, these, quite sufficient to account for everything that has happened without postulating the desertion of the Labour party and" consequent collapse of the Government. What the Labour party will do when Sir Robert settles accounts .with Mr Seddon Is a j different matter; but do what it may, there is one thing we may safely assume it won't do, and that is make Mr Earnshaw its leader.

11 The grand old name of gentleman "—says Tennyson, somewhere — is nowadays —

Defamed by every charlatan, And soiled by all ignoble use.

He might have said the same of "Democrat " and " Liberal." These also are grand old names, bus to what abysses of degradation have they descended I In New Zealand "Demoorat" and "Liberal" are synonyms for class selfishness and meddlesome tyranny. This is very hard on people like myself, who are Democrats and Liberals to the backbone and spinal marrow. We are left without a name to be known by. There is Scobie Mackenzie, for example. The political appellation "Liberal" has become so offensive to him that, he has finally renounced it. " Henceforth if any man calls me a Liberal," he said at Naseby, " I shall knock him down." That -is" all very well, for Scobie, who has nothing to lose by publicity, and would pay a poljce court fine gladly, counting it joy to suffer in bo. good a cause ; but my own case is different. For me, with my shy and retiring disposition, all that is possible is a meek protest through the medium of this column. I used to be a Liberal; what to call myself now that quacks and charlatans have made the name their own I cannot tell. Look at the Shipping BUll Is that Liberalism 7 Then assuredly lam no Liberal. I shall be a Liberal again as soon as Liberalism shall itself .have beenjliberalised.

Then, about the word. " Democracy "—a word which means simply government by the people, and which consequently is every whit as applicable to the British Monarchy as to the American Republic— this grand old word has passed into the exclusive possession of political quacks and charlatans, who persistently drag it through the mud. Somebody has sent me a copy of a Sydney newspaper which calls Itself " Truth," and describes itself as " the popular democratic journal," enjoyiDg " the largest circulation, without any exception, of any weekly paper published in the colonies." The first words that meet my eye at the top of one of the reading columns in this popular democratic journal— which, by the way, is published on Sundays — are the following: "Heaven for climate, Hell for society, Prest and Hooking for timber and iron." To this Introduction the subsequent entertainment faithfully corresponds. The politics of the Australian democrat, judged by his favourite paper, are mob role and anarchy. He is opposed to all known forms of government, including that pf the Creator; his talk is profanity and slang, his light reading dirty police court reports, and " The Life, Adventures, and Confessions of a Sydney Barmaid " ; he believes in quack' medicines, he does not believe in Christianity; bis pet aversiocsare ministers of religion, the royal family, and the occupants of Government House. Judged from the columns of ' Sydney Truth, this is Democracy. I am a Democrat myself, but rather than this— give me for choice the tyranny of the Czar I i

Scene : A dark cave. In the middle, a cauldron boiling. Thunder. Enter the three Labour witches. First W. : Thrice hath J. A. Millar mewed. Second W. : Thrice ; and once hath Earnshaw whined," ' Third W. : The Unions cry, 'Tis time, 'tis time. First W. : Round about the cauldron go, In the poisoned entrails throw — Strike 'and boycott, feud and hate, Hands idle, and homes desolate, Sweltered venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. All : Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Second'W. : By the pricking of my thumbs Something wicked this way comes. Open locks, whoever knocks. (Enter ,Seddon.) Sed. : How now, you secret black and midnight hags, . t•" What is't you do ? All: . - 1 ' A deed without a name. Sed. : I conjure you by that which you propose And I am ever ready to perform, Answer me now I seek ye in my need ! Though you untie the mob and spur them on To bring in : chaos ; though your yeasty waves \ Confound and swallow navigation up Even till,; destruction sicken-, yet ye ' know'"-'' In all I aid' ye: wherefore auswer me To what I ask. FiratW,: - /Speak! Second W. : , Demand ! Third W. :. , We'll, answer. First W.: Say if , jbhou'dst rather hear it from our njopths Or from our master's ? Sed. ; ' ' '. Call them. Let me sco them. First W. : Four in guile and hate and bale, Envy green and treason pale ; Plotting and counterplotting throw Into the flame. All : Come; high or low ; Thyself and office deftly show. (Thunder; <An apparition rises ) Sed. : Tell me, thou unknown power First W. : He knows thy thought. Hear his speech, but say thou naught. App. : Seddon, beware ! Beware Sir Robert Stout \ . (Descends.) Sed. : Whate'er thou arb, for thy good caution thanks., ' Thou hast h'arp'd my fear aright. But one word more First W. : He will not be commanded. Here's another More potent than the first.

(Thunder. Another apparition rises.) App. : Seddon ! Seddon ! Seddon ! Sed. : Had I three ears I'd hear thee. App. : Be jocund, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn The power of man; for sooner needsb tuou fear Weak women's voices whispering in the booths. Sed. : Then let Stout scowl. What need I fear of him P More feeble he to harm me than the cry Of a mere woman. But stay, what is this That rises lean and lank and grim and tall, And gazes on me with a deep-set eye That rather bodes than beams ? All : Listen, but speak not tot. App. : Be lion-mettled, proud, and laugh at fear, Till water stronger doth become than beer.

(Descends.) Sed. : Why, that will never b9, sweet bodements good ! ill omens speak success, and high-placed Seddon Shall live the lease of nature. Yet my heart Throbs to know one thing— tell me (if your art Can tell so much) shall e'er Sir Robert Stout Be Premier ?

All : Better seek to know no more, Sed. : I will be satisfied : deny me this And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know ! Wny sinks that cauldron ? And what noise is that ? First W. : Show ! • Second W. : Show ! Third W. : Show ! All : Show his eyes, and grieve his heart,

Come like shadows so depart. (Spiritof the Polls rises— witha glass inits hand.) Sed. : Horrible sight— shut eyes — I'll see no more. (Witches disappear.) Sed. : Where are they ? Gone ! Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accursed in the calendar. Infected be the air whereon they ride, - And dammed all those that trust them. (Exit.)

Oh dear I Says the San Fianckco News Letter, writing of Algernon Swinburne and the vacant Laureateship : " Swinburne's writings are lewd, loathsome, and lascivious, and he is the greatest livirig example of a wonderfully fertile brain pandering to poetio bestiality." This I suppose is the last word of criticism on the fleshly school in poetry, Curious that it should come from San Francisco, and from a newspaper whose own columns happen to be not overchaste. One of them is regularly headed "The World, the Flesh, and the Djvil," with woodcut to match and contents corresponding. Not every paragraph in the News Letter is suited for family reading by any means. Of the lilies and languors of virtue there is not much, of the roses and raptures of vice there is a good deal. From such a quarter this savage outburst against the lewd, the lascivious, the loathsome Swinburne is impressive indeed. It is a case, in fact, of pot and kettle. For my own part, without takingtbe high moral ground, I am a good deal tired of Swinburne. His piece on the death of Tennyson made an end in me of any tolerance still lingering for his sicklysweet assonances and alliterations. Some of the lines in this piece are as exasperating as " Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper." Civis. '

The announcement of the commencement of the season of Pollard's Liliputian Operatic Company at the Princess Theatre on Wednesday night is made in our advertising columns. The advertisement unfortunately came to hand too late for the theatrical page, in which men-

tion of the company's performances at Christ church will be found.

The body of a man named Nelson Thompson was found in the harbour near the Rattray street wharf yesterday morning. Deceased, it is believed, was a stonemason, and had up till recently been living with his family at Arrowtown. He had come to town a short time back, and had been staving at the Gridiron Hotel. He was last seen alive on Tuesday night. For some time past he was said to be in ill health, and the object of his visit bo Dunedin was to receive medical treatment. The fact of his hat with an envelope bearing his name attached having been found tied to the door handle of one of the wharf sheds seems to indicate that the case is one of suicide. An inquest will be held this morning.

It was stated at the meeting of the Education Board yesterday that the recent outbreak of measles had cost [the «Otago Education Board £1005." The decrease from the same cause in the salaries paid to teachers was, however, only £150 for the past quarter — a very small amount when it is considered that the aggregate of the salaries is over £18,000. The shrinkage iv the attendances at the schools which was directly attributable to the epidemic wa3 948, and the total decrease in the attendance was 1048 for the quarter. It was resolved by the board to apply to the Education department for payment on the attendance for the previous quarter, instead of that for the past three months.

The inspector of police has been informed by wire that a woman named Sarah Ann Smith, a widow, died suddenly at Fort Chalmers yesterday. Deceased is said to have been drinking all the morning with another woman. Ifcjis believed that she fell on the floor and was suffocated. No further particulars are to hand.

The Tapanui Courier says an effort is being made to establish a tile factory in the district.

A petition is being signed in the Taieri district urging the Government to pass legislation fixing the scale of charges by medical men. '

The General Committee of the Dunedin City Council reported at Wednesday's meeting having received a deputation of fishermen with reference' to the establishment of a fish market in Dunedin. It was explained that the necessity for a market having become apparent a private market had been thought of, but it' was considered that to be of general benefit the market mut>t be a public one, near the railway, and with a siding into it. The fish could there be sold by auction, but not as in fish shop, and that step 3 must be taken to compel all fish brought to tho city to go through this market. It was pointed out in reply that the council bad no power to enforce this latter proposal, whereupon the deputation decided that they should interview the member for Fort Chalmers with the object of

! seeking legislative power to enable local bodieß to give effeot to the views expressed. The Water Committee reported that the following tenders have been accepted for grazing leaso3 for seven years from July 1, 1893, over portions of the waterworks reserves, the lessees keeping down the rabbits and relieving the corporation from all liability in respect of fencing : — Silverpeaks reserve, west of the Silverstream— Robert Gibson, £5 per annum ; Silverpeaks reserve, east of the Silverstream—John Waldio, £3 per annum ; section 1, block X, Waikouaiti district — E. Nankivell and Soup, £5 per annum.

A nine -roomed -house at Wanganui, owned by Major Sommcrville, was gutted on Thursday night, nothing being saved. The house and furniture were insured in the Standard office for £300 Tho three occupants of the house were roused by an explosion of blasting powder, a small quantity of which was kept in the kitchen for drying purposes. Had it not been ior the explosion they must have been suffocated, so rapid was the spread of the flames and so dense the smoke.

The Canterbury Liberal Association has telegraphed to the Government protesting against the clause in the Cheviot Estate Bill providing for a portion of the estate being sold for cash.