PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2232, 10 December 1896, Page 38

PASSING NOTES.

(Fjrom Saturday's Daily Times.)

Fob once in a way I find myself considerably nonplussed. This ill-used column of mine may be likened to Mahomet's coffin,—. somewhere between heaven and earth, Parliament and no Parliament. At my time of writing (Friday) the free and independent electors are voting for dear life — or dearer party ; at your time of reading (Saturday) the election is as a tale that has been told. As an old public servant — a friend of the people, if not of the people'a Government — I feel that I have just cause of complaint. Why was polling day fixed for Friday 1 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday — any one of these days might have been chosen, and I could have made shift to put in a respectable and up-to-date appearance ; but no 1 Mr Seddon had determined that I should be a day behind the fair, and I must needs bow to " the great, rugged, human personality of the Premier, the shadow of which fills New Zealand from sea to sea." (It was kindly done of Misß Jessie Mackay to assure us that the Premier is " human " ; some of us who heard him last week were in danger of regarding him as bovine). Well, I must make the best of a vexatious business, and you must c'en take this note as a link between the present and the past. True, I might sit up and start wiiting at midnight | after the result has been declared. Nevertheless, I haven't the slightest intention of so doing. Much would I cheerfully undergo for the sake of my country and my reader?, but to indite Passing Notes while weeping (perchance) over Mr Hutchison's rejection at the hands of the ungrateful masses — 'twere a more than mortal task. I heartily congratulate the three successful candidates (especially Mr Nicol) and drop copious tears— l speak spiritually — on the necks of the disconsolate nine. Next week I shall be in a position to particularise my felicitations and sympathies. Last Tuesday should be marked evermore with white in the annals of " Mr Reporter." Seldom does the recording angel of journalism achieve such glory. IG was his day of days. In the afternoon he was asked, to preside over the charming Maenads at the Y.W.G.A. rooms. True, he declined the honour, but to have had the refusal of a bishopric — to have said nolo episcopari—is, perhaps, greater glory than to be formally dabbed "My Lord." But Mr Reporter's day was not over when he bad written up the Hatton-Don function. He was due at the City Hall at 8 p.m., — but let him once more tell his own heroic tale of disastrous chances, moving accidents, and hairbreadth 'scapeß i' the imminent deadly breach : It being clearly impossible to gain Access to the hall by the front door, the reporter was forced to try the back, and, the stage door being locked, he secured admittance to a cellar below the hftll, and leaping through a window, he found himself in a dark passage which conducted him to the stairs leading up to the stage. Again we read and shiver. His bat to do or die in the pnblic service : When can his glory fade ? O, the wild leap he made ! Chanced fire and water !— Honour tbe leap he made ! Honour him unafraid 1 ! Noble Reporter ! Mr Reporter was not invited to preside at the City Hall (albeit Mr Cameron expressly stated that he did not desire to monopolise the position), bnt he still had work before him. Hs had to make that meeting immortal, and manfully did he discharge the task. As for Mr Nicol, I shall not expatiate on his virtues or his foibles. For one thing, he may be senior member for Dunedin before these words meet the public eye, — and senior members must not be lightly treated. Indeed it is difficult to see how he can avoid securing the place of honour occupied during these latter years by another David. Is ho not everybody's candidate ? We are all going to vote for David Nicol, the working man's candidate thb*bu3ine33 man's candidatb. the moneyed man's candidate. I notice, by the way, that Mr Nicol, following the example of other candidates, has taken the precaution of asking his friends to lend their oarriages for the conveyance of aged and infirm voters. There was a time when the Conservative members Iqx Wales

conld go down to the House of Commons in one hansom. Absit omen ! A correspondent addresses himself to the problem suggested by the mysterious influence exercised by Mr Seddon over women, for whom (to put ib mildly) he has done nothing, "Gone" on Seddon. - A curious phenomenon which has often been rSeen, bat to which Sir John Hall, Sir Robert Stout, and other advocates of the women's franchise seem wilfully to have shut their eyeo, is that notorious persons evoke in the minds of certain of the adorable sex a kind of hysterical sympathy which leads its victims to look upon such persons' as objects of adoration for whom any and every sacrifice ought to be made. Stanley, Dr Jameson, and even Deeming were objects of this hysterical idolatry, and now we have another instance in the Hon. Richard John Sfddon. Manifestly some of the leading women politicians are quite "gone." Shakespeare, the poet of all time, is equally the poet of all occasions, and in the " Midsummer Night's Dream " he gives something very like what we have been hearing lately from' some of the Seddon worshippers :—: — • Titania : 1 pray tb.ee, gentle mortal, sing again : Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note ; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape ; And thy fair virtue's force perlorce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee. The sentiment above mentioned is well satirised" in the ".Twenty love-sick maidens " sighing in "Patience."- It will prove* very awkward factor to deal with in relation to. women's suffrage. < < Well, there is a hint of consolation in the history of Titania's infatuation. Her tenderness for the asinine Bottom promptly disappeared and became as " the fierce vexation of a dream," when Oberon undid " the hatefal imperfection of her. eyes." Ob. : Be, as thou wast wont to be, [Touching her eyes with a herb] See, as thou wast wont to see : Diana bud o'er Capid'n flower Hath such force and blessed power. Now, my Titania ; wnke you, my sweet queen. Tit. : My Oberon ! What visions have I seen ! Methought I .was enamoured of an ass. Ob. : There lies your love. Tit. : How came these things to pass ? O, how mine eyes do loath his visage now ! Even for Mrs Hatton and Mips Ma.ckay there is hope,— if only a merciful Oberon be forthcoming with the salutary herb. It was something more than a coincidence that caused the advertisement convening Tuesday's meeting of the Women's Franchise Lsagae to appear under the heading of " Amusements " ip Monday's Times, and if the principal performers will only repeat the farce on behalf of some charity— pay, a home for aged and distressed female ■politicians,— it would be what an advance "agent would term a sure draw. There need be no difficulty in such a case in finding a name for the farce. Suitable titles strew the glades of the drama. " Much Ado About Nothing " might suit, or " Love's Labours Lost," or "All's Well That Ends Well." These naturally occur. Should it be necessary to use an absolutely new name I might suggest " Euchred." Mr Hatton, however, should get himself appointed stage-manager and readjust the parts, for that in which he appeared on Tuesday afternoon oan hardly be said to suit him. He has reason for complaint, I think. He was invited. The advertisement stated that members of the league and sympathisers were invited, and nothing wa9 said about what the convenors intended to do. Mr Hatton is a member of the league I presume; if he is not, he is evidently a sympathiser, and to threaten him with ejectment by a policeman was inhospitality in its woret form. When the mild and gentle Mr Saunders threatens the meek and inoffensive Mr Hatton with a policeman, chaos is come again. Where, I ask, was Mrs Hatton when this indignity waß put upon her spouse ? Was she lying low, like Brer Rabbit, and was she, I wonder, the interjeotor who said that Mr Saunders was acting like a bully 2 I am free to confess that I attended Mr Seddon's meeting at the saleyardß last week, and I am fain to admit also that I stayed it ont till the bitter end. It was not that I was so lost in admiration of the Premier's eloquence that I took no note of the flight of time. As far as I was personally concerned I had cfuite sufficient of Mr Seddon when he took the meeting into his confidence and informed us that he wore the white flower of a blameless political life. What wag left of my equanimity was disturbed by the reckless manner in which Mr Seddon noes his aspirates. He literally strewed the tan-spread and perfumed floor with them. No doubt he gathered a good many of them np again, but there must have been an enormous number left. But then, what would you 1 A man may be a good legislator though he have not an aitcn in the world. Mr E. M. Smith, borough turncock and lamplighter, has made bis way without aitcbes, and so have a good many more Liberals, which makes it somewhat remarkable that no one on that side of the House has yet produced a bill making its uae optional instead of compulsory. Yet I endured three hours and a-qaarter of Mr Seddon's oratory, not to mention a preliminary hour spent In waiting, through over-eagerness to get a good seat. Mrs 0. was there also, and that fact is remotely connected with this paragraph. That estimable lady had expressed a keen desire to hear Mr Seddon, and more than once has been heard to say that she should like to be on some ladies' committee "to see what they do." So I thought it would not be a bad plan to give her a surfeit of Mr Seddon and politics. It worked like a charm. At the time of writing she is determined not to vote at all, and if her determination is overcome her vote will assuredly not go to a Ministerial candidate. After all, diplomaoy is the easiest way to manage 'em, I rather think Mrs Hatton must have been present, for I do not think a solitary man would have been able to hold his ground unless be bad his reserves handy. Not even j Joshua could hold up his arms continually without support, and Mr Hatton is not a Joshua by any means, for he is meek above all men. He is dangerous only when he is roused. Then ba la terrible. Let anyj>rowl-

ing Oppositionist enter the Ministerial fold with the crafty intention of stealing a lamb, and Mr Hatton is the watchdo^that raises the alarm. He is the dragon, in fact, that guards the virtue of the league. No one will deny that he haß fulfilled his duty well. Mesdames Hislop and Don convened a meeting which gave promise of sowing discord in the league. They paid for the room into the bargain, and they invited members and sympathisers to attend. They had entrapped three parsons with their blandishments, and it was clearly Mr Hatton's duty as watchdog to save these women from themselves. How he did it we all know. He fought with the' wild beasts at Ephesns, but he conquered in the end. He wore Mr Saunders down. He even silenced Mr Rsady, whioh ii more remarkable still; and be appears to have co intimidated Mr Taylor that be did not raise his voice ; and when he had routed these disaffected people, who don't believe in mixing Seddonism with their prohibition and orher little "isms," he proceeded to hold a meeting on his own account. Mr Saunders would nofc take the chair, nor Mr Ready; Mr Hatton evfen went so far as to ask a reporter, who also refused for the good, though unexpressed, reason that he was a married man. Mrs His]op,' though an antagonist, at last took the .chair, and in spite of her and of her allies Mr Hatton carried a resolution "approving of the choice of the exscntive. For' that alone Mr Hatton deserves a J.P.-shipat the very least, though some Bay he has his eye on the Upper House. Oivia.