PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2560, 8 April 1903, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

By the Hector Macdonald catastrophe Scottish national feeling has been stirred to the depths. Nor need anyone wonder. The event itself is infinitely pathetic, and its appeal to the sentiment of race in a people peculiarly instinct with the sentiment of race is direct and irresistible. I am not Scottish, nor even Scotch ;— it is my misfortune that I was born south of Tweed ; but this outburst of Scottish gTief over Hector Macdonald constrains me to sympathetic throbs and thrills. I feel as the Scotch feel ; at least I think I do. A curious thing it is, this contagion of feeling. "Scotland yet!"— there is no assurance that the Scots Greys when they charged at Waterloo raised that cry ; but not the less does it set me tingling to the marrow as often as I look on a certain picture, a picture which every Scotchman knows, or should know. It may be seen in shop-windows ; there, indeed, is where I chiefly see it ; and in front of it do I never fail to stop for the luxury of a genuine emotion. Over me, a chilly-Sasse-nach, the picture "Scotland Yet!" has no right to any such power ; but these things are above reason — or below it ; anyhow, I give in, and glory in my subjection. This being the sort of person that I am, it may be possible for me to say without offence that I don't in the least incline to the theory that Hector Macdonald was driven to death by " society " persecution. All the known facts of his career point the other way. The suggestion that he was u.ade miserable by social snubs must be held incredible till it is proved. When it is proved I shall believe it — not before.

A correspondent of the Daily Time*, " J. I. C", whoever he may be — somebody from Bruce, I guess — is unhappy m mind because of a flaw that he has detected in my consistency. My consistency, observe — a quality in which, if I possess it at all, I h?ive never prided myself. Mr Ruskin used to boast his inconsistency. No lecture of his could be^yrorth much, he said, unless if, was one in which he contradicted in the end what he had affirmed at the beginning. Though not as advanced as Mr Ruskin, I despise a laborious striving after consistency. It is only an academic interest, therefore, that I take in the point raised by "J. I. C." Did I say in last week's notes t3>at the Leveson-Govrers and others, the gilded youth of the Grenadier Guards, who were " cobbed " ought to have brained their tormentors? If I did, I stick to it. But, as a matter of fact, I didn't. I merely expressed my surprise that theie was no braining. I am still of the same mind. It seems to me that any young officer, be his name Leve«=on-Gower, or be it Jones oy Smith, who, being flogged, does not flog in return, but complains to his father or his uncle, is a degenerate, and unworthy of a commission in the British army. Lawlessness! shrieks "J. I. C." — flat lawlessness ; yet this same " Civis " impeaches as lawless the holding of public meetings to terrorise a magistrate and diive him from the bench! Well, yes, — that is precisely what the said " Civis " dees, and means to go on doing. The pretext for hounding down the Bruce magistrate is that his decision was based on "technicalities." If "J. .1. C." and his friends would kindly read a little of Austin on Jurisprudence, supposing them ever to have heard of tuck an authority, they might learn that " technicalities," even the merest rules of court, are as truly law as a statute of Parliament, and emanate just as really from the sovereign authority of the State. It may be that to "J. I. C." and such as be these be mysteries. I can't help that. They may be bracketed t& problems for study along

■witK the mystery of "Civis's" inconsistency. From time to time I receive, as probably do other New Zealand pressmen, printed documents dated Lahore, India, containing new and surprising facts about the Founder of Christianity. Wishing to speak with reverence — a quality in which, so far as my experience goes, the secular press excels the religious — I am not able to be very explicit. I limit myself, there- ! fore, to saying that the Fcnrader of Chris- " tiarilty is at present in Srinagar, Thibet ; that the Lahore document in my possession gives a -photographic portrait of- him.; •' that he is a stolid-looking, black-bearded,-white-turbaned Oriental, with a game leg ; and that he walks with a stick. And here is the explanatory letter-press : Opposite the photograph of thedeid^Mesaiah's^ tomb, -we have given a picture of the living Messiah, whose advent is looked upon as the second advent of Jesus Christ in the same manner as the advent of John was, according to the word of God, looked upon as the'second advent of -Eliast The picture discloses the blessed features of the Promised I one, in whose expectation millions have passed away. Blessed is he who sees him and reject's him n6t. The Anjumak-1-Isha.'at-J-Iblam, Qadian, Fan jab, India. To us in New Zealand, familiar with the whole gamut of crazy religions, from Theosophy. to Seventh Day Adventisnj,, there is nothing in this revelation that should seem very much out of the way. But there is * one point on which I am puzzled. Who pays 'for this extensive: printing and posting? And what is the motive? 1 cannot tell .wTiy. 1 these"* things are printed in India and posted to all the ends of the earth, any more than *T can tell why some hundreds of my fellow-towns-men go to the Choral Hall- that -they mayhear a successor of Torrey-Alexander discourse on "A little Man. with a Desire in his Boots." The only hypothesis which will fit the Lahore case, whatever may bo said about the other in Dunedin, is, that, somehow, there must be money in it. Dear " Civis," — I regularly read your Passing Notes, and I get a considerable amount of pmusement out of them, and occasionally a little instruction. But sometimes you stagger u-s with riddle 3. Will you kindly permit me to ask you one, and will you try tj answer it. It is based upon a statement of your own. In last week's Passing Notes you say : " The cure for prohibition is prohibition." Now can you tell us how long the disease is likely to run before its crisis and " euro " appear. For instance, prohibition has been raging in Clutha for nine years past, and there is no symptom of i " cure " as yet. Please tell us (if you know or can guess) how long it will take prohibition to " cure " or kill itself.— Yours truly, Dunedin, March 30. , J. T. Hinton. How long, do you ask? That depends. For a speedy recovery apply the cure with rigour and vigour. In Clutha, as Mr Hinton is aware, there has been no thoroughness. The conditions made, thoroughness unattainable. Grog migh"fr be had "on the sly " within the district, and across the licensed counter just outside of it. There are citizens of Balclutha who, if you are dining with them, will give you an excellent glass of whisky. They vote prohibition, and bring in their domestic supplies from Dunedin. Of that fact, if it seem strange to him, Mr Hinton may accept my personal assurance, and I know whereof I affirm. Clearly, then, prohibition as the cure for prohibition has not had fair play in Clutha. There has been a lamentable want of vigour and rigour. The conditions will be tightened a little now that Matuura on one flank and Bruce on the other are shutting up their licensed houses. But the essential thing is that prohibition should really prohibit — that the importing, the possessing, the touching, tasting, handling of the prohibited commodity should be made a felony. Grant me that, and I guarantee a cure in twelve months. How is it with those States in America that at one time or other have subjected themselves to prohibition? All, save two, have safely recoveved. They have gone back to license. The comments of the New York Outlook on the latest of these recoveries, that of the State of Vermont, being of an intelligent kind have already been quoted in the Otago Witness. Readers of the Witness may with advantage read them again. A wide experience extending over many States and for many years has proved that the policy of State prohibition is morally disadvantageous to the community. It does to some extent close the open saloons, but it promotes secret drinkmg-places ; excites the spirit of I3w!essue3s ; leads communities to think they are virtuous because they have incorporated % irtiic in a statute ; tends to public corruption and blackmail , and, in these and other v/ays, pays far too great a price for what is too often the appearance rather than the reality of total abstinence. A minimum license fee, fixed by statute, with local option by towns and villages, and possibly — though this experiment has yet to be tried — by wards in the larger cities, gives far more promise of practical results than prohibition. The sum of which is that the Outlook and Vermont State have been converted to license by experience of prohibition. Dear " Civis," — In Passing- Notes some.weeks ago there was a reference to the word " helterskelter," and the absurd suggestion of a local paper that it might be derived from the names of two Dutch rivers, the Helder and the Scheldt. Words formed on the pattern of " helterskeJter " are a very curious group. ' Here is a dozen and a-half, and there may be more: — hob-nob hanky-panky hugger-mugger hodge-podge helter-skelter hurry scurry hoot-toot hoity-toity ■ hurly-burly hum-drum heddy-doddy hurdy-gurdy huz-buz hocus-pocug bumpry-diimp.ty handy-dandy higgledy-piggledy hickory-dickory

In all alike the second component thymes with the first and an aspirated syllable is put in the front. All alike are ugly, and all alike express a humorous contempt. It is useless looking for derivations. A London paper recently discovered the original of " hickory dickory dock " in " ikery tikery dak" — Hindustani words meaning " hither and thither to scatter '' — which is as absurd as "helter-skelter" from Helder and Scheldt. In words of this group it 13 the uniformity of plan that is the puzzle, frince no one man can have minted them. How do you explain their existence?— Philologos. How do I explain, lie asks! I don't *x»

plain. " Helter-skelter," " hugger-mugger,^ and the like are no creations of mine. 1 disclaim responsibility. It may be pointed out, however, that not all slangy words with a jingle in them begin with the letter h ; " namby-pamby," " niminy-piminy,'* " mumbo jumbo " are examples to Che contrary. On the other hand the Germans conform to the h rule with " holter-polter," a nondescript expressing confusion and haste. But on the origin of words any simpleton may ask questions which no wise man can answer. Why do I call the article of furniture on which I am inditing this note a table? Because, 2000 years ago and more, people who spoke Latin called -arflat surface "tabula." Why did they do that? — Because to their prehistoric ancestors the monosyllable "ta" seemed to express extension and flatness. Why it so seemed, "Heaven only knows. When we have pushed the inquiry) as far back as that, science resolves itself into piety, an<f there is nothing more to be said. The editor announces from time to timt above the leader that he does not answer -legal questions. ' That is no reason "why I shouldn't. Here is a specimen of the" weighty matters occasionally submitted to' " Civis " as ductor dubitantium : " Civis." — Sir,— The othex day a boy while walking up Princes street Cutting had his cap .blown' off his head with the high equinoctial wind that was blowing. Immediately a dog snapped it up 'and r«n oS with it. A policeman, "wh'6 chanced to be " on the spot," and whom the dog had to pass on his way, never attempted to seize -either tke cap or the thief, although he had seen the whole .affair. Can you explain hit duty in-such cases? — I am, etc., . Fact. This is a question of some importance and of no small nicety. I should be disposed to lay down, in-limine, that it is not fot -a dignitary of either church or State to give chase to a flying hat in a high wind. A Clu-istchurch paper of last week reports that Bishop Julius, mounted on a bicyclefa species of conveyance for which it would be difficult, I should think, to cite canonical authority) — mounted on a bicycle and riding against " a Christchurch nor'-wester, hia coa.t tails flying high in air, " lost his shovel hat." We are not told, that he went in chase of it. In the inteiests of decency, not to say of Christianity, it is to. be hoped that the Bishop, hatless, betook himself home the 'nearest way. If a bishop may not run after a hat, a fortiori a policeman may not. The argument is from the less to the greater. The complication introduced by the dog only makes the case, plainer. Granted that the duty of a. policemen when he sees a thief, human or canine, is to arrest him. But graviora quaedam .sunt remedia' periculis (see Ribbeck, "Sententiae minus probatae," 599). The. spectacle of a policeman in chase of a"* dog with a hat in his mouth would bring law and order, official dignity and the administration of justice, into contempt. I hold therefore, on the case submitted, | that the policeman's duty was to take ous a summons against the owner of the hat for throwing temptation in the way of the dog by going abroad on a windy day with headgear imperfectly attached. My correspondent will please forward the customary fea of six-and-eightpence. Cms. T

The valuators of the Mornington tramwaj — Messrs E. Roberts (representing th« Mornington Borough Council), F. A. Cutten (Mornington Tramway Company), and J. P. Maxwell (umpire)— have completed theii task, and unanimously fixed the value ol tho company's interest, plant, etc., afc £19,171 13s. The award has been lifted by tho Mornington Borough Council, and it is understood that the line will be taken over in the course of a few days. Mr Andrew Carnegie, the millionaire, has generously given £7500 for erecting a new free library in Hobart. •"* The vital statistics for the Dunedin district for the month of March were as follows : —Births, 112 ; deaths, 70 ; marriages, 57. In March of last yoar births numbered 105, deaths 55, and marriages 69. For th« quarter just ended the figures are: — Birth*, 325; deaths, 125; marriages, 205. In thi corresponding quarter of last year birthl totalled 345, deaths 160, and marriages 151. s The usual weekly meeting of the Benevolent Trustees was held or Wednesday afternoon, and was attended by Messrs P. Tresedsi (chairman), R. M. Clark, R. Wilson, W. T. Talboys, A. Tapper, J. Thomson, and the Hon. H. Gourley. The secretary re ported that James Sinclair, aged 88 years. ha*d died in the institution since the lasi meeting. The tender of Mo-srs A. Millei" * and Co. for the supply of groceries foi the year wae accepted. Accounts amounting to £281 18s 8d were passed for payment. The outdoor relief book showed that during the month 307 cases, affecting 119 men, 216 women, and 511 children,' had been dealt with, the cost being '£102 Is 6d per week. During tho corresponding period of last year 300 cases, affecting 115 men, 222 women, and 514- children, had been dealt with, the co.it being £97 7s 6'J per week. Relief cases to tho number of 25 were dealt with. At a cost of eight million francs, the French Railway Administration i 3 about to establish through its entire system what is known aa " a rail telephone." This is $ new invention, and will "reduco to a minimum, if not render impossible, chauces of lailway accidents, which have lately occurred with frightful frequency, in Franca. Experii ments conducted with the apparatus foi some months have, proved its entire practicability^ Trains on the same section of load have been able to communicate with each other with ease; have been warned o£ each other's presence and their rate of speed! when miles apart, advieed of obstructions on the track ahead through the breaking o£ a continuous current, and kept in alm?si» contimiaujj communication with BtatiaT" > '*