PASSING NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 5

PASSING NOTES,

(From Saturdays Daily Time*/)

Honours are easy ! May they be as easy as they will be well worn- is a natural conclusion to the congratulations which Crvis tenders to the newly-appointed K.C.'s. The phrase familiar to oldfashioned whist-players, whose leisured game has been engu-fed in the high tide of bridge, comes irresistibly to mind in connection with the distinctions which have lately fallen to our southern community. Honours are easy! and legal affairs look up all round. Potential junior counsel look with anxiety to the cleanness of their shave and the rigid integrity of tie and collar. Counsel whose junior days are unmistakably over, and whose K.C. days apparently are not to come, explain with quite unnecessary detail how they "simply couldn't take a thing of that sort. Why, my dear fellow, it would mean throwing my practice away" ; and then, growing still more mysterious and confidential, tejl obvious "yarns" of the time they were " approached " concerning a judgeship, but had to decline it. " Game not worth the candle, my dear fellow — not to a man with my practice, you know." Ah, well, there are always compensations! Honours are easy — well distributed and various — in our southern city of late, despite the fact that no anxiously-looked-for Birthday honours came our way. There was the blue ribbon of science for Dr Benham ; a seat among " the Lords " with its accompanying honours and dignities for Mr Paul ; " silk " and a scratch wig for two of our leading barristers ; and a munificent rise in salary for our excellent town clerk. The latter, despite his £1000 & year, I sincerely commiserate. Henceforth his highest achievement will but justify his existence, and he will, if I mistake not, find that record rise involves a somewhat exacting standard of perfection. These things all accomplished, the scheme of general well-being only requires another detail or two to round its perfection. A knighthood for Crvrs, together with the necessary purse of sovereigns to enable him to support the honour, would naturally coma first.

Municipal finance is a form of finance which goes straight to the heart and purse of every citizen. We men value most that on which we expend most — women value most that for which they save most. Evidently then the sooner women, with their love of detail and their genius for 6mall economies, are added to the working staff of municipal affairs the better. I have a very shrewd suspicion that the dififrraceful filth of Lower High street and the dilapidated and poverty-stricken foot pavements in the vicinity of the University would cease to be the cause of daily and discursive profanity if we had a fe*w women on the engineer's staff of the Public Works Department. There is something so opulent, so high-handed, and so munificent about municipal affairs ju6t now that one scarcely likee to mention dirty streets and broken footways in connection with the august personages whose salaries are ever on the up grade. Not modestly and gradually, as became the canny reputation of a Scotch community in older days, but by the splendid leaps and bounds^ of American methods. No wonder the average taxpayer is inclined to lose his temper with the Philistine from elsewhere, who tenders misplaced sympathy in that Dunedin is "not progressing." " Look at our tramway system, our electric and water supplies," the injured citizen protests. "Look at your

liabilities,"' is the brutal rejoinder. However, my own electric light once installed, my household rapidly becoming accustomed to its strange fluctuations, and my footpath restored to decency and order, I content myself with the humour of the City Council's last deliberations. Indeed, I do not know which I admire most, the versatility of that councillor who " argued right, and argued left, and also argued round about him," or the masterly inactivity of the councillor who, on this occasion, gave pride of place to things spiritual, rather than things temporal, and, flushed with a very natural sense of superiority, tartly resented the obvious unbelief of a colleague. Now, -what our city fathers really need is the rest, the change, the wider outlook afforded By judicious travel — something on the lines suggested by the following, taken from our recent cablegrams. The authorities at Berlin ar» preparing to enterta-in the Lord Mayor of London and 63 sheriffs, aldermen, and others constituting the British committee which is studying foreign, municipal institutions. They have been waJxnly -welcomed a,t Munich, Nuremberg, and other parts of Germany. It is scarcely fair that our Premiers should have all the picnicking. Of the joyous effect of travel on the receptive mind we have a striking instance in one of our fellow townsmen : evidently the trouble would be in the readjustment of ideas!

While on the topic of municipal finance some of the items of London's annual bill for the safeguarding of her millions of men and money may not be beside the question. It is a princely bill this — totalling two millions, out of which no less than £1,631,850 goes into the pockets of the metropolitan police. The items that go to make up this little bill are various as well as interesting. For example, the supply, trimming, oil, and repair of the police lanterns amounts to £5000. For every four policemen seen in the streets of London through the day there are six fast asleep, resting from their previous night's watch, and recuperating for the coming hours of silent, often perilous, patrol of the next night. Something like £14,000 is paid to the polica for minding banks, factories, and the mansions of wealthy people. With these sums the taxpayer has nothing to do, any more than he has with the amounts paid for police guardianship by the British Museum, Houses of Parliament, Treasury, National Gallery, etc. Of these, ironically enough, the Treasury and the National Gallery are among the smaller sums, while the Houses of Parliament top the score with a little caretaking bill of £9679. The careless and forgetful people, while they add to the expenses of minding London by the necessity for the Lost Property Office, inadvertently make some return for their troublesome habits — the sale of unclaimed lost property reaching something under £200 per annum. But what of the 22,000 umbrellas annually lost, the 3988 purses, the 219 watches? The London thus referred to, however, is distinctly not the -London seen by picnicking Premiers, or even " Callers at the Agency." Bather is it London as she ie technically known to the metropolitan police, t*he amazing heart of the world which stretches over an area of 699 square miles, and which each year adds between 60 and 70 miles of new streets, to be patrolled by her guardian angel — the man in blue. The Metropolitan . Police owns some of the finest horseflesh in London, and what may be called the "stable bill" — which includes everything pertaining to the upkeep of horees, carts, and vans, including the dismal Black Maria — totals something like £20,000.

The returned Premiers are already beginning to pay the price of much delightful glorification of mind and body by the exhausting small coin of "interviews." Our own Sir Joseph, among other things, refers without loss of time to Canada's proficiency in the a<rt of advertising. Clearly this is among the cream of his impressions — rising- to the surface i first. The curious thing is that it did not strike our redoubtable Government long ago to secure such an advertisement for | New Zealand as Foster Fraser's " Canada As It Is" afforded for that enterprising colony. Instead of this the public appetite for information has been naueeated with feeble, foolish, and ineffective books on New Zealand, as dull as they are illarranged, and as little likely to reach a wide circulation as — the Transactions of the Institute. Had Foster Fraser been invited to lay himself out on an "Up-to-date New Zealand" instead of effectively daubing "A Red Russia," there is small doubt we should have made an excellent investment. As to Canada's proficiency in the art of advertising, it is in the very ■ air which blows across the indietinguisK- ! able frontier between herself and the big, boastful U.S.A. A writer in the Monthly Review recently affirmed with something of asperity that "It is in the United States of America that Bounce (with a capital B) has established itself as a fine art. A glance through the advertisement pages of almost any periodical published in America forms quite an interesting study in its way. . . . The superlative degree loses all significance, and one feels that ere long it will be necessary to devke a term indicative of something that is better than the beet." A local illustration of the excellent aptitude of Ameiican advertising, as contrast-ed with cur own, lies in the fact that Amei-ican magazines were advertising New Zea'and — with a charming portrait study of two Maoii women — as an attraction of the Vancouver route at the came time that the New Zealand Government issued a fresh /uide-book advising tourists to spend some days at Kinloch, on Lake Wakatipti, '.vhere the accommodation house had long eince passed out of existence, and the .onfiding tourist would require, like the snail, to take his house on his back ! As a specimen of American advertising in its cruder and more risky forms the ' following is not bad; — "Sties Louise

Douglass, being about to appear at an Omaha theatre, (swallowed a live chameleon as a preliminary." Primitive man or woman might have done so in similar circumstances in the belief that the chameleon's quick-change gifts would be assimilated by the artist ; but in the enlightened modern world represented by (Triiaha it was pure advertisement, of course. happily, as we learn from the Daily Chronicle's Chicago correspondent, the actress it was that died : the swallowed chameleon survived her ; and we may expect to hear that the theatre is more than making good its loss by exhibiting the chameleon.

An interesting instance of the healthful, but not always agreeable, application of the cold douche of realism is sent to me by a correspondent.

Is it passible that the ladies of Auckland (not to say 'Nerr Zealand) are so misrepresented in the London papers? or is this a case of a " stour " in an opposition paper?

Female Suffrage in Phactice. To the Editor of the Daily Mail.

Sir, — A seven years' residence in New Zealand has only strengthened my opposition to female suffrage. I have not seen a single advantage arising through the " privilege," and, on the other hand, several grave dangers have been revealed.

I have more than once heard women give as their reason for voting, for " so-and-so " :

" He called on k« and was so nice and welldressed, with a buttonhole in his coat," etc. Then, again, women are subject to bribery, so long as it does not take the form of coin of the realm. To state one actual case- which came under my notice. A respectable married woman living in Auckland had a suite of dining-room furniture sent to her house on the understanding that she should vote in a. certain way.

One very significant fact here is that I can never get women to regard politics as a subject fctr conversation. My thoughts wander back to my mother and grandmother, who regularly read the parliamentary debates. These remarks are the reeult of careful observation. My husband takes a practical interest in all that concerns the welfare of this district, where our sheep run ie situated, so I think I may fairly claim the right an independent opinion. Hannah C. Stottr.

The Grange, Woodleigh, Auckland, N.Z. I gather that my correspondent takes exception to the plain speaking of this New Zealand woman. Myself, I applaud her temerity and honesty. Perhaps a clear comprehension of what the women's vote would mean in England might temper the sympathy for the suffragettes — now re-christened " martyrettes." It would mean the enfranchisement of two million women, whose code of ethics is more than hinted at by Miss ' Pankhurst's candid avowal that in the event of the bill not passing " we mu6t carry on our demonstrations on a still larger scale. We shall also go to the constituencies, and those MEN WE HAVE HELPED TO PLACE IN POWER. we shall help to depose. Without the support of the women they cannot win elections. It wa6 the help of the women that kept the Liberal party alive during the long years of depression, but if there were to be a general election to-day the result, owing to the manner in which many of them have treated us, would be very different."

The British Journal of Education would appear to be a bright speck in the dustladen, strenuous grind of hard work for which the word " education" now stands. " Hard work'' — it reminds me of a little witticism, rather quaint as coming from the lips of 9,. schoolmaster. Th© head master* of Manchester Grammar School, in distributing prizes lately, read from a friend's letter the following suggestion for amending the verse of a certain hymn : — They climbed the Rteep ascent of heaven, Through peril, toil, and pain ; Oh, God, to us may grace be given To follow — in a train. But to return, there is quite a store of stories, some mellow, and none mouldy, in the Journal of Education. One little yarn concerning Lord Randolph Churchill is worth repeating: —

He -was sent for one day by the Master of my division, when the following dialogue passed : —

Master: Late for chapel, Churchill — a hundred lines. Churchill : Thankee, sir. Master : Two hundred. Churchill: Thankee, sir. Master • Four hundred. Churchill. Th&nkee, sir. Master : I shall send you to the headmaster.

Churchill departed with the conventional order for flogging, apparently dumbfounded, but as he closed the door he Icoked back, and, smiling sweetly, let fly a Parthian shaft. "Thankee, sir." Again, despite that ignorance of European politics displayed by tha colonial press, which Mr H. A. Fisher pathetically laments, I really think wo know enough to appreciate this Chambeilain story: —

Lord G • " What on -earth should take Mr Chamberlain to Oxford 9 Ihere is no declining industry at Oxford to serve his purpose." Mr A. J B^ ■ "I siippose he will discourse on tire declining industry oi the \izxftex-gradua-tes." One more in&tance, and this has the appropi iatefiess belonging to what the softyoods trade describe as " treasonable goodo" : — The rain it raineth on the iust Alike and on th« unjust 'fefla,h ; Eut wets not the unjust because He's stolen the just man's umbrella. Civis.

The mails which were despatched from Wellington for the Continent of Europe and the United Kingdom, via Naples, on May 3, arrived in London on the afternoon of the 9th inst.

The late Dr Alexander, under his will, bequeathed the sum of £1250 to the Governor of St. Helena for the benefit of the native-born poor and necessitous inhabitants of the island. The legacy was given by the deceased gentleman iv reco£-

' nition of t&e fact that St. Helena was £T< birthplace, and that his family had been closely connected with it for a lengthjr period. An appeal by the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society for financial support in order to expand its field of operations would eeem to deaerir© the best consideration of the people of Dunedin and through* out the province. The summer and winter shows are undoubtedly of great benefit t^ both town and country, and have a stimu lating effect on the various industries^ The shows are- the means of attracting ** very large number of people to Dunedir^ thereby benefiting merchants, hofcelkeeperaj and the trade of the city generally. Efforts will also be made to increase th« membership, which at its present strength of 639 i 3i 3 not nearly so large as that oi some other centres. A special prize of £5 is to be given to the district gaining most points at th«j winter show, and this prize is to ba awarded to the local Agricultural Society 1 of the district that gains it. As thera were 1100 entries, the result takes a greaft deal of -working out, and owing to enormous pressure of work the secretary of the A. and P. Society has not yet been able to arrive at a definite conclusion. The result, however, will be available in a dayj or two. A resident of Johannesburg, writing to a relative who lives near Timaru, is not at all complimentary (says ' the' Timaru Post) to the army officers who 'have had a good deal Jxx do, until recently, with the govern* j nient of the Transvaal. He writes:—: "We are suffering from the absurd ex« i travagance of the military to a degree* and the bad times we are going through! had to come in order to take some of thtt load off our backs At present it is calculated that every white family contributes about £20 yearly on an average towards, the taxation of the Transvaal. We have* far too many officials of all grades everywhere at far too high salaries. -Of course we get a fraction of their incomes spent in the town, but this class of people ar« not much good to traders, as they try to import for themselves, and save whatever they can. My experience of the military shows that, generally speaking, they are the scum of creation, especially; the officers, and that to have D.S.O. after their name is usually sufficient to finally, close any credit account with such." The • writer adds: — "I think that the new Government by the farmers will do good for a time, even though we have to g<* Blowly for the present." I Among other records now in the keeping 1 . of the Rev. T. G. Brooke, of New JPIy r mouth, is a valuable baptismal ■ register, valuable inasmuch as it contains the record 1 of the first Methodist haptisms there, their, . ministrations preceding general settlement* The first entry is that giving March, 1841,, as the date of the first baptism intheTarsx naki Methodist churches, the subjects o^ the ser.vioe being the children of Richard Barrett (generally remembered|w " Dicky " Barrett), whaler. A separate section of the register contains the list of Maoris baptised in the early days, from February,; 1841, to November, 1896. Several hundreds of these baptisms were celebratedby the Rev. Mr Creed, before the adverrtt of settlement. Among other well-known clergymen the names of the Rev. John Whiteley, Rev. Turton, Rev. John Ironside, Rev. Wm. Kirk, Rev. T. 6. Hammond, and Rev. W. Gittos appear in constant repetition. This register is really • an historic work, a link with the past. *« The manner in which "undesirables'* may be foisted upon the community was given pointed notice at the Wellington Police Court last week (says the New; Zealand Times) when a seaman from the - steamer Suffolk was charged with assaulting his captain on the ship's quarter-deokf. The captain stated that he wished to get rid of the man, who had caused a great - deal of trouble on the vessel since shipping 1 at Liverpool. Dr M'Arthur remarked:. . " We don't want a man like this. If he is sentenced^ to a month's imprisonment he will keep me, or someone else, busy after he comes out. W© arc sometimes enjoined not to look a ' gift horse ' in the mouth, but in a case like this I am sure the colony does not want to have to look after the man." In subsequently imposing a fine for the assault on the captain — a, serious offence — the magistrate said : " And you take him with you, captain." The j skipper agreed, with evident reluctance, In the course of his remarks at Milton on June 12 on the question of votes for Otago's public works, Mr James Allen isaid that a movement had taken place in Otago that had caused the Central railway, to cease at Clyde. Otago's share, it was understock, -vvoul<l go to -fch& Ca,tlins lino and the Lawrence-Roxburgh line, but last 6ession ths Government, taking advantage of the Otago squabble, considerably reduced the railway vote, so that these two lines got practically no more than usual, while the Otago Central vote was cut down. It was for the Otago members to *£cc that the amount voted in 1905 for this part of the colony was again granted. For himself, what he desired was to see that Otago got its fair share of the public expenditure 4 . It mattered little to him where the money; went so' long as that object was secured. At the last meeting of th© Otago antJ Southland Operative Tailors and Shop Tailoresses' Union it was unanimously: decided to nominate Mr Robt. Slater as the workers' representative on the Arbitration Court. It was also resolvrd to thank Mr J. A. Millar (Minister of Labour) for the action ho has taken in enforuug the act re Saturday h»U-holiUaj«