PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 5

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily Times.)

The few impressions I have foimed respecting the great and historic event of the week — for which expression see Sir Joseph Ward' 6 speeches passim — will, I trust, be those of a thoroughly unbiassed character. Of the pageant I saw none. That was my misfortune. Not being a resident of Auckland, and not having been privileged to join in the welcome to New Zealand of the American line-of-battle ships, I had perforce to make my observations by proxy. But my information is most trustworthy, coming, as it does, from no less reliable an authority than Mrs " Civis." Not only was she there, but she had the best of opportunities for seeing everything, even though she went to Auckland incog. Now, however, that the week is virtually over, for Admiral Sperry will within a few hours be firing his farewell salute, it is no breach of confidence to say that it is due to the Mayor of Dunedin that she enjoyed exceptional advantages in Auckland, even , to the extent of sbaring a carriage in the 1 official procession. For though his Worship, like an unluckily " condensed" correspondent, whose . unblushing confession was published two mornings ago, is i wicked enough and selfish enough to be a bachelor, his state of single blessedness i did not absolve him, in the eyes of the organisers of the arrangements, from the necessity of sharing his good fortune «p a guest of the Government with a friend of the opposite sex. Consequently, the published list of the official order of carriages at the official reception contains the following : — No. 10— The Mayor of Dunedin (Mi J. M'Donald), lady, two American officers. No. 11 — The Mayo* of Christchurch (Mr C. Alison), ifrs Alison, two American officers. No. 12— The Mayor of Wellington (Hon. T. W. Hislop), Mrs Hislop, two American efficers. As I have hinted, there is no longer any reason why the secret should be preserved and why the veil which concealed the unnamed lady's identity ehould not be raised. It was Mrs " Civis" that accompanied the Mayor, to whom my acknowledgments for his courtesy are thus publicly expressed. And to this circumstance I am indebted for the fact that my information is of the kind which is mysteriously described as authentic and authoritative. "Auckland has gone off its head!" telegraphed' a Wellington suburban mayor in the beginning of the week to his councillors who had been left at home to perform the routine duties of the municipality the whiles his Worship enjoyed the junketings that were considered appropriate to "fleet week.' But if there have been symptoms of temporary aberration on the shores of the Waitemata, there is the moie reason why the rest of the Dominion should manifest its sanitj\

It was meet that the visit of the 16 battleships should be joyou&ly celebiated, for there has been no such collection of warships in New Zealand waters before. It was meet, also, that the American admirals and their subordinate officeis and the crews of their vessels should have the hospitality of the country generally extended to them. They are our kith and kin, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, and not so remotely eithei, for, though we parted company with them on unfriendly terms 200 odd yearn ago. and though we have had a brush with them since, we have for years past been industriously tightening the bonds of union by marrying our peers to American heiresses and introducing a distinct American strain into our British aristocracy. We stood by them, too. on a memorable occasion within recent memory, and they have also stood by us. We have nearly everything in common with them — a common ancestry, a common language, a common literature, and all that these things imply. All this we remember, and, lemembering it. we r^cogni&o that more intimate claim*, than those of ordinary courtesy and hospitality demanded that we should mafhek some — I hope that is idiomatically correct in a week when America takes precedence of all else — in honour of the visit of the battleship equadron. But let us not be hysterical over it. A Wellington legislator, upon whom the cable columns of the London Times have bestowed the distinction of the title "Senator," was apprehensive lest we should make fools of ourselves during "fleet week." Such a calamity has not befallen up. Yet the Auckland public, which for the time being represented the New Zealand public, certainty showed that it had lost or mislaid its sense of perspective. In the circumstances, a mild corrective to the delirious enthusiasm of the week may, not without a certain advantage, be administered. And, in the first place, we should not have forgotten so soon that our interest? in the Pacific are, pace Admiral Sparry, not quite identical with those of America, and that when the Admb.?! speaks of the existence of an unbroken chain of common interest extending from New Zealand towards Hawaii and the coast of the United States, he is careful to ignore the fact that the policy of his Government has been, and is. to make the Pacific between the American coast and Hawaii a matter of purely American interest. — to which fact we in New Zealand owe the disappearance of the Union St-eam Ship Company from the San Fianusco tiade route.

We speak loosely about the American battleship fleet. It is, hovever. not a fleet that has been lying at anchor al! this week in the Waitemata: it is merely a portion of a fleet — the lighting line of the American navy minus all the attendant vessels that axe indispensable in actual warfare. With it may usefully be compared the particulars of the force that

took part in the most recent manoeuvres of the British navy : — First class battleships .. »* y ._ 28 Armoured cmi&ers .. „ s ,, „ 20 Protected cruisers .. .. „ „ 2? Scoxits .. :.«■ .» 8 Mine ships and otheis ■**■ _ 8 Destroyers .. .. .. .. .. .. IJg Torpedo boats .. .. .. .. r* 30 Submarines „ t? a» At •• .••' 30

261 Here we have a force more than 10 times as numerous ac that under Admiral Sperry 's command, and, as has., been truly said, " incomparably more formidable than both the fleets vrhich met in the clash~of battle at Tsushima." .Moreover, - the American fleet at Auckland does "not represent the last word that .has been said on the subject of naval construction. It is a modern fleet, but ideals in respect of naval construction change swiftly, and not one of the vessels in Admiral Sperry's squadron is "a Dreadnought. Even the Dreadnought, it is asserted, is to be dwarled by a new type of warship which is to be laid down at Portsmouth, and is to 6ink all records in respect alike of cost, size, and guns. ' Ponder over this, from the columns of an English contemporary : " Rumour declares for weapons of a 13.5 in calibre ; for a smokeless chip ; for a strange leviathan without funnels, whose tremendous mass will be driven by gas engines. The estimated cost 16 £2,260,000, which means twice the expense of a battleship laid down a decade ago."' Mere fize may not be an advantage : there are divided opinions on that point. Fighting quality is, hoieever, essential, and the American squadron is under a certain suspicion, even in the United States, of inability, owing to the low freeboard of its battleships, to respond io the supreme test. Then, there i 6 the man behind the gun. He counts for a great deal, but in the United States navy he ia not drilled and disciplined a.= in the British. Frankly, the British Jack Tar has not been much impressed in Auckland by his American cousin. Let him speak for himself :

Tbey don't know how to moor a fleet: When we caw them in the harbour on Sunday morning drop anchor one after another, we said they ought to go to school again If it had been a British fleet most of the sfiips would have had to go out and come m again until they could do it better, and even now tbey aren't in hiw. One other news item, telegraphed from Auckland, may be left to tell its own significant tale:

it is stated that in an Auckland bar labt; night an altercation between a2i arrogant British&r and tome American sailors -ended in a fight. The Britisher is alleged to have knocked out about 10 Americans, who. however, were mostly pretty well inebriated.

On the subject of Sunday observance, which is the only subject that has disputed the claim of the American fleet to attention during the week in Dunedin, I am on the side of the angels. I am not sure whether this leads me unreservedly to condemn Sunday which, it is to be noted, has excited the concern of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria, where, a grarelecs journalist avers, the Presbyterians are practically the only body now that kec-p up a fight for the ritjicl Sabbath. In Melbourne, presumably, the same ready means of suppressing Sunday golf do not exist as have availed in the Highlands to stop what was deeply resented their as an invasion of the Lord's Day. The golfei's in Melbourne have links of their own : not co in the Highlands-, and this is what has led to the undoing of the unregenerate players. Thus I read : In tbe Highlands, as might be ex-

Sunday

golf baa always been

frowned upon — " Auld Lichts," " Wee Pre-es " " B'g Frees," >and other varieties

of Scottish religionists being at one in dejiounoing the " desecration of the Saw-

Bui. in spite of this, there were

two or three golf courses m the North on whjc.li a qufet game migbt bs played on Sunday The golfer who made use of

tbe privilege bad to take bis game almost

FurTeptitioudy , ajjtl it ie waiit of cir- < um&pe^t.on en tbe part of certain players which bus iiow put on end to all Sunday

golf m the Highlands. Not long ago there was r rising of the crofters whose graznifrs fomi part of tbe Biora course, with the result that the club had to face tbe alternatives of forbidding Sunday golf or having their course curtailed to such

an extent as to make it useless. Personally, this concerns me less than Councillor Gilkison's viewe on Sabbatarianism do : if there ehould be no band conceits on a Sunday, there ehould be no tramcare and no printing of Monday morning's newspapers. Councillor Gilkiton does not admit that there cap be any mean. But his published sentiments simply illustrate his confusion of mind, the which I proceed to phow through tlie medium of an allegory:

Two Highland farmers met on their way to church. " Man " said Donald. " I was wonderin' w3iat you will be askm' fox jon bit sheep over at your steadin' ?" ''Man," replied Dougal. "I was thmkin' I wad be wantin' fifty slnlhn's ior that steep." " I will tfik' it at that." said Donald ; " but acb, man, Dougal, I am awful Mirpri-ed at you doin* business on the

Sawbath.' 1

11 Business." exclamied Dougal. " Man, selhn' a ■ilieep like that for fifty shillui's is not business at all; it's just charity." Councillor frilkison will perceive that, in the words of Cap'en Cuttle, " the bearings of this observation lays in the application on it."'

The Rev. William Thomson, ■whose range of vision extends from Turkey to Invcioargill and from Maine to Glasgow and Mho finds authority for his arguments impartially in the -writings of Moses and the speeches of Mr Harriett, has assured the public that he finds himself in harmony -with the Rev. William Hewit*on in the _ denunciations that have proceeded ffom Kaioz Church manse con-

cerning the iise of the mask in attacK. By the same token it may be judged thafr the Rev. R. R. M. Sutherland, of Kaikorai, is a fighter after Mt Thomson's own heart. For he advances to battle with flags — standards of true blue — waving, and wi£h "bands playing, if not with bagpipes skirling. Of this Mr Sutherlapd. is himself the witness:

When the leaders of the Cliurch hasten eagerly to throw their mantle over a minister who makes vows and carries them out in this extraordinary fashion, it is surely time that some one should blow the trumpet .and give the alarai. That is what some of us mean to do, and to do - without loss of time. We mean to sound it long and loud, and with no uncertain sound to rally the- friends of truth to the defence of the Gospel of the Grace of God. - -. This and much else prove Mr Sutherland" to be in deadly earnest, and as " Carpus, with whose views Mr Sutherland entirely concurs, is darkly undertaking to keep the flag flying until the General Assembly meets, there is obvious reason to fear that we may have a surfeit of the odium thee-logicum'in the next few months. Mr Sutherland, it is to be noted, finds himself in antagonism » to the leaders -of the Churchy -From 'this it is to be gathered ' that leadership in the Presbytery is dependent upon a minister's congregation arid not upon hjs seniority. For it was only the other night that a statement was made which would indicate that, in point of seniority, Mr Sutherland is " the father" of the Presbytery. Dr Waddell, from whom I quote, implies certainly tha< the Presbytery has a mixed parentage:

By next year he would be amongst them for no less a period than thirty years. — (Applause.) There was only one , Presbyterian minister who had been in . Dunedm a. longer time — the Rev. Mr Sutherland, — and he was not far ahead — only three weeks, — so that he (Dr "Waddell) might be rpgaided as tbe father of the Church in and about Dunedin. For this reason he thougsht it would be a crowning act if they could get the new school erected by next year, and have the church reconstructed He would like to get preaching in it once or twice befor* he retired. — (Laughitea-.) But clearly upon this evidence Mr Sutherland is the actual "father" of Prasby terianism in Dunedin. And a virile father, too : no thought of retiring on his part so long as the defence of the Gospel demands that a trumpet shall be sounded and an alarm given ! And in order, doubtless, to clear the groiuid for the impending contest Mr Sutherland has this week been issuing epistolary challenges to Mr Hewitson. But all in vain. Since Mr Thomson threw the mantle of hie patronage over him Mr Hewitson has, singularly, relapsed into silence.

I have left myeelf such scant room for the contents of my letter bag that the communications of some of my correspondents mu.«t be reserved for attention at a future da-te. But I should find space for a third instalment of the Burns diecusfiion which was incautiously stalled a firw weeks ago, merely observing that this illustrates again the difficulty of arriving at the precise intention of the poet in some of his passages : Dear " Civis," — Neither of your correspondents is quite correct in the interpretation of t.ie quotation from Burns. " Scotty " says that a Scotch pint is balf a gallon. I am not sure whether or not a pint is an aliquot part of a Scotch pint.

but three pints to the Scotch pint is near enough for all practical purposes. I lived six years in a farm cottage m Scotland, and our daily allowance of milk was a Scotch pint, and surely I ought to know the size of .a pint stoup. Then " Hawkie " is not a cow : it is only a cow's name. It used to be the custom in Scotland to name the dairy cattle after some characteristic. An animal — either horse or cow — with a white face was said to be hawket; ~so a hawket cow was called " Hawkie " ; a flecket (spotted) cow was " FLeckie " ; a white cow " Whitey " ; a.

horned .cow " Horuie ' ; a polled cow " Poley " ; and so on. The dialect of Buni9 is dying out even in Scotland nowadays, but in Burns' = time a mastery of

bioad Scotch was not so easy to acquire

as same thank. An Englishman on a visit to Scotlajid boasted to the beautiful Duchess of Gordon that he understood and could epeak Scotch like a native. To lest him she saicl. " Come pice ma rnou, ma canty callan." Judge of bis chagrin when he got the explanation — I am. etc., v Sandy. From Burns and cattle to Ruekin and! architecture is a long step, but not impossible of achievement, and so the appended complaint may claim insertion :

Dear " Civis " — You have TiardJy recovered from your astonishment at the hideous absurdities with which the early settlers have been permitted by the Dean of Guild, if there be one, to disgrace tbe entrance to their new building, wlie'n you arc made literally ill by the vandalism of the members of the Stock Exchange. Not content with ha-wng destroyed the eyminetry of, perhaps, the most beautiful building in New Zealand by tlie erection of a row of vulgai-looking

sbop-ironts and a corrugated-iron verandah, tbey have now begun their selfimposed task of making the place a veritable eyesore. That these things may be done without let or hindrance and with-

out piotest is a sign oi the times in New Zealand that can be viewed only with, alarm by all with spuls that rise above the symbols £ s. Q. To complete the " improvements " that they have so generously taken in hand, it is only neeessa-ry that they follow the classic example of the Kjiox Church Deacons.' Court and paint the whole building; 1 choosing, by the direction of tlie taste that has guided them so far. 8. bodyground of pa-fe green, -with facings of liglit pink. Perhaps you will be good enough, to convey this suggestion to the members of the "Stock Exchange.— l am, etc.,

A HrMBLE Follo-wer of Buskin. The suggestion ie conveyed accordingly, with only the comment that the Stock Exchange building is ihe property of an incorporated company and that notoriously a public company has no aesthetic soul, or, foT that matter, a soul of any kind, to be either kicked or damn'd. Cms.