STKATFORD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8665, 30 December 1889, Page 2

STKATFORD.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] December 26. — It has never accorded, either with my principles or my practise, to criticise in too severe a strain the efforts of amateurs to amuse or instruct the public. I have always been of the opinion that, when ladies and gentlemen can be found of sufficient good nature to devote their time and such abilities as have been bestowed upon them by nature to the task of rendering somewhat less prosaic this exceedingly prosaic world of ours — when they are willing to do this without other fee or reward than the hope of to some extent brightening, even for an hour, a few of the dull lives they see around them — then, I say, we are bound, if we cannot honestly praise the quality of the performance, to give due credit to the motives which prompted it. In the words . of the poet : " Be to their virtues ever kind ; Be to their faults a little blind." Actuated by those sentiments, it is not my purpose to comment in too severe terms upon the matinee given on Monday last by the Mehaffy Minstrels. It was their first public performance ; and though, to say truth, a dismal failure from first to last, yet, as experience is said to be capable of imparting instruction to a class of persons with whom, I am sure, the gentlemen in question have nothing in common, we may, I repeat, we may (to borrow an expression occasionally used by a well-known Stratford resident), spero for meliora things in future. It is not easy, however, to overlook such a glaring absurdity as the fact that neither Bones nor Tambo uttered a single audible v?oid throughout the performance. Surely the veriest tyro is aware that something more is expected from the corner men than facial contortions, however mirth provoking. In justice to the professional member of the troupe it must be said that he made what he could of a very disheartening occasion. The dexterity with which he performed several difficult feats of hair-splitting was "much admired, but the great cobweb trick was not a success, the flies breaking through eve-y time. However, judging by the faces of the audience as they came out at the close of the performance, they must have found some amusement or else were much overjoyed at the thing being over. The trouble is that the troupe is considerably out of pocketlby the venture. I am under the impression that some time ago Mr Standian was appointed solicitor to the Stratford Town Board. If so, that gentleman should look the matter up, as the title appears likely to develope into something more than a mere empty honor. If present indications go for anything, the Board will shortly be engaged in legal warfare with half creation. With regard to the sinews of war, a meeting has already been held at which the project of a £1000 loan was discussed. The initial, difficulty connected with a certain provision of the Legislature, which renders a poll of the ratepayers obligatory, was happily got ever by Mr Mehaflcy undertaking, as soon as Parliament met, to have this obnoxiouß clause, the bar to many a bold enterprise, repealed. After the Court case on Monday, the Chairman of the Town Board was observed personally conducting his legal friend over the famous battle fields of the late street fencing campaign. This apparently innocent proceeding has given rise to the wildest speculation. One theory, advanced with much confidence, is this : It is said that this mysterious peregrination was for the purpose, in view of a possible reshuffling of the political pack, of calling Mr H.s attention to the substantially fenced garden with which Mr Hunter, a member of the Board, blocks up Portia-street, also to the ornate slaughteryard with the usual odorous appurtenances with which Mr Joseph Muiree, another member of the Board, embellishes Mirandastreet, the very street, by the way, from which this gentleman took an active part in compelling bis business rivals to remove a fence. The fact that such a rumour should have gained credence, or even circulation, can only be attributed to the influence of this festive season, many happy returns of which I take this opportunity of wishing you, Mr Editor, your talented staff, the readers of the Hekald, the Stratford Town Board (as individuals not as a body. Heaven forbid !), the ratepayers, and the universe generally.