THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13672, 10 April 1908, Page 3

THE WEEK, THE WORLD, AND WELLINGTON.

(By Frank Morton.)

Ladies ijrst. I am informed that there i* nothing doing jn society. 1 don't know precisely what that means, hi|t the tlireful tidings are passed on. The Pntnkets^-as they are familiarly] termed by all such people in the capital as have never met them — are still out of town. If they stay away much longer, uq one will miss them ; and what "will becomo, of society in that conjuncture i have no means of knowing.' As it is, with nothing doing in Society, I supppso some tilings occasionally happen still. I saw some people coming away from their wedding at nine o clock the- other morning, and I'm still marvelling that peojjie should get up and dross so early, for an event- of ao immediate importance, iho Premier, who still comes to Wellington sometimes, spent a whole day with us this week, aud the other day i heard thut no fewer than Ihree Ministers were attending to business in their Departments at one- time; but thai wyti: probably .a slander. There have beon spine births. - 'i he weather hat fluctuated capriciously between 'winxrj gusts and spoils ot joyous >;unii::i>r. xiere and there, when tho sun bhincs. 'oyo sees a .woman wearing a hga\ fashionable hat that is a studied outrage.? but on tho whole, tho frills and fripperies of the sterner sex are plea*unte'r to tho *yo this season than they wero last. Speculation is still rife* L&nd U sold by men who,, of ton. enough, never., have iho loniotedt hope of buying. 'At tho back of my new house, 1 havo . a grass plot fully forty, ieci squa^Oj and so begin to think that 1 *ugb7t to have a title of some sort. All ti\o saino, I'm not.pift'ffed up. Man tried to sell mo a pug pup for two guineas oi Friday ;.ajnd didjn't. I don't seoni to be ablovto get! hold of any nioro^ Society nows.th^ 1 * week. Wont last night to soq. tho Herbert Fleming Company play '* Peter's Mother.' When this company comes along, your way, s^o it. 'Brott^b,.. has gono ,\yher,o ; only our thoughts can follow him, till wo too set out otj tlif great adventure; all the rclativos oi J-Jrough havo gone cut of. tho, company, I know not whither; but spirn amd iJhe atmosphere ot Brough stih linger, and the productions of tht Fleming Company are quite delightful.- Miss Beatrice. Day is the, iuosi charming and convincing actress w< haxp had in New JZealand in my time. W we , perfect repose aud refinement of ,Jk.t "work, she is as exquisite as she is natural. Or (shall we say?) being natural, she is exquisite. If you want to assure yourselves anew what, a goodly <a.ud pleasant creature a natural woman is, go and' see- Miss Beatrice Day ; and, for the sake of humanity and the generations unborn, ~take your -sister? and ' your cousins and your aunts. Eve:*, 1 your rged aunts. % It's never too Late to mend. THE CREEPING CHINESE- , . ■\ycMington iv impulsive and cap,rili^uA* *lt has spasmodic, t'ntmwtyismy &ut , do staying power, 'lucre wae, for instance, strong feeling in tko _cjt\ i few. mouths ngo with regard to the Jhuiese difficulty, . 'A'he -jCliiiitao Ji. Wellington have virtually establishes »onoplies in,t\yo industries. They control tho retail fruit and vegetable ;rade, and thoy do 'tne great bulk; of iho JaUndry iiwrk. ♦Well, soiue months t tgQ,' JMJ M number of people -distrithvted iteratUre and made speeches to prove jhat monopoly by Chinese was a men- ' ice. - There was a cry for .white tepropntation in the cornered trades. Tfietre fas much advertisement of a projected teqrai laundry to bo -conducted solely >y white labour, the impulse 'ex>ended itself, the advertisements ceaskl, and we lapsed to pur customary sondition 'of inert indifference. Now* ; eithout going into vexed territory that ies about all consideration of the colKir line, I point out that tho Chinese n Wellington to-day are stronger th*n >ver in their chosen monopolies, and ;hat tht« influx of Chinese^ continues md increasi -s. During' tho' year endng- M-arch, 1%7 Chjnese paid poll tax, is against 1)1 the _previ6us year. . Of ih\>3€> 137, some were women'; so that ;he potential increase^ , on the influx jampot be estimated. ' The indication a significant. It means that, as popuation grows, an ever-irtcreasing numjer of debased white women will come into touch with ihe Chinese, and so ihere Will be an increasing rf yellow with our white. - It means, in jhort, ,the gradual infusion of a\new md alien element in our blood. lam not arguing this matter on any ground rf policy or principle. I'm simply, stating facts, ft is for New Zealanders to irguo policy and principle, as they pay their Chinese laundry-men md buy their , Chinese fruit. I lon't talk Chinese vices ; .because talk if that sort, coming from a white man, ilw'ays - seems %o me to be hypocrisy jarried to the full length of the absurdt havelived among great CJiindse popuations for years at a time,and I honour the Chinese extremely — in their .place. They are a great people, and they will pet. be a greater. Once they make good their toothold, they can compete ivith U9 on equal terms, and win. It is. %• fool's mistake ttt underestimate your adversary. In the matter of trade and Industry, the Chinese can do anything they put their hands to, and do it almost incomparably well. 'For years, I wore clothes made by Chinese, and 1 never wore clothes ' that wore better, fitted better, or looked better. For years I had a Chinese copk, and I was never better fed ; For \ years I had many Chinese frionds. and I never knew friends ' more staunch. This Chinese nation, with its vast population, its infinite patience, its cool untiring brain, its incalculable persistency, will yet become a great and terrible power on earth; tha^i is if the nations of the white people do flot keep on their guard and take care. It is for New Zealariders to determine whether a strong outpost of iillis nation shall be permitted to settle and make secrire its position in this country. SIR JOSEPH'S HUMOXTB. Sir Joseph Ward exhibits at times a something which is either a great faith in. the gullibility- of the , people or, an exceeding great faith in his. own persuasiveness. Thus, when he tells a Dunedin roporter that if the 1 Amorican fleet is induced to visit Auckland, the Admiral will be. requested to iysit Wellington and (if. there, i(i tinte) Lyttel[ton "and other parts of the South Tsiland f " you must decide either that Sir Joseph takes himself very seriously iiidfiedj or that he does not take the people so seriously as the people think. There is a remote chance that the Anterican fleet may visit Auckland; but tKe idea of the' fleet foeling its way south to visit Wellington, I/yttelton, and the Bluff (with a possible day-ex-cursion for the sailor-men up the crock to Invercargill, is quite deliciomly preposterous. Sir Joseph is, I sometimes think, an undiscovered humourist. You' will remember the speech he mnde in French, at tlio Postal Conj/ress — n great effort. Any- day now, ho may

make his, first appearance as a poet, or a painter, or a flautist, or any old thing like that.-i You never know where he's going to bob, up next. Of course Sir Joseph knows very well how big and intricate a thing the handling of a fleet far from its base i s; uu t he is joyously content to flakes capital out j of the fact that the people in general don't know that, or haven't taken time to think about i\. I advise the people of Lyttelton ,and Hie,. Bluff not to put up triumphal arches yet. XJn- \ less they euro to unite to put one up at the Bluff for Sir Joseph. OF TEMPEIRAtfCE HOTELS. This week they have opened in Wol- • Hngton what is (I am informed) the targost and finest temperance hotel in the Dominion. l\> is », splendid, building, the furnishings aro excellent, every modorn convenience has been installed, the position is central. There is, in short, no npparent reason why tho hotel should* not bc ; a poaitvo success; and yet— and yet — =f-" ' f wonder l>nw it is that the more one travels tho less ono ,is able to associate Uio average temperanfco hotel with the idea oi comfort. I -nni a i>erGOn quite without prejudices. I *$rf an invotcrato total abstainer. 1 tyyaTa secluded atrhosphere and, a qniot life. I hate the squalor's and the acrtiUonts' of drunkenness. And yet, beilig a man with a. preference for oomfcH and comfortable society 1 , I would, af any time Btay in the most modern tavern rath or than in tho most palatial *tejnperan<3e hotel. You understand, of course, that 1 am , r.peaking simply on iho basis of my own experience. I gladly assume that this great place in Wellington is going to be everything, that the- temperance hotels of my experience liavo not been. The ;temperance hot^is. of , my experience have all J RB^^p6&ftluig-houßes, overgrown or uiKfeijnone. *I, dislike boarding-hoii^os. , So- do yon. The bsardhig-house is one of the dreadful norcssitios that a Gtrfytly limited income ,or a rigid and inordinate frugality' imposes vpon certain poor human creatures. In m Uourdina-h^iise, do what you will, y4tt jjttf© , tijjb|reqd as one . of tho family 5 l the treatment being generally tho mrvrc exasperating by reason, of tho fact that there ift no .amilv at all, in the true sense. In a boarding-house, when the food is g66d, th© cooking is generally execrablo ; end as a rule the food is' not good. In those rare board irig-'houses where the cooking is toleraMe, it is infinitely difficult to got enough to eat. There is, too, a certain clammy hostility in the atmosphere tl>nt gh«ws like an acid on the verves of the quiet s6"nl. The beds • never ■ feel aired, the blankets are scrubby, in every room you smell the greasy kitchen. -The ventilation. is defective, « the water in -the bathroom is novor hot, and often enough the are sourly -eloajierit. The serviettes are coarse^ the linen . is.,, not' immaculate. The -service is of aa unpardonable badness. Well — and I am still speaking strictly by the book of my own exper;-euce^-in tho temperance hotel you have tho traditional defects of > the boardmghorsn exuberant 4 in; exaggeration And I am driven to the conclusion that the trouble lies less with the temperance hotel than ijrith'its frequent-; ors. In the ordinary hotel you can generally find feomefeody more or less entertaining. -You will invariably come across the new .type of commercial tra.veller, which, despite all JhumoroUs disparagements, is a very gooti type indeed.. Tho fcoruatfts, b<sw»ver fttfmble, ;will ( generally, <$» 'brufr"^*!-' p!dfe«in# The accommodation, however J 'fotigli." will be comfortable. 1 -'haT© wonieii myself J Q^ite a tot in thd ' effort .to diß- 1 cover whoraliii this broad flif feronce lies; bdtwoen temperance. botells and hotels' which (shall We say?) are. not of necessity or inclination especially temperate. And I have Avtwm, at no justifiable conclusion yet. ' It may be that when pne.goes to a temperance . hptel' onei is' always deliberately nrtuoue. One ',goes because i there as npwhere else to go, and bo makes a barren virtue of necessity. Or one goes because Drink is a curse, and ono is- virtuously deterinined not to countenance Drink. In any. case, one is tempted to self-rightfibuaness,' and ' falls insensibly into every- pitfall of an apish conscious virtue. Mind you, I am^not in any senso prejudging the Wellington palao© of propriety. I hops 'that it will be wonderfully successful, with all tho comforts of a home in reality as well as in the prospectus.- But in the tern-, perance hotels are ljke refrigerators that have soured, from disuse, and I have stayed and suffered in some of them. In London,' in the vicinity of the British Mus^etim, there ate the Thackeray Hotel, the Kirigsley Hotel, and the Esmond Hotel, all conducted on strictly temperance principles, and all (as I am credjtbiy, assured) delightfully comfortable! I have not stayed in these bouses;. and, >n*any easoj it is admitted by travelled folk that they^ are notable exceptions td the rule that so depresses. They. ar.o the preferred haunts of cosmopolitans who love that neighbourhood and seek for quiet. Their tariffs, albeit reasonable, are reasonably high. Their cookery becomes famous. In India, again, whprerthere ar# the most dismal boarding-houses in the world, there - are no temperance hotels. There is no need for them, in a country where every man keeps at least one bottle of his own. -But there are dak bungalows in remote places I The dak bungalow is the queerest- and saddest house of entertainment, in the world .\ You take your own servants, and" you pay for your rooms on a fixed scale. Your meals are cooked 'and served to your order by the servants in charge of the bungalow, who are invariably great rogues. The atmosphere of the place is, as a rule, almost unimaginably morose and forbidding.^ , The guests who come and go are sick, or drunk, or dangerous, or harassed' with affairs. Nobody expects comfort, because of thd fleas. Mosquitoes one may baffle, more or less. , Snakes and centipedes . and yarkms large obtrusive insects one may ignore or cast out, out th,e multitudinous strong, fjea, ther t e is no escaping. In this connection my memory of one dak bungalow, tip in the hot and humid State of Behar,.is very, -vjvid. Three or four of us, newspaper men, were on tour with a .magnate, and there was a day or two to waste. Things WjOre very dull, and we had- tired absolutely of each qthors* oompany., when a red and choleric military man came along. This . man was utterly- unapproachable, and because he had been, in dak .bungalows before, he carried hjs own bedding. Wo were annoyed by his.- eicchisiveness' arid style; so/tyo gathered a wineglassful of fleas', and turned' them loose nmong his mottrosEes. I happened to.be awake when his language crashed upon the solemn silence of Iho doep night, and I gathered that ho was not pleased. THE PARISH OB^CHRISTCHURCII. Ohi'iftchnfch, if .'you come to think 6? it, is a very small place., Not, you understand me, eo.tuuelf in the matter of population as in the matter of noint of vjew. ' JRoally,, you know, to refer to Chri6tchurohas.a city is much although one referred to a basking sun-fish as a terror of tho deep. Christnhurrh is a villnpo— -overgrown. Onoe tb>«t is roncednd. I nm ]>ropflrod to admit that

Christchurch is a vory delightful 'village indeed in some matters. Its climate is pleasant most ot the time; its streets are broad and quiet; its pretty little river is really a credit to the parish. But its parochial impulses are 'nearly always foolish. Take the latest instance. The New Zealand Exhibition that closed last year was, wisely, or unwisely, held at Christchurch. To Christchurch wont the- plums and the pickings, tho opportunities of tho -first •r'te, (Jhristehurch was not slow to take advantage <.f that. The city charged double ratot- to t;iko visitors to the V% •v'ntion on its trams. The cabs trtd 1 • otort double fares, until they «n>*e threatened wit'li starvation. And so it was right throiigh. .. B*at tJie people, of Now Zealand provided, the Exhibition and stood the cost of it. In any other country tho Exhibition city would liave had to pnv in pr.'iiviriioii to ita direct benefit ; and if 1 Ohii^lrlrnrH had boon W city,, with tljn l-ife >>i~io ryhit, it would Vhavo been gla-i to p:\v. But Ghristchureh' is a villas- -extended. When tho E^hilntiou V.'iid-n^s wero cleared, away — "again, ai il&v expanse of thJe whole country' — it was found that Hagley Park, tho tract of common land on which the buddings I-udJiecn, erected, was not so derm and tidy a.s it had been before iho buildings were commencod. Wherot'ore, all the principal villagers v/orc very much excited mid aggrieved, aaxl the Clrnstchuroh Domain B/onrd' passed fierco resolutions in a groat heat. In the end, the. Board demanded that tbe -Cover n merit should pay £500 to enable the Board tp make Hagley Parfc tidy again- The Hp:i, Goorgo Fowlds, the Minister l imi»e/Ji* ' aitely coucerned, a most indulgent and worthy man from Auckland (I believe)i considered tlje demand excessive ; ' but afxor some haggling, offered £'450. The Board chattered fiercely some more, but' finally accepted the of for. -" Members, we are informed, "spoke strongly, of the action of the Government." "I pray y>u. smile with me. Chri&tchurcn has Had all tlie best of the bargain,-and all t»ho best of the fun. Christohurcjb has had most of the profit, «pd very little r of tho expense. A,nd when a^tooindulgent Mimfter, on, a demand' of £500, pays £450-^-£l4so that the country, should r>evcr have been asked to pay — ChristcJhurch \s terribly perturbed' over the £'50 of plunder withheld, and "sueaks strongly, of tlie^ a^ioh-of tlie Govorament." 'It's a glad world. =And Chrifctchuroh, they' toll me, is a feJty.' €fo j° P ON ADVERTISING. I , : ,' Mr David' Stewart- Dawsbn, the stpry of whoee success .hi bushicss is ,oiyr of tlio 'inosfc , oxtrabrdiAary in iudoorn times, has been icapartnig somfe o^> his ideas \to a liondqa interviewer. ' .They aro bt a sort^tb'gladden th©"lt€aH of all Honest /idwspaper proprietor. **Get a gdod thing]" he says, *'and, advertise it foi* 'all it's '.worth:" He tells \ibw, when lip was faying ihe fpundationa of his bttsino'ss,' away back in 1 'sevenries, he' devoted 'dio'full profits '6f four days 'in loadh "week to advertising.. The more he got, the more/he spent;' and the more £© spent, tho more ne .got. So is Wisdom justified of her chiicjreb. In one sense, . one regrets the modern if?v.we." As, advertising becopi^s sypteniatisod and scientific, the Attaint advortisonientSjthat have for so loag been thf deiigiitcf tho collector tend to disr.]>})epv. Some ©f'tue quaintest yrHTQ, of what you moy call the domestic type. Take this one, from the Melbourne Age, June 20; 1003 s— * • , WIDOWER, age 6s, lonely, wants 'Hoibofeeoper ; ,6ne with, capital preferred .-^."Coombs, Monbidk. ' I I've pu^^led myself for years wondering what that man realty did warit; and now. I leave it to you. Here, in a New Zealand paper, the inducement is more obvious, though the thing is very naively out : — WAkTEDr-Capable girl fop dairy farm, able to milk^ Four good-look-ing sons in the family. , v ' And here is another shining gem from Melbourne : — - - * ' a Gentleman, fairly fcoung, owning inalienable trust property, (of great value), seeks Christian' wife, witli^ £75 to lend ■on marriage. This is from the SJydnoy Morning Hef-. aid, January' 19, 1904:-^ « . , WANTED-^A good General Doiib^ tic Help, all duties, no objectiofpto a Christian, provided she is] also a good cook.>—^Apply to Mrs James, 44 Elizabeth Street. ' * . ■ Of' quaint obituary notices there is no' end ; but this, I think, is the strangest of all my recent gathering. It "comes, of course, from South Australia; :—; MILLER. — In ever-loving menipry 7 of my dear wife (Bessie), who passed ' away from ,this world of sickness and suffering into the middle world, being a fworld specially prepared for a.fl those that are halting between two opinions, qr between eternal life. and| eternal death (the spiritual death of i tne soul, scripturally called the, nether World), on tho 3rd day of March,, at the eleventh hour buf ore . midnight a.m.j 1904, in tho olth year of ncr age. She cliod in her sins. , Btrt'in Me alone is hor everlasting Salvation, saith the Lord her Redeemer. „ ' 0, that yonder shining throng, ; W« at His feet 'sHafl.fall, - Join iii the everlasting song, ' ' .'And crown Him Lord of all. < —Inserted by her true, dey'oted, af- " f ectiohate, loving husband', arid daughter, Abraham ahd Henry Edgar and Emily Rosina Miller. I suppose I haven't got the hang* of the t^ing, anyhqw; but every 'time 1 read, that I .nave a positive^ -pang' of sympathy for poor Bessie. I think she iied tired* ,„ ' • Wellinfetoh^ April ,s. «, -