"Pars ABOUT PEOPLE

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 910, 6 June 1896, Page 18

"Pars ABOUT PEOPLE

Mr Mubrell, New Zealand manager for Huddart Parker and Co., waa in Auckland this week. He tells us that great improvements have been made to the s.s. Anglian daring her recent stay in dock in Sydney. Boiling chocks have been supplied to her, which have had the effect of making her steady in a sea way ; the engines have been thoroughly overhauled, and altogether between £2000 and £3000 have been spent upon improvements. Mr Murrell is satisfied that the Anglian will now be one of the most popular boats in the trade.

Mr Clyde Ballantyne, an old Ponsonby boy, is at present over on a visit from Coolgardie.- He talks of returning there immediately, too, so that it can hardly be the terrible place it is represented -to be.

Good old Jack Carter, the manager of the Banker's Hill mine, is lying dangerously ill at Puriri Private Hospital from typhoid fever and bronchitis. There is not a man on the goldfields, independent of hundreds away from them, who will not join -.with us in wishing him a safe and speedy recovery.

Lord Glasgow, on the eve of his departure for Wellington, sent to Mr J. J. Holland, Mayor of Auckland, a very grace-fully-worded letter, in which he expressed a warm appreciation of the kindness of himself and Mr Philips to the family during their stay in Auckland. He says they have always enjoyed their stay in this city, but never more so than this year, for the weather has been most lovely. He also makes kindly mention of the skill and care with which his daughter wes nursed through her illness.

Sir Maurice O'Rorke is back in Wellington from the Old Country. Which reminds us that Parliament opens next week.

Mr Charles Macindoe diedjlast week in Invercargill. He was in a low state of health when he left Auckland, but it was scarcely thought that his end was so near, and the news came as a shock to his friends in Auckland. And Blr Macindoe had many friends. He was one of the most energetic members of the Herald commercial staff during his time in Auckland.

Messrs Cottman and Clyde Ballantyne, formerly of the Loan and Mercantile, were together some little time ago at a township about a hundred miles north of Coolgardie. Oottman required some chaff, and, having inquired the price, was told tnat he could be supplied with what he wanted at 5d per lb. ' Have you any oats ?' he asked. 'Yes,' the storekeeper replied, be had some oats. 'Well,' proceeded Cottman, with much seriousness, * and what might they be per dozen ?'

Mr C. C. N. Barron, who is just announced as having retired from the Chief Reportership of the liansard staff, was identified with Auckland journalism in the eaily sixties. He was born in the South of Ireland, a«d when quite a voting man went out to Sydney. Thence nfT came over to Auckland and joined the literary staff of the New Zealander, the precursor of the Herald. He left the New Zealander in the course of a few years to take up the position of sub-editor of the Wellington Advertiser. When the Hansard Parliamentary staff was instituted, in 1867, Mr Barron was appointed Chief Reporter, and has held the post ever since. The salaiy is £600 per annum. For nearly three years past Mr Barron has taken no share in the onerous task of gallery reporting, and it was this fact, coupled with the increasing volume of work devolving upon a shorthanded staff, that led to complaints and inquiry last session. Mr Barron is now well-stricken in years, and the growing infirmity of age unfits him for work which severely tests the endurance and manual dexterity of the most expert and robust of stenographers. He is a grent enthusiast and recognised authority at Wellington in the game of lawn tennis, and has always taken a keen interest in music and painting.

Detective Chrystal, who is under transfer orders to Napier to fill the place of exDetective Kirby, has been the recipient of heaps of compliments from all kinds of people in high and low stations. The Grand Jury at the Supreme Court made a presentment concerning him, which the Judge heartily endorsed, and if Chrystal is not promoted now we shall be surprised.

Dr. Murray, Roman Catholic Bishop of Maitland. preaching at Wellington last week, said the Irish Scriptural Text Book which certain people want to get introduced to the public schools is a burlesque and a farce.

Mr H. R. Aubrey, one of the earliest pioneers of settlement in this colony, died very suddenly of heart disease at Devonport on Saturday. He had gone over to the marine suburb in company with his second daughter. Mrs Petry, to inspect some property belonging to him there, when he was taken ill and expired in a few minutes. For the long space of 37 years Mr Aubrey acted both as Resident Magistrate and Collector of Castoms at Hokianga and Whangarei. Mr Aubrey arrived in the colony so far back as 1841, and since then has lived chiefly at Whangarei Heads. He leaves three sons and six daughters. The eldest daughter is married to Mr Robt. Thompson, M.H.R., the second daughter is the wife of Mr H. Petry, the well-known jeweller of Victoria-street, and the third daughter is the wife of E. H. Lyons, Registrar of Electors. The fourth daughter was married to Mr R. Wynn- Williams, in the service of the Wellington Harbour Board, and she died at Wellington last year. The late Mr Aubrey was the eldest son of Colonel H. Aubrey, of H.M Life Guards, and was very highly esteemed.

' Bio ' lately took it into his head to make a jaunt to the Thames, partly in search of adventures, and partly with the idea of filling a few pages in his sketch-book. Now, if there is one thing more than another upon which he plumes himself it is his rare talent for driving a horse in style. The Thames people knew that before, and they are now better acquainted than ever with Blo.'s style. Jimmy Ricketts was requisitioned for his very best turn out and a nag with some life in it, and Constable Bailey, who was on duty, was graciously accommodated by ' Bio ' with- a seat in the buggy to help him on his way. Behold the pair, with inflated chests and a due sense of dignity, setting out on their drive.

It was unfortunate for ( 810 ' that just at Mulligan's corner he shonld encounter Johnny Maher's primitive ark, lumbering along in the opposite direction. Jimmy Ricketts' bit of equine life made a rather violent expression of its disgust, as the picture will show. Bat its disgust was not a circumstance in view of that which filled the bosoms of Bio and the Bobby, as they pulled their heads out of the mire, and dug the scoria out of their eyes and cheeks.

Jimmy Ricketts now swears that he will trust no more Auckland tourists with his traps. His boy must accompany the turnout to see the affair right through to the bitter end.

At one of the recent advanced women's meetings, some singular things were said, and some quite sensible ones. A young lady spoke as follows : ' For her own part she loved man, individually and collectively, better than woman ; and so, she was sure, did everyone of her sex, if they, like her, would utter their real sentiments. She was more anxious for man's elevation and improvement than for woman's, and so was every true woman. 1

John Bell is irrepressible. He was on the etnrnp again at the wharf last Sunday on the subjects of magistrates, legislators, and wives, but, after haranguing the crowd for ten or fifteen minutes, the police interfered and stopped him. John has been in communication with Minister Thompson, claiming the right of what he calls 'freedom of speech,'T)ut the Minister declined to afford him the protection of the law on the ground that his utterances were slanderous.

Tom Morrison, the Napier journalist, who reported for the Press Association the Premier's recent address at Hastings, met with an unpleasant surprise when he got home. While he was reporting the Premier, the Masonic Hotel, where he sojourns, was burnt down, and most of his personal effects perished in the flames.

James Nicholson is a guileless youth who has just fallen victim to the confidence trick at "Wellington. He met two men who appeared to be strangers to each other, and lent one of them £2 in order that he might purchase a gold chain from the other, Nicholson being allowed to hold the chain as security for the repayment of his money. Next day the young man found the gold chain to be merely brass, and awoke to the conviction that he had been 'had.' But the brace of sharpers got run in, and are doing six months' hard for their little swindle.

The Ray. Chas. Bispham, of the Anglican Church, has jnst found out to his sorrow that farming does not pay near so well as preaching. In September, 1893, he retired from the pulpit with £500 to the good, in order to get out on the soil and try his hand a 8 a farmer. He located himself at Te Awamutu and went in for dairy-farming. But it did not pan out well, and, selling off 40 cows at a loss, he stocked his farm with sheep. Then the fire fiend came along and burnt down his house, which was only partially insured. Between October and January last 900 of his sheep died, and he decided to throw up the sponge. After the rest of his sheep had been sold, he had a surplus of only £13 left as against £826 of liabilities Naturally, he was obliged to seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court.

Mv Hugh Thompson, formerly of the RaiKjifikci Advocate, who has been in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for the last two or three sessions, has been appointed to the vacancy on Jhe I'overty Han Herald staff.

The Premier has come to the conclusion that the trains up Hawkes Bay are no respecters of persons. He was at Hastings station, and was having the usual last words with his friends before going on to Napier, when the train steamed off, leaving both him and his party, as well as Inspector Emerson and other notables, standing dis consolate on the platform. Signals were made for the train to stop, but it had its business to attend to, and didn't respond.

Mr McDougal, managing director of the Coal Creek Company, has been summoned (says a West Coast paper) for the cost of 29 coffins, which were supplied by a Greymouth undertaker at the recent coal-mine disaster. It is expected the ease will be settled out of Court.

The Rev. J. Hobb3, Anglican clergyman at Hastings, is a thoroughly up-to-date parson. He believes in dancing — and in advertising. In a recent sermon he took for his text, ' There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh ; a time to mourn, and a time to dance,' from the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes, 4th verse. He delivered an eloquent and stirring address on the subject of dances* pointing out that it was a pleasure that should be encouraged. It was a perfectly innocent amusement, and a very popular one in this colony. People who decried it knew nothing of its pleasures. Last year he had given a dance, and it realised a considerable sum; which had been spent on charities. This year he intended to do the same, and he hoped to bring many people together for the purpose of thoroughly enjoying themselves. The proceeds would go to his benevolent fund.

Miss Jenny Watt-Tanner, an actreßS of great weight and substance, has been telling an interviewer that : ' The most humorous event in my career happened at the Sydney Theatre Royal when I was playing Virginie with Charles Warner in ' Drink. ' In the laundry quar rel scene I had to throw a bucket of water at my rival. When we came to this I noticed that some heavy-swell Johnnies were leaning out of the stage- box right in the line of fire. I motioned to them to go back, but one mistook my sign, and leaned more foiward. Just then I flung out my bucket of water, and, to my horror, it splashed full on the front shirt of the excited masher. Naturally they all drew back in a hurry.and Gracie Warner and I went off the stage simply suffocating with suppressed laughter.' But the fair Jenny says never a word about the sofa which suddenly collapsed under her generous figure upon the stage of the Wellington Opera House, when she was playing there in ' Tbe New Boy.'

The Rev. Mr Thompson, Presbyterian parson of Coromandel, has been telling the people down there that there is too much kid glove and black cloth religion in their midst. Evidently the Coromandelites have begun to put on frills since Host Stehr introduced his Order of the Bath. But there is another parson down there who has a different kind of grievance to ventilate. The Rev. Mr Frost, of the Wesleyan Church, publicly declares that the condi tion of the footpaths is such that on a dark night 'it takes one all his time to keep from walking on his bead instead of on his feet. Perhaps the safest way after all would be to get home on your hands and knees. .„.;.• t!D£U v vu u *u.o

A Melbourne 'commercial' has just been writing his experiences of Dunedin. He must be fond of fast-living, for he lifts up his voice and squeals after this fashion : ' Here I am, in the pit of Tophet literally. This is the moat God-forsaken country in the universe, and I shall be right glad to get back to civilisation again. Otago is run now by the Protectionist League, the W.C.T.U., V.M.C.A., and Salvation Army. Pubs, close at 10, and at 10.30 you can't see a soul in the streets except cabbies and policemen. In every pub. lists of ''prohibited " men are hung. If you drink with them you are fined, they are fined, the barmaid is fined, and the publican is fined. The women's franchise is responsible for all this. As a consequence, men know that, if they must get tight, they must do so before 10, so the drinking is of the quick and lively order, and as all drinks are (id — beer or even a lemonade straight ditto, cigarettes fid a packet— you can

imagine it costs a trifle to have anything like a good time. Otago is a splendid place —to get away from. . . . Business damned sick ; heartily sorry I came. . . All my old pals are settled down. Anybody would settle down here — Melbourne men chiefly in the cemetery.'

There is a man down about New Plymonth way who considers that he has been very badly used. The other day his wife wanted one of her barn-door fowls slaughtered for dinner, and the husband, having nothing better to do, was appointed chief executioner. With the idea of combining sport with pleasure, he elected to shoot the rooster from the back door. But the fowl was not on for that kind of sport, and the sportsman's young son was pressed into service as roundcr-up. The rooster came through a gap in the hedge, with the young shaver in hot pursuit. Then the sportsman let fly and dropped both rooster and boy. Some local joker got wind of the affair, and the New Plymouth sportsman was served with a summons for ' shooting game out of season.' But he has found out that it was merely an unseasonable joke. Still he had taken legal advice and had called in the doctor to attend to his son, and he has now come to the conclusion that the dearest way to prepare a fowl for dinner is to shoot it.