They Say

Observer, Volume XXVI, Issue 44, 21 July 1906, Page 7

They Say

— That it is as difficult to get the ear of the new City Engineer as it is to obtain audience with an Oriental s itrap. — That the local sawmills are upset by a distressing consideration of logs and their ownership. Brands plucked from the burning. — That Sam White has a very modest way of nominating himself for a seat in the City Council. Sam's time is coming again rapidly. — That William Johns is himself again. He is President of the Remuera branch of the Liberal and Labour Federation. " Jerry cannot harm me now." — That the Committee of the Stock Exchange don't like to be asked any questions about Monowais now. Anxious to let sleeping dogs lie, perhaps. — That Jack Kneen's report on delusive sawdust will be sent in to the Harbour Board at the same time as VV. J. Napier's deliverance on illusive ferro- concrete. — That there are ominous threats in Liberal and Labour circles of pucting a certain individual of vaunted political influence in his place. The times are indeed out of joint. — That William Beehan and Thomas Thompson are amazed at the talk of reform of the Legislative Council. They do not see how the present Council could be improved upon. — That Henry Winkelmann has vowed to take a course of instruction in the anatomy of the grand piano before he again offers to act as master of ceremonies on the concert platform. — That the attitude of the Hon. Hall-Jones towards Mr Tregear and his socialistic crusade letter is not so cordial as the reply to the Employers' Association would appear to suggest. — That there has been a warm political situation in Wellington in connection with the opening of correspondence addressed to "the Premier." " The King is dead ; long live the King." — That more than one local medical man, with a mythical practice, is anxious to get a " cut" into the privilege of examining the school children. It is one way of booming business, and don't you forget it. — That several women have come home furious from the bargain sales because they thought the shop- walker looked too attentively their way. These precautions against shoplifting ; are necessary bnt irksome. — That the school boys who are so eagerly endeavouring just now to dispose of boxes of vegetable pills have been promised gramaphones by an advertising agent if they succeed. But what will the harvest to the purchasers be? — That the rival tenors of a certain church choir have been striving for ; weeks to annihilate each other with . murderous looks on account of a bewitching soprano who smiles on both of them, but who, unknown to either, is engaged to a prosperous young Waikato farmer. — That the disinclination of the Auckland people to have anything to do with the Christchurch Exhibition is largely due to the Govern men t's broken promise with regard to a New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Auckland. But Government promises to Auckland have seldom been kept — if they incurred any expenditure of ■ money.

—That Captain Baroona Pearce will be lord high admiral of tbe Kaipara when the steamship amalgamation comes about. !.jj — Thafj City Engineer Bush's appearance^sttfbtigly' suggests tbe cut of a locaf iprea'cher. If he really is, we may expert shortly to hear him from the Metbfldiat pulpit. ' j — Tsatj there are limitations to Rev. B. Frtfottiwell'a sympathy with the barmaids. At the same time, the barmaids are taking no "chances" with B. F. and his Methodist Mission. —That the Auckland Stock Exchange hns decided to present jewelled halos to several of its most prominent members. Chairman Buttle will do the choosing. Honest William is now being measured. — That the members of the Board of Education are all cultivating a demeanour of respectful humility, for use when George George descends upon them in his mightiness. Why not try the Harbour Board brand ? — That at least one improper house in Auckland contrives to prosper and make big profits for its management under the eye of the law while other women ot light reputation are rigorously pursued and prosecuted. — That Frank Bullen spoke a little too soon when he complained of the " unfinished " state of Auckland. We have only just imported a new £1,000 engineer, on top of a £1,000 harbour engineer to put some " finish " upon it. — That the party of commercial travellers who made so free with a certain coastal skipper's cabin for theit carousal, without his consent, would be glad to get a glimpse of that bottle of whisky and box of cigars again. But their chance is Buckley's. — That an accident has happened to an old fellow named Nutter, of Cambridge, which nobody regrets. By the merest accident, he heard that a fortune of £60,000 was waiting for him at Home, but there is a real purpose in his setting out to claim it. —That Rev. W. J. Elliott, of the New Zealand Alliance, comes rather badly out of his little controversy with Mrs Seddon. Under the circumstances, he would stand higher in the estimation of men— and women also — if he had said nothing. — That the Ferro ■ Concrete Com^ pany were not exactly heaping coals of fire on the heads of Newsom and Coulson, their recent competitors for wharf construction, when they gave them the contract for the new recla* mation wall. Are there wheels within wheels? — That the Confidential Medical Advice Company, which got itself into trouble in Wellington, victimized a few Aucklanders before the town got too hot to hold it. However, it has become a State tenant for at least three months, so that the victims are avenged. — That an Auckland business man who, without disclosing his name, advertised for a confidential clerk, received an application from one of his own staff', who said he " was not fairly treated by his employer, and wanted a change." The unsuspecting youth got his change all right. — That even if the Wairoa Steamship Co. does amalgamate with the Northern River Union Co., it will nevertheless, in its short life, have taught tbe older and conservative concern a lesson worth knowing on how to run a steamboat service for the benefit of the public. — That Remuera has turned its blueblooded nose up in scorn, and drawn its skirts tightly round its aristocratic ankles, since it discovered that a branch of the Liberal and Labour Federation had been formed in its midst. The political question just now is how tiny J. M. Lennox will side. — That in one of 'the largest stables in Auckland the whole of the interior woodwork is to be removed, at the instance of the Health Department, and replaced with concrete. Will the reform begin and end with the stables of the one individual who has been singled out, or will it be general in its application?