The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1880.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3897, 13 October 1880, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1880.

What a delicate faney — what a superb humour — is that of His Worship the Mayor ! In a burst of brilliant inspiration ho exquisitely compares Councillor Htjlbert to " a drowning rat catching at a straw." This, of course, will strike all the Mayor's admirers — that they are many, wo unfortunately are constrained to confe68 — as a simile at once refined and elegant. We do not know what Councillor Etjlbert has done to warrant him being described as a " rat " unless indeed the warmth of his admiration for the experience and talent of Hiß Worship baa somewhat cooled, which, indeed, any intelligent person who knows Councillor Htjlbert might reasonably anticipate would, at a very early period, take place. At the time— iOw a considerable period ago — when Councillor Hule&rt admired Mr Mayor Ick,. he was — municipally — much younger ; dubious of his own knowledge, and disposed to place an exaggerated value upon the " great experience " which, it was dinned into him by others, the Mayor poEseesed. Had the Mayor really been the nobleminded high-spirited gentleman he was represented to Councillor HtjlBEET, the admiration and undeviating support of that gentleman would have continued, and then of course, in the Mayor's eyes, he would have been a far more important animal than " a rat." We fear Councillor Hulbert must be content to shrug hi 3 shoulders whilst paying the penalty which is generally exacted by the great teacher — Experience. To call a man " a rat " cannot, perhaps, be said to be a strikingly original conception. There are no fewer than five men who are well known a3 " rats " in the New Zealand House of Assembly ; but notwithstanding its want of originality the term must bo aooepted na witty — extremely witty — when tho Mayor utes it. Then Councillor Hulbeut is a " drowning rat." This ia highly Keutimcntal if not poetic. Whether the

unfortunate Councillor is rapidly reaching an expiring condition through submersion in the floodß of eloquence of onr posing and imposing Mayor, or goffering from a too heavy bibulation of the fizzing beverages of His Worship— which out of his £350 have been Bomewhat notoriously too liberally bestowed during the past year— does not appear ; it is sufEcient tbab Councillor Httlbert is elegantly a " drowning rat catching at a straw." We knew there was something else, and it is "catching at a Btraw !" Surely the Mayor does not mean to convey that he — the Mayor — ia a straw or a man of straw, although we believe there is a good deal of chaff to be got out of him . Are rats partial to straw, or is it only when they are drowning or asphyxiated with something — not water — that they go for that exceedingly simple agricultural product ? We pause for a reply to these queries. We do not think that anyone need be alarmed for Councillor Hulbert's safety — " drowning!" " straw "or " rat " to the contrary notwithstanding ; but for elegance of diction and refined ideality oommend us to his Worship the Mayor of Christchurcb.