People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 72, 25 March 1931, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

When Dutch Warships Sailed Up The Thames : The Origin Of The Word Dollar : How Maoris Used To Catch Mutton Birds.

AN EDITORIAL in this issue, likening the valuelessness of dole coupons in Australia to the “ tickets ” with which seamen were paid in the time of Charles 11. has touched upon a tragic page in English history, when the Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and bombarded several towns. At Chatham three English ships were burned, and Pepys describes this incident as follows:

By and by comes a man of Mr Gawden’s, who comes from Chatham last night and saw the three ships burnt, they lying all dry, and boats going from the men-of-war and fire them. But that that he tells me of worst consequence is that he himself, I think he said, did hear many Englishmen on board the Dutch ships speaking to one another in English; and that they did cry and say, “ We did heretofore fight for tickets; now we fight for dollars 1 ” and did ask how such and such a one did, and would commend themselves to them: which is a sad consideration. And several seamen come this morning to me to tell me that if I would get their tickets paid they would go and do all they could against the Dutch, but otherwise thej 7, would not venture being killed and lose all they have already fought for: so that I was forced to try what I could do to get them paid. And indeed the hearts as well as affections of the seamen are turned away; and in the open streets in Wapping, and up and down, the wives have cried publickly, “ This comes of your not paying our husbands; and now your work is undone, or done by hands that understand it not.”

3$ 9 USE of the word dollar by the seamen shows how this now common word was coined. “ Dollar ” was a corruption of thaler, a large silver coin of varying value current in the German states from the sixteenth century. Corresponding coins of northern European countries were also called dollars in England. Thaler, in turn, was derived from the name Joachimsthaler, a coin so named because it was first coined from silver obtained in Joachimsthal. in Bohemia. The Dutch corruption from which the English seamen got the word dollar was “ daalder.” It seems strange that the modern American corruption of dollar (dahler) is not far from the original sound of the word. 3$ BENNETT, whose illness is causing concern, belongs very definitely to the Victorian school, a school which wrote novels to be read and plays intended to “ run.” And Mr Bennett has been accused on other occasions of giving his public too much for its money: his short stories have been all too short for him, and his long stories not nearly long enough. (” Imperial Palace,” his latest, has over eighty characters hidden in its 700 pages.) Bennett has had a strange literary career. “He has left far behind,” sa3>-s Philip Guedella in a criticism, “ the jewelled re-

volvers and hissing whispers of the Grand Babylon Hotel. He has passed the innumerable lamp-posts in Trafalgar Road, and he has launched Mr Machin on a successful career in the mysterious world of the London theatre. Gas-jets in backkitchens have squealed and fluttered under his hand; and bath-taps (he has a genius for hygienic gadgets) have confessed to him all their secrets. He has stood by countless death-beds (for Mr Bennett has something of Mr Lytton Strachey’s peculiar aptitude for last moments). And at the end of it all he moves with the assured ease of an established writer, who can find a respectful hearing for his lightest reflee, tions on stray operas or the cookery of small French towns.”

9 9 9 T HE ILLNESS of Dr Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, will probably revive the complaint that has been made about appointing men in bad health to high executive office in the Church of England, the more so as Dr Sheppard, Dean of Canterbury, has had to resign through sickness. A similar complaint was made about Dr Davidson when he was appointed Bishop of Winchester, but he not only carried out his duties there, but lived to do most useful service as pishop of Canterbury. The appointment of Dr Lang as his successor was obviously to ensure a continuity of policy, for the other alternatives, Dr Temple, now Archbishop of York, is a man of fairly radical political views, and Dr Barnes, of Birmingham, would probably cause a schism. Dr Lang’s illness, however, has seriously interfered with his work, and may eventually compel him to give up his office. In such an event it would certainly be necessary to give some thought to the health of his successor. 9 9 9 /!' CORRESPONDENT writes:—“Reading your accounts of famous hoaxes in yesterday’s “ Star,” recalled to me a famous Australian hoax. Has anyone heard the yarn of the Australian bookseller who determined to get one back on the censor? He advertised for sale both in his shop and the newspapers a book which every girl of sixteen should have. This book would be posted in a plain wrapper for the sum of 7s Gd. When the police pushed their way through the crowd that surrounded the shop, they found the proprietor surrounded by piles of books, all neatly boxed. Opening them they found—Bibles. The proprietor maintained that he was not responsible for people having such a queer turn of mind.

THE mutton bird industry, on which the Temuka Maoris will be engaged shortly, is referred to in Shortland’s journal of 1844, on the southern districts of New Zealand. On January 18, 1844, while journeying southward, he came to a place called Hine-te-Kura a short distance from Timaru, where a few years before there had been a whaling establishment. “In a bay near this place,” he wrote,

“ we unexpectedly fell in with some natives encamped under the shelter of a cliff. They proved to be Koroko’s party, who had set sail from Moeraki the morning before with a strong southerly wind, and had made the voyage by nightfall. The boats were hauled on the beach, and by them stood the cargo with which they had been freighted, consisting chiefly of * poha-titi ’ or casks of preserved mutton birds. Many of these were from five to six feet high, and ornamented with feathers: they were all designed as presents to relatives at Waiateruati, or Banks’s Peninsula: and from the latter place, in all probability, a great number of them would be sent to the north side of Cook’s Straits.”

W 9 W “ ’J'HE * titi * or mutton bird, as it is termed by the whalers,” Shortland continues, “ is, I believe, a species of puffin. In the breeding season, it seeks a spot where it can burrow a hole in the soft soil or. sand, on which to deposit its egg. Some small islands near Ruapuke, and the east coast of Stewart’s Island, are favourite places of resort of these birds. The natives never visit the islands except when they know that the young birds are nearly fledged; and they then use every precaution not to disturb the old ones by destroying their nests. With this object they dig a hole just over the furthermost end of the burrow, which is from two to three feet long, in order to reach the young bird the more readily; and having taken it out they fill up the hole as well as they can. The old bird, on her return finds her progeny gone; but, as her usual door-way is undisturbed, she lays another egg, and hatches it, possibly to share the same fate.”

W W V FROM THE “ STAR ” of March 25, 1871. Masonic.—The M.E. Companions who are to consecrate the Canterburv Kilwinning Royal Arch Chapter, 136, 'S.C., will leave Dunedin to-morrow by the Maori, and the consecration of the Chapter has been fixed for Wednesday next. From a paragraph on February weather.— The depth of rain registered on the 28th, for the previous 24 hours, viz., 1.979 inches, was most unusual. The total rainfall in 14 days was 4.290 inches. The War. —A certain sensation has been produced, we are told, in England by the statement that Prussian officers discuss the question of an invasion of the British Islands as a possible operation. An Advertisement.—Cheap feeds for bad times. Go to Lodge’s celebrated Tom’s coffee and dining rooms, High Street, and you will find board and lodging down again to sixteen shillings per week.