WHAKATAKI NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 6113, 15 December 1898, Page 3

WHAKATAKI NOTES.

I From Our Own Correspondent). Monday. As we approach the" festiyo season" the iulluenco of it begins to be felt even in this valley. Our charming violets that" blush unseen" among tho hills arc hunting up scraps of ribbon and exchanging ideas on fashions, and the swains are training for the Sports meeting, You should throw that wet towel oft' your marble brow for a while, aud come out and sco Whakataki en fete ! The School Committeo relegated to a committee of ladies the arrangements for the annual school treat, and the matrons of the Valley gathered in force in the schoolroom on Sunday afternoon and passed a series of practical resolutions, The treat was fixed for Friday, January 6th, at Whakataki, aud it was decided to invito the teachers and scholars of the Te JNui school to join the local company. Local patriotism runs high here, and our people, when they take up anything in which the children's welfare and enjoyment is concerned, are very earnest and thorough. 1 expect as all are working harmoniously and devotedly, that the affair wilt be a thorough success I think I am getting reconciled to the franchise for women. One doesn't take kindly to the ordinary female politician, but provided a woman retains her femininity and its delicate bloom (that lovely, undying bloom, as indescribable as it is intangible!) I think after all it makes her cackle more interesting than it used to be when she was wont to descant on tho frivolity of Mary Jano, or the favourite dishes of her spouso, _ After all we shouldn't thrive anywhere—not even in this yale of Tcmpe—without Eve, We have since forgiven her for that little incident of the apple, and she has worked out her atonement, let her "have a show!" Tho parliament of the women's selection will not be composed of inferior stuff, morally or intellectually, " It's bloomin' 'ard on a cove now-a-days," remarked a wayfarer the other day as he paused to light up his little slump of a pipe, "wen 'ee's 'on the wallaby,' 'Ee's got lo pay for .every pint o' beer 'eo drinks, Lor' bless yer, guy'nor, times is changed, I reckon them Liberals ain't up to much wen a cove's got to pay for 'is beer!" ■ There was a certain pathos about this reflection upon the decadence of the age, and the failure of the Liberal policy, which suggests that possibly a Government which has such strong backing in the liquor trade might advantageously introduce a new bit of legislation, combining cheap beer with old ago pensions, ltegarded as a bit of political strategy in the direction of self-preservation, it strikes me as worthy the atteutiou of Mr Seddou and friends. It would have the charm of novelty, and would add to the prestige of Bung! Mr O'flegao, M.H.H., did more real good to humanity in rousing the occupants of bed-rooms in the Itoyal Oak than by all his" high-tax" talk, and his his services together with those of his friends should uol be forgotten. Those who know" Sam Gilmer" will regret the untoward turn in the tide of his affairs; for his hotel was an ideal one, a magnificently equipped lodging house, with bars at which liquor was dispensed conscientiously, Mr Gilmer was ono who dignified his useful trade aud never degraded it,