BY HILL AND LAKE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8240, 8 September 1905, Page 7

BY HILL AND LAKE.

(Front Our Croat Creek Correspondent.) Mr Ronayne, judging by his speech at the banquet the other night, has not found much on the American railways worthy of imitation here. His testimony agrees with that of most observant travellers. The English railways are facile princep* still, as they always were. Speed, comfort and cleanliness are to be found there in perfection. The Motherland is still the model land ! As for speed, I don't think thcro has been any great advance. I remember travelling from London to Manchester, in the. sixties, in -1 hours 20 minutes, 188 miles, including, I think, three stoppages. *- By the same token, it was from Euston to Banktop. And a year or two ago I met a JBtemcastrian who told me there was never a Wtation called " Hank-top" in Manchester. I understand a Lancashire Society is to be formed in Wellington. Will any Lancastrian come to my aid to con linn my statement that there mix a Banktop station-the terminus of the L. and N.W.R.? I hope somebody will post to a New York paper Mr Ronaync's statement that he never saw a clean engine in America ! The \ ankee reporter's comment will be worth reading ! And Hull is to be made a naval base ! "What a transformation for the somnolent j Eastern Counties! Hull always possesses for me a certain interest ; for it is identified in my mind with a popular conception of the Yorkshireman's appetite. 1 ■was a very small boy, indeed, when I once arrived in Hull from a Norwegian trip, and I remember we had luncheon at a very comfortable hotel and waited there until train time. While 1 was reclining in one of the capacious easy chairs feeling rather dreary, two gentlemen entered and sat down a repast which had evidentally been Ptrdered before-hand. The piece de rcsi*t-a>ir-j was a leg of mutton. The two gentlemen were evidentally mariners, and Yorkshiremen beyond doubt, and their attack on that mutton was one of the most in- ■ spiring things I ever saw at a table. Slice after slice, wedge after wedge, disappeared washed down by ilagons of ale, until only a shining bone, remained, and I remember that they looked regretfully at that remnant as the waiter bore it oft. It was not until he had placed before them a plum pudding of respectable dimensions that their spirits revived. They renewed the attack on that pudding as though they had never seen food for a week ; and presto ! it had gone ! And after cheese and celery they rose calmly and reluctantly. They hadn't turned a hair. And when one of them looked at me, methought his eye had a cannibal glare, and I rejoiced and was thankful that 1 was bound home Londonwards and was not to sleep a night in this land of voracious mariners. De Berdt Hovell, Dean of Waiami, was tftane of those rare and charming personalities that can be ill-spared in this hard utilitarian age. Gentle, noble, devoted -the very type of a Christian minister. He ought to have been bishop of that diocese, and strong efforts were made when the see became vacant some years ago to have him elevated, but other interests proved more powerful. He would have been a most popular prelate. Rennicxcut in pure ! And if rest be the reward of a stainless and kindly life, De Berdt Hovell's repose is assured. To know him was to love him. I am sure a good many people who have fond memories of Brittany, will with me deplore the sad condition of the fisher-folk there owing to the failure of the sardineindustry. Brittany is the link that binds France to England. She has produced the flower of the French population. I make bold enough to say that three-fifths of the best seamen in the French Navy hail from Brittany. You know them by their stalwart and alert bearing. The remarks of Mr Justice Edwards in Tiassing sentences on Percy Dawson for emjpvjzzleinent of racing funds in Auckland ivere weighty and wise, and they may well arrest the attention of the Colony in which gambling is a legalised institution. Gambling is the social dry-rot in New Zealand. The Commandant protests against the election of officers, in the volunteer force by their companies; and I think he should receive support in his contention. I <>y r popu\'i. my Dei is theoretically attractive, but practically it is a fallacy; and certainly the election of officers is subversive of trr.e discipline. It is the popular favourite, net best officer who generally scores at elections. I am sorry, however, that the Commandant does not " barrack " for the Rifle Clubs. He argues that the ability to shoot straight is not everything that is needed in a soldier. True, but it is the principal desideratum, and it can be acquired by persons who are not in a position to undergo complete training. Why, then, should it not be fostered ? It is safe to say that good shots would be easily amenable to discipline, and a country that produces a crowd of straight shots is not far off efficiency. What says the veteran Roberts ? A " progressive euchre " party was held in the Railway Library here last Saturday evening, and was a great success —one of the most enjoyable re-unions ever held in the Creek. The ladies provided a most sumptuous repast.