Liedertafel Discords.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11638, 16 August 1905, Page 7

Liedertafel Discords.

TO THE EOITOE.

Sir. — The correspondent referred to in your columns of Monday last lias just cause for complaint. The "game of chance" played in order to place the applicants for booked seats in position in a most unfair on to the majority, ivho should rise' up as one man and relegate the present socalled system to the scrap heap. There is far too much sporting clement in tho method of booking now adopted. It would, perhaps, be necessary were the applicants a crowd of unruly hoodlums, but not so whero respectable members of the community are interested. I therefore affirm, sir. that there was not tho hliphtebt ncr-e-s. sity for such a proceeding as that adopted on Monday morning la&t. The applicants for seats only numbered slightly over 30 when the town clock chimed out the- appointed hour (9 a.m.), and had the booking commenced then, instead of being postponed until the "game of chance had been played. I venture to say that, with an intelligent booking ekrk, the booking could have been completed without the slightest hitch or confusion, and the weary waiting to the early comers would have been avoided. The person who is invariably late of course approves of the "game of chance," as the delay occasioned in placing those who have already arrived at 9 a.m. enables them, if not too lato, to also participate in the lottery. The "knowing ones,' too. bring friends, who are not supplied with tickets and have no intention of buying, to take a hand in th^e lottery, with a view to increasing their chances ot a front position. Of comse, some were not aware of this means of gettiiig an advantage, but they will not err again. Tho person who seeks to "take down ' a fellow-citizen on such occasions is also present. When the uumber allotted him is a high one, he immediately accosts a friend ahead to book his seats also. Thus, for instance, the holder of No. 46 has a friend holding No. 25. The latter "accepts the tickets held by 46 and books them with his own. The advantage No. 46 thus gains is grossly unfair to the holders of lotteries numbered 25 to 45 inclusive. Then, again, there were soni'e seats booked before 9 a.m. Perhaps the holders of the tickets were not "sports" and therefore objected to join in the 'game cf chance" system. The forming of a queue in connection with the booking of seats at public functions lias been advocated through your columns ou many occasions, and I am strongly" of opinion this system should be adopted on future occasions, as the present method is so manifestly unfair and unpopular. Tho early bird should catch the choice of scats every time. — I am, etc., PEOGEESS.

A special meeting of the Wanganui Agricultural Association whg held this afternoon, ,-iud it was decided that the show catalogue be printed and distributed. Accounts amounting to <£17 10s 5d were passed for payment, and a special prize of one guinea was received from Mr James Allison.

Some village politicians were discussing the topics of the day, particularly political, a night or two ago in a certain seaside hostelry not a hundred miles from Wanganui. Of course it was inevitable that the famous Fishcr-Sneddon incident should be brought up, and the debaters, who apparently to a man were with tho Government, proceeded to give their opinions of Mr Fisher in no measured terms. One impassioned orator, well known for his fluency of diction, and with a fine taste for that picturesque description as exemplified in the alternative titles of exemplified in the alliterative titles of that the junior member for Wellington was nothing less than "the quintessence of antiquarian pedagogism, or the last remnant of worn-out scholastic ideas." While has auditors were pondering on what this might mean, his pronouncement was still further improved upon by a rival orator, who amended the first speaker's dictum by saying that Mr Fisher was "the quintessence of antiquated petticoatism, or the fag-end of worn-out feminine ambition. "' Then the bewildered auditors wandered outside to watch ,the stars twinkle. '