Sayings of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 12, 22 March 1911, Page 3

Sayings of the Week.

Be New Zealander* First. W— QVE the Mother Country, but be I I colonials and New Zealanders II first. Don’t be tacked on to anyone, and then you will beicome a great people like the United States. — Monsignor Fowler, Wellington. • * * • Troubles of a Mayor. It is really astonishing the number of ijieople who make application to me for employment, especially men who are incapacitated— crippled in some manner—(from doing manual labour.— Mr. T. M. JfVilford, Mayor of Wellington. ‘An Intelligent Board. There was nobody on . the Auckland Harbour Board who knew “port” from “starboard” in shipping.— Mr. C. F. 'Houghton, manager N.Z. Shipping Co. A Master of Craft. The owners of small craft were a struggling community, and many of them ■had already asserted that they might as well take to pick and shovel work or jdig gum.—Captain Stentiford, secretary (Coastal Masters’ Association. Tidy Trains. Advertising in the tram cars was nothing less than vandalism. The people of Auckland, where the cars were used for advertising purposes, would be glad to stop the practice, but they had not the power, because the trams were in the ■hands of a private company. Wellington (should afford a lead to other cities, and Snaintain the reputation the tram system now held for tidiness.—Mr. Fletcher, (Wellington City Council. Amateur Football. If is amateur football that we want. iWe have heard a lot of talk lately about jthe professional game, but I am convinced that it will never prosper in New Zealand. In my own experience as an officer (of the Sf&w Zealand Rugby Union, we have received applications (sometimes repeated two or three times) from members who —on the impulse of the moment, tmd attracted by inducements held out—(went over to the professional game, and (have'" regretted it ever since.— Mr. N. '/Galbraith, treasurer N.Z. Rugby Union. * * * • The March of Events. And we also met the representative of •New Zealand, a land so far away, and .yet so near to the heart of the Mother (Country. You will note, I feel sure, the change that a few short years tha.v? brought to bear upon the representative character of the self-governing Hopiinions, now no longer a number of important and widely-scattered states, jbu't four great nations—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa —prepared to discuss in a few months at the Imperial Conference, through four Prime Ministers, with our own Prime Minister, the pressing problems of the British Empire. The march of events has been wonderful indeed.— The Duke of Conbiaiight. * * * * ■A Wise Step. It seems to me New Zealand was wise to keep out of the Federation of Australia.—Dr. F. IV. Ward. Bur Character. The New Zealander is unconventional, Cultivated, and keenly interested in all manner of intellectual things, and, above all, is loyal through and through.— The Ijtev. Cyril Hepher. ’ . * ‘ Australian Defence. Once the command of the sea was lost by the Empire no local system of defence, jnaval or military, could secure Australia’s autonomy, and she would be the prey of the strongest maritime Power. — ■/idniiial Henderson.' (Why ? One frequently sees advertisements in jthe Press offering railway tickets for pale. It Is a breach of the law to transfer br sell a railway ticket.— Hub Inspector Venthey.

Harbour Due*. The first and last aim of the Auckland Harbour Board should not be the exaction of high charges to secure increased revenue, nor. to gain that end the prolongation of the time of unloading oversea steamers and other vessels, or the exaction of a high penalty for quick discharge of freight, but rather by a. safe and solid progressiveness, by prudent and, economical administration, by the providing of requisite and efficient wharfage accommodation and facilities, by the imposition of moderate and reasonable charges, to advance and popularise the port, which was unequalled in New Zealand or few other countries for the richness of its endowments.— Mr. E. TV. Alison, of the Shipowners’ Federation

Self Help. The safety of the Empire rested on the self-governing power given to its people, which was safer and surer than any Republican form of Government. They could best help the Mother Country by helping themselves, and the' public men of Australia were to-day facing this question in all earnestness and with all determination. — Mr. McGowen, State Premier, N.B.W. Revolt Not War. Some thought that the growth of armaments would lead to war, but it was more likely to end by the revolt of the masses against the taxation necessitated.— Sir Edward Grey. * « • • A Modern Sisyphus. Money is spent galore—the waste of the public funds is awful. Within the past year, at the top of Hepburn-street, the workmen have been busy widening and levelling the paths, and then as soon as they were finished started tearing them up again for some unknown reason.— Mr. Clement Kirkby, Ponsonby. Good Church-goers. I visited Brousa, where the first six sultans are entombed, A stronghold to day of conservative ’ reactionary Mohammedanism. We could count 60 mosques from the windows of the girls’ school. Ono hundred thousand Mohammedans in a city of 120,000, and 95 per cent of them go regularly to the mosques for prayer 1 That is the sort of thing that makes you stop and think. — Mr. C. H. Patton. Hands Across the Sea. At present there were upwards of thirteen million of the white British race in occupation of oversea territories. They were as loyal and as anxious to maintain an ascendant Imperial position as ever in the Empire’s history, but the duty lay before the statesmen of the Motherland and the oversea Dominions to join hands more closely if the Empire was to be maintained invincible and intact. — Sir Joseph Hard.

The New Zealand Pre**. The New. Zealand* Press, as represented by Auckland and Wellington, and allowing for difference in news material available, was quite as good as the metropolitan Press of Australia. It was certainly surprisingly good for cities of their size. Comment was admirably written, and was dignified and good in its literary form, and the news clean and vigorously and graphically presented. The writing, taking it on the whole, was excellent, and there was a very high intellectual average.— Dr. F. TV. Ward, Editor of the “Sydney Daily Telegraph.”

Hope for Ireland. There never was a time in the history of Ireland since her persecutions that things looked so bright for her. England seemed about to do her justice. England had been just to New Zealand and Australia, and Canada, but not to Ireland, her neighbour. She seemed now about to give what should have been conceded long ago — Home Rule, the right to govern her own country. — Monsignor Fowler, Wellington.

Poor Old England. I am convinced that the tendency of life in England to-day is towards selfishness, falseness, and narrowness, and I think that these exist, even in family life, to a greater extent than I have seen elsewhere, while the desire always to appear something better , than that which one is. to pose as being better bred, or “better off,” amounts almost to a craze. — Mr. P A. Vaile. D.T. The frequency of these delirium tremens cases at the Auckland Hospital is getting to be something very like a scandal. — Mr. P. M. Mackay, Auckland Charitable Aid Board. « « « • The Higher Power. I cannot but express hearty sympathy with the efforts, and successful efforts, which have been made to Show that in our endeavours to understand the wonders of Nature, we have ever brought before us the fact that there are innumerable mysteries in Nature which can never be accounted for by the operations with which science makes us familiar, but which demands the intervention of some Higher Power than anything man’s intellect can comprehend.— Dr. A. It. Wallace.

Faat Train*. It seemed as if some people could not bear to see a fast train pass their settlement. Hut if the Government gave way and made all the stoppages that were asked of fast trains, the journeys would be lengthened to an unreasonable extent. The interests of long-distance passengers had to be considered as well as those of the dwellers along the lines.— Hon. J. A. M illar.

Exclusion of Alien*. It is sometimes said that the same tests should lie applied to Oriental as to European immigration. But this is not true. The Orientals will not make Americans; therefore. Oriental immigration should lie restricted. Some European immigrants will make good American citizens; therefore, European immigrants should be carefully selected. European immigration should be restricted to those who will add to the value of our citizenship.—l/r. Rodoevelt.

Saint* and Sinner*. The Court does not pay much at ten-

tion to saints. The Court will sit on St. Patrick’s Day.—Sir Robert Stout. Plain Andrew. He would not accept a title of any kind. It was time men refused the titles and honours offered them. — Mr. Andrew Fisher, Federal Premier. Drink and Crime. Ignorant people were liable to misconstrue the dictum of the Chief Justice of the High Court that drunkenness was never a defence unless it amounted to unsoundness of mind. The conmionsense view expressed in the criminal code of West Australia was that where particular intent was an element of an offence, evidence of intoxication was relevant to show that the accused person had not the capacity to form the intent.— Mr. J tidier McMillan. Meddling Legislation. Priests, po.lice, and paid politicians, backed up by meddling fools who rush in where angels fear to tread, are fast making the. best little country on earth a land of tyranny, and making it hateful to any true lover of freedom. I should not be at all surprised to see legislation introduced to make it illegal to breathe in Now Zealand without, a Government license.— Mr. J. L. Stearns, Auckland.

Kaiser William: “Down with beer!_ My own speeches are enough to intoxicate you!”

The German census shows a population of 65 millions. The Kaiser therefore thinks the fittest person to receive the Order of Merit is the stork—the bird which most German children are taught brings all the babies.

The cake-walk is quite out of date, and no one now dances anything but the new jig invented’'William 11.