Echoes of the Week.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 683, 9 April 1903, Page 16

Echoes of the Week.

(By

"Ithuriel”)

Apropos of sOme recent collisions on the electric tramway, and. without any intention of commenting upon particular instances, I would' point out that the motormen’s temper is sorely tried by certain persons, drivers of carts and spring carts particularly (especially on holiday occasions), who delight in incommoding the trams. The practice is to Keep on the line ahead of a car until the last possible moment consistent with safety, and then, having drawn off, to make jeering and leering remarks to the motorman. I have witnessed this clumsy and stupid joke many times, and cannot sufficiently express my admiration of the patient good humour of the tram drivers. Were I in their place I should be sorely tempted to make the obstructionists feel how “ she bumps ” occasionally.

A friend of mine, who, by the wav, owns no combustible property outside his own personality, has been reading ab.k't fires and the cautious ways of insurance companies, and offers a suggestion. It is 10 the effect that the companies ought to issue at enhanced rates policies covering losses by fire from whatever cause arising, so that if a man chose to set his domicile alight he could do so, the sole bar to arson being the fear of .the criminal law. To the objection that the prospect of gaol is at present the only really effective deterrent to arson, my friend says that is. not the point. What he wants to discover is the sort of man who would apply for the unfettered policies. I am afraid he is all unlettered in the learning of the wicked.

When the members of the Waingaro Polo Club were in Auckland, during the progress of the recent tournament, they invited their metropolitan compatriots to attend and compete at a tournament and sports meeting in their bush home, the date of which was fixed for last Saturday. The Aucklanders of both clubs gladly accepted the invitation, and a joyful company entrained their ponies at Remuera, on Friday, and journeyed to Ngaruawahia. The weather was not propitious, but, knowing that the country settler never permits meteorological conditions to interfere with sport—whatever effect they may have on work—the visitors started with the dawn along the road to Waingaro, which like the road from G-undagai to Tumut town*, “ goes up and down,” and is pretty muddy to boot. That it was not at its best may be gathered from the fact that it took the Aucklanders four and'a-half hours to do the sixteen miles. Polo ponies are not racehorses, but a man with a bluey on his back would have made a close run for it against them on this occasion.

As they neared their destination, the visitors were struck with the absense of that bustle and excitement which form the usual prelude to a “ day out ” in the bush ; there was, in fact, nobody about to speak to, and the two or three solitary travellers they met with appeared to know less about the sports than they did themselves. Even at the Hot Springs Hotel there reigned a melancholy ignorance, but after much scratching of heads, it was remembered that there had been some talk ” about a - sports gathering, and a diligent search, under the direction of a native-born guide, revealed a notice on a post announcing the postponement of the gala, “ on account of the weather !” I can

picture to myself, very faintly, the expression on the faces of the visitors when they made this entertaining discovery. They were not to be beaten, however, and immediately despatched messengers to announce their arrival to the polo champions, whose invitation had brought them there.

But the champions were not to be found, at least not all of them. Two at least, when the awful tidings reached them, saddled their horses and rode into the deepest recesses of the forest. Those who faced the music, put on the best face they could, and consoled the visitors with the assurance that, after all, they could have done much worse with the week-end than spending it at the finest Sanatorium South of the Line, where the quality of the whisky is only surpassed by that of the hot water. Then they cheerfully agreed to play an impromtu match, which they gracefully lost, and otherwise entertained their guests in true Waingaro style.

Though Dr. Collins’ report on the proposal to erect infectious diseases wards on the General Hospital grounds, is somewhat hard reading, his logic appears to bp unanswerable. The Board and the community are fortunate in having a man as chief Medical Officer who is not afraid to speak fiis mind, and the next generation will have reason to bless him, or his memory, if he succeeds in keeping Gradgrind’s hands off the Hospital Hill.

Whatever the solution of the difficulty may be, the welfare of the people ought to be placed above the pleasure of squabbling with the Health Department, or the saving of the rates.

The licensing contest in the Wairau district (Marlborough!, was conducted most amicably as between the prohibitionists and the trade, and a joint ticket was adopted. There were eleven candidates, including four members of the old Committee—Messrs T. Horton, H. M. Reader, R. McArtney and H. Seymour. Mr J. Coleman did not seek re-election. The result of the election was the return of Messrs H. Seymour, H. D. Vavasour, W. Ching, P. Simmonds, and J. Griffin. This return represents the combined “ ticket ” of the Licensed Victuallers and Temperance Party, which included only one member of the old Committee ; and it is regarded as a full victory for that agreement. The issues in the Wairau contest were rendered by the aforementioned combination of a somewhat exceptional nature as compared with those in other parts of the Colony. They were generally understood to take their color from the case in which the old Committee granted a license for a new hotel in Blenheim and their action was over-ruled in the Supreme Court.

It takes about fifty years for a good story, born or acclimatised on the Australian Continent or in New Zealand _to reach Tasmania. The Bobart “Mail” tells the following anecdote about Purves, K.C., as having occurred “ last week ” : — “ A Hobart barrister was talking to Mr Purves about hard work and wealth. The great cross-examiner, notwithstanding the good practice he has had for years, is not a wealthy man. He has enjoyed life all the time, and not over-worked himself. He takes his periodical holiday, and enjoys it. The Hobart man said that this "was the first time he had been away from work for years. ‘ I want,’ said he, ‘ to make some money before I get to be an old man.’ ‘ But what’s the good of it ?’ demanded Purves. ‘ You have no one to leave it to, and if you could take it with you to the other world, it would melt.’ ” The original story, which must be bald headed with age now, was not about Purves at all.

Unfortunate persons who, for any one of the large variety of peccadilloes, have to stand with demure expression of the lips and downcast eyes in the Police Court, have usually good ground for objecting to the garrulity of the Bench in passing judgment. But they will hardly be able to enter into the feelings of a prisoner brought before the Wellington Court. According to a Southern paper, “ the magistrate reprimanded him for a week, pending enquiries on his behalf.”