EGHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 703, 27 August 1903, Page 13

EGHOES OF THE WEEK

(By “

Ithuriel.”)

There are fishing troubles in the Commonwealth as well as here. Melbourne “ Punch ” refers to the subject .as follows :—“ The Tasmanian authorities have swooped down upon a Victorian fishing boat and carried it off, because its owner dared to fish in Bass'’ Straits in defiance of Tasmanian laws. Tasmania holds that practically the whole of the water dividing the island from the mainland is under her jurisdiction, and she bosses the job with a high hand, while Victorians mutter, ‘ What price Federation ?’ The fishing in the vicinity of Kent’s Group is mainly for crayfish, and the Tasmanian laws enact that the fishermen must employ certain methods whereby they won’t catch fish enough to keep themselves in tobacco, and as the fishers persisted in fishing to catch fish, the Tasmanians have taken this high-handed course, and stopped all fishing for the time being. ‘ You can fish in our waters,’ says little T assy, ‘ but, by heavens, we’ll prosecute you if you catch fish 1’ It’s very like the case of the girl in the rhyme — “ Mother may I go out to swim ?” “ Yes you may, my daughter. Hang your clothes on a gooseberry bush, But don’t go near the water !”

Even American democracy cannot resist pride of birth. It must have its peerage. “ Matthews’ American Armory and Blue Book ” is the title. Its cover is as blue as though dyed in the blood of the noble citizens whose pedigrees it enshrines. Here are some facts taken from it : Mr “ Teddy ” Roosevelt, the President, like the Prince of Wales', has for his crest three ostrich feathers, only they nod rather differently. The motto of Mr Pierpont Morgan is “ Onward and upward.” Mr Morgan acts up to it. One of the noblest families of Philadelphia are the Cholmeley-Joneses, names which, hyphenated, somehow lack the true Republican ring. In New York reside 'cousins of the “ Admirable Crichton,” for, like the admirable one, they are descended from the Crichtons of Sanquhar. Mr Chicago, found his arms over the doorway of Walton House, New York. His crest is “ a wild man proper.” Had it not been. for an ancestor of Mr Charles W. Hoadley, of New York City, England might haye been a Republic to-day. Mr John Hoadley “aided in bringing about the Restoration in lending General Monk £300.”

These facts are jotted down just as they appear in the blue-backed “ American Armory.” Also we read that Roland Hinton-Perry, of Richmond, Massachusetts, is descended on the maternal side from E-rnald De Hinton, who came to England with William the Conqueror. Fancy a Yankee remembering a trifling detail of this kind all these years ! The

descendants of those who arrived in the Mavfiower are of quite mushroom growth compared with this. The arms of the United States are given. Seldom is -it that the American eagle finds itself involved in such rare jargon as this :— “ Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules ; a chief azure ; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch proper, and in his sinister talon a bundle of thieteen arrows, all proper. and in hisi beak a scroll inscribed with the motto ‘ E pluribus imum.’ ”

At Wellington the other day a deputation waited on the Minister of Justice and suggested that magistrates should be given power to inflict sentences up to twelve months on confirmed drunkards. It was pointed out that if they could be kept under control for a lengthened period there would be more likelihood of reclaiming them. In regard to cases of solicitation in the streets it was thought that magistrates should have power to commit up to three months. The Minister, in reply, said he was of opinion we must adopt some other system than gaoling such offenders. Personally he was in favour of some system whereby these unfortunates would be kept in homes where they would be under discipline. It was necessary in any case to do somethings and he would give the suggestions of the deputation consideration. Nothing is so winsome as the desire evinced by the teetotal party to make indulgence in liquor a crime of the deepest dye.

The Commonwealth takes a long time to learn its own mind. Many grandiloquent sentiments and many high-souled projects have come to nothing. The Federal capital agitation has taken a new lease of life since the “ Maffra ” movement. Maffra is a small township in

Gippsland, which essays to rival the now historic Kyabram in influencing Australian public opinion. Kyabram revolutionised Victorian politics. Maffra asks “why should we not revolutionise the wider field ?” The particular object of Maffra activity is to promote a conference to secure the amendment of the Commonwealth Constitution so that the capital may be in either Sydney or Melbourne. “ Don’t squander millions on a capital in the bush ” is the cry ; but other folk, of whom Mr O’Sullivan is one, profesis to see in Maffra an insidious attempt to make Melbourne the capital. Meantime the friends of Maffra protest that they will be quite willing to see Sydney chosen, and a public meeting held in the Melbourne Town Hall, and presided over by ,<ithe 'Lord Mayor, carried a resolution in favour of keeping faith with. New South Wales in having the capital in its territory, and opposing any amendment except such as would make Sydney the capital. Undoubtedly the new movement is looked upon with suspicion; but thete is no reason why it should not develop into a genuine effort to abolish the 100-mile limit.