FACES WE SHALL MISS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 633, 11 May 1882, Page 2

FACES WE SHALL MISS.

A writer in the Otago Daily limes, under the nom deplume of “ Juvenis,” briefly refers to a few of the more prominent men who sat in the last House, but failed to re-win their seats at the general election. “Substantial Mr Bain,” he says, “ will no more display Ins alderman figure and kindly features to advantage.” He concluded with a reference to “ the greatest of the defeated —Henry Bunny, to wit ; “ Bunney, the irrepressible, ejected from a 20 year-old seat. Mr Bunny will Ire missed; he will be very much missed. He will not be missed in the arena itself, but rather in what may be called the side-shows, all of which ha pervaded, and where he was omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He was a feather-weight oratorically, but was a consummate revolver of logs. It has been well said of him that as a speaker he rushed blindly in where angels fear to tread, and, as he was never listened to in the House, he preferred to retreat to Bellamy’s to wasting breath on a quorum reading newspapers. Through

being a Wellington resident, assumptive in disposition, and long its chairman, Mr Bunny grew and grew till he tOas the House Committee, and was constitutional autocrat in everything relating to ‘the comfort and convenience of members.’ It is thus he will be missed, for right worthily did he discharge the sovereignty by which he had won fame. He was an admirable mait/e d'hotel, for his vigilance and energy was unwearying. No one would listen to him in the House, but a waiter would quake at his frown and a cook tremble at his nod. Mr Bunny was the square peg in the square orifice, and his absence will be felt in various ways. What is the great officer at Constantinople who tastes everything placed before the Sultan, to detect poison?—lt may be the Grand Vizier, but I think it is the Chamberlain. Mr Bunny was the Chamberlain to the Sultan of \ T ew Zealand—not to discover poison, but intercept inferior brands. His taste was infallible; Bellamy’s liquors were the best in the colony. It was always understood that Air Bunny sampled every cask and case before the receipt was signed ! and certainly no bad drink was ever served. So great was his fame that no caricature was ever drawn of him without glass in hand. The artist would as soon have pourtrayed Neptune with no trident, or Britannia lionless. I have misgivings when I speculate as to who will be the new Chamberlain. I occasionally take a modest quencher at Bellamy’s myself, and therefore feel personally interested. Not but that I am certain there are several members qualified for one part of the duty. I know several whose experience amply fits them for the peculiar function of Chamberlain ; but they would not do the hard work of the House Committee. And no one but a Wellington man could fill the office satisfactorily. The prudent and farsighted Bunny used to provide everything during the recess, and sampled everything in time to detect inferiorities and replace them. He was never caught with bad stocks on hand at the , last moment. And when one reflects on the influence bodily comforts have on even legislative faculties and tempers, the importance of the office of ; Chamberlain to the Assembly will be > apparent, and its filling will be watched as a subject of anxiety. If it could but be known how many ‘ little bills ’ Mr Bunny helped indirectly to pass, and how many roads and bridges were voted | on dinners of his providing, I verily : believe the hat would go round the country to raise him a status, or an annuity to replace his honorarium.”