THE SUNDOWNER'S SWAG.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 91, 1 June 1877, Page 2

THE SUNDOWNER'S SWAG.

" The Slippered Pantaloon, in Life's Dull Afternoon."

" Ages, Sages, and Stages."

" Poor humanity." - When in our dotage how much we are to be pitied, and how little we ought to be condemned. Our assumptions, captiousnesses, errors follies, hallucinations, ignorance, pedantry, stupidity, weaknesses, we appear to parade more when in our senility than our youth or mature manhood. Is il not bo, my masters ? does not querulousnesa and ag6"' run in double harness ; does not our ileeting fancies of former years, become, in agej confirmed idiosyncraeies ? I firmly believe they do, and as a proof of the correct?' ness of my premises, refer the readeftf of the Mail to Councillor Waeckrerle'sr post prandial utterances. An axiom with lawyers is "no case, abuse the opposite side." Councillor Waeckerle reversed this order of procedure completely, he hasacase^anda , remarkably good one to, ,'b'utr instead, of sticking to the salient- points of his case, he, out of Ms imaginati on, creates an " opposite side" to the injury of the cause which he is apparently, of advocating. "Oh, that;mine' enemy would write a book," or, better , still, make foolishly inane remarks, such as those I observe in the Mail's columns ;' would'nt I "move in sadness, than in. anger," lament over the pitiable exhibition, he made of himself as well as the position he occupied, and would'nt I endeavour to shew him that it is far more politic to " speak well of all men," more ; especially when these men's aid may be a necessity toward achieving the end you may have in view '! ■ "That we would do, We should do, when we would, for this would changes, And hath abatements, and delays are many As there are tongues." ■ ' Kindly expostulation, harmless; banters, quiet irmendos, good intentioned criticisms, seem all to be throwu away upon your Borough Council, who, with a spirit of perversity, the reverse of commendable, are determined, it appears, so to word their resolutions that, read by themselves, it would be a simple impossibility for. anyone to understand what their framers were driving at. The latest infliction of the sort, which has come under my notice is this: — " Cr. Annand moved " —•" That the Colonial Secretary and Mr. Montgomery be written to concerning the waste lands." _ If no remarks had been reported as having led up to Or. Annand's, move, who could have understood his reason for moving, and the Council's for adopting such a resolution V How much better it looks, reads, and sounds, when resolutions are put into plain understandable English, and what is meant is pithily explained, so that intellects of as mean calibre as mine, can, at a glance, comprehend the question at issue with its pros, and cons. Try it, gentlemen ! word your resolutions grammatically correct, in plain honest Anglo-Saxon, making them briefly express " the. pith and marrow " of what you really mean. Do, please I if it is only to give pleasure to this sundowning specimen of frail mortality. . . " Charitably they Who, be their having more or less, so have, That less is more than need, and more is less, Than the great heart's good will." "Now's the day, and no w's the hour" to agitate with a will, for the speedy establishment of the light at the heads. This is a matter which concerns the whole of the Peninsula, and one in which the chairman of the County Council might usefully aid toward, if only by bringing his influence to bear upon "the powers that be." I am not writing my ideas alone on this subject, it is a complaint made by every steamboat and coastal master travelling north and south, past your heads. The General Assembly will meet in a few weeks ; strengthen your members hands at once, so that he can have at the Government, upon this important necessity, without any procrastinating delay. As one of those "who go down - to the deep in ships," I trust that Mr. Mongomery will not be put off: with evasive replies, such as—" The matter will receive" the attention of the Government;" " the necessity of this light has been favourably reported upon ;" and other stereotyped bunkum of that sort, af-

fected by heads of Government departments, toward those who are persistent in endeavouring to make those gentlemerf move out of the grooves of circumlocution, and slide into the ways of- doing what is right for. the public weai and protection. I venture lotisiy, without fear of that on iiu purt vi the New Zetuatid coast is a lighthouse , more required iliau on the north head oi Akaroa harbour —(iet us it quickly, Mr. Montgomery. "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Kough-hew them how we will."

Some of my correspondents write me on very peculiar subjects, and relate anecdotes, the truth of which I am rather slow in believing. The sayings and doings of school committees trouble the minds, and exercise the pens of some of my scribbling friends, queries being occasionally asked me that are " far and away " beyond my powers of answering. One of the latest questions put to me was— •'• Is a member of a school committee allowed to take part in its proceedings when in a state of intoxication ?" I could'nt answer that, even after standing treat to myself. I only wondered what the chairman of that committee was about when he allowed the devotee of Bacchus to join in, and where that self-respect was. Again, lam told that at a recent meeting of a school committee, one of the members, by his remarks, offended some of the others, when he was told by a particularly irascible that if he was outside, a dislocated bodymight be his reward, that is, if he was not an adept in " the noble art of self-de-fence." If this is true, where is the order ; the chairman's influence; the right 1 of a member to express his thought; the unanimity of feeling which should aid in extending the blessings of education ? Where, I repeat, where ? Bad ' examples these for seniors to set the juniors, worse than us sundowners who " Haye no arms, no dusty monuments, No broken images of ancestors, ■ Wanting an ear or Jtose'; no forged tables . . l^f Of iong descents, to -boast false honours from." , , ■ ''.-..,■ Adieu. - ■ '" ■' '"■••■ ' ■ •''' ''■ r ' [ *""'" ■"' "■ ' . . . .£. ,\V- ■■..all' ,