THE SUNDOWNER'S SWAG.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 198, 11 June 1878, Page 2

THE SUNDOWNER'S SWAG.

" Do it Again."

" Sporting Tip."

Let me see. Is it the early worm that catches the bird, or is it?—oh, my poor head. The truth is I have been having a rousing visitation of " Bacchus crowns the day," followed by a camping out on the lovely sod, the consequences of these acts of sublimely idiotic folly being mental and physical delapidation and wreck. I am in such a chaotic state of shakes, aberration, and general demoralisation, whilst my <; innards " are continually journeying " uppards," that it is no wonder to myself that I cannot tell if the wormy bird caught the early bird or vice worser. But what I want to scribble-about, and do it I must, or get—what I have of ten got before —ihe kick out, is the desirability of at once taking some steps toward arranging for an industrial, &c, exhibition, similar to that which was held in the schoolroom last December. I feel too " cut up and mixed" —are you there, dearest Venus ?■?-to go fully into the subject; I cannot do "' the old man eloquent" business over it owing to tho reasons above given. " Muddled and puddled" imperfectly describe my condition ; and, if ever I get over this touch, no more liquor for — I shall be happy ro give a prize for some special work which I will presently enumerate. " Do it again," well, of course, I fully expect tlie locals will "do it again;" I won't—they will never allow so.useful and meritorious a. thing as the kind of exhibition I -write of to come to an untimely end. Considering all things, I think that the exhibition of Jast year was a credit to the district. Commence now for the next, and I feel certain such a vaiied and interesting display will bo col- j looted together as has never before been ! seen, or yet dreamt of, in Akaroa. Let us hear from you, Mr Mayor 1 I will do an invocation to help " your Worship "—

"0, ye immortal powers that guard the just, Watch round his couch, and soften his repose. Banish his sorrows, and becalm his soul With easy dreams! Remember all his virtues, . - And show mankind that goodness is your care."

" Stop my paper." It is a puzzle of puzzles to me to understand how any man " with all his buttons " can undertake the running of a paper rag-shop among a small community. Avery old, but remarkably just, truism teaches us " that there are two sides to every question." As this admits of no denial, then, as a natural consequence, there must be advocates for each side, of whatever question Of interest crops up in a community, and each party when battling for their own peculiar ideas and notions seem to think that the local scissors-aud-paste-man should see things just as they see them ; should be imbued with the same thoughts, bo they ever so outrageous ; should advocate their wishes, and disparage the opposite side. Should tho journalist not do this, but, on the contrary, endeavor to siiow that there • is both reason and justice in what is advanced by tho other side, than .he is met with—" stop my paper." Now, of all the pYtr.Jy contemptible meannesses that a would-bo-thought intellectual man can be guilty of, I give the palm to—" stop my paper." It shows the littleness of a mind which, -when worsted in au argument, can degrade itself with—" stop my paper." It seems to say—l cannot refute your deductions, but I will touch your pocket; I will injure your business to the utmost extent I can because you disagree with my prepositions. Talk about the days of the inquisition, why this "stop my paper" cry is just a small-beer attempt, by petty minds, to revive the thumb screw, and put the gag upon freedom of thought and expression. Faugh! " Git! " I know a " stop-my-paper "-ist who cannot rest over his iniquities, but goes half a mile to read, on tho cheap, the paper which he pro-, fosses to abominate. Fact, and so is this :— "It is easy to exclude the noon-tide light by closing, the eyes ; and it is easy to resist the clearest truth by hardening the heart, against it." I do not know whether it is generally known or not, - but this I know, and know right well," that the representation of Akaroa, in the early days of the colony, was the stspping-stono into public life for more men than I care to think of or enumerate. The aspiring politician, in the youth of provincialism, was advised by his : seniors to " win his spurs " at Akaroa, and so mo of those whom Akaroa "delighted to honor," turned out to be men

amnv%Mmim»m»mmit umiw mmmmmimmmmmm^mmmmm whom other constituencies were only too glad to obtain after they had made their mark as our member. It was always something wonderful, however, 4% notice how, when the sun of popularity elsewhere began to shine upon them, quickly they forgot the place that gave them political birth. As with politicians, so with others, and so will it be doubtless with the last resplendent genius who left this scribed sphere for a finer field and larger stage—need I say I refer to onr lecturer. Yes, sir, our politicians have been good and good for nothing, but our lecturer has been and is immense—" prodigiouss." This is the latest report from other lands :—" The Akaroa Lecturer has done the " came, saw and conquered " business in this expahsive metropolis; his erudition was startling in the extreme ; his glibness of speech and aptness of quotation may be reached, but not excelled ; his severe attack upon the London Times was a masterpiece of scathingelocution, and, doubtless, that truculent thunderer would sing small did it know in what light its views are held by your lecturer ; his wit and comicalities, together with his facial peculiarities were irresistible, as was the odour of two rotten eggs which were landed on the Anyway, the lecture and lecturer are going to work their Way south, to the colonial Athens.

"Without a genius, learning soars in vain < And, without learning, genius sinks again * Their force united, crowns the sprightly reign."

There are some things which " no fellah can understand," and one of these incomprehensibilities is the mortality among socities originated, it does not matter in what part of Banks Peninsula. As the poet sang of the May fly, so it is with your local societies, " What a Utile day of sunny bliss is thine-" How is this, I wonder, T>o last occurrence of the kind I mention, which I read of in the columns of the Mail, certainly suprised, and, I may say, somewhat astounded me. I meant he demise of the Banks Peninsula Pastoral Association. That a society such as this, whose ostensible objects are so widely beneficial should be allowed to quietly die out " unhonored and unsung," speaks ill, very ill, for the public spirit of your leading dairy farmers and stock owners. The " apathetic indifference," which I have so often accused you Akaronians of appears to extend to everything that is taken in hand in a public capacity ; the willing few work well and manfully for a time, but finding their efforts met with indifference, and sometimes worse, with slanderous remarks that their public spirit is solely animated by a desire to further their private ends, they gradually do as do their fellows, which is, sink into listless carelessness, the consequence being that the acheme or society they have inaugurated is gradually neglected, all interest in it ceases, and it is allowed "to paBS away and be no more seen." Another society, useful in its way, must have gone the way of all flesh. I alludo to the Mutual Improvement. Again, at one time Duvauchelle's Bay boasted of a tolerable library. Like Hans Breitm an said of his "barty," so say I of that book repository, " where is that barty now ?" The Literary Institute of Akaroa merely, exists, and that through the pluckiness of a few "good men and true." I could go on adding to this fist, but think it useless, because every reader of the Mail must be cognizant of the many innocents that-have been ruthlessly slaughtered by that pest of this district which I call " apathetic indifference." My dear, everybody knows that: — " Man upon man depends, and, break the chain, lie soon returns to savage life again ; On.eit.her hand a social tribe he sees, By those assisted, and assisting these ; While to the general welfare all belong—• The high in power, the low in numbers strong." I'm off.