AT THE CORNER.

Auckland Star, Issue 472, 15 July 1871, Page 2

AT THE CORNER.

[FROM THE "WEEKI/Y HEBAIiB."]

" I'll view the manners of th^town> >( Peruse the traders, gaze upon the bijildlngs,,;- - Sthange stories ,haye ..occasionally reached us of the- extraordinary ignorance displayed ,by English journalists" of the .geography of the earth, nud more, particularly of their :oyra qoiohies, buVl^hink the following :specifiica >of erudition, from the People's Journal, '-bea'ts everything of the kind I have ever seen:—" By the arrival of the steamer- Ajax from Honolulu, advices have been received from-^-ydney-up-to-lst-March,-and-Auckland to the 7th. The English war steamer Clio, having on board the Governor of New Zealand, and a large party, of: excursionists, struck on a rock; iri' Blega .Sound, and was, compelled to run :into; Bounty Haram. The party; succeeded in Queensland overland with much difficulty."' S': ° fti' S" ' l Some of the originators of the movement in favour of a Highland Volunteer Corps seem to have partly repented themselves, of ; the_ : step, and. the. kilt has been (the^ [s^umbling-Dloct .ove^ which their patriotism has come to' grief. Aftor all what would a Scottish Corps be. without the bare knees? Like Borneo without his roethe concern would present but a very sowy-appear-ance. It seems—a fact "with which I was not before acquainted —that we are a particularly modest and a bashful people, and. some of us think that we might bring a blush to ; some fair cheek if we appeared in public without the trews. It has been said at the Corner that lean shanks are at the bottom of it, and really I should not be a bit surprised iif there was something in that. Sitting on an office-stool does not tend to the development of calves. And yet, when the matter iB put before one in the " virtuous" light, he cannot but confess that it would be a great scandal and a shame for heretofore respectable people to expose their bare legs on parade. How shocked we all were by the exhibition at the athletic games on Easter Monday, wh?re our muscular male friends showed up in skin tights. I noticed myself that the spectators were nearly all of the same sex, and that the few of the fair who had been decoyedinto being present avoided the; y.se of binocular glasses. I have noticed the same delightful trait of modesty displayed at Brighton and Scarborough during the bathing season. Some of the would-be Hielan'men, at the meeting the other day, reminded me of the Irishman who joined the Highland llegiment—" Och, an1 what wo aid Tipperary' say if she were to see me this day ? i JFaix it's myself . , whether I'm dacenty but' the dlvil a haporth care I; shure if I'm ondacent that's the Quaner's.look, out—may-. the

I've heard a good deal at various times about. mawkish sentimentality, but never saw Jit so ycotnptetely ex6tnplified as at present in the agitation about the closing up of the Symondsstreet Cemeteries. If the only good thing thes Superintendent effects during his ter*m of office is the passing of his proposed Bill on tbis subject, he will have* earned the .most r fervent thanks of all hands. It is really past all belief now people can be so.silly das; to indulge their childish fancies about, being buriea^hear' their when slich fancijes stand in the way of thepublic health. That Symonaß-btreet burial-ground,. is ; a,, disgusting, ; place, and enough to poison the whole town. For my part, as far as burial is concerned —if there be anything to be gained by the' particular- locality^ in which one's bones are deposited—l should mubh prefer a dry volcanic soil, to a cold jwet clay auch as-we. see in Symonds-street. As for the Presbytery and the twaddle talked at the last meeting of that amible but >yeak-iniuded body abou^thedisinterringbf bones, and all that sort of thing, I should recom-. merid^ihein, in case of a new ground being opeiied-'to secure the'services"! of an organised body of native honejjcrapejrs who are up tot the \v6rk," wlio would, no doubt be glad to do, the ( unpleasant part of the business" for" a consideration. _ I am rather anxious to know what the early jclosing ■'association' people* want — drapers' association I think it is. I see, that jmost'; ofvthese, ishbpsf close at six o'clock. la fact Queenstreet is tb : all intents] auda purpps.es, dead after jthat hour. What time do the drapers desire tp,..clqse.?:.. Perhaps, fhey ■nipulfl rather not open at all. 'Well, I' don't know that anybody would be any the worse, and I know some very nice, girls otherwise, who, if the temptations of the drapers' shops were removed, would be bewitching. Speakingfrom a perfectly unprejudiced stand point, I really, cant-exactly see what the agitators; desire.! I have^thp' honour of|the v acquaintance^ (WeraV unfortunate persons in the journalistic *lit^, iuitl vfhenltake niy " copy" in to thy friend jthe edito& T of. the,, Wekiki,^, Hebam), Ij frequently find him atith&. witching hour of midnight driving away over miles of paper like a perfect madman, and I think then that if,there were a newspaper early closing ■associa^ tion, it wbuld be a far more useful movement (than the scream set up by the drapers. The draper reads the account ofjhis "• valuable paper" read at the meeting of the early closing association^ as he sits over his cosy breakfast, and (thinks hiin&eJ,f thelrnds't abused and, put upon individual, but all \ \

paper-men who have jue^ bawled home to bed, pale and fagged, and-who will be just getting up to breakfast as r he is doing his sandwich and glass of •; , sherry, for lunch. I suppose there are re other people besides drapers' assistants M who don't see much of their families. / It is in the order of things, and w§£ can't fight against what is inevitable, w Of course if we could have a UtopianAuckland, where everybody could when he liked and rest when he liked, it would be very nice, but we can t have it in Auckland any more than they can in any other part of the world* and we are probably.old enough not $P. ,iTo cry-for-the-inoon.- p~~~~" 1 am glad to see that the question ot the appointment of an officer to swing ships and Overhaul compasses is likely to be pretty generally discussed. Ifc is a matter of very great importance* vi r arid I don't suppose anyone would believe if they were told the extraor- /I jj dinary carelessness at present existing a:s t(i "such'matters. I could name a fI T steamer sailing. ; on this ..coast, whose M steering compass for a period of six weeks " jammed"," to use the words orthe skipper who .brought the concern j| k,q: bei repaired- "at E and by S. Z E Fancy a ivessel going to sea with a :.! compass in such a state. And this is M no very extraordinary^ case. |jl could ;■; name several such instances.of sailing | vessels. All this would; be remedied. : < by the appointment of a proper officer < | to inspect each vessel's compasses ■'"■A before she leaves port, and give the master alii information as to error, &c. They must have had some nncom- I monly cold weather in the Middle ' | Island. I sefe that they have enjoyed I some skating at a few places. A month's skating in Auckland would do our semi-tropical constitutions a world of good. There would not be qnite so much loafing at the Corner I think. A spin on the ice would make; every: one feel more sociable, more honest, than; a lounge with an umbrella and • I oilskin on a slushy-pavements Talking W of Scrip Corner reminds me of the levanting brokers and the scandal of jL Vulcan Lane. What I can't under- lt stand is the motive which induced the".. = I fellow to bolt off on the Great North |< Iload. A most, imbecile ,idea. I ''f should say that the man is uiore afool ]| than a rogue, and that when he made j in thd direction of the asylum he felt drawn to the place of his future restdence by some mysterious- attraction.- f But on Ihe whole I am disposed to think that! taking the average of the number df scrip vendors and touts en\ployed here, we have in the main a decidedly well conducted set of fellows. Scandals are more numerous and far worse in ldany'other places: of ' less size, and I am not at all sure that our men are as bad as those who talk abouc tliem. l J} 5\ AiJTIBBCpjLtTB.-, ; ( ,'.