THE TABLES TURNED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 7

THE TABLES TURNED.

AN INTERVIEWER INTERVIEWED. A DISSERTATION ON ROAST DUCK. Tho interviewor was beina interviewed, and ;was experiencing an alarming sense- of responsibility as' lie .realised that liis opinions might be printed and published, and scattered to the four .corners of the .country.. The operation suggested the condition'of milid wo experience, when examined, pinched, ■ probed, and'thumped: in ;tho process of a medical diagnosis. The interviewer—ho was.a callous person, usually; a; pressman, to be plain .said, within himself,. that ho would deal more humanely" with future-subjects. : Worse, the interviewer—the one that should' have bohaved properly, and nnswered ques-, tions meekly—was a diplomat, a tactician who knew exactly how to deploy his verbal forces, and manoeuvre tlieni'where they would pro-, duce the desired effect. Worse- stilly he was a -Chinese diplomat—a suave, inscrutable, and genial diplomat; who made the tune pass so pleasantly ; that when the time was up the interviewer—tho original, bona-fide interviewer—realised with a start that, he, not his puavo and insorutablo "subject" had been literally turned inside out. .. - Mr. Yung-Liang: Hwang, courteous and bland, and faultlessly dressed—looking as if he had just been tu'rned out of a band-box, so to speak—boamed upon his interviewer, a pressman who had raßhly considered that lie could turn him—the Chinese Imperial Government's Consul for New Zealand—inside out,; and.extract something whioh, when expressed-" fin'termsiflf words, semi-colon 3- commas, and full stops; would be read with avidity by a jaded public. , "It is my desiro," said tho diplomat benevolently,,"to find out exactly how the people of my own- race: live in; New Zealand; what their conditions of .labour are, and the nature of the relations between them and your'own people.' Tell me, what is the attitude of, your people to my peoploP" and he smiled encouragingly... The pressman walked unsuspectingly into the trap, and devoted much valuable timo to a review and analysis of the relations existent in New Zealand between' John Bull, jun,, and" John Chinaman. "... '.'The trouble is," he concluded,; summing up the various pointß for and against Chinese .cheap, shopkeeping, "that tho Chinese eat plainer'food—-it costs" 'ein less— —" ■. The, Consul raised a deprecatory finger. '■'!That's just'where all your people; fall ints error," :he said.'. - "I.will contrast, .for the purposes of illustration, the; dinner menu _of a member of your own fruiterer class with that- of my countrymen in the/same class. You 'go to dinner with the latter. "He has one—two—threei—four—fivo courses : in .the. centre of the. table; . Soup, vegetaoles, duck, pork and mutton," "Eh? AH these at one meal?" L , ' The Consul nodded, "Your own countryman in that class—how: often does ho eat duck? Onco a week, perhaps—" "Not he." ~ "Well—once a month?"

' ,"Vory doubtful—«ay, no " "A year P'-' The Consul looked really can-'oerh6d.-,,:r;', v

"More'probable—vos, - at Christmas-time." j "Indeed! Well in tho lowest class—the very lowest, mind you, my countrymen"never ;have than-two courses,. -And ;he usually has .duck, at least, twioa-a week." ,

_ Tho interviewer frowned. 1 It was. a long time: since he,, had had duck/:. Ho was a married man,' and the increased cost of living —the platitude jarred on hia 'niind. .He tried another' tack. ■, : ' :.

' economise in-ront by aggregating in dwellings to an extent whioh wo ourselves consider unhealthy." • - ; '

"That is admit, that,agreed the Consul. "But wo are gradually changing* that. • In China -wo are- gradually introduc-'' ing a systern'of public medical inspection." ; ' hyp'innoP'ifti.'iiVj^i. "Yes." ,'the"interviewer—tho real, oho-rgot r'a 1 little "copy" after all. :