AN OLD BIRD.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3252, 3 December 1881, Page 4

AN OLD BIRD.

There is a candidate in Dunedin (Mr Cutten) who is evidently an old bird not to be caught by chaff "when " the questions " come on. At his meetings last week (says the Dunedin Herald, when several preposterous pledges were asked all at once, Mr Cutten answered them in glolo by saying, ' My good people, if I go to Parliament I shan't turn the world upside down. You'll find the world pretty much the same when I come back as when I went.' Then an unmistakable Milesian exclaimed, ' Misther Cuttin, sorr, didn't you say fourteen years ago that workin' mm should have only tbree-and-sixpenco a day ?' ' I daresay I did, if they were only getting half-a-erown,' was the reply given without the briefest pause. Having said he was not competent to speak on a certain subject with authority, a free and independent said he had not the right to stand then. ' Suppose we change places ?' Mr Cutten suggested. ' Tho building of the bi'idge stops our water,' said an indignant voter.' 'All I can say is, I'm sorry for you, then,' said Mr Cutten. • Would you make the eight hours system compulsory ?' was the next question ; which was answered—' Certainly not —not a bit of it j if a man likes to work only five hours, I won't say he shall work eight, and if he likes to work more who's to prevent him ?' to which presenlty Mr Cutten made an addendum, when asked if he would extend the Factory Act to men, by saying, 'No, I would not. If men can't take care of themselves, what is the use of their living ?' and, amid laughter, some one sings, 'Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.' ' How many hours should young children work ?' is another question; and 'None at all —they should be kept at school,' is the answer. ' Weren't you asleep in tho lobby when a division was taken?' some one asks. '_My dear man, how could I eleep in a flat, windy

passage, with, people walking up and down ?' was the interrogative reply.