Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 100, 15 February 1890, Page 2

Our Wellington Letter

[FKOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] We have often heard it said that " all work and no play makes. Jack a dnll boy" but the result ot a boyish freak a few days ago reminds us that it is possible to go too far with what may be teamed " play,'" at least, so a boy named John Gonnell found to his cost when he made his .appearance before the court on a charge of having " borrowed" a tin of biscuits from the shop of a Celestial without fh'st obtiiining the Chinkie's permission, and was put on probation for a month and ordered to refund 16s, the price of the biscuits. The presiding magistrate agreeing with his almond-eyed friend that the "lark" was rather one-sided. " Is marriage a failure " is a question that has been discussed, especially in the newspapers of the Old Country, until the subject has been worn thread bare, and the object of the discussion was to find the reason why the young men of to-day are not so eager to enter the "blissful state "as their forefathers were. If those who are so anxious to probe -this mystery to the bottom would just keep their eyes open, I do not think I shall be far out if I say that they might see the sequel almost every week in our daily papers, where young men, some of them married and having families of their own, are called upon to support their parents as well who, through " indiscretion," entered the marriage state before they were in a position to start life fairly ; aye, and in many instances did not know where the next week's work was to come from. The young men of to-day have learnt by experience that to have a comfortable " nest egg" at the s.tart of married life is an absolute necessity, and also that they must look the future boldly in the face and not leap in the dark and trust to providence, for " when poverty comes in at the door love flies out of the window." Ido not think, however, that there are many young men who would begrudge contributing to their aged parents support, some of whom have spent their all in the educating and training of their children ; but the fact remains that if every young man were unencumbered and free at 21 years of age to strike out for himself, the marriage rate would be higher and the world all the brighter. A man named Alfred Harris was yesterday fined £1, with an alternative of seven days' imprisonment, for creating a disturbance in the Manawatu train on Monday, which should serve as a lesson to other gentry of this description. Quite recently a lot of hoodlums travelling on the train between Wellington and the Hutt, caused much annoyance to such law abiding and peaceful citizens as Your Correspondent by indulging in horse play in the carriage and amusing (?) themselves by snipping off pieces of hair and ribbon from the the head and neck of any young woman who did not happen to be on her guard. It was not until one young fellow spoke out his mind about such disgraceful conduct that the nuisance ceased. There is quite a flutter just now in football circles over the action of one of the most prominent of New Zealand, as well as Wellington, players, he having, it is asserted, offered to obtain for the Wellington Football Club four of the redoubtable Poneke members to play with them nexl season in consideration of a certain sum of money, which proposal, having reached the ears of the Poneke Club Committee, has led to the expulsion of the traitor from their ranks. Such conduct on the part oi any player is worthy of the gravest censure. Those of your readers who are in the habit of making holiday excursions to our City will be pleased to hear that the construction of the long talked of tramway to that beautiful seaside resort, Island Bay, is at last to be undertaken.