Random Remarks.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 91, 17 July 1908, Page 3

Random Remarks.

[Contributions to this column are always welcome from any part of the district. The editor does not vouch for the authenticity of the stories, nor is he responsible for the criticisms.] The special heaven of the average New Zealand bov will undoubtedly be peopled with footballers, and the national game will be perpetuated to eternity. At present the interest in the game is somewhat shared by the impending visit of the American fleet. Still there is a great difference between a fleeting interest and a deep, abiding afleetion for the game in which we excel. By the way it is only of recent years football has come to be regarded as the national game. For a long time the pride of position was struggled for by cricket, but the ignominious defeats of our best by second rate Australian and English teams rendered it impossible for us to claim to be cricketers. Rugby football filled the requirements, but had our atheletes failed in that particular branch we might have been in the humiliating position of having to fall back on marbles, or buttons, or hopscotch. An added crumb of comfort may be had in the fact that we have a world's champion orsman. Still. outside Wanganui, it is remarkable how little enthusiasm is displayed in ■the rowing champion. However, next Saturday will see the British footballers playing at Auckland, and the visit is timely if only as an antidote to the accute attack of fleetitis Auckland is suffering from.

. Are we in the back-blocks Pagans ? Bishop Neligan is charged with having so dubbed us, or our children, and the charge was deeply resented. The echo of the broad denial having reached the Bishop, he has written a letter ostensibly in explanation. The cryptic epistle has already attained notority from the fact that, instead of explaining anything it seems to make confusion worse confounded. From the tenor of the letter it seems the secret of the Bishop's utterance is locked within the notebook of the newspaper reporter, general charge of neglect intonfpetence and malace aforethought, combined with various other vices, is levelled against the long-suffering members of the fourth estate. The " not fully reported dodge " is getting worn thin by constant use, and obviously, if the Bishop's statement in the first instance was no. clearer than his published letter one can forgive the reporter for making the Bishop say anything. All things considered it will be admitted that the Bishop got off lightly. The charge of Paganism doesn't hurt us. Considering the state of our roads Sir Joseph Ward is amazed that we are not all Oppositionists, and that is something infinitely worse than paganism.

" Coming events cast there shadows before them," and although temporarily overshadowed bythe American fleet visit, and the British footballers, the coming general election is manifesting its approach in various ways. In the King Country the arrival of portion of a stone-crushing plant at Te Kuiti bears elequent testimony of political activity, though the fact that the engine is imprisoned in an iron ceil is held by pessimists to indicate that the-machine is merely on approval, and will be returned to the merchant after the election. , There are also large and vague promises in the air concerning, an alteration of township titles, to say nothing of the sympathetic reference; to backblock roads. Later on these promises will be largely increased. A friend of mine, with a taste for statistics, made an approximate estimate after last election of the amount of money rfecessar3 r to fulfill the promises of the various candidates in the North Island. The required sum worked out to a larger sum than the value of the Island altogether, and my friend, who is an ingenuous person with unbounded faith in mankind, actually thought the attempt to carry out the promises was to be made. Rather than see the country driven to ruin he hurriedly realised his estate and departed for a land where the politician is not so frequent and free. This incident is related as a warning not to be too greatly influenced by political promises. My friend was a most estimable man, and the health of his family has suffered greatly since leaving " God's own country."

Of all the different types of humanity one meets, the most objectionable is the person with a grievance. At the same time there are occasions upon which it is excusable to complain, and my readers will admit with me that the weather lately has richly earned a descriptive adjective. The size, or shape, or strength, or picturesqueness of the adjective, naturally depends upon the capacity of the individual, but the combined adjectives of the victims, if hurled at Jupiter Pluvius, w r ould certainly be more effective than an ode. It is rumoured that our friend, the Hangatiki Poet, is at w r ork on a suitable denunciation to hurl at the head of the Rain God. This much the Poet certainly owes to his suffering neighbours, seeing what effect a placatory effort had on the rain-dispenser. There have been dark rumours and threats of vengeance against the Poet, but I am credibly informed that at present the bard's head is bowed with woe, and to heap calamity upon an estimable citizen merely because his inspiration moved the Gods to tears, would be the refinement of cruelty. Let us bear our burden bravely, and live in hope.

Woods' Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and Colds never flails, is 6d & 2s 6d. Throughout the* Waikato Winter Sfiow a diligent t0..1y of workers were busily engaged in collecting donations for the Waikato Hospital, and as the amount collected carries with it .a Government subsidy, it is expected that the Institution will benefit to a material extent.