The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 6 1907. THE LITTLE BROWN MAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3762, 6 April 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 6 1907. THE LITTLE BROWN MAN.

The Wellington Free Lance does not take the little brown man into its arms as many prominent Wellington citizens have been doing during the stay of the Japanese squadron in Wellington Harbour. Here is a paragraph from the paper above referred to :

“The men-o’-war Japs who are doing Wellington the honour to call have invaded all places of amusement in this city, and are smart brown spots of interest to mere ; whites. Most of them wear two or three medals and do not forget that they are a conquering race. It is difficult to decide which are officers and which are naval police. The latter push into out-of-the-way places like their salt-water British ‘ ‘ brethren, ’ ’ with an eye for the hotels. The Jap sailor-man, like our own Jack, does not pass a great number of hotels, and a gentleman who had business in several of these houses of worship, informed the Lance that the favourite tipple of the Jap sailor-man is a long-beer ! Also, that the favourite exclamation of the ex-heathen is “ Kai ora!” Also, that the w T hite youth of seventeen, eighteen or nineteen who is the chief decorative effect of any hotel in Wellington in the evening has been exclaiming “Banzai!” wherever he saw a Jap engulphing a pint of nectar. It is obvious to the least observant that these little brown men are very conscious of their distinction and carry their four-feet nine as if it were nine-feet four. There doesn’t seem to be any necessity for Wellingtonians to lie on their waistcoats to form a corduory track to allow Jap sailors to cross muddy roads.”

Christchurch Truth refers to the Japanese squadron’s visit to Wellington as follows :—Easter Sunday was chiefly notable in Wellington by the appearance in the windy harbour of three business-like Japanese cruisers, each with enough ordnance, to rake the Empire city, and leave it in much the same condition as was Gomorrah twenty-four hours after Lot’s departure. But happily the monkey had nothing' of the kind in his

mind on this occasion. He merely happened along in a friendly fashion to pass the time of day, and hospitable Wellington squeezed the proffered member with its honest digits and bid the visitor welcome. The said visitor showed two shinning rows of white teeth, assuming what was intended to be a polite smile, while his eyes roved round the land -locked bay, the'scarred hillsides dotted with comfortable homes, and the tall warehouses right up against the water front just in an ideal spot to loot, and the monkey was well pleased. Seven hundred of him, neatly uniformed, obsequiously polite, but insatiably curious, swarmed all over Wellington, and Wellington seems to have done its best to make him feel at home, even to the length of hunting out Japanese flags, and the monkey must have felt how well they looked fluttering, in the breeze, and how well they would look on Government House. Mav Wellington never have cause to regret its misplaced enthusiasm for the saffron-coloured ally, but our pessimism breeds doubts on the subject.