"THE MAN IN THE STREET."

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 154, 16 February 1872, Page 6

"THE MAN IN THE STREET."

The conventional " Man in the Street" this day makes his first appearance in your columns, and enters the public arena advocating the same cause, and having in view the sarnie object" as your " Vagrant Reporter." " Tom "—namely, th? desire to call attention to the follies and abuses, as well local as general, which pervade New Zealand affairs—more especially those, which affect and have an influence upon this district. There will, however,. I feel assured, be no fear of your witty correspondent "Tom" and myself either clashing in our opinions or coming into collision the one with the other- my object being to deal with things rather, than with per-sons-—to generalise rather than to deal with personalities. Your "Vagrant's" vein seems rather to run, in the opposite direction, and therefore, as I have 1 said, though our aim and object are the ; same our path will lie contrary wise. Having thus much premised, I you how —since the fearful infliction of scarcity of water which this district has so long endured, and has 'such * good heart ajid so touch good humor 'borne—a large portion of our population, " Celestial " and " Barbarian," has contrived to amuse itself and drive dull care away. Well, sir, the water supply being at an end, and " Othello's occupation gone," wp have changed from a gold-mining into a kite-flying community, and from morning till night maybe seen not only uoys of tender years, but children of " older

growth," industriously engaged in thiW intellectual, at the same time highly inter- 1 esting and, no doubt, amusing game—rkite flying. Kites of all sizes, from six inches to eight feet in height, might" he seen ; mounting into the air—some, streaming, others' darting—some with tails, some without tails—the idiosyncrasy being, that the " Celestial i kites, whose>ingeni6us fabricators have themselves longiiils; have no tails, whereas, the " Barbarian " kites, whose makers have no tails, exhibited tails of most varied and extraordinary lengths/ At the various "well known corners might be seen congregated a large number of spectators who, ha ving veritably . " nothing else to do," are gazing upwards ' watching, the extraordinary phenomenon of kite flying—endeavoring, no doubt, to extract a, lesson from that useful art.: Miners -I saw in numbers, whom the aforesaid want of water had no doubt induced, to turn their attention to some other taethod of i getting a livelihood,; business .men,!.tco, ,lJ saw; whom no doubt the want of trade had' begun to make feel a little uneasy., about sundry pieces of paper probably bewaring; their names, and who no doubt felt in unusual degree of interest in this kiteflying' phenomenon, and wished to lifeconie acquainted with, the apparently easy manner! in which this operation is performed, so that, if compelled, they, might not be found altogether, unskilful in the highly useful art. Every portion of the .c.omip.uhity appeared- to my eye to be represented at the 1 " corhers," gazing, as I have said, upon the interesting process. Bui no, sir; there was one class, and a not unimportant component part of the community, for whom this innocent amusement appeared to have no charm, and who, with a stoical indifference, refused to leave their ironbound cages to gaze, with the multitude upon the soul-inspiring sight. These, sir, were the bankers of the town. Behind their iron-barred windows and doors they satin sullen indifference, as though their hearts were utterly unamenable to the iiinocent recreation being'enacted anil to the innocent lesson being taught and learnt outside. Can you, sir, explain why such should be the ease, and why, uponiOcca-: "ions of intellectual enjoyment, ; these mag- • nates should shut themselves up as e,xclu«'• sives, and'take no'interest in scenes and in those lessons . on. kite,-flying which I appeared to afford so much amusement

and interest to the outside world ? Is : it that, this "little game" is foVbidden by the Bank Corporations, and that its agents and employees are forbidden either to fly kites themselves, or encourage the glorioiis art of kite-flying in general ? I pause for a reply.

X find, sir, that X have, in my enthusiasm in the noble cause of kite-flying, ex-! eeeded the limits to which I had intended]' to confine inyself,' and must reserve my remarks upon other equally amusing and intellectual recreations till your next issue, nothing doubting that the " exclusives " to : whom I have referred will make! the amende honorable for their past neglect by putting iii an appearance on ; all - future occasions wlieri the little ■ game is " a-going-on." .. ~.

The Government Life assuranc e scheme appear to have been .very, popular throughout Westland, where* we understand, upwards of two hundred insurances were obtained during the five weeks Captain bßald win staved there. At Greymouth the Government obtained three times; more business than did the Australian Mutual Provident. At Hoklitika a novel expedient in the history of life assurance was resorted to in the shape of religious revivals, whether successfully or not we have not heard. Some vprv clevpr skits, entitled '* The Apostle "of \A\'n Assurance,",and a '\Sliort appeared in the loral pa pers. riiliculiiiir'the. transifion of o'Un- J.iHumn>?e >a*en t ; from the. platform to the pulpit.