TOPICS OF TALK.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 275, 12 June 1874, Page 3

TOPICS OF TALK.

KEDirosio'.-.to, tHji't! poor. Shot-' ever min€(i;s. , Ghampioned by Mr. Donald Eeid—-so we are told poor digger is, not to. pay a license to get tu& bib .'of firings' , So destituterrrso . languishing. Why should\ye, , perous, forbid the gleaning of the sticks to kindle the fire which is t'o 'bpil 'tbe j scanty meal of these poor men ? We Buspoct Mr. 'Reid has been getting poetical, and has been studying thrit long-winded poem of William Wordsworth's, where some suppositious tyrratinical landed ,farmer, if yve remember right—pounced upon an unfortunate one, from over a hedge, who was sinfully gathering sticks. ii " v 'lt shall not be so on the Shotover. ' » ! A champion has been found—a leader has been raised up—a contemporary a political Moses —to protectand guide the destitute digger—destitute indeed, when red uced to that. ~,

•>Tnis column and that. The Dunedin Jupiter is at times—at rare interi Vila—worth study. One such.harvest time occurred last Friday. In one column—a leading one—we notice Mr; Fish accused, in the most bitter and uncompromising way, as the leader of the most factious opposition ever offered in a representative body. The Eublication of his name by the Jupiter eing alone sufficient to damn him for ever. Unfortunately we have seen' too many such cursings pronounced, often to turn out blessings, to think; that Mr. Fish need trouble his head on that score. We remember, only a few •weeks ago, a respected citizen was,'if he accepted a certain post of trust, to: go down to his grave dishonored,' uii-; sung, and unwept. Strange, too,; within that time the Jupiter itself has! admitted the post is well and ,<ably; filled, and the Press of the ; stamp his conduct, more especially a's Chairman of the Licensing Court, ; as leaving nothing to be desired/ Consistent Jupiter, if it were not for'tfye Secret pleasure thy gods—for they are have in the, sounding forth in Delphic mystery, and awful' aound the Olympic thunder, we greatly fear that tliy labor is in vain. We have 'beard the old fable of the ox and the 1 fly —the apology at last, in sheer despair of recognition, of the uninvited intruder, followed by the courteous reply , that the apology was unnecessary as the existence of the intruder was unknown. We have seen our contemporary even reduced to that strait. Consistent indeed ! In leading column No. 1. of Friday's issue Mr. Fish is told he is a good boy ; he made a capital' epeech once about toll-bars; he may even do better when aided by, Mr* Stout, now influential as Government' legal adviser; he may ease our gods of their Sabbath sixpence, payments; for we recognise the liberty of the Sabbath, and although it, does, not ,suit us ourselves to go in the railway along with the roughs to the Port,. yet we like to drive and ride to Anderson's Bay and the Forbury, and this sixpence payment is most disgusting—indeed we are not sure, by our infallible in; terpretation of canonical Scripture, it is not forcing upon us libertines of free thought a moral wrong. Good Mr. Fish, do a little for us ; we will {'raise you; we ourselves will be youi* ieutenant, and then what greatness is not beforq. Why, we will speak to Mr. Beid for you, and the Government —not the mock pawns we place on the benches-—but the Government • who have decided who the Harbor Trust* is to consist of, what they are to do, and that no central training wall shall be. adopted, for we now find Mr.'Balfour' knew nothing at all about it. This high power, capable of so much, will reward you, and you shall no longer be as Leah mourning for her idols-be-cause they are not. The; rival Thunderer as well appeals plaintively, not to Mr. Fish in particular, but .to the Council. Is. it not touching ? . Give us harbor is all we want—and go home, like good boys.

sceptic as to the truth that it is not good for man to be alone, he. need only study physiology in the interior of unsettled countries-: he will find hundreds of men in the prime of life, bearing all the characteristics of hypochondriacs, from no other, causo than their isolated position. There appear to be two kinds of socialism, the false and the.-true—the false beingthat foijtn of sociality 'of a 'man with . his fellows' which%e'have 'befotV characterised as goodfellowship,.and the true being that wiser form—often, ,aiid, indeed, generally without direct expression, for very few can express true vitality, and true feeling is little short of vitality itself*—only* realised in' the true marriage tie, not the marriage of convenience, not the "marriage for position or for a .settlement,, but the, mysterious instin.ctive comes 'all bfastacies.' In' Sparta' there, was a law wjiifih. punished not only those who continued in a state of eeliib.acy or ,'tri2xme'd:too late, but'also those who married for, position or riches. Two dau£liti£M of a celebrated philanthropic philqsopher,-who was reputed to be very wealthy, were engaged to be the] 'father's life'tiirie. '• ' l At his'death it was discovered . . jbis, jj^a^tjirqpy; ad, beejia fact,' and he Had not* i( as supposed, heaped' up riches fpr a rainy , day. The ,inltleUcHhfe: ; thfefeforp—'even in Sparta ; ' there' tve're gay deceivers—r broke their prom'ses,. .and had in -cons^qti&hte'"to' suffer the infliction of very,^heary.pecuniary fines,, -notjfor breach of promise of marriage, but because they only intended to have married for money.' If a shipload of young lkdies could be induced to visit New Zealand on a'travelHug tour, even" at the.i expenses of the Grovernmeiit;'' it might.-, be more profitable than 'to pay for the importation of the useless 'fellows and Mrs. Howard's reformers, to'; be seen irr hundreds about (Javersham.' bai;racks>i !;;i ;Qur; desolate bachelors : migbt yethave a chance; - ;