IDIOSYNCRASIES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 395, 7 October 1876, Page 3

IDIOSYNCRASIES.

Bui every de?pe r nte hlockhead dares to write ; Why not ? "Art of Poetry.' I Havk known many men who displayed considerable aptitude tor getting into trouble, and some few who had an equally happy knack of getting out of it—sometimes laboriously enough, and occasionally with as much case and flippancy as would characterise Mr. Harold Skimpole in escaping from his monetary difficulties. Of an individual of the latter class I quite recently heard r story, which roveali in him so much ingenuity in getting out, of an awkward predicament, that I must needs relates it to the-Naseby public. Ido not, however, vouch for"the truth of the anecdote : that I could scarcely do, seeing that I myself only beard it. at second .hsuuL And, indeed, I make a point of never guaranteeing the truth of any of my paragraphs, for, as I hinted last week, I am occasionally so bard pushed for fact that I am only too glud to fall back upon fiction ; and the two have so got mixed up together in my capacious mind that I have much difficulty 'in telling where the one commences and the other ends. A gentleman who lives not quite a hunred miles from Naseby recently fell in with one of the chief promoters of the celebrated petition for the removal of our Resident Magistrate, and entered into conversation on the' subject, enquiring his reason for getting up the manifesto. '* I have been eleven times sued befo-e him for money," was the indignant reply, " and I lost every case : either he is an unjust judge orT am- a d d scoundrel—one or other." Now, the conclusion was logical enough ; but the individual addressed considered that, of the two 'contingencies, the latter (that of the scoundrel) was bv far the more likely, although it is obvious that it yr mid not have done for him to say so. Hence the difficulty. ■■ " You a scoundrel," was the prompt reply, "you a scoundrel! I would as soon believe that the earth revolves upon Us own axis." The result, was perfect peace; the petitioner, quite innocont of elementary Science, with Wra in his eyes pouring out his gratinde for the generous' vindication of his character. "It is ex-icljy what I expected of you was all that he could murmer.

While.on the srbject of petitions I may mention that I find, very much to my dismay, that one is being signed at the present moment, having for its object the removal from the district of no less a personage than Parthian. It appears that hei has trodden upon the corns of several worthy residents of the town, and the public good'demands that he should bo removed. The charges against myself are, however, of an infinitely graver character than those preferred.against the Magistrate aforesaid, serious though these latter may be. Of him it is said that he did, most wantonly, and with malice aforethought, for the good of the town and at!considerable loss to himself, take up and retain a few shares in the " Naseby,Coal Mining Company, Limited " (a most serious offence when you regard' it, as Sir George Grey would, from a constitutional'standpoint), -while of me it is set forth in the petition that I am at once a perverter of the truth (the original term is much more condensed than that), a traducer, a vagabond, and a squatter. Now, whatever may be thought of the first three counts of the indictment, the last I most positively and indignantly deny. I make bold to state that I live by the sweat of my brow, except in the summer time, when, .water being scarce, I find some little difficulty in living at all ; but, as to being a squatter, I humbly trust I have not sank so low in the social scale. If anyone were to ask for a definition of the word squatter, I would say, a squatter is a person who endeavors to make an honest living by robbing his neighbor." They monopolise and pay for the use of lands which are the undoubted birthright of the people, to whom they were bequeathed; as t understand it, by an Act which dates as far back as'the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Of course attempts are occasionally made bv the squatters to prove that they themselves are the veritable inheritors of the birthright, but' it is of little use. The hand may be the hand of Esau, but the voice, is the voice of Jacob, and is invariably recognised as such. Let my enemies therefore omit the last count in the indictment, which is not true, and which involves a burden of disgrace greater than I could bear.

Perhaps the truest sentence spoken since the commencement of the session, fell from Mr. Button, the member for Hokitika, in a short speech on the question of Ministers' reelection. "I am quite satisfied," s*id. he, "that the people in Auckland andOtago had no idea they were so badly treatedgiintil they heard their advocates say so on the hustings." Without doubt it is the literal truth. We were enjoying the highest and safest degree oi;liberty ; we had just got rid of of Provincialism which had weighed us down—every one of us— for manyyears ; things generally were flourishing, and wages tolerably high (though by no mans high enough); and we• ourselves were, or fancied we were, comparatively speaking, contented and happy, when r a number of astute politicians appeared on the scene, and, by their eloquence,'convinced us that it was all a delusion. Then, till then, we. saw clearly enough that we were the most unhappy, down-trodden, and enslaved people on thu face of the earth. There could not be a doubt on the subject, for Sir George Grey ransacked the whole human race over and over again, and utterly failed to find.a single parallel Of course this state of things can't last. There is a limit to, long-suiferitig— we must draw a line somewhere ; and the Principality of Servia offers us at the present moment a most significant example. If, therefore, the'"meihber for Mount Ida will only do, as he hinted in his speech upon Disqualification, come down here and head an armed sortie. He will, I think, find, himself in command of an efficient and most imposing regiment in a very short time. "Let us do or die," will be our motto."

I tieally think that last week I formed a very neat forecast, of the objects which Messrs. Stout, and M.'tcandrsw had in view in paying a visit to their constituents in the middle of the session. They did and sad exictly what f anticipated they would da and say. Thev had a most successful meeting too, and they now return to the Assembly fortified alike with a large amount of sympathy and pepper. There may be some discontented and exacting electors who consider that the vi*it to Dunedin was not only unnecessary but somewhat farcical, and fhut rhe City members would have cor suited their own dignity and advanced Ihe interests of their constituents in a much greater degree by remaining at. their posts, and assi-ting in the transaction of the country's business. But those who think thus probably overlook the effects of lacerated feeling and wounded self-love. A man's own spirit bearetli his infirmities, but a broken spirit who can bear. Certainly not Messrs.Macandrew and Stent, who are men of keen sensibilities, and who were, so cut to the soul by the censuro of the 840 petitioners, that, like the young lady in the song, a slight discharge of pent-up emotion was absolutely necessary to their safety : '' And her maidens, watching, said She must weep, or she will die " A correspondent of the ' Daily Times ' stat»d the matter more aptly, if more broadly, than myself, when he saiel that the City memb»rs felt it incumbent upon them to " rub their noses " against their censtituents. It was the only consolation open to them. PjkUTHIAN,