Wairarapa Jottings.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 37, 16 March 1901, Page 16

Wairarapa Jottings.

ON Thursday week Mrs Beotham ga\e the second of her delightful garden parties tins season One is never tired of visiting the beautiful grounds, laid out with superb taste, and maintained with surpassing skill. And the hostess does entertain with the irresistible charm for which the sons and daughters of her fair and sunny land are noted. • • • Mayor Pownall has received an lnflu-entially-signed requisition praying him to reconsider his recent determination not to offer himself again for mayoral honours. Mr. Pownall has not given a reply at time of writing, but he courteously informed writer that if he arranges with the Government for the advance for the drainage scheme, over which there has been a, hitch he wil not stand. On the other hand, should present negotiations fail to come to a desirable issue, he intends to comply with the requisition. It would suit his private arrangements infinitely better to be relieved from municipal cares, vet no matter at what sacrifice, he is determined to see this scheme of his to a successful issue • * • There is not much interest evinced up here in the Wairarapa over the peregrinations of the Federation Commission. Anyhow, the major part of the evidence given up to date is remarkable for the absolute ignorance of most of the witnesses on the question. It surely is something of an anomaly to have men summoned before an inquiry of the kind who have admittedly not even read the Commonwealth Bill. • » • The uniform for our volunteers has arrived, and Captain Blythe and his merry men can now swagger complacently to their hearts' content. Generally speaking the uniform is a success , though why military outfitters should deem it necessary to provide the smallest possible cap that the ingenuity of a hatter can design, passes the comprehension of the guileless man who has never even had the worthy ambition of becoming a uniformed guardian of the law. But, when all's said, it may be added that the corps is a credit to the tewn, reflecting no small luminosity on its enthusiastic commander and his excellent lieutenant. • • ♦ Rumour hath it that Miss Alice Hollander's sweet contralto failed to attract a decent audience here. The first night the house was poor, though some local talent helped to draw something better the second. • * * Occasionally that awful production of the Pearson crowd, M. A. P., edited by the well-advertised "Tay Pay" in the first person, has a glimmer of wit. The last copy to hand is relieved from dulness by a reminiscence touching the birth of King Edward VII. — ; 'Bells rang and guns boomed the glad tidings all over the kingdom. Douglas Jerrold, the wit of the day, was certain to make some funny remark on the occasion, and the tale goes that he exclaimed to a friend that afternoon at dinner, amidst the roaring of the ordnance, "Dear me, how they do powder these Royal babies !"