The Resignation of R. J. Seddon. [A prophecy.] (Heard at the Employers' Association Dinner.)

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 273, 23 September 1905, Page 16

The Resignation of R. J. Seddon. [A prophecy.] (Heard at the Employers' Association Dinner.)

The sun rose late tihat frightful morn, The moon m fear had flown, The lightning flashed, the thunder roared When the awful news was known. With crowds of half-dazed) people Willis-street was fairly lined, For at the 'Tost" these words appeared: "Diok Seddon has resigned." Waimangu then erupted fast, The Hutt River burst its bounds, There was intense sobriety In all t!he West Coast towns. The "Shop Act" had been quickly passed The shopkeepers to bind, And unions wept themselves to sleep, For "Seddon had resigned!" The Tradles and Labour Councils Were staggered at the news, And even, the "New Zealand Times" For once expressed its views; The Federal League went off in pops, No pieces could they find, And Mtt nearly broke the pledge, 'Cc 3 "Seddon had resigned r At the House when Mister Massey Arrived by motor car, To try and check the ruin That was spreading near and far; When he scanned the empty benches, It flashed across his mind: "Will Fisher find that voucher Now t&at Seddon has resigraed?' Perhaps in giddy days of old, When people couldn't read, Results less frightful would succeed The Premier's awful deed. But intellectual people know The sun could scarcely shine, Or the world whirl on its axis If Dick Seddon did resign!

—A. H. Rogers.

A propos of football, "the cream of Devonshire is whipped." Also a propos of football, local enthusiasts think the figures in the Devon-New Zealand match must have referred to cricket! * * * Mr. Arthur S. Adams has just been appointed associate editor of the "New Zealand Times." The directors of the company are to be congratulated! upotn their perspicacity. Mr. Adams is the most brilliant of the younger school of New Zealand journalists, and his versatile talents, which are already reflected, in. works of merit in both prose and verse, are sure to raise the literary tone of the "Times." * • • We have received from Mr. Ball, of Wanganui, a sample of a new boardgame, which he has invented for family amusement. It is styled "The Game of Life," and is played somewhat aftei the fashion of the popular domestic pastime known as "Ludo." But the inventor has struck out an entirely new line for himself, and one that lends itself to far greater amusement and will oomimiand a much longer "run" than ■fchat noisy game called "Pit." "The Game of Life" is likely to catch on, especially with the young folks. * * • Mr. Watkin Mills, the famous English bass singer, at the head of his very fin© English Quintette Concert Party, after a triumphal progress through the South Island, is opening his Wellington season at th© Town Hall as we go to press. Musical critics agrete in praising this combination as the most gifted concert party tihat has visited the colonies for a grea£ many years. The season here is brief, but most alluring. Tomorrow night Mr. Watkin Mills and the members of his company, which comprises Miss EdSth Kirkwood, Miss

Gertrude Lonsdale, Mr. Harold Wilde, and Moms. Parlovitz (pianist), will be associated with the Wellington Musical Society under Mr. Robert Parker, in the production of Mendelssohns lovely oratorio, "St. Paul," in which a chorus and orchestra of three hundred performers wall be engaged. On Saturday, Mr. Watkins Quintette will give a miscellaneous concert, for which a very choice programme has been prepared. Lovers of music will not lightly mass these concerts.

Fitzgerald's circus is at present "breaking up" China. This is a joke. « • * First-night seats for Nell E. Stewarts Launcestom season were sold by auction. » * * J. 0. Williamson reckosms he> is responsible for the daily bread of over 300 actresses and actors. •% * m Tittell Brune: — "New Zealand is the land where the hearts of the people are open, and as free as their country. • • • Thurston admits, with some little hesitation, that his salary is £250 a week. And he was going to be a parson! A country paper asserts that "Annette Kellerman has failed im her attempt to swim across the 'Thames, owing to sea-sickness." • * • Fred Bluett, the large, luminous humourist, round here for Fullers a while back, is with Holland's vaudeville show, in Queensland, roaring for cash. • « • Aoynic asserts: — "Modern acting is the art of wearing clothes. Modern playwriting is the art of furnishing opportunities for changes of costume and scenery." « • • Often you see bouquets of flowers handled to actresses. Often you see slips of paper attached. You conclude they are notes from love-lorn Johnaiies. They are generally the bill. • • * Those clever wire-walking girl®, the O'Meers, whose heavy father nightly fell through a chair while here, are now in London, setting out for a long engagement in the provinces. • * * It is an open secret that the just-con-cluded season at the Melbourne Prin-ce-s Theatre was one of the most sucoeisshil experienced by Robert Brough during ten years' management. » ♦ • Praise for Mario Majeroni. Melbourne "Punch," speaking of Mario's M. de Malesherbes, in "Marie Antoinette, says it was the finest performance of the part since Ristori played it in 1875. • * * Miss Oelina 80-be, the xylophonist and violiniste, of nice appearance: and mach talent, whom Harry Rickards trotted forth for our inspection a while back, is agitating her instruments at 'Frisco. • • • The Brescian singers and! orchestra have appeared before the public for ten years in exactly the same combination with an exception. One Brescian died. This is a quite unusual instance of company fidelity to one another. • • • Mt. J. J. Dallas, of the "J.P." Company, tells that he has played olown in a circus pantomime, Shakespeare, is an author of stacks of ballads, and sings, and has written both libretto amid lyrics of "The Whispering Will" comic opera. Likewise, the musical comedy, "The School-girl." • • • John Fuller, sen, or, wired to "Ben," previous to Milos appeaa-ance : "Don't court disaster by opening on a Friday." In the excitement of a gireiat success, "Ben" wired on the Saturday : — "Grieved to the soul I didn't take your advice. Send 1 two four-horse waggons for the takings." • • * 'Tat" Nolan, late of the "New Zealand Times," is getting a large hearing in Sydney "Dadly Telegraph." Mr. Nolan runs to a column and a fraction over the Brough-Fleming production of "The Walls of Jericho." He analyses the play, and praises the players. Says he : — "Sutro's women of fashion are shameless, mercenary creatures, lost to all womanly feeling, who fleece each other at cards, who scorn the virtues, who flippantly talk slang and puff cigarettes — whose only aim, in short, is to kill time in a ceaseless round 1 of pleastire. His men are for the most part brainless dandies. distinguishinK themselves mainly by flirting with their neghbours? wives. • * * "The types of character are all adroitly drawn — the self-satisfied, smirking grande dame, with the rank of a duchess, wlho cheats at bridge; the aristocratic father who borrows, after appropriate scruples, large sums from his son-in-law ; and anxiously assists his daughter in her plans for a marriage of convenience, because it may rehabilitate his squandered fortune ; the fashionable lady who throws her husband's money away in gambling, and l openly sneers at him for his 'intolerable virtue,' or indignantly resents his conduct in befriending a coM whom her brother has wronged ; the youth who is a libertine or a oynic, or both.: this is Vanity Fair, 'not a moral place, certainly, nor a merry one, though very noisy/