Beau Ralph

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 6

Beau Ralph

lI7HETHER the skies be dull and VV overcast or of Mediterranean blue, there is always one. man In the Queen City who wears that sublime air of bonhomie betokening perfect confidence m his ego, and that person is W. J. Ralph; best known for his very solid interest m black diamonds, for out of the bowels of mother earth comes the source of most of his income. Ralph is one of the conspicuous figures of the north if for no other reason than that he wears an unruffled front which is almost immaculate, and to see him taking' the air along Queen Street of a morning is , enough to give the average man who may suffer from an inferior complex a spark of hope or- even erivy. Bowler hat set at just the right angle of rakishness, a cane under his arm, pink and fresh face, surmounting a neat cravat — tie would jsound too commonplace — ornamented , with a pin. and always a flower m his button-hole. His well-cut blue serge drapes a figure which is not as portly as years might warrant. Amid the drab average of men m the street, Ralph stands out pre-eminent, and whether oh racecourse, or over a slab of French polished mahogany, when he la sipping; his morning reviver, he is ever the same imperturbable magnate m miniature who appears to say to .the world at large: "You can't get my goat," : , Rarely does a race-meeting pass but the impeccable coal-mine proprietor does not grace it with.' his presence, and win or lose — if 'ever he does the latter — his poise is still' perfection. He is one of the stewards of the fatal Takapuna course as well as one of the judicial committee, and he has a host of sporting friends, who have probably delved beneath that most complacent exterioi*, and found that Ralph is. a mine of wit and wisdom, the accumulation of years of contemplation and scrutiny of his less fprtu-, nate fellow-mortals.