VAGRANS VIATOR.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 197, 28 February 1877, Page 2

VAGRANS VIATOR.

M" Pur.uiKK, editor of the A. Z. Times, and well-known ail over the colony as a writer of articles under the heading of c The Intelligent Vagrant,” lately paid a visit to this district. The following item from his pen, taken from the N.Z. Mail, will prove interesting to our re aders: flic ct übiqno 5 --Any Author you choosk' It ruins once a day in Hawera, and twice a day in Nun nan by. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, as for instance when it rains all day long in both places. The exception mentioned began to occur the evening I arrived in Hawera, and continued for a week with so apparent an intention of never leaving off that I put myself in a coach and Piscator in a paddock and returned to town. Piscator I left placid and happy, up to his knees in clover and with his shoes taken off. In reference to the procural of a new set for him when lie shall deem it lit to return to town, he asked me not to follow the example of a namesake, who, when ho wants a set, purchases a truukful at a time, and, by retailing all except one pair amongst his acquaintances, .gets his own for nothing. It is impossible to part from Hawera without ment ion of its roast beef. That roast beef will ever remain to me as a sweet and tender memory. It has not been driven a hundred miles or more to market, but has come straight out of a sweet-scented clover paddock, with glossy coat and rounded shape, to offer itself up as a sacrifice of sweet savour to the palate of hungry man. A great deal is written about the merits of various mineral springs for the cure of the weak and sickly amongst the human race. I offer a far better remedy than anything furnished by the hot springs of New Zealand : A residence of a nioiffh at Hawera* with a sirloin of beef on the table for dinner each day. The beef will not pall upon your appetite. Quite the contrary—each successive day of the mouth will but make you aware of fresh and delicious flavours, and at the month’s end you will part with reluctance from what I may call a gastronomical procession, of the excellencies of roast beef. The fanners of Hawera are a hardworking hardy set of fellows. They are furnished with constant occupation in watching their cattle grow fat : and their toil is varied every now and again by having to meiid a broken panel in a post and rail fence.

Hawcra is not without its literature. It has a correspondent to a pleasant paper published in Patea. The correspondent is above reliance' on his own abilities. But lately lie localised the latest joke from the London Punch of a gentleman professing belief in the devil to another, and at the same time introducing- bis mother-in-law; Me omitted mention of Punch, and described the matter as having occurred at llawera. A. Wanganui and a Wellington paper copied the paragraph with favorable comment, Gray’s ode to Eton College contains a line applicable to these circumstances. Having returned to Wellington I have become aware of disagreeable circumstances. In the first place my friend the Mayor, I am sorry to see, was anxious to tax baths in houses. Washing oneself is altogether a matter -of taste, and one about which I should not presume to dictate; but though I am personally like the coalheavor who washed himself at least once a week,T should be sorry to deter anyone from doing it oftener.