PUBLIC OPINION.

Patea Mail, 20 January 1882, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

Contributions, Letters* Inquiries and Answers thereto, are invited on Farming.. Commerce, Politics, and matters of inte -est to the Patea district.' Names of writers need not be Printed. MORE FROM LINDLEY MURRAY. Send that Taranaki boy here again. Now, leave off blubbering, and let me see again that grammar exercise of December 14." I went through half of it at the last examination, and pointed out four errors of. structure in six of your clumsy periods. More labor is required to correct your errors than to write the whole exercise afresh.

Just look at this The Mayor’s conduct has icrekted a deal of comment, and as it will be brought on in the Council Chamber, we do not intend to discuss the matter beforehand, but this we will say—it is opposed to all the ethics of good business to force a tradesman to do Sunday work.”—Here is more Taranaki confusion. ' Even a boy like you should know that this shifting relation of noun and pronoun conveys a meaning precisely the opposite ,of what is meant ; for you intended to say firstly that the Mayor’s ! conduct would be brought before, the Council, \yhereas you succeed in saying ; that the comment on his conduct; would be I brought before the; Council. "Sebondly, jyou say it is opposed to all the ethics of I good: business 1 ; whifah means : that the | “ deal of comment ” is opposed, whereas ■you should have said the Mayor’s conduct lis opposed, and so on. Thirdly, after sayiing you dp not intend to. discuks the I matter,; you say it is ; opposed—etcetera.; 1 You mean-to say the conduct is. opposed, ; whereas .you: clumsily; say the; matter' is i opposed to all the ethics of good business.! Which is the Waiter,vend ; how many matters are there in that sentence ? Then I; would, ask, what ri are “ all the; ethics of good business,” and ; how : many ethics are there, and do ; thb ;i ethids differ : in | number 1 as; between good' business and | bad business ?' Tf this grammar exercise !of yours is 1 a- bad business;- how many i ethics' are ' there m this bad business ? lHaye you any notion what ethics means ? ■ls 'the word singular b : r plural ?—You do i annoy me so, by scratching your head in : that manner 1 : ’ V , .

! But I, have not done with, that long numbering period about ethics. You go t on to say—“ and though the Mail may be ; willing to work every Sunday in the -year to earn a few shillings, we shall set our face against it.”—Now boy, do you mean i to set your face against the; fe w.,,shillings, (for that is what the sentence incorrectly says), or set your face against the year, or : against Sunday, of against the Mail ? Take a father’s advice, my boy, and set ;your face against the few shillings, even though you 1 fancy that against means away from, whereas it must mean in close contact with; and I advise you to get in ‘close contact with the few shillings. After saying yoil will set your face against it , your next sentence says “It [was not a matter of necessity.” Poor jboy! The few shillings may be a matter |of necessity any day, for, wo know not iwliat a day may bring forth, nor how soon |a. day may... cease to ■ bring forth evening | news; Again I say, set your face as closeas you can against the few shillings—- : they may be all 'there are to set youf face : against—except brass. Now don’t look so black, but try to be a good boy, and [pay (out of the few shillings) more [attention to your Taranaki lesson. Taking this period as a whole, what does it exactly.mean?—“lt was not a matter - of necessity,- and would - have suited days after, therefore r we hold it was very bad [principle, especially for a public-Hoard to : iask''for.-Sunday labor.” You have here [succeeded in. saying that the “few 'shillings. ” was not a matter of necessity; I that 1 “ days after,” ‘would have suited you \ or suited the few shillings, and that before getting the few shillings you say you hold'/'it— liold thefew shillingsholdlit was very bad. principle ”—(no, the principle qf, holding the,, few shillings is good, though the-,grammar is d—-‘•n had). Well, you are a''Taranaki ! boy, and : don’t often gqt the -chance mow*a-days of i setting? your facie 1 against a few shillings, -even on Sunday. ' '• l- - - I i Your mext sentence says: The?Mdybr j has also reviled tfie dignity of his position, by? showing partiality^’’—o, dear! dear ! When you say the Mayor lias reviled ' something,, you.seem to mean that he has defiled something, and f his again suggests ' a “ mare’s' nest,” 1 and you mean, I sup-. 1 pose, that, the; Mayor . has • defiled it; A

boy of your age should not use uncommon words without looking at the dictionary. You will find that to revile is to-vilify, to upbraid, to assail with abusive language, to calumniate. Now has the Mayor vilified, the dignity of his position, has he upbraided that dignity, has he assailed that position with abusive language, has he calumniated it ? ' You are . a strangely stupid boy to .charge a Mayor with reviling the dignity of his position; I don’t know what your mother will say when ‘she- looks over this exercise of yours. Perhaps she will revile you by dressing you down with a cunyrcomb. Lastly, you say ; “It -is -a matter that effects all people ;’’ and I notice that in a later copy of the same exercise you repeat the,. r word“.effects,”- This repetition show's your innocence of all knowledge of Latin prefixes, and of their pithy meaning. Your errors vex me, but I cannot help pitying the simplicity and placid profundity of your unlearned bumptiousness. You are a Taranaki boy, and a dear one at any price. If this review of your exercise affects you, I hope it will do so in the thinnest part, where penetration may be possible. If this review effects no change in your ungrammatical frolics,'you should at least lose no time in setting your face against “the few shillings mentioned in your exercise. You.are too big a boy to be carried round the school and whacked. I can . only hope tp shame you into grammatical decency.-