South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1893. HERE AND THEBE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7072, 18 February 1893, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1893. HERE AND THEBE.

A cable from Australia a short time ago reported the suicide of a bank manager, with the remark, “ he was married but bis accounts are all right.” The compiler of this message gives himself away in respect of his domestic experience.

A small section of the Australian Press is never tired of gearing at the auxiliary squadron. What a chance to add to gibes at tii© uselessness of the gunboats is given by the running down of the Ringarooma by a coasting steamer 1

•* I’ll take anything I can got,” said Mr Evans, when appointed receiver of goods for the Queensland Relief Oommitto, “ If there are any carpenters about I’ll take wheelbarrows,” “ and they need wheelbarrows for clean up " eaid Mr Charles Green.

Says the Wairarapa Star : 11 The excellent season and the consequent large percentages of lambs io in a measure due to a fall in prices.” This is as stout an assertion of special providence as we have met with for a long time. We wonder if the farmers of Wairarapa are as grateful for the compensation as they ought to be. t

The great flood in the Brisbane river and the continued accounts of calamity from Queensland, filled the little Otaki creek (Wellington), and the local Press correspondent with envy ; the one Ailed its trumpery self as full of water as it could hold, and the other sent telegraphic messages all over the colony about the fact- And the result—one family taken out of a house built in the old riverbed, because it had throe feet of backwater in it! And this was the “ worst flood ever known in the Otaki!”

There hsa been great excitement in London lately over a new kind of guessing gamble, called ” Missing Word ” competitions, and we hear it is to be tried in New Zealand, we nro not going to lay aayoAo connected with this journal open to prosecution under any gambling law by offering money prizes j but we offer a “ missing word ” puzzle, the reward of the successful guessers to bo the conoriousnoan of superior skill. On the 28th lost. it is probable a Press telegram will bo sent from Timaru to this effect s—” At the first rnee ing of the new Harbour Board today, Mr was elected chairman.” dupply the missing word.

8t Valentine’s Day fell on Tuesday, and was neglected here in liraaru. So it was elsewhere and one of our contemporaries bewails the fact that ” the cruel fates have decreed that all our old-time customs and observanceo, must give way before the insatiable modern spirit, and finally be shouldered out of the world simply because no paltry money value can bo placed upon them.” The “ insatiable modern spirit ” which has shouldered the gentle spirit of St. Valentino out of the world is the spirit of mischief and a boorish humour which found vent in giving annoyance by a prostitution of the quaint custom of our forefathers.

1 The earthquake, which shook up Welling* I ton the other clay seem to have rather frightened the residents, as they advertised their excitement a good deal, and congratulated themise'vcs that not much damage was done. Wellington should not forget that it stands near Cook's strait, or that, not so many j oars ago, the whole of the country thereabouts wss bodily and permanently uplifted, with a jar that left not one brick standing upon another. Wellington is as safe from such another earthquake as Brisbane from such another flood, and that is far from bring such “absoulate security ” as the insurance companies offer. It is observed in nearly every case of a great fire that, some one or other does some utterly ridiculous thing, by way of helping the firemen, or by way of saving property,—such os trying to carry water in a cullender in one c»se, and pitching crockery out of the window jin the other. It is likely that similar wrongj headedness appears in every great calamity. | An example has appeared at Christchurch in the comparatively wild excitement caused by the Queensland floods. A Christchurch resident writes to the papers offering to engage a number of workwomen to make up “ warm clothing ” for the poor people of Brisbane, — who, of course, are stowing under an almost tropical summer, A recent ease in the R.M. Court shows that the emancipation of the British sailor from slavery is not yet completed. The master of a ship told the magistrate (who did not contradict him) that as an alternative to dis charging here an alleged insubordinate sailor he could Uke him Home a prisoner in irons, and he would prefer to do it! What a pleasant of way enforcing a contract of service and instilling into a sailor that he has only duties —work and politeness. He must not forget to say “ Sir” to the officers. What a pleasant prospect, to bo for three months a prisoner to one’s accusers ! And what a show of fair play a man would have at Horae after going there in irons! There is only one valid excuse for much in a sailor’s life that would be condemned, and put down, as brutal and abominable on shore, and that is “ he’e only a sailor.”