Current Comment.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 3, 15 April 1893, Page 9

Current Comment.

(By Touchstone.) • Mr Rawson, R.M., is in trouble, and has taken the public into bis confidence. He suffers, be tells them, from idiotic reporting. He must have been sorely provoked before delivering this judicial utterance, for be is usually" geniality personified, .but I take leave to think that be is not altogether free -from blame himself. A low voice, we have it on excellent authority,, is an excellent thing - in a woman. |Ho doubt, but it is a dreadfully inconvenient thing on the .bench, and the unfortunate pressman who 1 has to wrestle with it, and make the best of the disjointed sentences that reach his ear, may well be excused if his vei’sion of what is said varies from the actual words used. Will his Worship take the hint, kindly meant, and “speak up” when -giving his decisions ? While on court matters I would fain say a wordjor two about the want of punctuality sometimes observable. I know bis Worship has a wide circuit to look after, and that his appearance at head-quarters is occasionally dependent on the prompt arrival of down country trains, but it does happen once in a way that without these excuses, the court does not open sharp to time. This is most annoying, particularly when a dozen or more peope are concerned in a case, and waiting- to go on. A reform in this respect would be bailed as a boon and a blessing by all having business to do in the court. Will the women of Hew Zealand be able to vote at the next election P The advocates of the extension of the franchise to the fair sex are determined to leave no effort untried to secure the realisation of their hopes, and agitation and organisation are the ox-ders of the day. The issue, so far as the immediate granting of the pi-ivilege is concerned, rests with the Government, who are apparently strong enough to cai-ry a measure of the kind if their hearts were set upon it. But that is just the doubtful point. The Ministry, according to their journalistic supporters, are liberal to the back-bone and spinal marrow, but indications have not been wanting that they would fain go through the ordeal of an appeal to the country, inevitable after- the ensuing session, unembarrassed by the appearance at the ballot-box of the feminine element. The Hew Zealand Herald says the ladies will get the privilege they ask without the necessity of much agitation, and adds — “ Their best policy is silence.” This advice is provoked by what the writer considers ill-advised action on the part* of some Auckland ladies. But fancy telling the dear creatures that silence is their best policy! Why, they would sooner forego the right to vote, than freedom of speech. And so, for- that matter, would the men. It is proverbially dangerous to cross a captain on boai'd his own vessel. He usually cornea off best. This was the < - rienco of an ex-colonial Go-

vernor, who happened to he sailing through the West Coast Sounds. The captain, good-naturedly ’wishing to make things pleasant, caded the"great man’s attention to some object of interest, and received for his pains the following response ; “ Will you please lecollect that when you have any communication to make to me, it should he made through my ai k--de-camp ?” The gallant explain bowed, and a smile that to those who knew him meant mischief flickered over his weather-beaten features. His opportunity s- on came. A lovely waterfall came into view, and the Governor, forgetting wh it had passed, turned to the captain and eagerly inquired its name. The captain gravely turned to the aide, and informed him, that His Excellency wished to ask him (the captain) a question. The ofiieor looked puzzled, but the position being explained, the. Governor repeated the question, and the informa' ion was given th roach the 'required channel. And so ihe solemn farce wont on. and the demands of . etiquette wo: e satisfied, but long* before-the end of the txip, His Excellency was glad to a lopt a less complex form of procedure, and so the captain came out ahead.