MR BENT IN PARIS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 10 September 1907, Page 4

MR BENT IN PARIS.

Mr Bent (Premier of Victoria) adjusted his belltopper with geometrical aecuraey (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). "1 went to Paris," he said, "a utilitarian. I had heard of their briquettes as fuel." "How long were you there?" he was asked. He tilted his top hat at an angle of 45 degrees. "Two days and three nights," he answered. "What is the chief industry of Paris?" solicited the interviewer. Mr Bent put his hat on the hack of hia head and dreamily remarked, "Motor cars." He wag seated in the lounge of the Hotel Australia. "What 1 observed about the women of Parce," he said, taking oS hia Kaf and holding it in his hands—it was an English make—"was that they had long flat feet." lie put his lint 'on, tilting it rakish]}'. "They were that long." Mr Bent's illustration was his walkingstick. He held it in his left hand by the handle, and libelled ma belle by putting his finger and thumb about the silver band, circling his support two inches below the crook. "Parce," he remarked, dwelling on the. word, "is a city of delight. There are thousands of motor cars there; yes, thousands. But I did not know the language. To me Parce was a play without words. I went down and looked in the shop windows where the diamonds were. There were carriages galore drawn up. I also looked at the millinery. There were hats there worth 100 sovereigns. And I went to the comic opera. They would never stand it in Australia. It was what the French call risque." He sighed, and put his hat on at the severe perpendicular. "And there was Napoleon's tomb," he said with an effort. "It is constructed so (hat everyone who visits it has 10 stoop. I stood off. I was not going to bow to anything in Paris." Then, rousing himself, and pulling ip his coat by the, lapels tight about his collar, he confided: "I would have liked to have stayed two months in Paree."