WELLINGTON ECHOES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 46, 3 June 1910, Page 7

WELLINGTON ECHOES.

(From Our Special Correspondent). Wellington, May 80. There is a wide-reaching echo. It comes out of the capacious critieisable body known as the Government. It relates to the command of the forces of the Dominion. Naturally it is loudest in military circles. The critics declare, when" they want to he humorous, that the Government is giving signs daily ot the completeness with which it has swallowed Kitchener and all 'belonging to him, from his report to his spurs, especially the spurs of him. The other day the sign of the swallowed was the military system compulsory, in that part of it relating to the compulsory ages of service. Before Kitchener, the ages stopped at twenty-one; after Kitchener they leaped out to twenty-six. Kitchener is reported in a late cable to have stated that he was much satisfied. Whether I can state as much about the people of this part of the Dominion I cannot say with the certainty one likes when one has a chance to make i brilliant bet. But I am of the impression that this piece of the Dominion sees eye to eye with Kitchener on that point.

This second sign concerns the commandant. The new commandant is a man recommended to and accepted by the late Federal Cabinets of Mr. Deakin and Mr. Andrew Fisher. With the latter of these Kitchener is said by the same authority to have also declared himwli satisfied." The chances are that lie will say the same of the Dominion's action in this matter. For the present the Dominion military seem more than pleased as a whole. An ancient politician of my acquaintance, commenting, said in my hearing that the commandants and other military importations from the Old Country had 'been usually, or, at all events, very often, men who regarded the service* and its chances more from the .point of view of amusement than of serious professional business. But the selection by Kitchener of an officer 10 command our fighting men would ibe nothing like that. 'We know enough of the Field-Marshal's methods to prevent us from thinking him likely to recommend a man who prefers, say, gold to musketry instruction, or the (ball-room to the tented field. Thereupon he narrated the story of a certain terrible visit by the chief o'f Lord Roberts' staff to a Capetown hotel where the soldiers of the amusement-loving order most did congregate during the war, and the sudden" presentation of the choice of these feather bedded and headed gentlemen, between instant voyage to Europe in disgrace, and return to the hardships and the"harder shells of the front. "With a man of his picking, we shall do all ri«ht," said my friend, the veteran politician. Therefore his idea is converted towards importation. And this is the view of the street, which has suddenly grown to think that the process of evolving the .colonial material into the right kind of soldier may he helped largely by the new departure. Especially, as the discovery dawns on the world, with a suddenness which ought not' to have been possible in view of the facts, that the celebrated Council of Defence in which we were placing all our trust has disappeared practically altogether.

The friends of Colonel .Rabin are inclined to the opinion that they would have liked to have seen his appointment in the Gazette, so it is unnecessary t-.i say more about that ipavt of the subject, except that Sir Joseph Ward, in discussin." the matter with the inevitable intea viewer, took care to .say that in any oase '-we have Colonel Rdbin with us always." The enemies of the Cononel. not a numerous body, let us hope, have their views also, and do not .hesitate to express them. But they are just a detail of no importance to the mam matter at all. * * * *

Of tht campaign in the West, no one seems to talk within an approach to the .political. vein, wherein everything said or done by Prime Minister or Opposition. Leader or leaders, is supposed to i have some significance of importance. It is a sufficient explanation of Sir Josephs visit to Hokitika that he went there to unveil the statue of his late chief, Mr. Seddon. Westland was the scene of the earlier exploits of ''King Dick," saw his rise, marked his progress. and rejoiced in his attainment of the hiffh position which it regarded as due to°the hi" qualities sharpened in the great school of Western manhood, which feaillv was one of the finest schools ot manhood which this part of the world, at any rate, ever saw. Naturally, therefore, the West puts up the first statue bo King Dick in the Dominion, and naturally, too, expects the Prime Minister who has succeeded his Majesty on the Prime Ministerial throne to go down to the Western parts and unveil the same ■with a suitable speech.

Of course, if Sir Joseph took the opportunity to make a political speech while at the Western centre, that was natural enough, too. What are Premiers for if not to make .speeches about tneir policy? Mr. Allen, however, or Mr. Massey, or both, -nave just said that evury oo'o'd thing done of late years was the Suteome of Opposition suggestions. Without going into that part of the story, one can, at all events, see mat the 'head of the Government was anxious to have a peg on which to lmntr his side of the question which touches the initiative of this party he lias the honor to lead, it reminds one in some way ot the story—"At the sign of the Mil, On the road to Clomnel, Paddy Hogarty kept a nate shabeen."

Of course there was no bell unless the 'bell of the crier announcing the meeting to the citizens of Hoikitika—they « r « still wedded to the simple practices nt the pioneer days down West—and there was no Glonmel, «nd the maivs <uune was not Hogarty, though it is likely he was a "Paddy," for there are many ot them down West, and if there was no "shabeen" there was, «.t all events, a hall where .political meetings are not entirely unknown. But the central fact to remember is that ;l\iddy Hogarty bein<r visited iby unexpected g««sts who were famisihins, and. being without tiny provender at the nimrcnt. threw a leg , of his moleskins into the saucepan, arid in due course served up a dish of tripe. All would have gone well m spite of the extreme toughness of the tripe, only one of the ouests .picked up an ivory button on his "fork, and then the murder -.vas ! out Mv political veteran, woo told nie | the' storv, declares that point comes m here. "We are," says he, "always liavintr remarkably tough tripe served up hy the Government, and it is always churned by the Opposition as stolen from then shop." And he asks pathetically is not an ivorv button amongst the lot of tliem so that the question imsiht be determined. Anyone, he adds, there is nothing more startling in the way of politics in the iplay of the political forces iust now. * * Like a certain character, we are trou- ' bled with many things. Of these the most serious is the conduct of the Auclt-

land Labor lights. The city is talking about their disloyalty with words that are picturesque and free. Their own story is bald as well as convincing. It is that in disavowing the message of condolence sent by the .president on the death of the late Kiiigi Edward; they are not objecting to the message at all, but only affirming the principle that the president has no right to do anything without the concurrence of the executive. But it does not go down with the public of this part of the werud, which rather believes with the .president, who declared that if he had sent the message for confirmation by the members of the executive it would never have seen the light. There is a general opinion, therefore, that the mass of labor ought to take misguided men on their loyalty to the Crown and country. There is also a strong feeling tlr.it these so-called representatives ought to offer themselves to their constituents for judgment in the usual constitutional way. There is also the opinion that they ought, in all public matters, to be boycotted without mercy, until they mend their manners political.

Two murder trials have rather upset the calmness of the street. One was of the bailiff who shot his assailant some months' ago under very cruel, unmanly provocation, and the other was of the notorious Powellka, In the first the shooting was clearly proved to have been really accidental, as the poor old bailiff had'not intended to hit his victim but only to frighten him. He gets six months' practically for..carrying a revolver under circumstances that were dangerous. The case recall* the story ot a similar murder trial with a similar ending in the early 'seventies. Those were the days when Brogdens were great, and their prophet was Jerusalem Smith. It was then the prophet's custom, indeed the custom of the whole fraternity of contractors' prophets, to pav their men periodically at some .pub-. lV hou'se convenient to the ■wot.ks. A pmall sli-'n'cn in the township of Green island, near Dunedin, kept "by a very decent Irishman, happened to be the nearest to the Chain Hills tunnel works, and' there, accordingly, the wages used to be paid. One day the usual results—which were eventually the occasion of the legal prohibition of the practiceensued. Pandemonium was outside and wanted to get in. Now Paddy the landlord had a revolver and thought to frighten Pandemonium into decent behaviour. As a. member of the Green Island volunteer company he had been an exemplary attendant, at drills and target practice, his assiduity in the latter undeterred by the fact that never by any chance had he ever hit any target. The most elaborate instructions and the most painstaking practices were useless. The sergeants even went the length of tying up one of Pat's eyes for him, for he never could remember which eye to shut when he was aiming. Nevertheless, Paddy never approached the target within appreciable distance.

The result of his hri.lHfl.nt idea rnr teaching Pandemonium the principles of reform °mav easily be imagined. Aimin* carefully away from Pandemonium ho°.plngsed 'his pullet into the very centre oM'he crowd and one unfortunate man dropped dead. The jury in due course brought in « verdict of manslaughter and Judge Chapman, (father of the present Judge, by the way), gave Paddy five years. Most .people thought he had got off lisht; especially did they think so on Green Island, where the friends and relations of Pandemonium—such, 'at al! event?, as were not Irish—lived in hone of leaal vengeance. Almost forty-' years have" (passed away, and we have the same ease repeated, only this time the culprit, the* old bailiff aforesaid, acts off with -six months. Was the .provocation worse in the older case? It was an attempt to wreck the shebeen and ruin the owner. The other was an assault on the person. It has been held at last that the person is the more sacred of the two. Time was when it was different. But now let us than'K # #

The other cafe is Powelka's. During the trial it really seemed as if it lay between the prisoner and Quartermain,-j with a decidedly strong leaning towards the former. Later, the defence managed to fac the question of the bullets by sheer "force of discussion. The jury settled the matter Ibv declaring that there was plenty of evidence to take all the •blame off'the detective and hot esmura to han," Powelka. When we consider that this was in Palmerston, where Powelka had established a of unreason. we can onlv feel surprised. But as the, district is declared by experts—i.e., reporters—to be highly pleased with the verdict, it is not necessary to say anvthincv more, except that our surprise •here°is agreeable because the Palmerstonian jury has vindicated Palmerston from vindictiveness.

In the matter of the astronomical telescope it transpires that the "member of the Institute" who talked big about the cost and the dutv of waiting until everybody is dead and forgotten even in tradition, was talking through his hat, as your quasi-scientist is often wont to do ' The thing can be done easily for £3OOO, and the Carter Dequest tei, according to Mr. Powles, whose testimony is not "to be denied, very nearly that sum to its credit. It appears, however, that t h e ] aw —which .sometimes, but not this time is a "hass"— does not allow the lynuest until some sort of provision is made for maintenance, as well as establishment «f the observatory and telescope Victoria College is ready to do the maintenance provided she be given a professorship of astronomy. But sne mi"-ht as well ti* for a slice of the moon and stipulate that it must .be made ot «,reen cheese. 'Provision for maintenance must be found somehow, and there does not seem any 'better "how" than by the, establishment of an astronomical society which will collect the funds necessary | They need not be very large, for most oh the'work done will be done m the oi.-i ,sorvatory voluntarily. At any rate the ideas inspired by the sums spent in Sydney and Melbourne are absurdly prohibitory. The street declares that it will come to,the rescue, and make blood brotherhood with Mr. Carter, public (benefactor of generous memory. We shall see. .