WELLINGTON ECHOES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 29 December 1910, Page 3

WELLINGTON ECHOES

"'COMPLIJIENTS OP THE SEASON/' (From our Special Correspondent). December 23. ''Compliments of the season" —it is a legend you hear all over the "town at every .hour of the day. Men shout it to each ottTer at the top of their voices across the street, they whisper it in the war of their neighbor, and old people hear them easily without straining their ears. The air is full of Christmas light, and the rays take this form of words. It is a kindly custom which signifies that the light shines once in the year, removing all misunderstandings, pettinesses and ill-feeling. After all, the world is not such a bad place. I, writing these words, feel the light and must let the pen form the rays into the kindly greeting. Ladies and gentlemen, a merry i Christmas to you all! If in this page anything has ever offended you, pray forget it. If on the other hand anything has pleased you, do remember it always. THE GROANERS. The only people who groan these days are the cooks, the waiters, and the shop people who minister to the wants of young and old. And t'he only things that find the season iuconvenient are the boats, trams, trains and coaches, for they are all stretched to their utmost capacity. It- is wonderful to go down to the wharf and see the ; whole world on the inove. The officials erect barriers and that is the only drawback, but like many drawbacks it is a blessing in disguise. Were it not for the barriers the world ■would never get to its steamers. Who is going to carry on the work of the town during the coming week ? And who, ipray, shall I get to clean my boots ? The question is the outcome of the dearth of"thd '"slavey." The "slavey" likes a Christmas holiday as -well as anyone, and 'takes a deal of French leave to get it. Hence the wail about .the "boots." The "wail extends to meals, beds, and the opening of the .big front door. Thus many people try to make themselves believe thev are unhappy. But they will be away" presently to the sea, where Canadian costumes and such trifles will give a new color to their thoughts, while the sun who apparently intends to shine this Christmas does the. same for their complexions. LECTURING OUR OWN PEOPLE.

Mr. Hodge, the English M.P. has /been holding forth to our people, and they are astonished that Mr. Hodge tells us that we have behaved .'worse about land monopoly than any nation of the Old Work], Quite coolly he says it, and sticks to it. Over there it was a feudal matter,' and land was given in the beginning for .public defence, and, later, when ,generals and admirals had done some right large killing, they were given acres and palaces; and their children's children, grandchildren and great" grandchildren enjoy thes'e ! acres and palaces.' But weVhave thrown the lands into the laps of monopoly for a trifle. He seems to think we are as mad as tile Maori who sold his muskets and -a blanket with a -knife thrown in and sometimes the knife had a corkscrew, and sometimes it had not; but there was always a drop of grog. What's the difference—five shillings an acre, ten shillings or a pound—a blanket, a tomahawk,. a bead—it is all worth pounds to-day. There is, then, no difference. Well, we are buying' it back by degrees. The statement does not appear to impress the M.P. in the way intended. He lays stress on the price of resumption, but thereby hangs a story we will leave for another time. ' "INTERESTING VIEWS.

It is good, however, to hear Mr. Hodge discourse on many things. When he tells us that the Labor members are getting back in.undiminished numbers in spite of the Osborne judgment; we marvel at the solidarity of Labor in the Old Country. When he saj's they are going to do away with the "mangling machine"—meaning thereby the House of Lords—we realise the intensity of'the struggle which got to tihe end of the first stage with Liberal victory at the polls the other day. When he criticises the patriotism of the shipmen as the patriotism which mans the shipping'with Lascars and Dutchies, we feel he represents a force which will be heard of one of these days in connection with • a British mercantile marine. INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION.

When he talks of conciliation as a proved force in the Labor world, we ask him why, then, there'are strikes in the coal trade, amongst the boiler-makers, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. He says promptly it is the fault of the other fellow, meaning the employer fellow. Here we feel that the M.P. is the victim of 'his environment, bound to decide against the other fellow every time. But there is another force. Thoughtful men declare that the trade union is becoming a spent force, and that the force replacing it is socialism. It is a remarkable fact that .the trade unions (lid not want the strikes above alluded to, but that the rank and file revolted against the leaders at the instigation of the socialists," who insist on keeping no terms with the other fellow, regarding the other 'fellow as one not deserving quarter at any time on (fitly pretext. Hence the fault of the other fellow. On t-liis subject probably Mr; ■ Hodge may have occasion to hold forth presently. BRITISH ELECTORAL LAW. Where he was most interesting was on the subject of the electoral law of Britain, which makes 1 the candidate pay for everything from the .salary of the returning officer to the pencils on the ballot papers. That makes lis think, as he goes oh to tell us that the cost of voting per head amounts to five shillings or thereabouts, without any notion of bribery at all, but simply as expense unavoidable, and charged to the pocket of the candidate. We realise something of the feeling of Labor prevented by' the Osborne judgment from doing what it likes with its own money. , SPREAD OF POVERTY.

Finally, when he discourses on the great spread of poverty ami the need for feeding the children at school and preventing their mothers from being overworked in the factories, and justifies by talking of the need for preserving the physique of the race, we feel that after the reform of the Lords there will be much useful work to do, and that somehow it will be done. On the whole, the light thrown by the ex-M.P. on the politics of Great Britain is interestingly suggestive to Greater Britain. HARBOR BOARD CHAIRMAN. * Mr. Fletcher closed the season with a little festivity in the Harbor Board, of which he is chairman. During the proceedings every man had a good word to say for the vast capacity displayed by Mr. Fletcher as chairman. No wonder, for they owe it to him that they have stopped in a somewhat wild career of finance. It came out incidentally that Mr. Fletcher, who sits in the chair, began years ago by wheeling a truck on this very wharf. He said that in those days he hoped for a rise in that direction, and- the Board cheered this proof of honorable ambition honorably realised;

A REMARKABLE WILL 'CASE.

The Hill will case is Temarkable for many things, 'but for none more than for the fact that the judge decided without waiting for the defence to i-eply. The testator. was, it was proved,' given to drink very much indeed. The sons, it was proved/ also gave ihim drink to any extent; he-wanted*,even M 'his most-un-reasonably Even locked' up. in a private hospital, the sup?

ply bom? cut. off substantially, they brought him back home to drink like a fish once more. The judge-was rough on them jfoi' this conduct, which is indeed inexplicable. For them to dispute his will on the ground that lie was never' sober seemed a bit strong. But they themselves proved that he had flashes of sobriety, and ia one of these flashes, as the lawyer proved who drew the will, he signed that document. The will, then, is declared right.