AT THE CORNER.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4856, 2 August 1884, Page 2

AT THE CORNER.

■;V'";' ■'■'•'. [BY'NEMO.] " '"'/ V ■ .•''■'";■' Sanyo turn, humani nihil a me alienuiiipuio.

v -The Victorian legislators don't seem to (juite recognise the idea that service alone is asufficient return from " the great unpaid" for the honor and glory of attaching J.P. to their names, and being armleged to fine '• drunks "and other offenders. In the sister colony a practice obtainsof " bleeding" the recipient of the honorable office— all J.P.s having to pay a license of £110. I would suggest that a similar impost be levied on every New Zealand J.P., and the amounts collected be used as local revenue where collected.

.- ■ :■■■■ • xx -x '-'■■■'■■; -y .;...; , A very good colonial adaptation of a tit-bit which recently appeared in an English paper has just reached me. It is put in conundrum shape, thus : ."'• Why did Simon Peter tell Ananias to stand forth?. Because Wakefield came first, Pyke second, and Rolleston third." Comment or explanation would 1 be perfectly superfluous; but fancy the championship held so long by poor Ananias to be thus wrested from him, and the nan to now only take fourth place.

Local bodies certainly perform some erratic feats occasionally, but I suppose they are only following up the,j humane est errare maxim. The Harbor Board has lately been adrertising that persons removing material from the foreshore will be prosecnted. Now, it appears to me that the Board should be rather thankful to persons removing the silt washed upon the beach. Of course it is necessary that a by-law should exist so as to regulate its removal and allow the officers of the Board to point out where it should, be taken from, but there does not seem to be any necessity or reason for making; a charge for the privilege of, removing it. Nearly the whole of Grahamstown and Shortland would be very materially benefitted by the removal of material from the shore for the purpose of raising such sections as are practicable. I would suggest that under the supervision of an officer who would give directions as to where stuff should be taken from, every encouragement should be given to any persons desirous of romoving it so long as no damage in the way of holes should be made. . x k x

Weller, senior, in his advice to his bright offspring Sammy anent the character of that good man Stiggins is almost daily brought to the minds of ordinarily-observant persons. The good people who know no sin, somehow manage to get along surrounded by the halo of sanctification " until they are found oat;" the man who proclaims his purity Trom the housetops almost, is just the man who requires watching; the good servant who laboureth much on the day of rest under weights of scriptural books, and putteth in his time well in church all day except at meal times, is one who requireth the full gas turned on, not only to shew forth his good works for example sake, but also that he may see further paths of righteousness to follow— and perhaps for other reasons; and the , man who loudly asserts that he is; an honest man—mind you, no assertion to the' contrary being made—is one of those individuals whose existence caused, the invention of locks, keys, and perhaps a criminal code. It is quite unnecessary for any person to " get in a state in order to assure the people that, his " hands are clean." It is time enough when any statement to the contrary is made, to attempt to refute it. Such things remind one of the story of the toll-bar keeper. It appears that although the gates were left open, and the toll collector was in his back garden, a traveller drove up. Seeing in the list of tolls the amount he had to pay, and not finding the keeper; he went into his house in search of him, and finally into the garden, where he found him. "Did you hunt me up just to pay your toll ?" queried the collector. " Aye, friend, I am an honest man, and I saw what I had to pay you, so I sought you out," was the reply. /• Only for that, eh?" responded the dubious tollman, " Yes, friend, I am an honest man," said the traveller, and he turned to leave. The wily keeper called to his son, and quietly told him to, take the dog and see that honest man safely off the premises.

A small Taranaki paper has certainly shewn more interest in the elections than one would give a small Taranaki paper credit for, and has, I must suppose, constituted Taranaki the colony, just for the time being at any rater—that is while referring to the results of the late elections. There are three ; electorates in Taranaki, Major Atkinson represents one, Col. Trimble' another, and a new member, Mr Samuel, the third. The coy scribbler who fills the Taranaki sheet dilates thus;—" All the leading lights of the old ParliamentMajor Atkinson, Col. Trimble, &c, have been returned." Why 1 oh, why 1 did he not include J. C. Brown, E. Hursthouse, E. Seddon, S. E. Shrimski, and other bright particular slars in the Legislative firmament ? What would he have said had Duriedin's J. G.S. Grant been returned, hadFarnell's Fitzgerald reached the top of the poll, or Auckland's Garrard secured a seat? We Trimble when we think of it. -