TAURANGA JOTTINGS.

Observer, Volume 5, Issue 131, 17 March 1883, Page 428

TAURANGA JOTTINGS.

—Mr Thos. Stuart lias taken over;Metcai.f?B '• business on the Caineron-'road. Every gent in thewilda of Tal Marino calculates in making a catch.' •;. ' v ..-; ■ — The Electric Spark is being-, initiated v'ihto :",'•■' the mysterious order of the gireen cloth. He is more-' adept at knuckling down with a ''bully taw" than V handling a cue. , . /■•,,.. ■ — Since Freddy has departed," her /three ; quondam adinirors have had a few nights sleep. -'They V. say that it was an almost forgotten luxury. , , • ' n ;■• *-$f~ — What has . become of that assault case ? : >It : was one of the illusions of my youth, that when a lady • thrashed a limb of the law the consequences were dis-' astrous— to the lady. But wondrous is the power of" capital. ' . JW-^jt "■'- 1 — The Musical Union promises to be a ■ Ifc has commenced well and should continue to^^Hbr *.' popularity. Mr Quinten is the right man in, th^^Bfe? . place, and under" his firm rule the Union must vlH^^Bl worthy of its name, ' — There hasn't been much doing in the^ "Jotting" Hue lately, principally owing to the prolonged absence of the jottist ; but now that your's truly has returned to his accustomed haunts, he will endeavour to set the ball rolling once more. ■ ' ' — Now that the football season is approaching, I hope the devotees of "ye winter game ", may take * more interest iv their pastime than was. displayed by our precious "cricketers" during the latter part. of their season. ■ ■.■•-".■ — I notice in a pleasing article oh Tauranga in ' your morning contemporary the statement that our ; streets are metalled with pi pi shells. The shells used. 1 are not pipi shells, but the distinctive and Typical New Rotella Zealandica intermixed with debri of other Shells; large deposits of which exist at the Mount. — Thursday night's meeting was a .most re- -fc markable one. The Mayor's unexpected ohan» c of front completely disgusted his colleagues, and all tliose-fami- % liar with the case. He appeared determine^ to damn the scheme, and for this purpose made a statement which showed the thing in its blackest light, and which, he, with a grim humour, designated ss " facts." The popularity which he may obtain by so questionable a proceeding must prove but transient. The opposition to this water scheme will decrease day by day as the superior intelligence of its oponents comes to the surface. You may drive intelligence temporarily, beneath the surface, but it is bound to rise again ami" reassert itself directly the superincumbent weight of ignorance or misrepresentation is removed. : — There is a story going the rounds just now of a professional man who some little time since started for Katikati in a cutter, which also contained "a modicum of whiskey and a few " kindred spirits." By the' time they had pome opposite Otumoetai.the "kindred" \ spirits" and the professional man had absorbed th« » whiskey. There was a light leading wind to Katikati. -- The steersman was asleep, and his companions were'gloriously jovial, when the professional man fell over- "• board ! This mishap under ordinary circumstances ' would have meant merely a wetting, but in the condi- 1 ' tion of our travellers it meant something more. In-'- • stead of swimming ashoro, the hero of this veracious narrative swam after the cutter, which was sailing serenely on. He never caught up, but arrived at the : Uretara that same evening about ten minutes behind ' her, and clambered aboard after swimming the whole distance between Utumoetai and the Uretara— some twenty miles ! • , — Sporting matters are at a very low ebb here just now. During the past summer the Cricket Club, which commenced the season with the best eleven they ? ■ have ever possessed, have failed to play a single outsideniatch, and now the 17th of March, for the first time' 1 for several years, is to pass over without .a regatta. Many years ago Mr J. D. Wrigleyland (jtoptain Marks - were the life, soul, and moving spirits-oj'our annqal regatta, which, since their lamented demise, has gone to the dogs completely. The aquatic 'interest which these gentlemen had fanned into a flame gave a ghostly ' flicker on Mr Gair's arrival, and went out entirely «*V that gentleman's death. With the Athletic Club Jij^ moribund state, and the Cricket Club unable to plajrfcoutside match, it only requires the failuro of the Foot- 1 " ball Club in the coming season to render self-evident' our athletic degeneracy. However, I hope the kickists will retrieve the laurels lost by the other branches of sport, and during the winter show the outside world that the race of Tauranga athletes is not altogether ex- ' ' tinct. _ "We possess plenty of both raw and seasoned* material, and as I fear it is now too late for a cricket revival this season, all young men who don't wish the' " stigma of effeminancy will join the Football Club when' the time comes, and show that if we can't row or play cricket, or run, we can do something at football.' * .'■■:'". On Monday and: Tuesday next, the Hon. H. Bvomby will deliver his celebrated lecture at the Lomestreet Hall on " The English in Ireland." <' ■■ - ■.