THE WANDERER.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 199, 26 May 1893, Page 3

THE WANDERER.

Lost ! All sense of honour, justice, and fairness. Anyone finding- the same and returning-'it to the Company will be rewarded in the same handsome (?) manner as were (the employees at Te Kopuru mill. If the Wanderer should be the finder he will most willingly band it over to the Company for they are sadly in need of it, but ah, well! never mind the reward, thanks. An elector who always keeps a sharp ey r e on things in general and who watches the political atmosphere very closely sends me the followingepistle which will show the opinion held by some of the electors of a certain would-be candidate for political honours and screw. I send the original letter, but have of course suppressed all names :—■ “Dear Wanderer, —In connection with the church fixing- at Opanake on the 9th April, Jerry after getting his crap filled endeavoured to air his rotten political clap-trap as a preliminary to the I*. M. church service. So I was informed by a friend who was applied to, to act as Chairman, which he declined, hence it appears Jerry departed in a huff. Now what are we to think of such an ineffable ass, forgetting that in common, with others he was there as a guest, and., instead of acting as such, tried to insult Ms hosts -—all the company in fact, by trying- to get up a meeting on such a day above all others. I premise he thought he was the Mogul and of course was privileged to boss the l-anche. Perhaps it was well for him it went no further, for there would have been trouble and somebody might have been insulted by being put out of the paddock by the Inspector of Public Nuisances for raising- a disturbance. Bung Mickey came into one of the houses out of the rain and held forth re Jerry and his many virtues as a M.H.R. for this district. By way of diversion I introduced Jerry’s beer score left at Bellamy’s, when another stated that it had been paid by a parliamentary grant last session. Mr Bung soon left when he found we were not for Mr .Terry, and matters were likely to g-et Sulphurous. The Buster appears very reticent about Jerry’s northern trip, possibly it’s not been a success, and it’s just possible that when he saw a lot of his river pals at Opauake, he did expect to got a hearing, but alas met with a refusal. This matter I premise may be useful to you to refer to at some future time, as church consecrations and politics are not every day occurences ” Now having just returned from a rather extended trip up North myself, I am in a position to assure Elector that Jerry’s canvassing tour up there was not a success, but was rather a decided frost ; but then we all know there is a certain class of people who mistake snubs for compliments, that is when it suits them and would stand any quantity of snubbing- for £240 per session.

Elector in his letter only mentions one party who was asked to act as Chairman at this Sabbath election meeting, but lam assured that the honour (?) was offered to, but declined, by another person who afterwards stated that he would have acted if only for the fun of the thing, but had he done so lie might have brought that confounded ‘ "Wanderer ’ down on him in the Bell, and he did not want that. Now, I suppose it is only right that I should return, my hearty and sincere thanks to this gentleman for his very respectful (?) remarks about myself, but at the same time I must candidly confess that I think very little of a man’s religious principles which are only brought into play by the fear of what another may see fit to write about him in the way of criticism. For my own part I consider he ought to he exeedingly thankful to the Wanderer for being at least one of the causes which prevented him from breaking the Sabbath day and making a consummate ass of himself.

A few days ago when riding-in the vicinity of Opauake I met a couple of Maories going- to the Waipoua, and as I knew the younger one, I got into conversation with him, while the elder rode on. After talking- for a while I enquired who the other native was. ‘ Oh ! that’s Ti Whano (Stephen).’ ‘ Where dees he come from?’ said I, ‘Waipoua.’ ‘What’s he doing here?’ ‘ Oh, he j ust come to see me ,• he’s my aiint. ’ With thanks for the information I rode on. Quite recently I had imparted to me the rather startling- information that a gentleman (?) residing somewhere in the lakes district had started an establishment somewhat on the same lines as a Turkish harem ; dusky damsels, if g-ood looking-, preferx-ed. WEat are we coming to ? Some time ago the Brave drew attention to a fine block of land between the Bluff and Waikara suitable for settlement and asked the Government to offer it for sale. Soon afterwards it was reported that the land was to be surveyed and thrown open for settlement. Recently when coming- through that way from my northern trip I made some enquiries into this matter and to my astonishment found that nothing whatever had been done towards opening up this block, now what’s the meaning of this ? We are constantly crying'out i,u more settlers and tbe Government an always telling' us that they aro desirous of settling the

peeple upon suitable land, and yet here is one of the finest blocks in the district lying idle. Mr Houston kindly look into this matter, wilL yon? t-TrtM * * * Is Dargaville going to have a football chib this season ? Very doubtful—and yet not long ago we were informed that no place in the colony could boast of a greater number of' genuine sports than the notorious village of. a monoply. Where are they ? What abßut the-, - Dargaville—Hokianga football union now ■ Was that another electioneering dodge ? If so ifff proved another fizzle. At the same .time- L should have been pleased to see a club fojsSftcL .iff only as a reward to friend Nicholas’totphis,. pluck and energy in the matter. .' -'A