CAPTAIN JACK BARRY.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1474, 13 December 1881, Page 2

CAPTAIN JACK BARRY.

The notorious and amusing Captain Jackson Barry has been amusing the Otago people. He was a candidate for Dunedin, and from one of his rambling and characteristic speeches we extract the following morceauz : — He recounted several remarkable incidents he said had occurred in his personal career — as how he had discovered a goldfield in California, fought two years in the first Opium War in China, and lost £9000 in prospecting for gold in Otago. There was not a single candidate standing, the captain said, who could do as he had done— land in London with 17s 6d, do the lah-de-dah for twelve months with the nobility of England and the principal men in the world, dine with Beaconsfield at the Mansion House, be honored by the Queen, etc., etc., and then publish a book and bring back 14,001) copies with him. At starting the captain broke his water glass, and was therefore obliged to refresh himself from the bottle, which he did, remarking that though he had dived with Beaconsfield and rode round Hyde Park between two noblemen, still he was not a proud man The captain said he had presided at a meeting of Jock Graham's and the Herald reported that he (the captain) had there threatened to out a man into mincemeat. He had called at the Herald office to interview the reporter, but the latter had declined to present himself. The man who wrote that was a base liar and a cur. Why, he had boiled down a d d eight better man. Captain Barry invited questions, but deprecated "borak" ones being put. In answer to queries, he said ne would not take the Colonial Secretaryship, as he did not think he was fit for it. He thought the Treasury would just suit him, and would like the handling of the money. He thought Mr Oliver had not brains enough, for the Upper House ; he should have been kept in the • .ower. He would keep out a flux of Chinamen and Bend them back, but not on the backs of whales. He would take the tax off beer, because he personally liked his beer, but never got drunk. — (Voices : " What Never?") Well, hardly erer. There was not a man who could say " Barry, I've seen you drunk," On a vote of confidence being proposed, a little forest of hands and walking sticks were held up in its favour, every one elevating at least one hand, and many persons both. The captain was then carried oat shoulder high, during which the gas was turned off, which caused confusion. The town visitors then went down Caßtle-street in a body to the number of several hundreds, singing •• We'll hang Captain Barry on a sour apple tree," and "Glory, glory, hallelujah," with great gusto, to the astonishment of the wayside residents, who came flocking oat to see what was matter.

Out in Arizona they are telling the story of a bird which entered the post office ot Phoenix through a window, flew into a mail-bag unseen, and was locked in and sent to Maricopa, where it arrired unhurt. While Lady Brabazon ia trying to secure a fortnight's recreation in the country for the poor working-women of London, Count Othenin d'Hausson is interesting himself in the poor of Paris, where,-he says, in the district of Bellevve, there are houses with 150 tenants, some being in, rooms with no windows, and one family, indeed; occupying the space between thfl oeiUng of thg ntfcio and the