NOTHING LIKE LEATHER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2513, 18 August 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTHING LIKE LEATHER.

a Excuse me, Mr Editor ; perhaps you may T have read ? About a town that was beseiged in olden times, 'tis said, Its citizens consulted how the place they 7 could defend, ? And what menns should bo adopted for this necessary end. 3 A stonemason thought stone was best, and so he told them flat. • A carpenter declared that wood was better s far than that. i A currier said he didn't want to run the , others down, 1 But leather was the best of all to fortify the town. , New Z'-a!and no a - , just like that town, is 3 in a sorry plight, s And sadly uoeds a leader who would guide , her steps aright. j She does not lack advisers, but I think that , you will find,Like the people of that city, they have all • an axo to grind. Free trade has many advocates, but then ' we cui't forget, That there's the interest to pay upon our littlo debt, 1 For that the money must bo raised, there is ' no kind ot doubt, . And we must clear the wood, before the ! Free Trade cry we shout. ' The tradesmen want Protection, and they 1 do not care a curse ' To what extent they dip their hands into I the public purse. Protection is the needful thing; beats all the rest together; • And like the currier they declare, " There nothing is like leather." Their grave deliberations ended just as they i began, [ Because they could not all agreo to any ( single plan, Each advocated what he thought would serve his purpose best, And would not listen to a word when 1 uttered by the rest. I need not mention all the plans that have been urged of lato, To set New Zealand on her legs, read Hansard's last debate, ' One member thought that bachelors had got the broadest backs, So he proposed that single men should pay a double tax. This member, Mr Hrnce by name, at least that's what I learn, (Perhaps descended from the Bruce who fought at Kannockburn), Seems so sagacious and so fair, I really don't know whether 'Twere best to make him Premier or retrench him altogether. You know the proverb ''cut the coat according to the cloth," And also this—" too many cooks are sure to spoil the broth." We're fitted with a suit of clothes that's much too large to wear, And if we'd only half the cooks, we should have better fare. In fact, I don't mind telling you, our troubles and our losses . Are chiefly owing to the fact—we've got too many bosses. All our members have relations, nephews, brothers, aunts and cousins, And they all need situations, so they make them by the dozens. We knew that strict economy must now be carried out. And Government, to some extent, have answered to the shout. They say that they have done their best: I think it was their worst For those who get the biggest pay should be attacked the first. Retrenchment still the people cry, and shout with might and main, Till one would think that some had got ro trenchment on the brain, Small salaries have been cut down, and they must grin and bear it, None know about the pinching shoe like those who've got to wear it. Of all the Governments with which a nation can be cursed ; I think the Democratic is by many chalks the worst. No single ruler would have dared, no matter how despotic, , To sqander all the nation's cash in ways so idiotic. Our half-made railways tell the tale, and towns placed near the sea Must have their piers and harbours made, " whate'er the cost might be. Completed lines that ought to pay, more harm than good are doing ; In fact, they're like white elephants, that cause their owner's ruin. Land is the source of wealth, but then, it must be won by toil, And what we need is—willing hands to " cultivate the soil: s Give all facilities to such: encourage I immigration s For we shall halvo the taxes if we double population. * Nkjio.