MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1608, 2 October 1885, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

TlieDuuedin " b^ar" tells an amus- J"' ing story, bised upon the vagaries of " the telegraph, which it vouches for a as true: — When Miss M.iggie Knight * left the Silver Kiiij; Company, the l a«f*nt telegraphed to a lady in Mcl- v bourne asking if sho would accept an • engagement lojoin them in Wellington "om Kpptemiier three." In course of k cabling, the lust three words got altered l *to "in September thin," and as the j ! recipient was a buxom damsel, sW ' replied that it was impossible she could s reduce herself by the month men- ( tioned. It was some time before the ' blunder could be understood, and i was then too late to effect the desired ' engagement. ' On the occasion of his opening p»»»; ! formance at Sydney, Mr Dion Bouci- . cault made the following speech : — " Ladies and Gentlemen. 1 do not | mistake, the nature and the character \ i of the magnificent reception you have | given to us this evening. 1 know ! what it means perfectly well. At least I f"ol so. and find that you have i co n« with your hearts wi both your i hands to offer it to one who has served the English public for i.r.Jiv I years, and one who has contributed j to your enjoymont for a loiivj witile. ! I know that I have been fortunate i enough to '»c a popular amhor before you for many years past, and that vei'y popularity now handi'-aps me us I an actor, and I an obliged to race p against my self. I hope you will mule"* | stand my position, when I sp.v thai: I iam here to a certain extent as the [ | .M-eator of that new form of I»i>h ! e'mmcler which I have i .itrodnewl to the world. Souie 25 veers ago I wrote the 'Colleen Baw.i.' I found at ttiat time what was called the stac;e Irish* mm in po>se-*sioii of the sta*»e. lam . an Irish \\\;m\ • I was born and lued , there. Therefote I write of what I know, and speak of what I a<nsu;e, when I say that the ' stage Irisiunan ' docs not exist i:i Ireland at all. H« j may have existed there at one time, but I donbt it very much. If ever he did exist — that drunken fool, that witless " object at whose blunders yon were c:i!l< i d upon to laugh. I must say ] I hive never seen the object in I»e \ land, and if he ever did exist, then ; I say the species is extinct. It P i> certainly not among those registered » y Darwin. Now, ladies ttiid centlemon, I will ask you to observe that I introduced into the | „ Irish character, as represented in my plays, one «, r ran.'l and simple element i which never before existed in the stage Ipiciure of Irish life, but which has always been associated with the ! * national sentiment — namely, the ole- * inent of pathos, and with it Je'icf.cv * and goodness of heart ; for, with ); 1 '" their mistakes and blunders, I lirVh " always found the lowest Irishman to '' he a "enilom-in, and the lowest Irish- '' woman to be a lady. They may be c rough, and have a thousand faults, j but they have that »»ne great redeeming ! characteristic. I wish you to observe, and hope that you will kindly do so. ! that in writing the Irish characters or ■ mv plays I ha v e endeavoured to faithj fully pourtray these traits of character. ! c . So I have endeavoured to teach those around me to \ct the parts of Irishmen ! ' and Irishwomen in a delicate and '♦ ! reHned way, without whooping aad r j twirling a stick, and praucing round ! the stage, as you may have seen the c I Iri-ihman represented before. I ask ' I you to judge from that point of view. c \ Perhaps some may be dissatisfied and R , rather surprise! that our rendition of r ! Irish chairicier is in the highest ' ! form of delicacy, anil different from '. others which you may possibly have f i seen upon the stage. I did not ask ' i the public of Melbourne to look at the 1 I matter as I do you. from this point of r , i view. As lon^ as I can think, wri?.e, * i an'l act, I will not write, sp-?ak, or do ! I anything which may bring discredit ' upon the Irish nation and character, 1 j to the peopie of which 1 am so proud 1 to belong." f Manifestly it would be gravely improper to comment upon the curious case now dnnwiivj; its slow length in , the Rnsident Magistrate's Court, uiitil r th.it shall have been concluded. But it would be equally improper to abstain , I from commenting upuii the extraor- | ! dinary manner in which that case has , been conducted, for that seems to us Uy strike at t!ie root of all respect for i judicial authority. On no other [ occasion that we can call to mind. ' has a new New Zealand Court of ■ Justice ever been so thoroughly turned into a henr«<?ai\len, or been disgraced ! by such «.iro3s inoVceny of procedure as i;i this lamentable iustance. It w-h , bad enough, in all conscience, at the j last sitting for the heating of this ca^e. j Tiien a degree of license wliu-h was wholly indecorous and indefensible was allowed both to witnesses and conn^pl. When we find a witness I permitted to give the examining ! counsel the lie direct, and to accuse j him of cime, it miu'ht be thought that i a climax of impropriety had been reached. But yesterday's proceedings fairly out Heroded Herod. We can j recoiled no parallel case of utter disorder and scandalous license of •■ speech in the experience of any British ! Court of Justice. If our readers imagine that these observations are , exaggerated, we tell them simply to i turn to the report of the proceedings « as printed in another colunn, and then sa^v whether any l:inguau T e <•' J censure can be too strong to e-iiplo. in characterising such sceues. Iso \

donbt the learned gp:it!c*npu who exchanged sncli liberal Billingsgate w.-re priniiii'ily blam»able. They ought to have known better. Bm th«;y'aH are hot tampered men, and from some cause not disclosed to th« public they were greatly ox -it«-d f rom the very outset. It was the presiding Magistrate's duty to compel decency of Luignage and decorum of demeanour ;to enforce submission to his ruling, and respect fqfrju* Court and its authority. Mr WsinPl appears, for some reason also unexplained, to have been afraid to exert his due authority to pnt down the monstrous improprieties to which we have, allude. l. Such weakness on the part of a judicial officer is fatal to his ns.»fultms3 or influence, and unless Mr War dell, by promptly and severely repressing any future ebullitions of the kind, puts a check to the dangerous license he has allowed to grow up, we shall find our courts of law speedily converted into arenas of physical battle, end shall see difficult law cases decided by the armsof hV-sh— possibly wielding a cmlsjel of w«hhl. This is surely undesirable. New Zealand Times. An e:;-lv»w Zealand colonist has just woi or himself distiuotion in a new line. Mr Charles Henry Boydell, hailing from the land of ferus, having squandered a considerable patriroonv, has l«en using J,i s colonial wits '.« order tr> supplement his income, but in methods so irregular as to have brought himself within the meshes of the law. Perhaps had he not flown at Mr Gladstone, his excursions in humbler fields might have passed with impunity, if not with profit. But in an evil hour this chavalier & Industrie, assuming the souhriqmt of •• Irish Tim, " having formed a somewhat erroneous estimate of the mettle of the ex-Premier, informed that gentleman by letter from Vienna that if not forthwith provided with the sum of £300 he would incontiueutly slay the statesman. With ev«n more detestable spirit he had under similar threats endeavoured to extort money from a lady by inculpating her hushan.-l in a shameful crimj. " Your husband," he wrote, "is a thorough scnnndivl. Helms deceived a young girl, and sont her to Vienna without any money. She was therefore forced. to become a ba-.l uirl. I am her brother, and if you or your husband do not send me £-50 I will come to Chiswick and murder you both. — li;ish Tim." To another lady your distinguished coli ouist wrote . "I am in possession of in- ; formation respecting a very great crime committed by your husband. I don't . wish to reveal that crime, which is one . of the most sorions kind, and in order , to preserve yjur tranquillity of mind I . will take upon myself, being poor, to , take no farther steps against your bus- , band if you send me £10 or £."20. If , yon don't send this sum by tiie 20th , of May. I will reveal that < % rime." r This brilliant careor, on which the New ; Zealander had only t.iiily started, has . been brought to a>i abrupt ending, . and he is at present doing six months' . prob^im in an Austrian gnol pre- . paratory fco expulsion from the country. . Thy iimnediiitc uau.ja of his arrest was his flashing about a deposit receipt , from a Naw Zealand bank for £ 2779, ( whic'j has been regarded by the A ustrian authorities as spurious. That he has a , considerate sum of mmey still to his credit ap^ared, but there b*ing some. ', restrictions on the drawing of it, he alleged that he was driven by his necessities to fall back on his Colonial : iiigfnniry for the purpose of raising the wind. (Home letter Qtwo Daily i Times.)