ROUND ABOUT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 168, 3 June 1940, Page 5

ROUND ABOUT

(By & -4itchel) That was quite a good effort on the part of those responsible for the organising of the 'fowl drive* at Otakiri. Who would have thought of making hens pay the price? But will it stop at that? A suspicion still lurks that the chucks may have been bought by a person with an ulterior motive and that the main result has been to corner the market in white feathers. a « « in Another brainwave is the proposed establishment of a Hobby Club m Whakatane. It is really a good idea from the point of view of raising money for patriotic purposes, quite apart from the excuse it will give sofne men: "I'll only be .1 couple of hours, dear; I'm dropping into the Hobby Club to do a spot }f work." m m m m I have come across a report of :t speech by Mr F. W. Doidge, M.P., delivered at Tauranga recently. His concluding remarks as summarised, were: We know that wiiile it was true that Hitler was able to prp-. duce a nation of killers, it was afs& true that the lion could fight with her cubs gathered round her. and in the end Hitler and his hosts would smash themselves against the granite of the British fibre. Now I will not be petty and suggest to Mr Doidge thai while a lioness could have 'her cubs gathered round her,' it would be rather difficult for a lion: instead I would mention that I looked up the word 'fibre.' This is Avliat the Concise Dictionary tells us: Fibre—A thread or fila ment; one of the fine, slender, threadlike or hairlike bodies of which the tissues of animals and plants are partly constituted: the small, slender root of a plant. Granite is not mentioned.

A delightful story of camp discipline and the breaking in of the two new soldiers—a pipper and a private—is going the rounds of mill tary camps and on its way it stop-* ped and introduced itself to me. The story has the merit of being true. , r J>he camp Is somewhere in New Zealand. The scene runs thus: The private was passing an officer, and forgot to salute. The officer, being new, and pro ad of his single shining star, indignantly Inquired if the soldier knew he had to salute his superior officer; the soldier was not quite certain. "Well I'll teach yoti,'" snarled the officer* "You are to salute me fifty times; that ought to impress it upon you, my man." So the private had to stand" to attention and carry on with the fifty salutes. Into the scene strolled the Camp Commandant. "Hullo, what's all this about," he enquired. The lieutenant explained. "WelI r that's good," said the ior man. "I like to see my subalterns keen on their work. Carry on/ r ' The camp head stood and watched the performance. When it was finished he turned to the officer ■ and in a quiet voice, said, "I hope, lieutenant, you know what yoit should do when a soldier salutesyou?"' The one pipper said he hoped he did. "Well, then," roared the big man, "you evidently do not know, for art officer has to return each salute, and you have not. So now you will salute the soldier fifty times." The soldier sprang smartly to attention and the officer saluted fifty times. The camp is still chuckling. m 9 • » Hitler no doubt, when his life ebbs out, Will ride in a flaming chariot, Seated in state on a red hot plate Twixt Satan and Judas Iscariot. Ananias that day to Barabas will say, My claim to precedence falls in; Move up a bit higher away from the fire, Make room for the liar of Beriiri. * m • » Whatever loads Mr J. A. Lee has to bear, he manages to retain sense of humour. It was quite a delightful little jassage when he said: "I would like the House to know that the Government did not con-» suit the youngest, but by no means the least vigorous, party, the Democratic Labour Party.'" The Housa roared its appreciation - £ 18. # • You may have noticed the a elver* tiscment advising clearing sales m the Bay of Plenty. The BEACOtt(Continued foot of previous column)t