THE CHANGING SCENE.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14836, 29 November 1913, Page 12

THE CHANGING SCENE.

(By M.C.X.) "Huerta," said a cable message this week, "has telegraphed that he is fully confident of his ability to suppress the rebellion. When Mr Bryan received this assurance he went duck shooting." We are pleased to be able to record that there have been other instances, during the week, of this ready reliance upon assurances. The Federation of Labour has announced that it will cheerfully obey, and regard as binding, any decision Mr Justice Williams may give if he acts as arbitrator in the present industrial trouble. On receiving this assurance, the Citizens' Defence Committee disbanded and went to the pictures. The Emperor of Germany has written to Lord Charles Beresford assuring him that Germany does not possess, and has no intention of building, a navy. Lord Charles, on receiving the letter, went to sleep soundly in his bed for the first time in many years, and applied for tho luncheon booth and public bar rights at the Hague Palace of Peace. When Sir Edward Carson read Mr Redmond's assurance that he had never said s word, and never would say a word, against English rule, he entered for the croquet championship and began training at once.

. Some people are commenting locally on the fact that when Councillors Hunter and McCombs assured the Mayor that he could rely on them, Mr Holland said, "That's a load off my mind," and went fishing.

Things that I should never have said myself. No. 796. "Dr. Thacker has definitely decided to be a candidate, but it is not known yet what platform he will stand upon." —Daily paper.

"My old," said the intelligent foreigner. "Nothing import! The reality, it is the appearance only. One has told mc that tho strike is finished. Nothing of more absurd. The people work, this is true, but has not the Federation said the strike succeeds? But certainly. 'My infants/ says the orator, 'what is defeat? Pouf! a trifle! Nothing of* all. Defeat is success, by blue. More the people work, .more the strike succeed. One fights for the idea. The ships are loaded and the ships are unloaded, but this is nothing. The strike is but beginning.' 'My old, , I say, a few timid, 'where is the strike ?' 'The Constitution Britannic,' he riposte. One persists, of course. 'My friend,' I say, 'the baker called today ; I purchased a hat; Julie is arrive safely from Sydney; the wheels revolve as ordinary. Where, then, is the strike?' 'Solidarity,' he affirm, 'the

rights of man.' The same everywhere,

More the strike fails, more it succeed. i One must not jump to conclusions, "my

old. Thing of the most difficult, this —more difficult than the reason why Sir Bart. Why is Sir Bart, my old? Because the strike. Nothing is this which one thinks it is. Vive the strike. When it is a success complete, we shall get on with business."

The theory of "scabbing" is very slrange and beautiful. "I think; therefore I exist," said one of those French philosophers. "I exist; there-

fore lam a fscab'," is much more true '~' just now. How can you or,l escape "being a scab when Mr.Semple himself '■ bat it is.muoh easier to let the re••■morselees chain of logic clank along for itaetf: ■ r . ■_ ■, \\ . This is the Bod Fei. hoes -whose boot ■•'■" Wae Tepaired by tie men in the slop made -'«;j enit, ••. ' ■'■' ■■■',■■- ■ ' ;'■ . "Wio. kksed the waitress be loved co well, ;Who einred hie meals in the small hotel, ..That bought lie bread from a, baker man, ; "WJw bated the loaf in tie baking-pan . Prom which' was cut the identical elioe ■ ■";. Thai" somebody thickly spread -with nice

■Freak butter that cime from the cream '■-: obtained " - '■... -'_.■■ "■ - '■•.'.. •:EroiH the selfsame' can ae' wag fouled and .i-.it.ii etaiscd '••■ --..; ' •""..-.'■ :" ':'.': ' ■ :!-.~(Xlie very came can as ever was born)— By tie cream from the cow with the crumpled ■-.-- ■ hojfxi ,-• r ' .•:■_' ■. ■' '■ ■ Thai cropped the grass on-the actual farm Of tho man the ribbon upon whoee arm Filled full of terror and deep dislike -The noble, fellows who went on strike . ', • To help the men to beat the ecabs th»t spoiled the - plan that Semple made to , flatten. out .the folk that thought ■ that they could trust to the clause • that the noble Feds, broke.- ' . ; : When Mr Semple, tears off his boots, ** as, being a logical man, he certainly will do when he reflects upon the mat- ' ter, I shall deal with his hat.

.One of the local papers, this week printed a paragraph describing "a novel method" of destroying flies. A tin 1 frame is placed in a window, and "filled with kerosene, the fumes of which rise -under the heat of the sun. Flies walking on the glass become overcome by the fumes of the kerosene and fall into the tray, where thjy are. drowned. ,, "There is no novelty about this at all, but it is an exceedingly interesting little invention for all that. The flies ore not used "to the' kerosene, and think that it is a new kind of flyfood. Some of the wilier old flies keep away from the kerosene, and warn their brethren that they have seen this little device before, and have seen thousands of flies suffer from the

fumes. The younger -insects, however, laugh at the.advice of the stick-in-the-muds. "Perhaps you oldfashioned chaps," they say, "may have seen what you say .you have seen, but this is different fly-foiod—fine, stimulating stuff—the very etuff to make a fly realise the nobility of fly hood. And anyway we are different flies. Besides, flies - must stick together—solidarity amongst flies is the important thing." And they drop their money into the kerosene and sniff. The older flies pull newspaper cuttings from under their wings, telling how the kerosene

was tried in Brisbane and in Sweden, and in many other places. But they are only called ''scabs" for their pains, . and the young bloods inhale the fumes more eagerly than ever. Occasionally a little breath of air blows the fumes from one group of the fumebreathers, with the result that they reel away and leave . the kerosene aloue. They go home with shocking headaches, and decide to avoid that particular window. Some of the others succeed, after falling in, in crawling out of the new and stimulating fly-food •and gradually grow well again. The kerosene continues to fume, however, and in the end there is much destruction of fly life. And when it is all over, and the kerosene and the cash have disappeared, the surviving gather together and the oWest of them says: • 'Brothers, .«who- put that new and . stimu--■««tuiS fly-food there? Who caused 8 ® fumes and -got that cash? a fly> my children? You bee wes not one of us—it was