THE MINCY COCKATOO.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1918, 28 November 1913, Page 9

THE MINCY COCKATOO.

Sir, —Tho attached lines, which appeared some .years ago in the Sydney "Bulletin," appear to mo to ho so framed as to remind many of the lied Veils, who have been maligning the. hard-working farmers that- they owe something to the said farmers:— Ten or fiftv miles from nowhere By a road that's on the map, Where the bush is wild and thickest, You will strike a new cleared gap: There will be a punsa wharo And a . bearded fellow who Drops his axe and growls "Good Morning,:' As he turns and stares at you. Look at bim and stop and ponder— He's a .Mingy Cockatoo. He's the man who pays the taxes, .Raises children for the State, Works from daylight tmto darkneus, Hardly knows tho day or date; Yet 'tis he cements the- Empire, And from such are born the great. Stop, 0 citizen, ami winder, Think those facts arc somewhat new? Why, Ihc backbone- of the country Is the Mingy Cockatoo.

Who has felled the mighty forests, Ploughed the fern and burnt- the Has, Cleared away the stumps and rubbish, Formed the roads and cut tiie tracks, Hade your boasted butter merchants, IJnildcd up vonr meat exports, Brought the trade that made your .-cities, With their ship.pin<» and their ports. Look around you, pause and wonder j Think it over, it is trueHe's the maker of your country Is tho Mingy Cockatoo.

You may cheer your Transvaal heroes, Yo mav sound your fife and drum, Ye may laud the God of battles, But "remember ye the one Who is i'mhtiii": a lone'bander ■ With, the axe and not a jnin--Fighting Nature in the back-blocks, In heroic silence, too— For tile Hern of vonr Country Is the Mighty Cockatoo. —I am, etc., SYDNEY,