POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 84, 6 October 1938, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE Josh.—-No wonder the Fuhrer mi** trusts the Czechs. It's common knowledge that the gentleman now in control is one-eyed. ■X * * It looks as though Mr. J. A. Lee has ruined his chances of ever becoming president of the Old Colonists' Association. * * ,* Harihaha.—-Hitler's prayer of thanks strikes us as a classic example of the gratitude that is a lively sense of favours to come. *', * * Hataitai. —Just received the first edfr tion of the social security pamphlet; will I receive the second edition stafc ing the cost in detail of this scheme before the 15th inst.? * « * Janus.—lt's an ill wind that blows nobody good. In view of the European crisis, the Bolsheviks have decided to . postpone the liquidation of the remaining third of the senior army officers. * • * ECHO. Tennyson was right .when he said in his poem "What Brook's It" that men may come and men may go:— "I come from out Petone-Hutt (Political my sally); , I /remember nothing' but A! bicker up the Valley!" WINSH. ■ . * * * .' INFORMATION DEPT. In reply to "Idling Along," who •wanted to know the origin of the term "greenhorn": The earliest use of the word suggests that it was originally applied to an ox with "green," or young, horns. The passage is from the "Towneley Mysteries 1125: "Io furth, greynhorne and war oute grynoel Drawes on . . .What! will ye no -"briber mare?" After that the word was applied to a raw recruit, and then to a novice in any profession or trade; so an .ignoramus, a simpleton. *■■ ■ » * EASTWARDS! (With all due apologies to "Old Khayyam," how about.) "Ah Muss', couldn't thou and I with Hate conspire To grasp this sorry State of Czech «V tire, ,' Would t not we shatter it to bits, and then March eastwards, brother, to our heart's desire. DON JAMIE. . # .- : * ._> # COST OF LIVING. Dear. Uncle Flage,—Dad and Muni are always complaining about the cost of living and I saw where, a slip.-of a girl in England-had solved a problem which had beaten all the men' so I . thought it would be corker if a New Zealand girl could do something fine like that too and I saw in the Post where Mr. Nash talking millions said it was simply extra money circulating in New Zealand but surely that extra money competes in the markets with Dad's hard-earned wages and wiith yours, and at school last, week in" the Third standard teacher said that if you increase the. Diyjsor thie,Dividend wfll ibe lowered or as.,m^ iDad says the more tickets on the tote'less you get per ticket. ? ; Your little niece, * POLLY TIX. We commend this young _ lady^i ■thesis'-as- an important contribution to contemporary economic and political thought;-an? examination by the Government of the principles outlined may result in that long overdue and muctf to be desired reduction in the cost dC living. - • -■" P.F. * * . .* MORNING TEA MONOLOGUE^ What's all this talk uv Mr. Lee? 'E seems a clever bloke to me. 'Ouses like toadstools dot .the land When Jack thinks fit to wave 'c's 'and. An' anyone so full uv tricks Is a big noise in polertics. - Not only that-^-I 'ear it's true . 'E's got the,,bankers in a stew, At which 'c's champeens up-'n'-shriji*k So you can't 'ear Bill Barker speak. An' as is known throughout the town. Bill takes a lot uv 'owlin' down. Jack's wrote some books, dear, an' th» . same Brings 'em in somethin' uv a name, Though there are those who, full ur spleens Declare that 'c 'as spilt the beans With 'c's larst one, an' let the cat Outer the bag. But what uv that? Hangels tear in, I've card it said, Where silly fatheads wouldn't treajiiU Now, in what cattlegerry, dear. Is Mr. Lee? I'd like to 'ear. : A rumour tell 'c's big dream '*' Is~one fine day to lead the team Which M.J.S. drives like a slave Either to glory or the grave. If it's a funeral, they'll get stung, Unswept undyin' an' un'ung. If it's a win for the Left Wing What loves itself like anything, All I can say's that M.J.S. Won't take it 'earty—-that's my gue***. 'Owever, dear, I'll give my vote To Labour, for I'd 'aye' you note I want work in a pollin' booth. . . . Ain't Adolf a big "bite," forsooth? * « • MILITANT MAGPIES. > Dear Flage,—The spring loveliness of the Botanical Gardens, added to the music of song birds, should be the ideal environment of peacefulness and good will for jaded city dwellers —and usually is. But the peacefulness is apt to be rudely dispelled for unsusw pecting visitors to these sylvan scenes within a stones-throw of* Wellington's centre-of-city activity. Militant mag* pies resent, as an intrusion of their domain (at least, that adjoining the tall pine trees which they frequent) peaceful citizens seeking the sunlight in the open spaces; or of children indulging in play on the springy* turf of the upper lawn, much sought after by kindergarten classes, Girl Guides, and other juvenile parties, to whom skipping rope, three-legged and other races and games, make for the joy of life for the time being. To hear a sudden "click" from above one's head and glance up, just in time, to see a swooping magpie, with a glittering and malignant eye, swerve away from a distance of a yard or so above, hay* ing approached from behind, is disconcerting. Especially so when following the .flight of the rude one, to find another repeating the.performance from another direction. After watching a magpie dart from a nearby tree at two elderly ladies resting on a seat at the upper' lawn indicated, it was I comical to note a bareheaded boy, playing rounders, clap his hands to his uncovered head as a magpie flew over within a yard of it. His "Oh!" of mingled astonishment and alarm must ' have satisfied the magpie in the efficacy of the "warning" intended —but th« threat from the air went unheeded so far as the game was concerned. It continued. Nesting time is an anxious. ! time for magpies—maybe over-anxiou&. JThey may court drastic reprisals. I G_F.