STRAY NOTES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 713, 10 March 1922, Page 5

STRAY NOTES.

(By “Don Quixote.”)

I meant to write on “Cats and Dogs,” but it will have to be done soue other time, though I know qui.e a lot about them. They are so intensely human Why, one cat I knew many years ago, used to go down oui cellar and drink the beer that diopped from the tap into the saucer placed beneath it, and the state of hopeless inebriation she arrived at would bring tears to the eyes of a Piohibitionist, but a most delightful leUer form “Old Identity” has recently appeared in your paper which must be attended to, and if its the cause of “Onewheroites” deciding to “pull together,” I feel I have "not laboured in vain. Will “Old Identity” accept my thanks for his timely .help. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” but “learned gentleman” real1> I cannot accept such a fulsome compliment. The longer I live the more I am forced to the unwelcome conclusion that the- less I know.

All honour to “Old Identity” that he came in here with a pack on his back> It is to the pioneers of civilization we owe so much. have had some slight exeperience myself of the difficulties and trials that beset -the early settlers in a district. I was the second comer on a new block of land some thirty odd years ago. A bridle; track through the dense bush being only means of access to my farm, but “Old Idetitny” it’s rather a tall order to ask me to believe that you and the other “old identities’* made this a prosperous dairying district.” Might I

suggest that the great dairy ;ndustry that New Zealand has built up is a factor of no inconsiderable magI nitude. If we were not able to export our butter, where would be the use of the finest herd of cows in the Dominion ?. But granted you have done much, and I would not take an iota from your magnificent achievements, have you reached the limit of progress in this district ? Could we not for instance improve our splenI did Domain, and yes, I' say it again, have one really up-to-date hall in. place of the two we have at present. You ask what i' - wrong with them. Well, I hate hurting your fe3i>ngs, but everything ; the acoustic properties are shocking. One of them has no dressing rooms at all, the lighting of both is bad, and the seating accommodation is practically nonexistant. Have you sat for three hours at a stretch onj- a very hard board, insecurely supported by oil drums . Well, I have, and I don’t hanker after a repetition of the experience. And the “stage/ well, ireslly, “Old Identity” the less said about that the better. No v about j this “indignation” meetign. To tell the truth, I have heard som thing about this diea before, and really I am quite keen on it. Give me a few | days’ notice as I should like the Edii tor of the “Times” to be there, and I a few friends present, before I hand , myself over to your “tender mercies.” | And, honestly, I think, it woudl do us all good. I really believe that I could convince you that I not only talking abcut “progress/’ but that I am prepared to work for ‘progress” too. You say you are not quite sure who “Don Quixote” is. Well, about here , I though it such an open secret, that it was known to every Dick, Tom and Harry in the palce, but it ft would interest you, I have much pleasure in telling you that “Don Quixote” is the nom de plume assumed by—well, no, on second thoughts it would be of no itnerest to the many hundred readers of the “Times,” so I won’t mention it. but if it will give “Don Quixote’s” compilments to our popular and courteous postmaster he will whisper it in your ear across the counter. And as to my articles being “harmful to the dsitrict/’ I can assure you hat this must be in your imagination only. Perhaps you read them with a jaundiced eye. Not one line is penned, not one thought conceived, but with the earnest dseire to see Onewhero take its rightful position as. one of the most productive and progressive places in the Domiinon. I