QUEER SIDE OF THINGS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4528, 16 February 1923, Page 4

QUEER SIDE OF THINGS.

TIN FISH. (By Septimus.) There are t.wo types of humans—those who build and those who destroy. New Zealand, just as other countries, is full of destroyers, regular ‘‘tin lish” that lie low in the stagnant pools and dark spots ready to pounce oh anyone who seeks to improve the lot of mankind. They «oi .< with, deptli bombs, launched by tongue and pen. You will know the type I mean. Everyone knows them. They don’t stand up and look you in rhe face. Their necks were meant to be bent, so they hang their heads when you look at ’em. Dickens immortalised them when he wrote David Copperfield. And as they were in his day so they are now—'umble and lowly, with a “Yes, Mr So-and-so’’ ever ready on their weak lips. They are the destroyers, the leaches that cr,awl through life living on the patronage of those who reward them with a little trust. A Russian writer (prior to the war or the advent of revolution) called them “creatures who once were men.” If you don’t know them -you should. Usually you will And that their aunts or uncles, or seme other relations, have levered them into positions that they couldn’t possibly hold on merit. They are a product of the “ testimonial system.” They can present a roll of paper testifying to their sobriety, honesty, trustworthiness, etc., but if asked to “deliver the goods” they would never, get work. They couldn’t stand up straight enough t.o look it in the face. The most of them were just born to prove that Dickens showed a sound understanding of human nature when he created Uriah Heep. I’ve told people all this before, but they won’t believe it. And because men love flattery, and take the recommendation of a testimonial in preference to a practical demonstration of ability tp perform, the “tin fish” increase and multiply. By and bye, when the destroyer rises to tlie top of the tree, be issues statements on the need for efficiency. He has got the dollars somehow, and he is an authority. Often his name will be held up before school children as an example of “success.” So we go on. And because of mistaken ideals, and a commercial system that regards profits ..as tlie only objective, without insisting on real efficiency based on merit, “tin fish" thrive. If all the rest that Dickens wrote dies' out with the passing of centuries, Uriah Heep will live through the ages.