INGENUITY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4795, 5 January 1925, Page 2

INGENUITY.

MISPLACED EFFORT. . DEFEATS ITS OWN PURPOSE. Admission to the Shaftesbury Theatre will in future be gained by purchasing a box of chocolates in value from 10s 6d to Is, according to the class of seat, writes John Blunt. 1 shall watch with interest this ingenious scheme for avoiding payment of the entertainment tax, but I confess that without knowing anything more about it than has already appeared in print I have my doubts. Ingenious people who attempt to drive a coach and four through a law are apt to be met by ingenious checkmates.

1 agree that it is illogical that a cabaret in a restaurant should not be regarded officially as an entertainment, though, judging from some of the cabarets I have witnessed I am not at all sure that the interpretation is not justified; but would it not be even more illogical if a theatre were to be regarded officially in the light of a chocolate shop ? TOO INGENIOUS. Well, we shall see ; but meanwhile 1 would like to remark that the world is full of people who waste infinite time and trouble in evolving plans that are simply too ingenious for this rough-and-tumble world. The results of ingenuity often seem to me out of all proportion to tne energy and thought expended on them. 1 don’t deny that ingenious devices in machinery are capable of making great differences, but I do deny that ingenious schemes for evading one’s duty to the law are fruitful. For though the law may be an ass, yet the law is a stubborn ass, and quite able to give more kicks than it gets. There is an ingenious type of person whose delight it is to find flaws in Acts of Parliament, but it is seldom that the results of such ingenuity come up to expectations. By advertising your cleverness you merely cause the law to be tightened, and thus your last state is worse than your first. The basis of success is cdnstructive work, and as much ingenuity is merely destructive— finding out, for instance, that what the law says you must do you need not in reality do at all—it follows that the ingenious person of this class is often losing opportunities in his foolish pursuit of a will o’ the wisp. WASTED SKILL. Many people display far more ingenuity in evading income tax than ii. making an income, and though theit petty successes may give them the kind of pleasure one derives from' fitting a jig-saw puzzle together, I cannot but think that their skill is often wasted ' • The mind of man being what it is, it is almost impossible to imagine a law that is not capable of dubious interpretations, but as laws are made for the benefit of the community, would not the community be happier if everybody'* agreed to accept thei? obvious interpretation? Ingenuity is right enough in its way, but misplaced ingenuity is very tiresome. It nearly always ends up ir , trouble, and as often as no* defeats its own purpose.