Comments: Common and Caustic.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 14, 9 June 1911, Page 5

Comments: Common and Caustic.

REVOLUTION IS EVOLUTION WITH THE WHIP BEHIND.

***** A London specialist says that sore throats arise from an improper use of the voice. Mr. Massey must bo in for a bad time. * * n - # *

Roumanian women must be the most trustworthy of Avives. An old man died at Kasaka, leaving his widow apf>arently penniless, but on a male reative searching the pockets of deceased's coat ho found banknotes and eecurities Avorth £12,000. * * *- - # « Said Robert Southey: "It is not for man to rest in absolute contentment. He is born to hopes and aspirations as the sparks fly upward, unless ho has brutified "his nature, and quenched the spirit of immortality which is his portion." The New York "World," referring to a resolution proposed by Victor Bergcr, of Milwaukee, the only Socialist in the American Congress, remarked: "Is this Socialism ? It sounds remarkably like common sense." Bui- Socialism always makes that sort of sound. A Scots clergyman mentions that "The Boy Scout movement is not for the goody-goody lads, but is intended to help those little fellows who are inclined to go to the devil." Seems as if he expects the Scout movement to accelerate tho process. And it Avould appear he is about right. An "Enthusiastic Volunteer." quoted by the editor of "The Vanguard," says: "I Avas an enthusiastic volunteer; but in my corps I have seen boy after boy join, green and innocent, to be tauglit in a very short time that women wero fair game ; that a man was a fool who was not profligate, and that few women are pure." « * -...= «? * What has tho Scout-bluggoo of the "Lytteiton Times" to say to the foregoing ? Perhaps he A\*ill look out some of his "filthy" adjectives to designate it. At the same timo one could Avish that one who has been for years an "enthusiastic volunteer" had developed sufficient courage to havo put his name to a statement like the foregoing as an evidence of good faith. * * w * * • A lot of Methodist ministers put some of their "hard earned" savings, and tho funds of a Methodist College, amounting to over £200,000, into the Honduras National Railway, with the idea that they would soon have an army of workers toiling for them so that they could draw a continuous stream of dividends without performing any service in return. But the speculation collapsed, and now these good Christians are wishing they had turned their attention earlier to the Scriptural injunction, "Put not your money at usury." * * * * =» A Polish attorney and counsel for the Pulaski Building, Loan and Investment Association is missing, and, after auditing their books, the company found they were short over £260,000, while individual Poles aro said to haA r o lost about £10,000. And the anti-sosh tell us that public service is more corrupt than private enterprise. * * # * * Homo files to hand inform us that All Fools' Day was obserA'ed in Britain by the holding of 900 mass meetings in favour of permanent Arbitration treaties instead of war. Not much foolish about THAT. * - - * # A wealthy Hungarian landowner who died recently bequeathed all his property to his twelve draught horses. After all this is more sensible than many a rich man who leaves his total fortune to a single ass. _ » * * * The Rev. H. Williams, of Llandudno, declares "chat the working men or' Great Britain aro perfectly safe so long as Jesus Christ is in heaven and Mr. Lloyd George is in Parliament." Some think it would be a better arrangement if Jesus Christ was vn Parliament and Lloyd George in heaven or—the other place. * « * * * At the half-yearly meeting of tha Bank of N-S. Wales, held in Sydney, May 26th, it was reported that the profits for the past financial year amounted to £204,373. After making the ■usual allocations, adding £53,265 to re-i serve, and carrying forward £62,113, a* dividend of 10 per cent, was declared. The reserve now stands at £1,960,607, the £20 shares are selling in the market at £46 10s, on which a £3 premium is paid also. Can you wonder that tho shareholders are convinced that New South Wales is exceedingly prosperous ? * * _ # * What puzzles tho man who wants to

know, you know, is, if, as the directors say, the capital of the Bank (£2,500,----000) is fully paid up, how a profit of £204,373 can pay a dividend of 10 per centum, even without allowing for an increase to reserve or adding to the amount carried forward the previous year, not to speak of other "allocations, seeing that 10 per cent, on £2,500,000 amounts to £250,000 —that is £45,627 more than the total profit! Perhaps the "Mercantilo Gazette" Avill explain, or is it an illustration of tho "neAv" economics?

The resourcefulness of the British workman's wife, Avho has to make £1 keep a family for a Aveek, is admitted, but one is surprised to learn she is as clever as Mrs. Pember Reeves makes her out to bo. This ox-New Zealander states that out of that £1 per week the laborer's wife spends £1 Is 4d! In "Housekeeping on £1 per Aveek" in the "Daily Noavs," she says: "With a family "in receipt of 20s per week a typical weekly budget was : Insurance., 'fs 8d ; rent, 8s; clothing, Is sld ; light, heating and cleaning, 2s l|d; and "living," 8s Id." This lady's husband, one time High Commissioner for New Zealand, is now Principal of the London School of Economics, and the London School of Economics, and is another illustration of the new economics or is a case of tho shoemaker's bairn being Avorse shod ?