WILL CROOKS, P.C.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 163, 7 April 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

WILL CROOKS, P.C.

WHAT Wild. HE DO AUDIT THE COl'l'.T DRFSSi--11 IS WIFE'S OI'IMOX. Telegraph boys, says a London paper, were hardly ever off the doorstep yesterday of the little house ill (ioughstriet. I'oplar, where lives the Right Hon. Will Crooks, M.l\ Messages ->f congratulation poured in from all <|ua-r----."Oh. it v. ill be only a t!ir< e-dav wonder," .-aid the new Privy Councillor airiiy, when a New-paper man added le' i'-'lat 11 >ii -. "There's one thing I do wish the Siiiida V lleialo would i-a.v. Smne of tie- w- rlai.s may be under the jmpres--thai !jei aii'sa the King has given ti:i thi.- honour and '-alls me his right t: <v ,:nd well-beloved t.r whatever

tile phi::o is-I shall lul'O beeome .1 jjarty man and shall not be one of the workers any longer. Do t- ll them that the position gives tne j»ll the more power to work for them and with them. 1 live with them and unong.-t them, and hope to die in their r-ervicc. DREAMT HE WON' THE V.C. "Recollections of my boyhood days!' I was just thinking about tliein. You see- and this really is tunny 1 dreamt that 1 had won the V.C. and then woke up, and' found it was the P.C'. So it set me thinking. "1 thought of the time when mother used to cry because she ilidn t know where the next meal was to eomo from. Father had lost an arm and couldn't do much, so mother had him and seven of us youngsters on her hands. "When 1 was !>, a neighbour who kept n milk shop offered me a tanner week to deliver milk for him, and T took the job on. The guardians stopped mother's out-relief snnn after, and hecause the tanner wouldn't keep nine

o? us and pay the rent wo went into the workhouse for a spell. "My next job was ju a grocer's shop at - -. a week and my food. Didn't i feel rich ! At ] I 1 went blowing bellows at a [,imehou.-c forge for 6s. a week. At 1 ! came mother's great sacrifice, for she apprenticed me to a firm ef Poplar coopers, where 1 got l's (Jd., and she could ill afford the loss of 3s Gil a week. "So I grew up a> a cooper, experiencing all the vicissitudes of the trade, strikes and lock-outs, and < von going on tramp in search of work. My public life everybody know? all about." COURT PI?ESS FROM PETTICOAT LANE! A knock came at the door, ant", while the Privy Councillor went to open it. Mrs. Crooks. who is assuredly the proudest woman in Poplar, confided a secret. "Tf they say Will's got to have Court dress." she whisjicred, "he'll have it all right. You can leave it to

mo. I'll sec lie gets it. It was the same when he became iluyor of Poplai. He wasn't going to wear robes, but 1 made him." Mr. Crooks came in. Ho had oveilioard. " What's this about Court dress? Oh, well, 1 suppose I can get one down in Petticoat-lane." And he went off to catch a train and dodge the telegrams and' photographers.