THIS TERRIBLE WORLD WE LIVE IN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 200, 16 April 1932, Page 4

THIS TERRIBLE WORLD WE LIVE IN

Being the Briee Impeessions OF THE MAX IN T3ECE STREET on Chrrent Affairs

He had never helieved that he would see the day when he would he thankful for being married, said the Mari in 'the Street, but now that the Goverriment proposed to tax the unmarried for their good f ortune he had that feeling. * * * He was a diffieult_ man to move, and an even more diffmult man to iriove on, but he viewed the Government's proposals with the liveliest apprehension. He did not wish to pose as the man who put the moan into matrimony, hut he considered that the Government had gone. altogether too far. He might not be exactly the mail order answer to a maiden's prayer, but he knew that it was hard enough for a poor bachelor, and harder still for a rich one, to dodge connubial bliss, without heing forced into it by taxation. If this proposal was introduced, a single man's life would not be worth llving, although, of course, he had the compensation that a married riian's life was no hetter. To earry this sort of thing to its logical conclusion (which in an argument involving women was obviously impossible), if a man was to be penalised for not being married, he ought to be rewarded for risking it. * * * But he had seen 110 suggestion of any bonus to people like hims'elf who had been risking disfigurement or permanent disablements for years, in order to help their country, .nor had he heard any public appreciation of the serviees of bigamists, bluebeards. and beach shieks, who were not deterred by their own wives, but wanted someone else's as well. * * * Anyway, women were like the bookies, the odds were all in their favour. Just because an unsuspecting male took a woman to the talkies, he often found himself landed with talkies for the rest of his life, or if he gave way to sax-appeal, he found that before he had time to execute a quiet sneak, it had developed into sox-ap-peal as well. The trouble was that so many men rushed into wedlock without rememhering that it usually developed into a headlock before very long. He had long been of the opinion that the country was going to the dogs, but he could now perceive that it was going to the cats and dogs as well. Under this new order of things, a man would not only have to pay for it after marriage, but before it also. It was had enough heing Leap Year for bachelors this year, and for pedestrians every year, without having married strife thrust upon us by taxation. What with wages tax, and dear beer, and poor dividends, the Government first of all made a man too poor to marry and then taxed him for not doing ,it. It was enough to make anyone riot in Queen Street or anywhere else. And talking ahout that deplorable affair in Queen Street, he had been so overcome when he had read about people breaking hotel windows and getting away without paying for their drinks, that. he had very nearly forgotten to pay hiriiself, and bad been spoken to unkindly by the barman. Personally, he had never broken a window himself with' the exception of one night after closing time, when he had failed to notice that it was there, but he had often wondered what it would feel like to have a drink without paying. The way the pubs were nowadays. however, he thought the possilrlity of his experiencing the feeling was remote. A lot was being heard ahout the hard lot of the unemployed, but if they could get away with breaking windows, grabbing free drinks, and then declaring an open season for policemen, their life was not without variety. However, he noticed that Mr. Forbes had appealed to all loyal citizens to keep the law. He proposed to write to Mr. Forbes stating that as long as policemen maintained their present standard of physique, he didn't mind keeping the law, but that he objected to having to keep his mother-in-law as well. He noticed also with some anxiety that in a deputation to Mr Coates, a number of unemployed women had stated that they proposed to fight back to back with then* men and that it would he God help the politicians when they started. He did not know what men were contributing to this back to back scheme, but if it canie to fighting with women, he was going to be so far back that he would be out of sight. He entirely agreed with the ladies, however, that if they started on the politicians, the Almighty would have to do any helping that was going to be done, because nobody else would risk it. He had never believed that he would feel sorry for a politician, hut he had an idea that he would feel almost as sorry for them as they would for themselves before very long. However, Mr. Coates had put the men over the fence, and it might be that some he-man politician would arise who would solve the situation by putting the women over his knee. * * * Personally, however, he doubted it, and he would not be surprised before very long to see Mr. Forbes and Mr. Coates take a nice long trip to Ottawa. And he wasn't so much concerned about the trip heing riice, as it being long — as he had told the barman the other night, when he started introducing economy measures. — E.G.W.