BREVITIES

Taupo Times, Volume IV, Issue 165, 25 March 1955, Page 2

BREVITIES

An actor is a mai) with inlinite capacity for taking praise. — Actor Michael Redgrave. V 'I* Mr and Mrs Lee Miller have moved out of their 11,700 dollar home uear Tulsa, Oklahoma, because it is liable to be blown sky-high at any moment. A 40-acre residential district for liuudreds of people is built on top of 20. or more abandoned oil and gas wells, six of which were never capped : they were just filled with sand' and mial. Now tests show that the f oundations , of the Miller house — which they bought last April — reek with an explosive mixture of gas. A spark, from an electric switch would set it oft'.— Donald Ludlow. '!* ^ ^ * Sir Winston Churchill, they tell me, is hoping to write one more hook, a footnote to Machiavelli's "The Prince." Sir Winston considers that it will be "a study in Modern Statesmanship." There is no doubt it will make fascinating reading. Machiavelli, the Florentine, was for long considered a villian. His "Prince," the ruler, was an unscrupulous man who acted not according to morality but according to the interests of the State he represented. But in recent • years many historians have taken a more- favourable opinion of the "subtle Florentine." Machiavelli's fault may have been to be too frank — not to have been dishonest. Churchill's comments — and additions — will be subtle and , powerful. But I don't think they will be 'Machiavellian." — William Hickey.