"A MESSAGE FROM MARS."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9566, 12 August 1909, Page 3

"A MESSAGE FROM MARS."

(From Our Tenui Correspondent.) The residents of Tenui were startled last Saturday evening about 9 o'clock when two glaring lignt* about fifty yards apai\t appeared above the Taipos travelling in the direction of the township. As the lights approached it was plainly visible that what appeared to be a huge ocean liner at iirat sight, was a airship of a uncommon type. The excitement aniona the few that witnessed the strange visitor was intense, and when it was seen that something in the shape of a ball cf tire had dropped at the Town Hull, a nervous rush was made for the fallen object. This mysterious parcel was still burning, and on being picked up with pieces of wood and thrown into water the flame was immediately extinguished. Upon examination the parcel turned out to be a sort of asbestos bottle containing a ietter inside. At first attenpt the writing, although English, could not be interpreted, but on turning the paper upside down, the writing was easily understood. One of those present S jumped around with excitement and i shouted, "A message from Mars at last!" The letter read -is follows: "Mars, Aug. 9th, 500,000,000 To our dear friends on Planet Earth j No doubt you have, for a long ' ime, been expecting to hear fmm ! us. We have been signalling to you for thousands cf years, without any answer from you. However, we have now an airship and are visiting you. ■ You will I hope interpret our letter to you. The reason it appears upI side-down to you, is because, we j people on Mars, although like you lin figures, are quite reversed to i I everything to you on Earth. Firstj ly, we people on Mars would appear Ito you as standing on our heads, therefore the writing is severred to yours. The reason we stand on our heads is because we have developed j our brain by doing good work in J helping others to use rise to our levei i and you will understand how it has made our heads heavy and our feet light. You people on Earth have developed your feet by trampling on your fellow beings that are striving to Letter their position, with the , result: luht head and heavy feet. "Our politics are different to yours —you would call us Socialists. We J claim to ha true Christians. We have no party politics. The representatives of trie people do not strive for personal power, but for the general welfare of the masses. Our taxes are used for making the back country ! accessible, not for defence, or ', offence. \ "Everybody on Mars works, and j if too old, or unable and have no j means, are pensioned by the state; if j too lazy, are imprisoned, and the | 'j prison rule is 'no work, no food.' "You people on Earth cannot; be ! compared with people on Mars as ! farm.r.s especially in this part of the Dominion we are now hovering over. | Why ycu have nothing but sheep— I 1 no duiry factories, no agriculture, j or other industries for which your i district ir. so well adapted. Notning J but large flocks of sheep and so few I p?ople. All your conversations are | ,on tJicpp. We hear the h-w'vS . , squecling "more sheep," At the ' ; sound of the word 'ohcep' the dogs | ; tug at their chains and hark to get j after sheep. Why, the subscription !' fee to the Doctor's guarantee fund i is basui on the number o£ sheep j \ou gnu. If thy ratepayer- are j c!iesu?i«i:-ig a prosposed for a loan to | make a new roao, the onlv aigu- i mentused'in favour of the pro-j posal is that the cartairu on wooljl will be reduced- sheep again! The i man with the most sheep commands the most re;pect and is expected to be an authority on everything. We j ' descended wi>hiu bearing 'ho other evening to listen to a Fanners' Urion meeting that was u: progress, and expected to hear somethir.g discussed in the way of acient'fie farming, or the betterment of the employees, but were disappointed. The chairman in a powerful speech, proposed that the Government he asked to collect the A. and P. statistics by post, instead of by suh(numeration. This was seconded and carried unanimously. The rest of the evening was spent in hearing complaints from the farmers present 'as how those London chaps cheat us with our sheep!" ; "You will never be a powerful I nation till you have as ir any people ' on the land as you have sheep. r , "From here we travel over Ausi tralia, and then ascend up to Jupi- \ tar to meet Halley's Comet, and j will return to you vi,th the cornet I next year, and will drop you I another letter about our experience jon Jupiter. We feel gratefu. to you j ni! on Earth for not shooting at us ' while hovering over you. ! I am, etc., ; j "SILAS STAR." j