Passing Notes

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 2, 26 March 1920, Page 3

Passing Notes

BY JACQUES.

Laugh where wa must, be candid whera wa can. — Pope.

The Boy Scout movement is one which merits more attention than it receives in Invercargill, offering as it does, a healthy counter-attraction to the picture theatre, trasby literature, the st-reet corner "push," and the many other evils that we deploxe so loudly and frequently. It is cntirely democratic, the children of rich and poor standing on perfectly equal footing within its ranks. (There are, of course, offieial grades, but merit provides the only ciaim to promotion.) It aims at making gentlemen of the lads by keeping constantly within their view the highest ideals of honour, humanity, patriotism, and unselfish service. The little fellows are taught to respect age, to help the weak, to be kind to animals, to be loyal to their country and to eaeh other, to be truthfnl, upright, and jnst— in short, to be and do everything that becomes a decent cifci/.en. "Fear God and honour the King" is their motto ; to "do at least one kind action each day" is a part of their law. They receive instruction in splicing, tying knots, lirst aid and ambulance work, bridge building, and many other useful subjects that do not coxne within the ordinary school curriculum. They are encouraged to study Nature and to cultivate habits of observation and reasoning. They receive physicai training in the iorrn of gymnastics and other althletic .exercises, while frequent lessons in simple hygiene are given. And this list does not nearly exhausb the benefits of membership. Tlie value of their training and organisation has heen proven over and over agairt In England the Boy Scouts rendered yeoman service throughout the war, while even in Invercargill the work of the manly little fel- i lows during Ihe terrible influenza apidemic was such as we will not, or should not, soon forget. It is a thousand pities that a movement showing such splendid results in the past, and promising such gr,eat things for the future, should be allowed (in Sonthland at least) to languish and die for the lack of a little interest and eneouragement,

The recommendations of public bodies often make funny reading. A northern branch of the S.P.C.A. rccently protested against the trapping of rabbits because of its cruelty, sugegsting poisoning as an aJtemative. I wonder if any of them had ,ever seen poor burtny writhing under the effects of phosphorus of strychnine, the usual "dopes." (By the way, why has some of our local beer not been tried on the pest? No doubt of its efficacy, but j perhaps that also would be too cruel.) As for trapping, Brer Rabbit, probably found it unpleasant at first, but, as the old iady said of the live eels she was skinning, "they are used to it by this time.' By the way, why does not the S.P.C.A, take notice of some of the grosser forms of cruelty, such as boiling crayfish alive, the screeching of our trams at corner turns, "painless" dentistry, the daily gassing of our Parliamentary reporters, dressing children for the seasid.e in their very best, not-to-be-boiled clothes, etc., etc. ? The Parliamentary jaunt is abont over, and already we are getting some retum for our money, in the form of opinions on (inter alia) the slav — I mean, the indentured labour question in Samoa— opinions which were, no doubt, supplied ready made by those in the Jslands who are most interestcd in procuring cheap labour. It is just possible, too, that the convinc ing infiuence of the wine bottle was felt. We aro not told what the natives think, thou^h they are surely entitled to a voice in a matter so momentous to themselves. It is held that coloured labour is necessary, not because it is cheap, but because climatic conditions are hostile to Caucasians. Which is, most likely, fudge, The same excuse was used for the employment of the cheap and unpleasant Kanaka in Queenslaud years ago, but since the disappearance of Tommy Tanna the white man has easily proven equal to the work in the canefields and refineries. He is not so cheap, certainly, but there his disadvantages ends, Similarly it was onoe believed that P anama was fatal to

our race, but both the railway and canal were completed by white labour. The dingers of indentured labour have been shown in Africa, Australia, South America, the Fijian Islands, and elsewhere, and we liave no guarantee that ihe experience of Samoa will be different. It is urged, in palliation of the proposal, that it is only intended to be a temporary expedient; that white labour will be later, But, if later, wby not now? A local brewing firra is advertising that all jars and kegs not returned by a certain date "will be sued for without further notice." If tliis threat is executed we may expect a remarkable display of ingenuity in explaining the presence of stray "pigs" in the outhouses of some of our unco' guid. New Zealand is fast becoming a land of gene'ral inhibition. One can hardly wag the head now without splintering a statute. The latest "Tliou Shalt Not" is a grandmotherly Order-in-Council excluding Sinn Fein literature, and de Valera's portrait. The logic of, or need for such a measure is not very clear. Surely the loyalty which sent so many thousands of our sons to Gallipoli, Flanders, and elsewhere is not so fragile as to be fractured by a photograph — which, by the way, has already appeared in some of our illustrated papers without any particularly catastrophic consequences. As for Sinn Fein literature ; v/ell, it is always wise to hear what the other fellow has to say. If it is right we should be open to conviction ; if wrong, then we will learn better from it what we are up against, and our collective commonsense may be surely ti'usted to oppose it. It is said the predominant colour of our present Government is a bright yellow ; but, be that as it may, they seem to see red in everything Irish just now.

THE LAST STRAWS. ["The high cost of living is strikingly exemplified in the case of the motor car. . . . Some of the better makes now command double prc-war prices." — News item from a northern paper.] Here ! hand me out a bomb or two, a pistol and some knivesj I'm desperate, and hungry for a fight ; I'm as full of Bolshevism as a cat is full of lives, And my blood is up to boiling, Fahrenheit. I tell you, fellow-citizens, it's time foi' us to act — To spiflicate the present Goverment— When we find ourselves confronted with the agitating fact That motor cars have risen cent. per cent. Oh ' it makes me anarchistic when I read the printed news That furs are more than double what they were ; That they ask a prctty penny now for dia-mond-buckled shoes, And stockings (silk) are thirty bob a pair. Champagne has grown expensive ; so has whisky, sad to say, (A "spot" is ninepence now in every bar), While for other necessaries — why the pirates make you pay A shilling now for a sixpenny cigar, Oh ! the price of billiard tables, grand pianos, and the rest Of the things a fellow cannot do without, Sends a thousand little devils romping round within my breast, And I feel inclined to scatter things about. So, pass me out the dynamite, 1*11 make it hot and strong For the Government and the robher profiiteer, And if I fall — why, better that than worrying along On a paltry little thousand pounds ^ year.