Passing Notes.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 16, 2 July 1920, Page 6

Passing Notes.

BY JACQUES.

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

Has the war altogether upset the mental balance of the world. It is the reasoned opinion of many thoughtful writers to-aay that it has, and numerous evidences are pointed to as indieating a world-wide epidemic of insanity. It is doubtful, however, if any of t-hem affords such solid support for the pessimistic contention as the recent deroand of the Brisbane workers for a basic wage of £625 per annum for every man with a wife and two children. Not a maximum, marli you; nor an average; hut an absolute bedrock screw. £625 per annum ; £12 per week ! It sounds good — I would like it myself. But, unfortunately, there are other considerations than our own wisbes, and these as Burns said, "winna ding." I have no statistics regarding Queensland at hand, but, even without them, I venture the statement that ( assuming that chilcliess workers and those with more than two children ar© to be paid coxnmensurately with th© "two-child man) the total wealtli produced in that sultry State would not yield much, if any, more than half that amount per capita of the wealth producers. In fact, I will go further, and say that there is not a single country on the face of God's fair earth that will yield, under present conditions, to the workers anything like what these Brisbane fanatics are demanding, leaving out of account such trxfles as the fair remuneration of capital and directive abilitv ; enorrnously increased interest bills, ths cost of government, oic., etc., Reading such items as the Brisbane one is saiisfactory proof that tlie capitahst is not the onlv prqflteer ; and it further excites the. suspicion that not all the lunatics in Brisbane are in the asylums.

When the P.P.A. was first formed many of us thought its main purpose was to preserve our national system of education against the disintegrat-ing influences of Romanism. This, though probably unnecessary, was understandable, and won the acquiescence of many good natured Protestanis— though a large proportion of these were speedily alienatsd by tactics that left a nasty taste in the m^ith of every decont rninded man. But the otganjsatiorj has dropped sonae. of its earlier useful cmnouftage, and now stands selfreveHed, not as the proi'ector of our present educational system, or anything else Worth while, but as the promoter of sectarian bigotry and the sower of social dissension. It is bent on frighterdng the people into fancying Roirra.n bogeys in every chadowy corner, and it is making itself ridiculous in the process. Its latest brilliant effort in that direction is the ascription of the recent railway strike to the machrn.ati.ons of disloyalists — i.e., Roman Catholics, since, according to the P.P.A. , there are no "disloyal" Proiestants. The strike, suggests one shining light of the P.P.A, was deliberately and disloyally designed to inconvenience our recent Princely visitor. That this is utterly false is proven by the fact that the railwaymen offered to do everything in their power to facilitate the passage of the Prince throughont the Dominion. But the implication is equally insulting to Catliolic and Protestant; on the one hand, that, even assuming that there are some few Catholic disloyalisis in the service (of which there is no evidence) they would choose such a petty way of showing their disloyalty ; and, on the other hand, that the loyal Protestants in the service were fools enough to be gulled, or cowards enough to be coerced, into any lino of action of which their commonsense and conscience did not approve.

I have just had the privilege of reading the report of thr debate between Conan Doyle and .Tc.«eph McCabe on Spiritualism. On tbe whole it is somewhat disappcinting — one somehow expected greater things from these giants of the platform. Of the two I must confess, despite my admiration for McCabe as a debater, and my usual scepticism towards spiritualism, that Conan Doyle made the best showing, For the most part McCabe contented himself with a rehash of the better known cases of exposure of fraudulent practices in connection with spiritualist phenomena. These Conan. Doyle cheorfolly admitted, and incidentally scored a telling point over his opponent by proving that while most of

the exposures had been made 1 y ^ : spiritualists themselves, their astute and relentless detectives had spiritualists. One cannot doubt either (tj sanity or honesty of Conan Doyle U the evidences— seemingly well aUeny too— cited by him are astounding, and W I little room for marvel that the cult is rapidly winning adherents. In the vtJ nature of things, the subject is a m0J elnsive one — incapable of mathematics | proof or disproof ; but the cumculative evi, dence, as Conan Doyle says, is (,| 61)J weight and eharacter as to be at l?iij entitled to our re&pect. "A fool must now and then be right by ^ chance" — and even Mr Massey may somj, times speak the truth. He certainly dij so the other day, when he said that ^ remedy for profiteering rested lai the hands of the people themsehtt labour unions, mothers' meetings. like, spend a lot- of time in clamomnj vaguely for the Government to "do so% tking" to reduce the cost of living. \ have never yet heard, however, oi aj of these bodies s ending forward my snj gestion as to how the Government shoaH' do it. There are certain things whicl would assist towards the great desiderati® which lie, no doubt, within the reach oi the "Government"; there are othera over which they have no control. One oi tlest is the present mad extravagance oi fln masses. This is beyond the power oi any. body but the people themselves to check, If every iudividual would resolutely sd himself to curb unnecessary expcndiiim the profiteer would be fceaton to a irai in no time. The formula is very sinjkt ■ just do without everything that you ea do without for a little while. And it ii really wonderf ul how many things we can dispense with without any harm or real inconvenience to ourselves. THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SINKERS. Once upon a time it beiell that oue vho was a transgressor was haled to the HaH of Justice by the officsrs of the law, wbicl are, in that coeaik'y, called Jon-rwps. b! the chief officer spake to the judge, ssjing : '"'Lo, we hav e broughi here one vh hath fractured the law in many ways, and who hath, moreover, violently resisted ns, and tormeunif orm , yer Worship. Tht* , fore, I pray thee to sock it into him, ya | ra-v Liiffly." But when the judge j la&vc dcmie this, there rose a scribe wbohl j ! much knowledge of the law, and know tfl an inch the length of its ears, and sadl ' 'Oh, judge, be not hasty in thy ment but hearken unto me, who speak ioi the prisouer. It is true that he hath dcffifl the grievous things wherewith tlie office" I have charged him. But no blaine b with him. There be two devik «sras of one whereof is "Brain-Storm, a"1 the other "Sub-Conscious Lapse- " 1 seize and rend him so that he doeth evil things, nor knoweth augM a ® | them." And he said that the many shekels and a big Chek-Buk- 1 when the judge had heard he was witli compassion, for he knew '10V' two devils lie in wait to seize on tlio.e have heavy balances at tbe ba"b ^ ^ forgave him as one who had no his kar-akter. j

Then came another who was a s ■ 1 • with divers offences, but, having "° Buk, no marr spoke for him- llf ^ ' he opened his own mouth and sai ^ | judge, what the officers have SdK ^ ^ ! I have sinned; but I am a P001^'" ^ | there be two devils which are ea e ^ ^ I Storm' and 'Sub-Conscious 1-4 ^ [ which 'do pounce on me at time ^ ^ fore But the judge ro-e and said : "Darest thou roock m ^ vile wretch ? On thy own - c j, hast no spondulix, no, not ^ rjj)g for a scribe, and yet thou try j into us a fairy tale of Brain ^ ^ ^ 'Sub-Conscious Lapses.' ^ i» tbat these things have no ex ^ ^ j,, the vicinity of many sheke s ^ ^ called the officers of the ^ manded them to tlrrow ^ sinner into outer daitaess "without the option." _ .^ins ^ Moral : The hixury of are not for ihe poot.