LIGHT AND SHADE.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 41, 24 December 1920, Page 6

LIGHT AND SHADE.

(By "Commentator").

A friend of mine who has just returned from a trip up Otago Central telis me that he is to be prosecuted by tho Kailway De. partment for usmg a ticket daied three days before. His explanation that ihe date refsrred to the day on which 1 e started his journey will probably be ao* cepted by the magistrate. On being asked by the Railway Unions and Public Service Associations when they could expect the increased bonus granted by the Arbitration Court; Mr Massey re plied that he could not give them an answTer until Cabinet had met, which some-' how reminds one of Hans Breitmann : — "Und to all of those queries he only reblies If you tells me no kvestions I ask you oio lies." Apropos of the above a public servant of my acquaintance has relieved his pent up feelings somewhat, by discharging the following : — "Of all the sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these, I cannot say when." The Press is inundated at the present time with fiery resolutions passed by trades unions protesting against the action of the Arbitration Court in reducing the weekly bonus from 9s to 3s. This agitation will never cease while the cost of living remains at its present preposterous price per bottle. You and I know that prices have dropped. Mr Massey knows it. The newsp.apers know it. VVon't it be splenuid when the shopkeepers know it? Signs of the Times.— The Bottle Oh! with his barrow is now very much in evidence. One of the things that are sent to dry .us : — Mr J. S. Baxter. The latest maxim of the hatless brigade — reduce the cost of living by starting at the top. "Will there be a corner in mistletoe this year?" asks a newspaper. A more vital question is : "Will there be mistletoe in a corner?" The Jews harp please : — For Phyllis I have bought a fan, For Jane a diamond dart, For Daphne (who has turned me down) A ruby broken heart. A jade affair for Ermytrude, But nothing yet for Flo. To her I want to give a ring And something soft and lingering Beneath the mistletoe ! Mr Dennis Hunt, who has been carrying out important work at Sunnyside for the Electric Power Board, has just returned to town for the Christmas holidays. He will submit his report on the flora and fauna of the district to Mr C. Camphell in the course of a few daya. In the course of conversation, Mr Hunt cryptically remarked that the district was an ideal one but very dry. Disraeli used to say that although h© was always forgetting their faoes and never remembered their names he had no

difficulty in being pleasant to his followers in the House of Commons. "When I meet somebody in the lobby whom I don't know from Adam and I see that he expects me to know who he is, 1 take him warmly by the hand, look straight into his eyes and say : And how is the old complaint? I have never known it to fail!" Strolling casually down Dee street on Saturday aftemoon, I met an old crony whom I had not seen for some time. After the usual salutations, I asked: "Who are you working for now, George?" "The same old firm," he said sadly, "a wiie and sev.en children." Speaking from the Rotunda recently Sir Thomas Mackenzie remarked that he had known Southland in the early days, "when it was like the description of the Globe in Genesis, without form and void." We all know that "Tam" has had many unique experienees in his day, but assuredly, a trip to Southland during that interesting period would be one to remember. Sir Thomas should be much sought after by exponents of the nebular hypothesis and Sir A. Conan Doyle.