Cloudy and Overcast

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 468, 11 June 1948, Page 8

Cloudy and Overcast

O sparks flew, in fact there was a singular absence of incandescence in the first session of the New Zealand Brains Trust from 2YA (Monday, May 24), in-spite of the presence of such luminaries as Julius Hogben, Professor Liewellyn, Mrs. D. Turner, and Vernon Brown. Donald McCullough, in the chair, shed sweetness and light, but the encircling gloom was too strong even fot him. Nor wete the questions at fault, since ds well as the old ExportedBrains favourite, oné or two promising novices (eg. "Is New Zealand God’s Own Country, and if so Why Is It In Such a Mess?" "Is Men’s Dress Reform Desitable?") also ran. At first in my bitterness I was inclined to wonder whether there might not after all be something in this Export-of-Best-Brains business, but then I realised that it was not brainpower but rather joie de vivre that was lacking in the session. When Questionmaster McCullough threw in a question there was no concerted pounce

(continued from previous page) and consequent worrying of the bone of contention; the Brains merely sniffed at it warily and decided to wait for the next meal. A question on Compulsory Unionism elicited a few vague remarks about professional unions being also eompulsory, on Men’s Dress Reform personal reminiscences on When Did I Last See My Waistcoat, ‘Unable to give a straight answer to the question "Which Should a Man Put First, His Wife or His Job?" members quibbled as _ to whether the questioner meant Wife and Family or Just Wife. Questionmaster McCollough, with unimpaired zest, retrieved his still meaty bones and threw fresh ones in, possibly reflecting that there were plenty more where these came from. (Though judging from the phenomenon of the Recurring Question this is not the case.)