POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 66, 19 March 1931, Page 12

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGS

Dear Percy—How's this for our 1931 conundrum? • _ •■•■.. In, -what respect do we En Zedders resemble our notorious earthquakes? Because we just simply refuse tt stop cracking up New Zealand. Si Smograph and Boss E. F. Scale (collab.). * * * '■.. Latest winner of the Nobel Prize fof literature trying to make some amends to an outraged public m:s£. ?'American girls may be wild, but they .always change into perfect . wives and mothers."—Sinclair Lewis. The trouble is that-so many of the* change husbands so often as not to give the theory a fair chance. •'■*:- *■'•■. ■ . Mostly Laug—this. Though Mr. Lang's State is miles behind with its interest to the Commonwealth, and though Mr. Lang has * legion of his followers in the bread line, the same Mr. Lang, so far as can be ascertained, has. not yet sold his £500 yacht. He had better hang on to it it will come in useful should an urgent getaway be found necessary. '• ■■ • • ■ ■ We learn that the' member for Grey, Lynn, has given, or is to give, the Lab» our Party some voting assistance. Hand us the With political conscience transcendent, He supported the Labour amendmentSing Hey! for the brave Mr. Fletcher! / ■• ■ , Will that earn him selection ■■■ For Grey Lynn, next election, '; Or send him out flat on a stretcher? ' . - # ■■' * . * The German dermatologist who claims to be able to deduce character from a microscopical* examination of a person's lower lip has nothing on us. We , guarantee to pick out the pessimists from across the street by their undfcrlip, which looks as though it needs propping up. "W.E.8." states a case, and wants to know. ■ Tramps are said to have greased the rails on tho lino between Junee and Hartford, New South Wales, with butter, to slow down tho train and let them "jump the rattler."... The standard of living again. In England tramps would use dripping, and in China, unguent collected from some obese enemy is cheaper still. The interesting point is—does appropriation, of a drug on. the market, such as butter, constitute theft? ;•- ■. Our client's legal point will be at- , tacked, on receipt of the customary 7l 6d—plus the 10 per cent, "cut."—P.P. . ■ •». . • .-. • ■ ■ This cutting is from a client who notes that.it has point for New Zealand, as well as for South Africa. In fact, it does no more than justice to the U.S.A.'s. . attitude toward! the world. ■ ■:■.'■ ; . ■■:•■.■;-. ■■ ;...!■.-< - The campaign in South Africa to buy ■ British goods is thriving; it is even.; bursting into song. I notice that the current issue of the "B.M.R.A. Jour-, nal" (the organ of the British Manufacturers' Representatives' Associa« tion of South Africa) contains a charming little poem drawing attention to the fact that the United States, which exports some £15,000,000 worth of goods to tho Union, buys hardly any of the South African wool crop, most of which, finds a ready market in Great Britain. I quote the'first two verses:— ' : Mary had a little lamb, Whose wool she wished to soil; She took a fleece to Uncle Sam, Who merely said, "Well! Well!'' "This really is to me most queer"* \•■ (And then-he heaved a sigh), ' "You do not understand, my dear, I ONLY SELL—NOT BUY." Lady M'Clancy is once again thinking nationally . . . you see what wi mean? She is all for the altogether now-one'long-strong pull, which does, seem to be called for. If it would assist our harassed Prime Minister, we ai«i prepared to let Mame loose on him on* sunny afternoon at Bellamy's . . *.' just a cupper tea, of course. It would help him, we're sure. Talkin' of polertics, my dear— ' As true as what we're'sittin' 'ere, Them so-called misfit demercrats ; Need a good basting in the slats. I don't know that chap Wilde by signtj But Mr. Plage—hees pretty right. Ole Bill's a Dubb; those Labour guys 'As got 'im bluffed up to tho eyes, An' Bill and all hees friens jest feed Outer their 'ands . . . they do indeedSome of our dinkum workin'-men Can't think no 'arder than a_ hen, An' that is praisin' 'em. Their'mind la empty frontways and be'ind. They pays their union dues and voteThat's all. It ■fairly gets mo goat. It seems we're in the cart all right Prom what Forbes said the other night. If that's so, then we've gotter scout Around to find the best way out. It jest won't 'elp to sit an' curse , Because our troubles get more worse}/ We've gotter rise an' lend a and To make things better in our land; Better for me and you and all Whose backs is up against the wall. We want the All Black spirit which Fights 'Eaven's bells, to the last diteEf ' An' when the fans thinks all is lost, Bumps its hinglofious way acrost. We'll stop a punch, and lose some skin*But you can betcher life we'll win. Do you know, I was wonderin', dear, If Porter would turn out this year. ♦ .■•'•• Wasn't it that ancient sage, Pythagoras—he was born about 530 B.C.— who promulgated the theory that "all things are numbers" and that the elementfl of numbers were the elements ot all things? That belief wxb popular with many nations of thons elder days. They, beliorad-teat -No. .3 symbolised birth, life ana d32.th, beginning, middle and end; childhood, manhood and old age. Among ancient and modern peoples the nuuibcr 9 hss besn regarded as import- i snt and as complete as the number 3. "Becauaa it is 3 multiplied by 3, it has baon called a triad of triads; that its each peroon of a triad was expanded into a triad.. Examples of the superstitious regard for the number 9 in classic, medieval, and modern times are the fact, tbot 'there were 9 earths, 9 heavens, 9 spheres, 9 rivers of hell; Lars Porssna swore by 9 gods; there are 9 points of 1.v.7,.9 days' wonders, and a cat has 9 lives; to see 9 magpies is lucky; the witches in Macbeth repeated their s?e:i;9 tinea; 9 knot 3in a piece of black wool cured a sprained ankle; a Bmartly drs=csd person is dressed "up to the nins"; leases were granted for 999 years and are now granted for 89 years; and toasts drunk three times three were formp.rlv verrcnmrann--