RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 208, 3 September 1927, Page 22

RANDOM SHOTS

LVIII

Yes, it Is most comforting to know that if one's income exceeds £5900, the rate of taxation does not rise so sharply. In one of the long-distance buses is the inscription. "Do notalight til busstops," whi chis lik elytob ewild eran ybody. A match between a Chinese and a

Filipino football team for the championship of the East ended in a riot. Thus does the East rapidly assimiliate the civilisation of the West.

They are going to plant tree-ferns in the crater of Mt. Eden. The report that the Venus de Milo in the Museum is to have a shawl thrown over her shoulders lacks confirmation.

I notice an astonishing omission from Mr. Sidey's Summertime Bill. Absolutely no prorision is made for suspending suminertine until the presence of summer can be detected.

The "stormy petrels" in trades unions, I have learned this week, are called "tourists." I surmise that they are so called because they want to "do" things in a day.

The friendly Rugby match in the Raglan electorate between Brospective Candidates and the Rest has l»ad to be postponed, but the captain of the Rest is hopeful of getting a full team.

There is a tramping Club in Auckland and it is being hailed with satisfaction as showing that walking is not quite dead yet. The motorist, however, continues to smile. Perhaps he reflects that though there is a Jacobite journal in New Zealand there is no proof that the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie is alive.

"New Zealand lias already a world reputation for the way it rears the Plunket baby, but it is a long way behind in another sort of nursery work— cultivating the oyster." I fear that this juxtaposition of ideas may do New Zealand great harm abroad. Everybody knows that oysters are eaten.

An esteemed bank manager, leaving Auckland, was presented with a bag oi sovereigns. After making inquiries, following a question by a young friend, I am able to give the information that many of the older residents of the Dominion have seen a sovereign. It is a gold coin, and at cue time it was in general use.

Our New Zealand political leaders are discussing the use of the radio at the next election. Well, they may make what arrangements they please. We need not listen to them. What a beneficent invention it is! Mr. Coates or Mr. Holland or Mr. Forbes may deliver an address, and not a man, woman or child may listen to it, but the speaker will not know. He will miss the applause, but there will be no "question time" at the end. He will depart comforted by the assurance that thousands have heard him, and the thousands will go to bed confident that if they have missed anything that was worth hearing they can read it in the paper next day.

Harry, Jack, and Mabel (Jack's wife) were out in Mabel's new car. There was a grinding noise, and the car sidled almost into a ditch and refused to budge. Harry took off his coat. "Don't," said Jack, "IH show you something better than that; come with me," and led his friend up into the tea-tree to a place whence two men could see without being seen from the road. Mabel remained in the car—looking helpless. "What about repairing the car?" asked Harry, as the two sat smoking. "Watch and have patience," said Jack. Presently, along the road came a two-seater, which pulled up by the damaged car. Mabel was seen in conversation with the solitary occupant of the two-seater, who, after a quick examination, removed his coat and fetched his kit of tools. In about twenty minutes the car responded to Mabel's touch. The stranger, very hot and very dirty, resumed his coat and his car, and with salutations departed. Then Jack said to Jfcirry, "You see, son? The car is repaired, and we are comfortable and undistressed. This is our third breakdown, and only one, the first, gave me any trouble." Did this actually happen? Well, perhaps not exactly as it is related, but fact is approaching fiction in this direction. THE CHARMS OF PYJAMAS. The " Daily Express" attacks the conditions prevailing at the surfing beach at Lido, a fashionable seaside resort of Venice, thus: "Smart society rush there from all parts of the earth. In pyjamas people sit around sipping tea. In the hotels they wear pyjamas, they lunch in pyjamas and dine in pyjamas, and for the remainder of the day lie about the sand." I've often thought pyjamas were sartorial delights That ought to be more popular than clothes to wear o' nights ; The colours and the patterns of the things appealed to me As being ornamental to the ultimate degree: So when the latest fashion craze accentuates the fun Of wearing your pyjamas as protection from the sun— . That settles it—l'm beating it if I can make my pile. To join the throng at Lido where pyjamas are the style.

No more the sprucely tailored bloke will try "to get my goat." Parading In the glory of a dandy morning coat; _ . My negligee will nullify the latest Oxford "bags/* And 1 11 be "set'' for "evening dress" for all the stylish "jags": No uniform with fancy bars will jostle me about, IH wear such loud and gaudy stripes I'll never have to "shout," And thus the best society my presence will beguile. When I arrive at Lido where pyjamas are the style.

Ton must admit pyjamas hare the tweeds and serges beat For comfort and convenience in torrid summer beat. And if it's cold —well, dash It all. there's nothing to be said — Tou're dressed for public purposes, but also for your bed! And thus pyjama-wearere prove them as a garb of sense — A maximum of usage with a minimum expense— In friendly sociability they wear them all the while; Hurrah for ease nnd freedom where pyjamas are the style!

So let us boost pyjamas as the properest of "togs,"

Although the wowsers may declare we're "going to the dogs." They're better than a bathing suit, a toga or a kilt. And what is more they fit us all, no matter how we're built; So if the ladles join us—well, why should the critics grieve? They're following the model of their dear old Mother Eve. And surely it is better than. say. fig leaves and a smile. To riothe thfm in pajamas in the current Lido style. — 15 .A.