SOCIAL COMEDY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 204, 28 August 1943, Page 6

SOCIAL COMEDY

"CHARGE YOUR MUGS"

new toasting order

NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. "T ask vou, gentlemen, to charge your—well—glasses, tumblers, cups, mugs, or whatever you have brought with you, to drmk the toast. That was the amended form adopted by the chairman at a New Plymouth gathering in asking patrons of the social to prepare to drink the toasts. The "new order" has necessitated the asking of patrons of such social gatherings to bring their own glasses with them, as it is impossible foi those organising such functions, and running their own catering airangements, to hire glasses. This function was the reception tendered by the Returned Services Association to soldiers who have returned from overseas service and those on furlough from the Middle East The request to patrons to provide their own glasses produced a wonderfully varied array of drinking vessels as men brought from their pockets the selected article from their domestic equipment. Some had "real glasses" for such an occasion, while others had to be content with the small household tumbler, which was produced in varying sizes and designs. Some men had obtained good "handles," some in glass and others in varied designs of earthenware, some with picturesque decorative designs, others severely plain. Many men had cups, some had mugs, again in china or enamel, one of the latter being of substantial proportions and obviously of ancient vintage. Another man had equipped himself with a large brown mug which might have done service as a symbol of the song "Little Brown Jug," which he had reinforced with a tiny glass mug. In other instances the vessel selected bore close resemblance to a jelly jar from the household larder, probably loaned with a view to a smaller loss in the event of breakages.

The piece-de-resistance of the occasion was what was described as a "West Coast Schooner." This was an outsize in glasses, and the owner stated that when he left the Coast several years ago four of these "schooners" were presented to him. He boasted that when he was at his best he could empty a "schooner" in under ten seconds. He gave an exhibition of the feat and offered to give the vessel to anyone who could better his performance.