RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29674, 18 November 1961, Page 18

RANDOM REMINDER

CLAUSETROPHOBIA

The average man often feels frustrated by the tall wall of rules, regulations and restrictions which surround him for 24 hours every day. Whether they are government or local body inspired, they are inescapable as the many minor ones which make his army days seem like play-way infant classes. If he forgets to leave his milk bottles in the prescribed place, he has no milk for his morning tea or coffee. If the rubbish tin is not put out on the nominated day, he probably has to spend the rest of the week digging holes in the garden. If he boards a bus, he ■ must “enter this end with correct change please.” He sits in a smokers’ or nonsmokers’ seat, as directed, and leaves by a door

marked “exit." If he is a motorist, he is subject to a mass of rules so complex and confusing that no-one else on the road understands them except him. Even on the open highway, fear of the microwave car dictates the pressure he may apply to the accelerator. Most men realise that regulations are designed, as a rule, not to annoy him but to protect him from the foolish and unscrupulous. Not only is he protected in the course of his work, but also in his entertainment. The curtain is lowered during a theatrical performance not just to provide patrons with an opportunity to walk on each others’ feet and to spill ice cream on each others’ clothes, but to conform with a Fire Board regu-

lation to lower a fireproof curtain a prescribed number of times during each performance. The observant man will also notice fire hoses fixed to the wall, and a uniformed fireman on duty, but here there is a clear case of discrimination. If the place of entertainment is advertised, an invitation to the public to attend is established, and the regulations must be obeyed. But if a company wishes to stage a play or concert and does not advertise the venue, it is a private entertainment and the regulation does not apply. Which leads to the surprising but logical conclusion that the public must be protected, but one may bum one’s friends with impunity.