RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29853, 20 June 1962, Page 22

RANDOM REMINDER

WET RAG TO A JOHN BULL

The New Zealander is a man of deeds rather than words, if one can overlook the usual quota of politicians, insurance salesmen and mothers-in-law. In war, the Kiwi was swift to action, a man of resource and individualism, one who did not stand on ceremony. These attributes remain in the piping days of peace. There could hardly be a better instance of the New Zealander’s resource than an incident which took place in a country hotel. some time ago, to be true, but still a perfect example of how much more actions mean than words. The residents of West-

port at this time had noticed a very distinctive English car being driven about the town by a man very distinctly English. On a Sunday morning, two Westport men, on their way to Christchurch, called at a country hotel. They spoke to the proprietor, who at the time was mopping up a mess on the bar with a somewhat unhygienic and very soggy cloth. As they were speaking, the Englishman from Westport put his head round the door, apologised for his intrusion and asked the hotel-keeper if he could recommend a cure for hiccoughs. Swift as thought, the

proprietor flung the dripping wet rag at the Englishman's face, and scored a direct hit.

The Englishman. as startled as he was injured, asked, in precise but icily polite terms, why on earth the man had done that when he only wanted a cure for hiccoughs. “What are you complaining about?” the proprietor said. “The shock has cured your hiccoughs.”

There was pregnant pause while the Englishman finished wiping ht« face with his hankerchief.

‘I didn’t have them,’’ he said. “My wife did. ohe’s outside in the car.”