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Press, 22 May 1978, Page 22

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DEFLATION

Mr Cleve Dick of Avonhead has ] slept poorly since a recent incident;! in which he virtually shot himself ;< down in flames, or placed not only hisii foot, but most of his leg in his ample; < mouth. ' ' 1 His mother, who is secretary of the local branch of an International Relief ' Agency, had asked him to assist on]i their annua! appeal day by taking/ charge of collating the cash totals after! the envelopes had been opened. Four/ or five volunteers would be available to < help him, she said. ’ Cleve proudly proclaimed that hisp many years experience in the employ 1 of the country’s leading trading bank]! precluded the "necessity for any assist-p ance, and agreed to take sole charge ofp counting the proceeds. His scales would eleminate the tedious nature of actually!, having to count the coin — all of] course but the first §lO bag as a check; weight.

Our hero said he would arrive at the hall in the last hour of proceedings, and;j ■ quickly and efficiently dispose of the ( ; money within 60 minutes, whereas four ® or six people were usually assigned to ■the task for a full morning. t Appeal day came, and so did Cleve, 8 who impressed the committee by deal-;! ;ing with the heap of money just as c efficiently as he had claimed. He announced a total of §990 for thei> morning and was asked for 10 per cent J of this figure. Erroneously reconciling his calculation to equate with the.! security firm’s fee for later handling ! | the money, instead in fact of being theU ilocal branch’s allocation for running] s expenses for the ensuing year, he] 5 I announced confidently “§9.90.” ; ■ Ignoring the frantic nudges of his;.; | wife who had accompanied him, he]! ! continued magnaminiously — “Let’s f say SlO, shall we?” (