WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 151, 20 March 1924, Page 6

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

The United States Hoiise of Representatives has passed a Soldiers’ Bonus Bill —probably to allay the meling that the politicians are getting all the pickings. Turkish ladies are now eligible to vote.—But isn’t this giving, tlie married man a vdry undue pull in Turkish politics ? Dr. Bumpus remarked last evening that the abandonment of the Singapore base was a magnificent gesture. The Doctor has been reading a good deal of advanced literature lately, and he finds that in really intellectual circles nowadays very considerable importance’ is attached to gestures. The word has lain relatively unused in the dictionary for a Ion". time, but a rising school in Socialist literary circles hhs rediscovered it. ’Hie gestures advocated are, of course, gestures of peace, and in time of national crisis would probably include as evidence of bona fides that gesture in which the hands are elevated above the head.

It is right, the Doctor feels, that having tried and found wanting the theory that being prepared for war prevents war, the leading nations should now test out the contrary belief that being unprepared for war prevents war. Even though being unprepared for war may not do altogether away with war immediately, it is possible that it may permit the nation to enjoy next time the. advantages that have on this occasion fallen to the lot of Germany and Turkey. These nations as soon as hostilities were over, were enabled to get on with their business without delay. "he unfortunate victors, on the other hand, v.ere obliged to support a vast army of diplomats at crushing expense for several years to draft peace terms, a business over which thev were continually falling out among themselves, and the uncertainties of which were extremely disturbing to their trade and commerce. It was true that Geirmany and Turkey had to send gentlemen over to sign treaties and documents, but the Doctor has studied these (costly documents attentively, and finds that no provisions whatever were inserted requiring the Germans or the Turks ever to read them. In London they are debating whether Mr. Ramsay MacDonald rides in the buses because he is democratic or because he is Scotch. Mr. George Toogood writes? —“I was very much interested to read the account of the expedition now fitting out in England to search for the treasure reputed to be hidden at Cocos Islands, off the coast of Costa Rica, and your remarks concerning the expedition of the late Mr. E. C. Mills, of Wellington, on a similar quest. I was present in London in 1912 when Mr. Mills was making ready to go, and was frequently in his company at the. time, and he told me all about the object of the trip. ,1 also met the two ladies you refer to, at the Lyceum Club, Piccadilly—one a Mrs. Till (not Tile), and the other a Mrs. Barrie Davies. There was also a Mr. Whitworth, who was associated with Mr. Mills in the venture. The ladies told me that they had very definite information as to the location of the hidden treasure, and they had maps and plans showing where it was supposed to be, but they would not divulge the source of their information. It was supjxised that this had come from some descendant of one of the old pirates concerned in “planting” the treasure. They were very estimable ladies' in every way, and there was no reason to doubt that they genuinely believed they could locate the treasure from the information, in their possession.”

Fpr the treasure hunt, Mr. Toogood adds, Mr. Mills had secured a small steamer, the Melmore, formerly a crossChannel packet between Southampton and Havre. “Apparently,” he adds, “the party had had a very trying time —what with the difficulty of landing in the surf, where their boat had been upset, being almost eaten alive by mosquitoes and land-orabs. and other animal inhabitants of the Island! They found that the island had been dug over and excavated by the many expeditions which had been there previously, so that, even if the treasure were there and they had tho right bearings as to where it was, the chances of finding it were very remote, owing to the alteration in the topography of the island. They spent several months there and finally gave up the search as a bad job, and returned to England empty-handed. I never actually met Mr. Mills again, although I had ’the opportunity of speaking to him on the telephone when I was again in England in 1915, in the service of the Ministry of Munitions during th ® war. He was then ill and died shortly afterwards, as a result. I was informed, of the privations sustained by him on the island.” Tho difference between borrowing a book from a friend and getting it from tho library is this: the book from the library must be returned. A lady reader interested in the latest medical theory about the cause of goitre asks whether or not iodine is present in common salt, and the same lady also being interested in the reading of character wants to know if it is a fact that character can be judged by the position of the eais. 'Both these questions were referred to Major Fitzurse, who replies:—(l) Jhe Major has found various things in the salt at his boarding-house but iodine is not among the number; (2) in the Major’s young days absence of the ears was a certain accurate clue to character. “Is there any hope?” asked the heir- . , , , “None.” replied the doctor; your uncle will recover.” A correspondent sends mo the following:— ~ ~ , , ‘This fellow tried to tell me that he has had the same car for five years, and has never paid a penny pairs on it,” said the fat man. Do you believe that?” ’ “I do,” replied the thin man. sadly. “I’m the man who did his repair work for him.” interlude. I pray you, do not urge me! Let mo lie . . , And rest and finish out my. weariness. Tho task I chose was difficult . . . and sweet— And wrung me dry of strength—and ocstacy. I do not care for sunlight now, today— Nor the companioning that I have known, .... Nor voices speaking trivial details — Nor food ... I do not even care for love — Just silence—shadows—and my narrow bed, With this wido window opened at my head. I am a shattered, empty vessel, now— A bird with broken pinions, reft of song— A stream with summer frozen on its breast. ... Let me lie still ... a little whiles , , . and rest. —Barbara Young.