RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 129, 25 February 1938, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events •(By Kickshaws.) The Soviet Minister of War declares he has pailfuls of poison gas waiting for the enemies of Russia. The idea, we understand, is to make them kick the bucket.

Dummy lakes are being made in England to baffle air raiders bombing water supplies. The air raiders, it seems, get confused when they have too many similar spots.

Education, we note, should be in. der 'the board right from the start. Curiously enough this, it seems, is best calculated to keep education above board.

“In a recent ‘Dominion,’ ‘Teacher’ says that he (or she) does not know what a ‘bull’ is. Here's a good definition,” says “N.A.T.”—"If there were ten cows lying down in a field, and one of them was standing up, that would be a bull.”

An expert declares that prosperity in Britain is based on something firmer than a boom in armaments. This may be so, but how are we to tell if prosperity has really come to any country? it is said in New Zealand that the sales tax affords a reliable basis. The sales tax shows that people are buying more, but they do that when, by some form or other of financial wizardry, they have more money. Moreover, the sales lax increases when the price rises of the things bought. In Britain it is declared that one sign of prosperity is the annual return of millionaires, or people with incomes of more than £30.000 a year. There were more millionaires last year, it seems, but possibly the armament millionaire is not a thing of the past. Admittedly during the last slump the total of British millionaires fell 50 per eent.

There are all manner of signs used by all manner of people by which the prosperity pulse of a nation may be judged. London tobacconists have always declared that the demand for cigars is an excellent criterion of prosperity. The first and last puffs of prosperity go up in cigar smoke. The cigarette is born of the slump. Not, of course, that tobacco manufactures mind, because tobacco is tobacco whether in a cigar or a cigarette. Anyway, London tobacconists reported an increase in cigar sales as far back as 1934. It looks as if the tobacconists are correct about the cigar. Further weight of evidence in this respect may be had from the London Stock Exchange, where the popularity of the cigar has long been taken as a barometer of prosiierity. In fact, this view is neatly put m a stock exchange rhyme, printed at the foot of the column.

In America reliance is placed almost entirely on the sale of silk stockings as a barometer indicating the prosperity index of the country as a whole. During the slump it was a fact that American women bought cotton stockings and American men bought cotton stockings for the American women. About November, 1934, the sale of silk stockings rose and those in the know sat back and smiled at prosperity. The recent recession, it is understood, has caused a setback in silk stockings. It is said that, in contrast, the prosperity index for Scotland may be gauged by the sale of second-hand golf balls. In 1931 the sale of second-hand golf balls reached a record and caddies grew so rich they found it more profitable to set up as second-hand golf-ball experts th(in continue carrying golf implements. In 1934, however, more new golf balls were sold in Scotland, and for that matter elsewhere, than had been sold for two years previously. In New Zealand some say a sure test for prosperity is not the sales tax, but when farmers start to eat cream.

At the present time of hesitant diplomacy and run-out foreign secretaries it is particularly pleasing to note that the_autborities on cricket have at least decided that the eight-ball over shall be given a trial. It is, indeed, difficult to decide between this and the European situation. All good cricketers will retain their own views on the eightball over despite the fact that this subject has been as controversial and hesitant as dlpomacy. In 1887 the over consisted of four balls. Earlier still it had consisted of an unstated number, depending upon the staniina of the bowler. The over was raised to five in 1889 and to six in 1900. In 1922 it was resolved in Australia to constitute eight balls an over. This was extended to New Zealand in 1924. Somehow we feel that the eight-ball over is not a permanent feature on the cricket field. Some of those bowlers who take an unusually long run before delivery run the best part of a mile during the over. The eight-ball over places too much importance upon the Lovelocks of the cricket field.

The one thing that has remained unchanged since cricket became cricket is said jo be the cricket ball. Except for one interlude it is claimed by a maker of cricket balls that he makes to-day a cricket ball exactly the same size and weight as wa§ made by his ancestors 370 years ago. This may be the case or not, but the rest of the apparatus has changed considerably. The headgear, for example, appropriate to the game was once considered to be the furry, fiat-brimmed top hat. The bats, moreover, were weird weapons hewn from solid pine trunks. There was no limit to their size. This may partly explain the wiles of the bowler who delivered his ball along the ground. The wicket was low and there was no other way of getting a man out. It was not until 1740 that length bowling came into vogue in contrast to bias bowling of the old days. Nevertheless, the wickets were still wide and contained two stumps. So many balls passed between these stumps without disturbing the wicket that in 1775 the third stump was introduced, to the dismay of the batsmen and the joy of the bowlers.

“I wonder if you or any of your readers could give me the name of some book containing poems of 'Gerady.' an Australian lightshoreman?” asks “M.S.” “Recently, while reading the official war history of a New Zealand regiment I came across several quotations from his ‘Mounted Men of Maoriland,’ and I would like to obtain the full version. Some of your readers might have a copy they wish to sell.”

In answer to the question to what people of international repute lie was referring in his address on Sir Truby King, the Bishop of Wellington has kindly supplied the following information:—“The third person of international repute to whom I referred in my address <fn Sir Truby King was Dr. Cockayne. Of course, Sir Ernest Rutherford was the other.’’

After the rise the fall. After the boom, the slump: After the fizz and the fat cigar. The cigarette and the hump. —Stock exchange rhyme.