A DROP IN THE BUCKET

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 64, 12 September 1924, Page 7

A DROP IN THE BUCKET

PHRASES IN PERSPECTIVE;

If you like a good wax story, short, sharp, and decisive, get hold of "The Green Curve," by "(Jle Luk-Oie" (the norn de plume' of a very gifted literary Englishman). The title of the book is taken from the first story. The best story of the lot is "The Second Degree," but there is another story which tells of a modern battle, during the progress of which the commander-in-chief takes his fishing rod and his pipe, and wanders along a river bank. On his return to his headquarters a scaredlooking staff officer tells him that a whole battalion has been wiped out. The others stand in silence in front of the big war map, adjusting the flags. The command er-iu-chief breaks a tense interval with an assuring remark: "Proportion, gentlemen, proportion." In other words, in a battle in which whole army corps were engaged the loss of a battalion was a, mere drop in the bucket. A million of money seemed a lot before the war. It became a drop in the ! bucket compared to tho billions which. [ were swept into the shambles of that epic struggle. The perspective of a phrase changes to suit the circumstances i ! of the case. . j j. This Dominion in its colonial days j . gasped . when the Government of that time borrowed two millions to save the ! Bank of New Zealand. A mere drop in i the bucket compared with the loans which are raised nowadays. Some people say that'£2s,ooo is a lot! of money for a, war memorial. Com- j j>ared to what it cost to equip the New j Zealand Expeditionary Forces it is a I tiny_ trickle. As a mark of the city's j gratitude to the men who gave their ! lives it is little enough. j £15,000 of the amount is already in I hand. £10,000 remains to be collected. '■. A mere drop in the bucket when you think of the size of the city's population : —well over the 100,000 mark, by the last Census. What will other cities say —what will Auckland say—if we fail? We must not fail. Donations may be sent direct to the •secretary, War Memorial Committee Box 199, G.P.0., Wellington.