POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 53, 31 August 1934, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

BY PERCY FLAGE

Chronicle and Comment

As many uf our products /boast a patron bird saint, so to speak, what about morepork for the Meat Board ? The kangaroo had a, dry time at Manchester and Lord's, but he should be in his element among the hops of Kent. ' ■ ■ • : » # # :.Some couples marry for better 'or worse, others for more or less, but. many, nowadays, to get an increased emolument from the Unemployment Board. .. " . ~■■■■■■'■"•' ■'• * # * ..-..■■■ P. 0.8.— •■■-■.. I was no whit astoundod to read, your roport of the American, lady who has been in. a trance for two and a half years—we have several typists at th« office like that. - * * * •••,■■ THE BLUE SHIRTS. Employer (to office boy, after redd* ing about the "Blue Shirts" in Ireland): "Well, 'what do you think about these "Blue Shirts"? . ' Office boy (wearing a blue shirt): Oh, they are good for not showing tn* dirt! ' - ... ■ ERNEST. * ■-• . * ■,■■■' . LAST OF A LONG LINE. : Talking of strange professions, here. is another—besom making. This ancient heather broom, industry is now in!' the hands of a Durham man,.who is SO years of \ age, and the last of a lgng line.. Many of the tools he uses date back 200 years, and. the secret processes in the trade have been handed down: from father to son over generations. AN ANCIENT LOAN. As Greece is prominent iii the cable news just now, you may be interested to hear that that on.cc great people have not yet paid off a loan borrowed from, Britain as far ikek as 1832. The loan was authorised in the reign of William IV, and down to 1871 £1,381,071 had been advanced. By the same year the Greek Government had paid back £98,397, and £32,000 had been relinquished in favour of the late King George 1 of the Hellenes at the rate of £4000 a year. The sum outstanding in 1871 was ;thus £1,220,674, and since, then Greece has paid £543,620, while £164,866 had been relinquished in favour of the late King George I. Thus the amount due from the Greek Gov-< eminent at the end of last year was £512,187, and negotiations are now proceeding in respect of that sum. «- . ■« ' » ■ ■" iTJN IN THE ADS. Dear Percy Plage,—Occasionally _on« comes across a gem of unconscious humour in the advertising, columns of tho daily and trade Press.. Here are a, couple of example's which found my risible faculties. From the Sydney. "Bulletin":— Wanted to' exchange, a. largo number of "John o' London Weeklies" for something useful. From "Film Weekly" (motion picture trade journal): — THE WANDERING JEW. David Lake Reviews his Recent EastWest Visit. Wonder how the genial sales-manager of M.G.M. felt when he saw-the lay-out of that advertisement over the letterpress of his business trip through Aussie1! L.M. it * «.- INCREASED ARMAMENTS. The Leaguo Armament Tear Book' (note cable, August 30) revoals interesting figures,. but, according to secret service advices, such compilations are rarely adequate. It was not the League's statistics which disclosed that in 1929 threo countries, including China, Japan, France (!), Spain, and Belgium reported Germany ' as- their chief arms. exporter, or published tho following facts about Russia's muni-' tions industry. Chemicals are produced: at Berezniki, tanks at Cheliabinsk, and guns at the new machine shops in Sverdlovsk, modelled on the Krupp works at Essen. The great arms firms. of the world include Schneider-Creusofc in France, Mitsui in, Japan, Bethlehem; Steel in U.S.A., and Skoda in Czechoslovakia. They and their subsidiaries' probably account (it is said) for 75 per cent, of the world's arms production, Schneider's made a profit of 26,000,000 francs in 1931. Skoda, the chief arms purveyor in the Balkans, declared a dividend of 28$ per cent., also in 1931. The chief Italian arms firms pc Breda in Milan and Ansaldo m Turin. Thoir best markets are Spain and Greece. Krupp, which employed 70,000 men. in its big days, is supposed to control the Bofors Ordnance Company in Sweden, which is affiliated with tho Nobel interests. Krupp has connections in Holland and Switzerland also. , » . * • A-WONDERING. Morning Mrs. Hicks, morning M«. Brown, Making up for rain again 'Twill soon ba coming down. Just see tLis skirt I've been and dyed; It's come out all in streaks. But there! the lovely things I'd wear If I was Mrs. Breeks, Or my old man got quids a week For setting on a board, Or I was Lady So-and-so And married to a Lord. But I finds myself a-wondering Just what on earth they'd do , . ■ If all they gofwas from "relief,1 * The same as me and you. M. SIRRO*' . ~ »...«. ••-■■, IN REBUTTAL, Dear Percy Flage,—Would you kindlr, find space in your ever-popular column for this in fairness to the Aussiesf Concerning the first Rugby Test,. Mr. Gcddes remarked on his return (vide "E.P."):— The first Test was absolutely spoiled by tho referee allowing the Australian hooker to hook the ball illegally. We simply could not get the ball, through the illegal ta-cties of the hooker in ad'vanciag his foot beyond the imaginary, line before the ball was in, and then swinging his foot back to hook as tha ball came in, etc. .Now, "Light Blue," writing for tha "Sydney Mail," 15/8/34, states:— From my own position, right opposite the half-way line, and looking down on the grim battle, the best possible view was obtained. :. . Ross kicked threo goals in quick succession from penalty kicks, which should warn New Zealand of the unwisdom of infringing as they did so frequently tho letter and the spirit of the laws. . . . One wondered how long referee Cooney would bo tolerant of the unfair advantages being taken —by., centre-three-quarters offside while the ball was in, tho scrum, by players obstructing and interfering with an opponent who had kicked or passed the ball, and by the hooker who throw his feet across tho scrum mouth. "Caught at last," was the crowd's comment. Not that Australia, was wholly, fault-free, for offside "winging" by Bridle, Mackney, and Hodgson was. often unobserved by the referee, who otherwise controlled in good stvlc. «FIFT : y-MFWES'