POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 111, 6 November 1935, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and^Comment

BY PERCY FUCIIi

Mr. Forbes says that New Zealand is now out of its difficulties. It's different with the Government. * • * • '. Our sympathies are with,, the ' in vaded, but it is undeniable that the Italians are more pushful fellows. * ■ •■ " • One Democrat candidate insists that Mr. Hislop stands head and shoulders above any other politician of the day. That's pretty tall. * •■ ■ ■ . .♦ Should he return to ;the-. Greek throne, no one supposes for a moment that ex-King George, a practising artist, would paint Athens red in a blaze of exuberance. '* . * . ♦ HE DESERVED IT. A small boy (age' about 10 years)' called for money for his "guy." Thinking to have some, fun, I said I did not know who Guy was, and therefore did not feel like giving hini anything. The kid looked at me in astonishment and said: "Why, he was one of. the wicked thieves that was nailed on the Cross with Jesus"! (I gave him a shilling.). A.C. Lower Hu'tt. *' * * ANOTHER FOR THE PHILATELISTS. A forged stamp led last mbnth to a wedding in St. John's, Newfoundland. Mr. Harmer, the bridegroom, was engaged by the Newfoundland Government to testify in the matter of the supposed forgery of an air-mail stamp —a New Foundland "De Pinedo" (1927) —worth about £400. Mainly, on Mr. Harmer's evidence the forger was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On the voyage from England to Newfoundland the expert, met a lady of St. John's. You know th« rest. . ... ■ A WAY OUT. Dear Percy,—That- bloke O.P. who tried to break Gandhi's record has got things all wrong. If he would only follow out the example of Father Abraham he would not only fast, but would gather unto himself sufficient faith so that he could go to Mr. Kidsome and, for a small consideration, offer to go and say the magic word, and lo! the mountain would be removed. Failing this, why not interview that big chap who looks at you with a stony stare while drawing weird and intricate designs on his blotting-pad. You know; the chap I mean; his initials look like an advertisement for a meat-packing firm. He will show you how to starve scientifically, or out of a secret admiration for Gandhi will smash stU regulations and allow you forthwith, to join the honourable company ot dole receivers.—Yours, etc., B.W. * • ♦ STAND BY. Though far from'a "good thing," the gallant Peter Pan would have made it difficult for Marabou in yesterday's Melbourne Cup had his legs stood ta him, which reminds ;us of Stand By in 1924. He was in Jim Scobie^s stable, and Scobie was Australia's Dick Mason. Before he sprinted three furlongs on the morning of the Cup of that year Stand By had been.tried a certainty—unbeatable. After the gallop he showed signs of having -broken down. Scobie rushed,from.;.town to the course and almost gave* up.hope when he saw the filled leg. By-per-mission of the V.R.C. committee he was allowed to move the horse ta Flemington direct! Assisted by a paie of. vets, the stable hands worked on. the inflamed joint with hot' fomentations all the morning. Stand By -took: his place in the field and was only narrowly beaten for the rich prize by Backwood, a horse he would have lost had he been right. Stand By must have been ,bom under an evil star. In, his final work-out for a Sydney Cup a horse fell in front of him and brought him down, necessitating his scratching for the race, for which Scobie regarded him as a "moral.1 * "Tich" Wilson, who, while still ait apprentice, rode two Melbourne Cup winners for the stable, told us that Stand By had shown them such a hot mile that Scobie was not afraid evert, of Gloaming. PLEASE TO REMEMBER-— Though the sth is over, we publisht these lines because of the human toucH in them. Wide streets and narrow streets All echo to the cry In faint tones or loud tones, Low tones or high— "Please, sir, please, sir, A penny for the guy!" Little boys and big boj'S, Laughing girls arid shy, Mummies' little sonny boys With smiles and twinkling eye-» "Please, sir, please, sir, A penny for the guy!" Curly tops, or won't curl (No matter how you try), Brown eyes and grey eyes, Or blue as any sky— "Please, sir, please, sir, A penny for the guy!" Small men and tall men, With fair maids passing by, Loosen up their pockets Nor stop to reason why. "Here, sir, here, sir, A penny for the guy!" -, CLARINDA. **• ■ ■ ' PATAGONIA—AUSTRALIA'S Y.-JOU RIVAL. Wool figures recently cabled front Australia sent us searching for am article on the Patagonian sheep industry. It surprised us to read (on the' word of an authority) that in 40 years Patagonia has attained to the position of supplying approximately one-eighth of the world's wool clip. Figures for 1933 showed that Argentina and Chile between them had more than 50,000.000 sheep, most of them in Patagonia, and exported something like 1.000,000 bales of wool. Most of the wool, though, coarse, is of good quality. It remained for the hardy Scot to prove that Patagonia, with its harsh though bracing climale, its cold winter, and its bleak appearance, is a white man's country, as he had already done in the adjacent Falkland Islands. About the middle of last century, looking for further pastures for his sheep, he be* gaii to squat on its unoccupied space*. He found'that his flocks did well, in spite of the cold and the rain, with the result that today little land of any use remains vacant, and great sheep runs —the largest employs more than 2000 people—owned mostly by British companies, makes Patagonia a regioa entirely alien to the rest of the continent. Though governed by Chile and Argentina, the official language being Spanish, a majority of the population is Anglo-Saxon, a hardy, scattered breed, chiefly Australians, New Zealandevs, and Scots, who manage and work the sheep stations. These great plains, though unfertile and refusing to grow crops, except in scattered places, have proved eminently suitable for certain breeds of sheep— principally Romney Marsh. Lincoln, and Corriedales —particularly Tierra del Fuego, much of which possesses « rich black soil bearing nutritious forage plants and grasses, while the rainfall is abundant and the snow not to» heavy to do harm.