POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 118, 20 May 1937, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

Bt Perct Flage.

Impartial observers believe that the Government will live up to its promises —if it doesn't die in the meantime. Television impresses Mr. Savage as a potential Empire link, but there is no guarantee that it will make our politicians, any the more far-seeing. * • * That Sydney business man got off lightly, with a fine of £20 for kissing his typist. .It has cost many a man a 1 fur coat. * * # Mr. Downie Stewart says that no particular party has a monopoly of truth. That's not the . Government's view, anyhow. ■■-..*. • • RUNS IN THE BLOOD.-. II Duce might do worse than; consider'entering a large body of his heroic soldiery for the next .Olympic.1 '■" They sure do' hold sonic running recordf already. ■ " • ■•'■" •■' ■ ■' TIMI P.- '■■. ■'■■. '••'■■■•' "■..•■• ■■• •; TO A SOUTHERLY, : "■;■■■■■■■ ; (Sh-fc-sp-r-) ' '-'.'■,' Blow, blow, thou winter wind, .. ■ Thy blast is not so blind As man's outlawry rude. . Thy tooth is not so keen As casuistic spleen Of putrid platitude. ''"";. ; Soon .thou wilt be bated, ; Mail will; still be hated— .His furies riot forgot : Thou'rt not so foul an elf As misdirected'sell . . .' Of Truth regarded not. :' . : . ,•■•'. MacBILI* ; SUDDEN' DEATH. '■: • [ K.S. writes.—The sudden death of a guest while returping'thanks for a presentation, at a farmers' function A in | Ashburton, recalls an. equally, dramatic [incident which occurred at No. 10 Downing: Street, the official' residence of the British Prime Ministers, in London, just over fifty years ago. "When Lord Salisbury reconstituted his Ministry, for some reason best known to himself, he dropped Lord Iddesleigh, formerly Sir Stafford Northcate, for years Disraeli's associate, .from the Foreign Office, taking that . portfolio himself. Iddesleigh declined, a minor post which had been offered him, and on January 12, 18S7, walked, across from the Foreign .Office to 10 Down-' ing Street, to say farewell to Lord Salisbury.. As he was speaking to Iddesleigh had a heaurt seizure and dropped down dead. Sali». buiys remorse was profound.: ': t ■■•■■.- »..'■. .. 'it:1 .'■': •1 .Y.-.Vy.'- : : DICTATORS' ■ POCKET ■■ MONEY.: 'It may interest those; who regard Dictators, as. a class, obliquely, that, while they possess big; incomes, they rarely have : any pocket ; money. Stalin's salary is £900 a year less than Professor Shelley's; Mussolini's £450 less. Hitler's is nearly three times ai much—but he.never draws it! ' Mar-. shal Smigley-Rydz, of Poland, pulls down £2230, Dr. Schuschnigg.receives £ 1140. General Franco -gets! less. than we^do per annum, and another-£IOO a year wouldn't do us any'harm. However, lack* of pocket money doesn't worry a Dictator. ...He never needs to spend any;, almost everything he. requires is provided for. Several of them,, notably ..Hitler, and,,.. Mussolini, haye1 large private ' incomes—all of them have large secret; Stat- funds under their control. They are not obliged to tell anyone what - they do with, these funds. Mussolini has the largest secret ftrhd. Also, he is the sole owner of the newspaper "Popolo d'ltalia 1^ and a farm, and is one of the world's highest paid writers. Like Hitler, he is mostly a vegetarian, * non-smoker, and non-drinker. ;. * ■■ *-.-»■ MORNING TEA MONOLOGUE. (Suggested by "Omitted From th« .List") I'm sore.\ I reckon that-I got A dinkum grievance. Like as no^ For two pins, dearie, I will write An' ask the A.P.M. tonight ■)■ \j Why I. am missin' from the crowd Uv med'lists. I could cry aloud . Nq# bear* there—me, who. for years 'As in this column dried the tears— . Widders'-'n'-orphans' ... made 'e« . smile1 .'.'"■' .;. In days of ariguishment-'n'-trial; Me who 'aye voted straight-'n'-true For Peter Fraser once I knew, Hees worth; me who- 'aye done my bit To 'elp my country, all uv it, J' By never lettin" Fortune's frown Get any uv our people down.' . If that ain't service an' good tact I don't know what is—that's a fact.. It looks like- favour, goes by kissin' , That lam always posted missin 1, ' An' a. bootlicker like ole :* Can go an' make the 'Onours' ——f I, even ain't been .made J.P.— Though that .no longer troubles m«; I'm flyin" now at 'igher game, Trustin' one time to land the same, When right-'n'-justice will pervail, ', The which, uv course, can't always fail, Service an' social righteousness Is, dear, my P.O. Box address. Indeed, I'd reckoned I 'ad scored If put upon a Rabbit Board, Which cannot be, I'm glad to say. But any'ow, I 'ope one day The mail from hoversea will bring A little medal from the King For service well-'n'-truly done ... Pass me the butter an' a bun..'.. . * —An irresponsible citizen, t—Clue iriadmissable. . . j•| ' ' .'■•■.:.' _•'.'." * ■'; THREE-SCORE AND—WHEN? , Dear Flage, Although records of extreme longevity have tb be taken with caution, some remarkable ■instances have recently been published oh reiPuted good authority. When reading that a c.ertain'Thomas Cam was born in 'London In 1588 and died in 1795, aged two hundred and seven, having survived twelve Kings of England, one is startled into a—Can this be true? complex. Yet the same authorities instance two other Toms (no connection with, those claimed to have "nine" lives), one, Thomas. Jenkins, born in Yorkshire in 1500, died in 1670, at Bolton, aged one hundred and severity; the | other, the 'better-known Thomas Parr, .who "at the age of one hundred and | fifty had the .appearance of a strong iman of sixty. Both scorned to even consider surrender at a mere three-score-and-ten. But ' the mir,acle of 1 miracles, in the light of modern records '■■ of recurring biennial and triennial 1 divorce suits, is the felicity of Charlotte Desson, of" Tenesvar, wife of Jeanßovin (who belied his name),' the former one hundred and sixty two and fee latter one hundred and seventy two when they died, their marriage having lasted one hundred and fortvseven years. Surely the "rarest" TDarby

The secret'of longevity is stated to be simple'living habits; to be both altruistic and optimistic; to eschew thf drastic wear and tear of hatred oenvy—and still find life worth livin; Intemperate, or temporate, indulgent in political controverseis is left to individual inclination, or self-control, as being something more allied to mental rather than physical indigestion, or other ills flesh is heir to.