POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 85, 12 April 1939, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE •

Don't be too certain. There may be a big black wolf around the cornei", garbed in a sheepskin overcoat. * «■ * Harihaha.—-New Zealand's insulation policy ought to be a pretty sound defence —if it will stand up to the voltage. * • • It isn't safe to talk to farmers about the finest Easter for many years. .v The Labour Conference has expressed confidence in Mr. Nash as Ministerof Finance. Can you pick one dissenti* * ent, at least? * * » Add similes: One who is always ready to pour oil' on the troubled flames. , ■ ■ , . "JROSENEATH." * * * ADAM .LINDSAY' GORDON. "No tears are needed —fill out the wine. Let the goblet clash, and the grape ' juice flow: Ho! Pledge me a death-drink, comrade mine, To a brave man gone where we all must go." (A.L.G. wrote this. Sent in by "Roseneath.") » » * POLITICAL STRATEGY. V Dear Flage,-—ls it true that one of ■ the coming qualifications for every . politician and political leader of the people in time of peace is his or her personal ability to lead the troops in . the front trenches in time of war? Words indeed will then become 'hot ia action. HOPEFUL. * , « * # A WOMAN'S MIND. What is lighter than a feather? Dust, my friend, in driest weather. What's lighter than the dust, I pray? The wind that wafts it far away. , What is lighter than the wind? The lightness of a woman's mind. And what is lighter than the last? - Nay! now, my friend, you have m« fast. AUTHOR UNKNOWN. » *. ■ '*..■•. MACHINE THAT TALKS. Now we have a machine that talkst , It will be one of the most fascinat- Jl ing features of the New York WorldjgM Fair this year. It is called the Voder«M (voice operation demonstrator) and it|^| talks in any language, sings, laughs,^H screams, and imitates any animal. It resembles a large accounting machine V or oversized typewriter and is played W with keys and foot pedal like an ■ organ, which mix the sounds and W control the inflexions in the manner 1 of the human voice. Although the 1 voice appears to have a slight "eleo • trical accent," its ability to speak complete sentences amazed spectators ' when they first Heard it. It takes about a year to train an operator to manipulate the machine expertly. At the demonstration, it is said, the machine managed to say with perfect distinctness, "Patience is necessary,", be- ; sides putting together as words numbers of vowel and consonant sounds and pronouncing, at least as correctly as the people that asked for them, several difficult foreign words. * * » INFORMATION DEPARTMENT. L.B.W. (Palmerston North) asks ■ whence the term "hat trick" is derived. We now speak of almost any feat " ' performed three times in succession as ! a "hat trick," though its most fre- ■ quent use is still connected with the ' taking of three wickets with - three • successive? balls. But originally it was > used only as referring to cricket. The • fact that the phrase is "hat trick" and 5 not "cap trick" is some indication of t its age. It originated in a custom that 3 prevailed among certain .cricket clubs i in the days when men played in hats. , It was simply that any bowler who t bagged three wickets in succession was i entitled to a new hat at the expense of - the club. • I A.J. (The Black Cap).—-Hope vto I have the information you pre- • sently. i Tommy.—Nelson is officially a city. t E.L.M. (Wanganui).—The "Ears to , Ear" Bible was so called because Matt. ) xii, 43, in an edition of 1810, reads: t "Who hath ears to ear, let him hear." i * « * I TO NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN.' (By a Former Friend.) ~ - I don't love you, Neville Chamber* 1 lain,'" 1 I don't love you any more; ! I thought I'd netted you for sure ! By insincerities galore; 1 But you've beguiled me shamefully, - You have taken me down a peg; 1 I thought 'twas only I who knew Just how to "pull a leg." 1 That gentlemanly mind, I felt, My net will sure entrap; ; "He's mine," thinks I, "is Neville!" But you've somehow found a gap{ Yet," don't let that .elate you, Don't treat my might with scorn; ; 1 I'll bag you yet, my Neville, As sure as you are born. I'm going to show a timorous world That master, I own none; I'm the Naziest of Nazis, I am German Number One. ; The Nazi is the master man, i God's instrument today; : Though to others we grant freedom,' It is freedom to obey. ; I do not care a continentAl damn who calls me liar, ■ I am not concerned with ethics, My aims are vastly higher;, v . There's I and Mussolini—why, We've got you by the nose; '■' Our plans, you foolish Neville, ! It is madness to oppose. R.J.P. - ** . * CORRECTION. Sir, —In tonight's issue (10/4/39) you state in answer to a question that i Mussolini was once a Communist, being i enrolled in the Communist Party when i he was 24 years old. Where you get your information ■ from only you know, for not only is the statement untrue, but is impossible of being true. Reason: There was no Communist Party in Italy when Mussolini was 24 years old, the Communist Party of Italy being formed only in 1919 or 1920. What is true is that Mussolini was an opportunist who joined the Italian Socialist Party for his own aggrandisement, and used the party as a vehicle for his own ends, deserting same when offered a bribe by the French Foreign Office. For a guide to Mussolini's life and character, prior to and after his pullout, I suggest reading "Sawdust Caesar" and "Memoirs of a Barber." Both books, I believe, can be obtained in almost any decent-sized bookshop, certainly any shop dealing with political works. Yours, etc., W. A. JAMIESON. The error was due to our footling carelessness: our source of informs* tion said Socialist, not Cor»munist.— PJP.