POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 2, 2 July 1940, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY PLAGE

Northland: What'll be the outcome of the increased tax income? «■ « '* Let us join the guessers. Balbo's death was due to nothing more than an ordinary aeroplane accident. w * «• The difference between the Nazis and the Italians is that the former are experts at hit-and-run and Benito's warriors just run. * * * Henry: Then, there was that brave Italian officer who, when he saw the foe advancing, drew his sword and cut up a side street. * * # No Capitalist: I am concerned lest the 2s 6d in the £ left to the capitalist will not cover postage on returns he will have to make to the Government. And how will be pay hi» amusement tax? * ■» « NOT*WHAT THEY MEAN. . The Chinese refer rather broadly to the English as Eminent People, the French as Law-loving People, and the. Americans as. Beautiful People. But let us not be too flattered. The Chinese have a habit of referring to the people of another country by the nearest phonetic approach to that country's name in their own language. The nearest Chinese word to English is Yang (though it does not look much like it)., and Ying means Eminent. The nearest to French is Fa or Law-loving, while the word May, meaning Beautiful, is as near as any word in the Chinese tongue to American, * ■» # RAREST EGG KNOWN. What is believed to be the rarest egg in the world has been acquired > by the Natural History Museum in London. It is the only known egg of the extinct Lesser or Kangaroo Island emu, and was found about a century ago hanging in a seal-hunter's hut on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. It has lately come to light in a large collection which was sold intact in London four years ago. The best-known rarities-of the egg-collectors' market are the eggs of the extinct great auk, which about eighty are known. They are worth about £1200 each. OFF COLOUR. An unusual dinner party was given recently by Samuel G. Hifofoen, illumination engineer, to demonstrate the effect of colour not only upon the sense of sight, tout upon the related senses of taste, touch, and smell. There "was gay music, and food and drink of the'best, ■'but instead of ordinary lighting in the dining-room, special filter lamps cut off all colours except greens and reds. The guests strolled in in high spirits, and saw steaks that were'whitish grey, celery a gaudy pink, salads an ashen, violet, and fresh green peas that looked like black caviare; milk was the colour of "blood, the coffee a sickly yellow. Most of the guests -could not , eat. Some who did became ill. The experiment though not the dinner, was a complete success. , Contributed £y TERRY. ':: ; -■'-'- ~■' «k- -.} I*^#. r- -■-■' f4» » PHILATELIC. Stamp collectors may find at least a passing interest in this note contributed by "Lickem," Wanganui: Perhaps the most extraordinary Post Office Cancellation mark now available for collectors is the "Sea Floor" postmark of the Bahamas!* By, official order a post office has been opened in a "photosphere" which is regularly lowered to the sea bed off Nassau for the purpose of examining the scientific wonders of the underwater world. This post office, which is only six feet long and ten feet broad, sells special souvenir postcards for the visitors permitted to use it for a trip to the ocean floor. The cards are given a special cancellation mark reading "Sea Floor —Bahamas" and the date, while in addition there is a printed inscription on the card showing that it was posted in the photosphere under water. These cards are stamped as a rule with the recently issued fourpenny stamp 'of Bahamas, the vignette of which shows a view taken on the sea floor by a special camera from tho photosphere. The first two letters dispatched from this unique post office were addressed to King George VI and President Roosevelt. Already these cards are being eagerly sought by collectors in search of curiosities, though the more serious philatelist considers them of no permanent interest. . ■"'.''■ ■ '* »■•■■■*• HAIL, BRITANNIA! Island Fortress, grand and hoary, Freedom's Bastion, there stand With- your centuries of glory Gleaming bright on every hand. All the world knows your great story— Liberty's own Motherland! All your children hear you calling. Lands which o'er far oceans lie, Stirred by countless needs enthralling; j Rally to your battle-cry. lOn their ears its strains are falling— "Free we live —or else—we die!" Island Fortress, brave, undying, Man's sure hope where'er he be, Free men all, with you allying, Fight right on to victory. Proud they see your banners flying—. Motherland of Liberty! CROWBAR ■>* * * THE BEATTYS. | 33ear Percy Flage,—Regarding your inquiry in last night's Column 8 of j the Beatty family and the place of i their birth and their marital state, and i whether there were any brothers. Both i ladies were married. Maud, the older iof the two (and what a dashing "boy" j she was! ] married a man. who was New i Zealand representative for an English distilling firm, and she left the boards and lived in Sydney. Her married name has escaped me after all these years. May, the younger of the two, | was a clever young actress, and they were both in Pollards for a long time. May married an actor named Edward Laurie, and they both appeared together in many plays in Aussie and New. Zealand and in England. May in later years developed into a clever character actress, and both she and her husband were top-liners for many years. Now regarding the brothers. There were two, perhaps three, but there were two for certain, Fred and Harry. I went to school with them both in Chriitchurch. Mrs. Beatty, the mother, was proprietress of the Palace Hotel and Theatre Royal, in Gloucester Street, Christchurch.. The girls and the boys were, I think, born in Christchurch, because we were kids together, and that alas! was ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty-six, or more yean ago. "LATIMER SQUARE.* P.S.-r-As a constant patron of Column 8 for the rich and dainty fare provided at your table, I makes -my bow and dips me lid to yer. Vive'*le Flage!