POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1942, Page 4

POSTSCRIPTS

BY PERCY FLAGE

Chronicle and Comment

Hitler has come to realise that the Russians are no mudlarks. * * ,* Have a heart, Laval; you almost lost it some months ago. * '» * That fierce tough-necked Rommel Is not a Beau Brummel. * # # -- Quisling is going to put a full-length statue to himself in Norway. Evidently he's tired of being no more than ' a mere figure-head. ,** * " Add howlers: Dirt track racing is a comparatively new sport, so called from the unclean habits of the riders. It is only playable at night with betting. * * * NIPPY. P. Hipps's little fantasy in your column yesterday might be taken a little further. The crab (China, Russia, America, Britain) will take a nip at the Axis next .July, when Cancer the Crab is the constellation in charge, and.then the jig will be up (for Japan, Italy, Germany). K.K. * * * CORRECTION. A correction has to be made' regarding the statement (in Information last Tuesday) that there were "street call iron boxes ..." used in Dunedin, Lyttelton, and Wellington several years before the Telephone Exchange arrived. G.P.0., whom we approached beforehand on the point, rang yesterday indicating that there had been , some misunderstanding on both sides as to the street call boxes. The explanation is that the first slot telephones appeared on August 17, 1910, in the and Lambton railway stations. This clears up the matter. Our thanks to the G.P.O. * - ♦ ♦ POOR TOMMY-GUN. A Japanese guerrilla of the Far East jungle would be no match for a Chicago gangster of the "bad old days" though both were armed with tommyguns. This is the verdict reached during a discussion on military methods before correspondents oversea recently.. "We have dignified the Japanese auotmatic rifle by calling.it a 'tommygun'," said an Army spokesman. "Ac- ■ tually it is far inferior in firing power J to the Thompson sub-machine-gun. It makes a great noise, but can be con- ; trolled only with difficulty." The Jap • weapon has a bore of only 0.265 centi- ! metres—a little bigger than a boy's I 'hunting, rifle. It is the smallest auto- ' m~stic"'rifle_in military use in the 3 world/ "-75'"'"'-. I - .♦ . ♦-,- # . j FIGHTIN^ON.; r . c i The prime secret'".■why,..Russia fights.. > on with such magnificent:courage and; ; success is revealed in "Russiai-Figb^^s. . On," by Maurice Hindus, who knoijra I his subject well. It is that for years . Russia has made herself not only into * I a fighting but into a shooting nation. ! "Throughout all the years of political i wrangling in the Kremlin, of leaders , conspiring against one another, cbn- ■ demning, ousting, and destroying one l another, the preparation of the army and the civilian population for the . most desperate kind of war has never ■ halted. In the factory the rifle has ; remained almost as much the daily companion of the worker as his work I tools." The Ospviakhim—Civilian Council of National Defence—prepared ■ the Russian people for war in every detail—parachute jumping, gliding, sharpshooting, chemical defence, .and anti-aircraft—in just such a life-and-i death struggle as arose when " Hitler ■ invaded Russia. ; * ,^ HERE'S NEWS. = nis~rThis paragraph appeared In a leader . in an English coun,ty f'hewspaper, the ; Cumberland "Herald":— Marshal Tfmbshenko is the son of a i Welshman who married a Russian, and I his real name is Timothy Jenkins, now • Russianised to Timoshenko. Timo- ■ sheriko's father, Charles Jenkins, went I out to Russia in 1880 as a technician. : That's a feather in the cap of the I men of Harlech. That he is half- ■ Welsh probably accounts for the- fact , that he has been able to escape from , some of the tight corners. Timo's : grandfather was the Rev.? Caractacus : Jenkins, a fine Nonconformist preacher ; of both English and Welsh languages, and he was a Welsh bard. His Christian name ought to be a good omen, for Caractacus chivvied the Romans out of Wales, or, at least, kept them busy until he was betrayed. If Timoshenko can chivvy Hitler round Europe—and he seems to have made a good beginning—the Celtic King ought to crown him bard for all time. We are obliged to',M.T. for sending us this interesting note. / * * * MORNING TEA MONOLOGUE. We'll 'aye a dinkum mornin* tea, Real 'ot stuff, dear, for you'n me, Such as we 'aven't 'ad before That blanky idgit started war. Let there be corfee mixed with cream, An' eats what will taste liker dream, Pikelets an' sponge an' fair me rangs, An' cake, some of the best what 'angs Sweet on the lips, an' if we could, A second cup. Let's go it good ! Seem' as fate with song-'n'-dance Threatens to give our sect a chance Who'd like to work without no shams ! Each day an' night-time on our trams. JDidden you read about it? Well, It's right as I are proud to tell. The noos as I 'aye seen came forth From Auckland city up the north, An' when 'er trammies all are gorn To face Axes blades with scorn Me an' me sisters brave-'n'-true Will do the job our boys did do. Conducterin' will soot me nice In unyform at any price. , Givin' Hie tickets will be great, An'- 'elpin' prams in sooner late, An' keepin' drunkids quiet—oh, my ... Why, dearie, does a dock go dry? * * * REDHEADS! Cleopatra had red haif, and. used it to full advantage to get two Roman rulers to forget their generals and their families back in Rome. Elizabeth of England was also redheaded. And an upstanding queen and ruler she wasi Unlike Cleopatra, Elizabeth kept her heart to herself. Sarah Bernhardt, the glamorous French dramatic actress, was another important redhead who had a violent temper and a variety of love affairs. Five Presidents of the United States were distinctly redheaded. Thomas Jefferson, the third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, was warmly "ginger." Andrew * Jackson, seventh President, had an impulsive temper which led to duels with . pistols. General Ulysses S. Grant was another redhead. So was Galvin, Coolidge, but neither of these was regularly excited. Napoleon was biologically a redhead: he had chestnut hair flecked; - with red. And wasn't he hot-tempered! Many Italians and negroes are masked redheads.. Redheaded negroes are; a perfectly natural occurrence, even in. Africa. Redheads have one advantage." Not one in a hundred goes, bald, ■ ■ '