POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 4

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAC.E

The Rising 'Sun appears to. have had a stroke. "* ■ , «- * . * . Since he first star-ted on the soap box Hitler has made about 1500 public speeches. Or screeches. . » ■ •::- . « S. L. Sharpe, Kenilworth, sent this— Put zips'on your lips When thinking of ships. » ■):- w "I hear you, Berliners have been living on rats," said a neutral • visitor to an inhabitant. The German looked wistful. "Ah! Those were the days!"' he breathed. ■ c * # ■■ London daily: ... if an army wants a batch of Fabian fuss-pots to mollycoddle it. it will face the real rigours of war not as a force of .tough guys* but as a rabble of valetudinarians. « * ♦ BUSHIDO. No one need be deceived by the Japanese professions of chivalrous conduct according to what they term the centuries old code of Bushido, writes William Firth. , This is what the late Professor Chamberlain once wrote: "So modern a thing is Bushido that neither Kaempfer, Siebold, Satow/ nor Rein, all men knowing their Japan by heart, ever allude to it in their voluminous writings. The cause of their silence is not far to seek. Bushido was unknown until a decade or two ago. The ver£ word appears in no dictionary, native or foreign, before 1900." ■» * * APOLOGY. "Stop bothering me. I am a b*usy man," a workman said to Rear-Admiral Harry Yarnell. Admiral Yarnell, retired ex-Commander-in-Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet, was inspecting an electric boat company's submarine building plaht. The Admiral saluted and _,walked away. A moment later the 'workman realised who it was that had tapped him'on'the shoulder, ran after him, and apologised. "No apology is necessary," replied the Admiral, shaking hands with him. "That is the kind of answer we like to hear." * * • ENGLISH. If you knew English you would know 455,000 words. French boasts a few thousands less. Germany has only 150,000 words in her vocabulary. This is hardly believable when Hitler is giving a speech. Italy and Russia have each 140.000 words. Spain has only 120,000. When.it comes to speed, however, we are well down the list The French language can be spoken at the rate of 350 syllables a minute. Japan comes into the picture with a speed of 310 syllables, and Germany has 250 syllables a minute. We come below that even, fdr our speed is only 220 syllables a minute. Af a comparison, the natives of the South Seas rarely speak faster than 50 syllables a minute. -::- ■ ■ ' ■ * * GOOD OLD WELLINGTON. Dear Percy Flage,—l thought you may be interested in an extract from a letter of a son of mine in a camp at Kaikohe, North Auckland. He. says: - "We are having absolutely lousy weather up here —I could never have believed that rain, could fall so heavily and for so long, that winds could blow'So hard (remember ■ I am a Wellingtonian) or be so cold, and that fogs couldvfall in; so. regular ,■*,-• nightly routine .'. .it makes me sick when I think of the expression, 'the winter Jess North.' After a few months up here one thinks of Wellington as the 'sunny (!) South.' We have already had several sharp frosts." Will I let good old Wellington down/ and tell him of May's record-breaking efforts?. I think not. Many thanks for your column, which I enjoy muchly.—Yours faithfully, LILIAN E. FYFE. -;:- *• * FASCISTS IN US. MINT? The other day I got hold of a new silver 10 cents coin, about the size of sixpence. On the front there is an allegoric head and the word "Liberty." So far so good. But imagine my surprisewhen I discovered that on its back there was the Fascist symbol, the bundle of rods tied round the-axe, called Fascio in Italian. Mussolini made this old Roman emblem (lat. Fasces) the symbol of his party from the beginning. In ancient Rome this bundle was carried by the Lictors, > these being something like police officers. Later, however, this sign used to symbolise law and order, and was also used by the French Republic long before Fascism existed. Should its reappearance on the American dime mean that Fascism is now worth just about sixpence?— Yours faithfully,' V. E. CLAIRVILLE «• ■•»•♦. HARD LINES ■ t (On the telephone). Look, Flage! I hope ye're no offended At onything I hae contended. Guid men, ye ken, hae been up-ende'' When jumpin' hurdles. At mony things no comprehended The bluid just curdles. If folks were born wi* names thatrhyme, 'Twad save us chaps a lot o time Scratchin' the intellectual grime For words tae fit. Patronymics I ca' sublime—' Are Muss an' Hit. The great Mikado who we knew In oor young days as Mick O'Doo, Is yin o' that infernal* crew , Whase appellation Defies a' efforts tae unscrew > ; For adaptation. But soft! A word afore-ye go; Tae quote oor quid fricn 1 QthELLO!! Flage, are ye there? Just hauf a mo'l Noo dinna falter— What think ye best wad fit Tojo? I'd say—A HALTER! CROWBAR. ! * > * A NOTABLE N.Z. FAMILY. Tell M.: Again the Alley family is in the news. Mr. George Alley, of the Bay of Plenty area, has given the great gift of 2300 acres of good land that is to be used for training returned men to go on the land equipped with some practical knowledge. Remembering the many failures on the land through lack of knowledge after the Great War, the results of the Alley foundation will be highly satisfying to the R.S.A. (or Services)," Returning my personal thanks to Te Puke Alley, I remember also the Canterbury Alleys. All Black Geoff, is held in high regard by footballers. He is now doing good work as head of the Government Country Library ■ Service, His sister is helping her husband, Mr. H. C. p. Somerset, establish the experiment in further adult education at the Community Centre in Feilding. But the most notable and famous of the family is that other brother, Rewi Alley, who organised that wonderful co-op, movement which is creating a New China in, the interior behind the fighting lines: the Indusco- Almost it might be said that Atone He Has Done It. What a story—what an achievement, is helping China win the war. Read ■'China Builds for Democracy: A Story of Co-operative 'Industry," -by ' Ny'm .Wales <ms* £&ar Snow). ,