POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 63, 15 March 1945, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

"He hasn't proposed' yet, but his voice has an engagement ring in it." * * * "I would hate to be in a Japanese uniform in the Philippines right noiw." —Admiral Halsey. * *• * "Why do you call him one of the landed gentry?" "Well—er—er—he was just married." * * « DUNKIRK SIEGE. Allied military officials describe Dunkirk as a "huge prisoner-of-war camp," in which 12,000 enemy are still holding out. In this forgotten siege, which has continued almost for five months, ' the garrison appears to have adequate ammunition, but. it may eventually be starved out. The daily ration is now down to about half a pound of bread a head and an occasional small piece of horse flesh. * A tenuous connection with Germany is maintained by air. The enemy still holds the evacuation beaches. * « - • INKY PINKY. Allied soldiers have been singing a 1945 version of "Mademoiselle From Armentieres/' which goes like this: — "The Huns are running across the Rhine— Parlez-Vous! "The Huns are running across the Rhine— "Parlez-Vous! "The Huns are running across the Rhine, "Another good crack and we've licked the swine— "linky, Pinky, Parlez-Vous1." * # * GHOSTS COME HOME. The crew of a "ghost bomber," which recently landed intact in Belgium without a person aboard, returned to England recently. Returning from a mission to the synthetic oil centre of Merseburg, Germany, the-crew of the Flying Fortrfess bailed out after two engines had been knocked out and the plane had dropped to 2000 feet. British soldiers found the plane. Other Tommies met the crew where they had parachuted down and took them to> Brussels. «• * •» PERFECT LOVE. Edna Rowland (17), when about to marry a Canadian soldier, was admitted to a London hospital with a spinal injury, which condemned her to bed for twelve months. A special licence came from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, lying in a white satin wedding dress, and holding a spray of snowdrops* and violets, Edna said, "I will!" to her sweetheart, who had walked to her bed past a row of 27 smiling patients, while a nurse played the hymn "Love Divine!" Six choirboys, in traditional black and white, sang, and the couple sat side by side for siix hours, receiving guests and, relatives. * «■ » LISTEN. Three business men were, dining at' a West End restaurant. When the waiter presented the bill, the first man grabbed it. and said to the others: "Let me pay this. I'll charge it as a business expense, and since I'm paying income tax at 15s in the £, the Government would be paying for. threequarters of this bill-" "No, let me pay it." said the second. "I've got war contracts and I'm paying tax at 19s 6d in the £, so the Government would be paying for almost all of it." "No. Let me pay it," the third man insisted. "I'm doing Government work.on a cost-plus basis, and I can make' 25s profit out of it." * «■ # THREE SUNDAYS -PER WEEK. A New Zealand lady assistant to Miss Begg at the Y.W.C.A. War Services Club in the Jewish city of Haifa, in Palestine, writes:— "Our club has a marvellous outlook, on the one side overlooking the har- . bour; on the other Mount Carmel. "We have three Sundays in the week here —Friday for the Arabs, Saturday for the Jews, and Sunday for the Christians." Gee! What a chance for some of our tired workers here whose conscience would permit them to be Arab, Jew, or Christian in turn—taking four days' work and three days off each week. Ad.H. «■ * *■ REMEMBER. The splash of our oars in the water, The summer sun in the sky; Vermilion Lake—your gay laughter, Remember, dear? So do I. ... Dancing in Banff close together, Our hearts like clouds in the sky, Remember I told you I loved you. Remember, dear? So do I. In the dear dark near warmth of a •theatre Your hand in mine, soft, would close lie; Your lips and your eyes said "I love you." Remember, dear? So do I. A thousand such memories come o'er me . Of days which now have gone by; Remember the spot where I gave you your ring. Remember, dear? So do I. Remember the troth that we plighted, Remember the vows strong and true? Enduring- brave love and devotion,' I will remember —arid you. The fondest of kisses we've shared, dear; The first fruit of love's, sweetest flowers; Together we'll wait, if it be far or near— We will remember these hours. R.N.Z.A.F., England. February, 1944. * * * STRANGE PARADOX. Dear P.F., —I read that, at a meeting of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, Mr/ holds that in regard to the proposed State acquisition of the Bank of New Zealand, it is abso- • lutely detrimental to public welfare for any Government to interfere with properly conducted banking, and that such interference would upset public confidence. How strange a paradox. Properlyconducted banking is managed in the interests of the banks (and I don't mean the depositors). A Government is supposed to be instrumental for public welfare, yet it appears that any Government "interference" would be detrimental to the public welfare, and would upset public confidence? Confidence in what—the bank's ability to attend to their own business for themselves, or the ability of the Government to do it for the welfare of the people? HONK. » * * FALSE START. ' Dear Flage,—Although the Basin caught its due proportion of the un» welcome downpour at the championships held on Saturday, it did not dampen the enthusiasm of a brightfaced youngster roaming the roofs of the emergency shelters—mute and smelly reminders of what could have happened here. But the übiquitous Printer's Devil was more successful." Noting my programme, the youngster, said: ''Mister, when is the boys' race on?" Consulting the "Order, of Events" page, event 29 showed: "220 yds. Boys, 2.55." "It is the next event, sonny. Scamper over to the north-east corner, right away." He went for his life. Just then a swarm of "Lilliputians" stormed the officials gathered at the south-east corner of the Basin, for event 29, in * the body of the programme, was printed as: "120 yds Boys' Handicap." Bright Face was a non-starter. He returned a trifle crestfallen and the blame was' unblushingly laid upon the absent "P.D." Two wrapped lollies somewhat "sweetened" the bitterness of his .disappointment, and he sought further consolation in collecting "dead marines," dry as old jokes, and dropping them down the vents of the damp shelters. But he lives to run another day! . ■■■;. g.f, .: