BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 2

BY THE WAY.

[By Q.V.]

M The time has come/* the Walrus said, 4 ‘ To talk of many things.” Signor Mussolini, the eminent inventor of the castor oil system of goverimient, has taken up a good deal of spam in the cablegrams lately. A theatrical sort of person, the signor, given to playing the sedulous ape lo Napoleon, who, it will be remembered, hailed from Corsica. Mussolini began as an ardent Socialist, but not getting what he considered his fair share or tne limelight, he went over to the opposition. His idea of a fair share was all that was going at the time. Now lie has the centre of the stage to himself, and seems to like it. Like most of the saviours of society, he appears to be devoid of any sense of humor. One cannot imagine him making a J°keThe merry jests of Lemn and m Valera, if any, are also unrecorded, and it is doubtful whether Conirade G. S. Thomson laughs much. Great movements are the work of fanatics of one-eyed persons who take h*e seriously. Even Gladstone, who was counted a great man in his day, joked with difficulty, though some of Ins subtleties wore the cause of mirth in others, as when he indignantly denied a newspaper report that ho was going to resign, the fact being that his resignation had already been sent in. Is Signor, Mussolini a great maiif \ve do not know enough about him to say, but we do know enough to believe that ho is a great danger. * * «• «■ The ‘Otago University Review’ is a pleasingly-got-up periodical, and occasionally contains remarks m interest to the uncultured whose knowledge of the University is bounded by the fact that 'it is situated somewhere near the Exhibition buildings. At the first reading there is an apparent open frankness—lor example, in an article in the last issue on ‘ The Deficiencies of a Medical Training.’ The very title is alluring. Another journal, of a more purely scientific nature, recently said briefly that the ordinary medical man Ituow very little about cancer, and the expert even less, a concise way of putting the matter. However, the local writer inquires why medicine is regarded as the noblest of the professions, which he assuines is the case. He concludes that it is not because of the sacrifice demanded from those who practise it, “nor again is it because we care for the health and lives of our clients.” One understands flint what is meant is that such care is not in itself specially praiseworthy, but the phrase is liable to be misread by the laity » * *

A local firm advertises for sale a small bungalow with all the latest improvements, adding that it is “suitable for a married couple.” Mo like the last clause. Unmarried couples, and others, are delicately warned off the premises, as they deserve to be.

As a swell residential club, It could not function. We would not sell it for a pub, Save with compunction. It is not a Baronial Hall Wo seek to proffer. Four good apartments—those arc all That wc can offer. But oft a very little space, Much wealth encloses. What bungalow would better grace Life’s wine aud roses? With fibrous ceilings, rich and rare, Electric lighting, The future prospects of a pair, Are most inviting. The hardest buffets dealt by fate, May here he parried, But only, we must firmly state, By persons married. * * * *

Time was when it was our proud boast that when the slave’s _ foot touched the deck of a British ship he was free, and could start looking tor a job at the docks at 4id per hour as soon as the vessel reached port. Our hospitality knew no harrier of creed, race, or color, though the brunettes were not so popular as the blondes. Quite a number of foreigners took advantage of this open door, and somo of them prospered, and were more or less absorbed, though the first generation usually retained some little tricks of pronunciation, idiom, and so forth, winch marked them. .It is said that when' Sir Alfred Mond stood for a Welsh seat in the House of Commons, his battle-cry was “ Vales for the Yelsh.” Nevertheless ho appears_ to be sufficiently patriotic, and his firm did good work during the war—though doubtless for adequate remuneration. Of late more dubious have been admitted into the Molise, including a gentleman bearing the exotic name of Saklatvala, who is inaugurating a “Red Week” in the classic region of Battersea. He lately paid a visit to America, but* it happened to bo Uncle Sam’s busy day when he arrived, and uncle had not time to open tlie door. Mr Saklatvala was so much annoyed that ho returned and announced his intention of bursting up the British Empire, though why Jio should vent his wrath on a place which made him a member of its governing body, and not on the nation which classed him as an undesirable alien, is not apparent. In any case, if the poor old Empire has to be broken up, wo hope that it will be by some nativeborn iconoclast, and not by someone with a name like that of a patent medicine. » * » » Amid our many and varied troubles —the shipping “hold up,” the resolute refusal of spring to appear, and the prospect of a month’s strenuous electioneering with infinite possibilities to follow—one small but pregnant item in the nows atones for much. The Sydney wool sales opened strongly. There is comfort in that. The odds are that when our turn comes, prices will be at least remunerative, and probably very profitable. It may be humiliating, but it is certainly true, that wo are for the most part merely dependents on those animals. which divide the hoof, as the Bible puts it. Our pleasant dwellings, the motor cars which whiaz past careless of mankind, the pictures which delight the multitude, and also those which delight the few, the grand pianos of the rich, and the china dogs on the mantelpieces of the proletariat, all come, or as nearly so as does not natter, from the sheep and the cow. II we had any sense of gratitude we would erect statues to them in our public placed. Year by year these patient animals give up their warm fleeces or their rich supplies of butterfat for our benefit without reward or even thanks, and, useful to the last, when old ago overtakes them, they contribute to our sustenance in the shape of best Canterbury lamb, or prime beef. At least wo so suspect. And man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority and a suit of blue dungarees, takes it all as a matter or right. If, later on, admitted to some cn'ual sky, the faithful sheep shall bear us company, it is very probable that we shall hear more about it.