BY THE WAY.

Evening Star, Issue 19616, 23 July 1927, Page 2

BY THE WAY.

[By Q.V.]

'* The lima has come,” the Walrus said, 11 To talk of many things.” Docs anyone know precisely what is the matter iu Samoa? Frankly, our ideas on the subject are somewhat hazy, but ib appears to ho causing some annoyance to those set in authority over us—and others. Sir Joseph Carrnthers, for instance, is interested. “Far be it from me,” said Sir Joseph “to interfere in matters which do not concern me. Rather than do so 1 would never make another speech. I will merely say that you ought to b,c thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. What will the League of Nations think about you? I export that at this moment one of its 5,061 secretaries is looking up the atlas to find your address. Do you ever think of public opinion in Latvia, am} in the Republic of Andorra? ” And Sir Joseph turned ou his heel andwalked away without saying good-bye. Premier Coates says that law and order must bo maintained, and if the Attor-ney-General will find the law |ie will attend to the orders. He also referred to the faipules. Wo always thought that faipule was a sort of tropical fruit, but it turns out to bo a council of sorts, or perhaps a trades union. One Mr Yore, described as an American novelist, telegraphs that the Samoans are singing war songs without an accompaniment, preparatory to revolting. Mr Nos worthy denies this, and feels sure that what Mr Yore heard was some of the village lads rehearsing the Charleston. We back Mr Nosworthy. Part of tho trouble is mixed up with a preferential duty whipß hits American goods, and naturally Mr Yore feels annoyed, If he is sufficiently annoyed he may induce President Coolidge to send the TJ.S.A. fleet to annex us, and introduce Prohibition and divorce 1 " while you wait.” It is all very confusing, but ’vo have a Sherlock Holmes feeling that someone in the background whose name has not yet been mentioned does not love us very much. * * * * There scorns to. ho something solid; and substantial iu the cry of hard times. Every shopkeeper is advertising a sale, and some of them appear to be reducing their prices. Even the booksellers, most conservative of men, tempt us to increase our stock of mental provision at low rates. Most significant of all, what might’ not altogether inaccurately he called monopoly lines, arc being cut. This indicates that the loss, or reduction in profit, is being borne by the retailers. The oil magnates of America and England and the big tobacco combines will not need to reduce their dividends in consequence, and these distributions arc fairly liberal. The British Government’s shares in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company cost some six million pounds. Mr Winston Churchill iu a. moment of expansion estimated gome time ago that, taking all things into consideration, they were then worth some forty millions to the nation. True, ho arrived at this figure by p, process of bookkeeping of his own invention, which would certainly not be passed by the Now Zealand Society ol Accountants, hut shares in a concern which pays 25 per cent. divs. on watered stocks, are not to be despised. The tobacco people, being private traders, do not say much-about their profits, except to express a pious hope that shareholders will consider them satisfactory, but the principal members of the combine generally die millionaires, which tells a talc. However these things may be, the motorist may now get his “ juice ” more cheaply than of late, and it is said that the chain smoker of cigarettes can at present buy his baleful narcotic at 7-Jd per packet, which, in our opinion, is exactly 7|cl more than it is worth. There is in this town an institution called the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. We are not precisely aware of its objects, but unless it is unlike any other benevolent body we ever met or heard .about, it is doubtless prepared to extend its usefulness as far'as its means will allow. If so, yvg would suggest a path into which it might venture with propriety and advantage. Of late the weather has been as cold as tho Eve of St. Agnes (for full particulars see Keats’s poem of that name, first lines), and yet in all our principal streets we meet hundreds of women of all ages and conditions, with about one-third of their superficial area very imperfectly clothed. The fur coat truly may protect the body, but the lower limbs are exposed to the bitter winds of heaven, or at the worst of Mount Cargill. We call ourselves ' a Christian community. Even now we are doing our best about religious instruction in schools, but we have _no pity for these poor martyrs who believe so firmly that the body is nmro tllan raiment. The blueness of their noses shines through, powder they never so heavily. Wc feel sure that they have chilblains. The more youthful and warm-blooded may escape for a space, but even they arc in a parlous condition. We say boldly that the courage of the soldier, doing his duty supported by the companionship of his fellows, and may bo by a tot of rum, is ns naught to that displayed by some fragile girl waiting for tho doors of the cheap sale to open, and wondering if the cat in front has her eye on those stockings at 19s 11?,d. Wc reluctantly admire her heroism, but still think that the society ought to do something about it. «( # # fc “ Zero hour was fixed for 5, 10 p.nv” —Extract from a letter. “Did wo think victory great? So it is.”—Walt Whitman. For us no poet’s pen may write High words with music fraught. “ Unhonored and unsung ” we fight The fight our fathers fought. Nor is the trumpet’s martial sound Invoked our hearts to thrill. Silent and grim we take our ground, Wc—comrades of the hill, With hearts of steel and muscles taut We wait the hour to come,— We, whom together Fate has brought From mansion and from slum. Maybe a word is thrown in jest, Perhaps a muttered prayer. No matter how we face the test, We, In-others, will be there. At last it comes! As tigers spring Upon their destined prey, With savage recklesnees w© fling Ourselves into the fray. A few—the strong, or else the fleet — Win through. The doors they slain. Ah! lucky he who gains a- seat Within"the Eoslyn tram!

“What songs the Syrens sang, or what- name Achilles assumed when lie hid among women, although puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture,” said Sir Thomas Browne. Just at present there are doubtless, many conjectures fjfliiting about on the streams of London gossip as to when, where, and how Mr Lloyd George made, his money or the money he controls. Politics used to be considered a rich man’s game; in fact, it was tp give the poor man a chance in it that payment of members became law. Qf late years there seems to have come a change. Mr Ramsay MacDonald drew an affecting picture of having to return to a reporter’s desk when his term of office expired, hut so far he soenis to live very comfortably without suffering that indignity. Commenting on the dwelling wliere the ex-Prime Minister composes his attacks upon the rich, someone in our own House described it recently as, we think, “m mansion.” Mr MacDonald’s affluence is, however, but dust in the balance when compared- with that of Mr George. The latter, according to the cableman, has been offered nearly three million pounds for

the shares in’ newspaper properties owned by him and his.colleagues. Tho fact that the offer was made to Mr George indicates that he has tho biggest say in the deal, and therefore, presumably, tho largest interest in the properties. We had an idea that a party leader had to work overtime to keep his job, but Mr George has not only managed to maintain his position in tho limelight, but also, apparently, to accumulate immense wealth, either for himself or for his party funds. Nff doubt some people know how it was done, bub yon and I, dear reader, or readers, as the ease may be. do not, nor shall we ever know. Wo shall be dead long before the inevitable book on tho subject is publisher].