NOTES BY THE WAY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4955, 13 February 1937, Page 5

NOTES BY THE WAY

(By Rambler). ; Berlin is not critical of Britain’s rearmament loan. What it is to have no one who dislikes you. i The automobile strike in America has only just concluded. But then, of course, they hadn’t Mr. Armstrong to fix the matter up in a day or so.

Trotsky is suing a Swiss Communist paper for libel. What about taking action against the Soviet Government, Leon—or all those people who don’it want you in their countries?

After the Commissions dealing with the applications under the Mortgagors and Lessees Relief Act have finished their job it would only be fair to bring down a new measure called the Mortgagees and Lessors Relief Act. '

Among the remits referred to the Easter Conference of the N.Z. Labour Party is a recommendation that “the Government consult with local party organisations when considering appointments to boards and commissions with a view to ensuring that the persons appointed are in sympathy with the Government’s policy.” It’s up to Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler to try and beat that.

There are some dangerous yet well paid jobs going begging. No one wants to take up the position of High Commisioner at Danzig with a salary of £3500 a year. This may not be known to some of the bright lights that kept the ratepayers interested at the local “water dr no water” meetjing in Te Kuiti. The position of Prime Minister for Japan I can’t recommend. Life insurance would eat up a large portion of the salary. J

Last Monday was Black Monday, the day when the heaviest taxed country in the world had to meet thf demands of the Government for payr ing income tax. When the payer has recovered from the shock he will have to pay the unemployment tax.

A Scottish lassie, Miss Jean McQueen, of Glasgow, has been appointed chief executive of a cooperative concern with an annual trade of £60,000,000. It seems that man is going to have a struggle to maintain his prestige in the world of commerce.

It would be most interesting if w©> had a Rip Van Winkle who awakened after a 30 years’ sleep and gave his opinion on the 40-hour week, the 16 bob a day on public w or ks, motor cars, wireless, and aeroplanes. He might have been a 60-hour worker, had his own horse, his books, and occasionally a bet at the races, : and his glass of beer. Give him a week of awakedness and I feel sure he would say: “I got a darned lot more fun out of life than you people do today.”

Talking about this 40-hour week reminds me of an incident that took place some years ago in a South Island town. A youth from the far back country came to live in town and secured a job in a factory. One halfholiday the manager happened to visit the factory and found the youth hard at work. “What are you doing here?” he asked; “this is the halfholiday and you mustn’t work.” “I’m not used to holidays; I worked 60 hours a week at home, and holidays are a bore to me,” was the reply.

A number of relief workers waited on the Minister of Lands in Nort.h Auckland complaining that the local residents, many of them' pensioners and superannuitants, refused to become friendly. Mr. Langstone’s reply was illuminating when.he said: “Don’t take any . notice of a lot of ; snobs. Many of them.-are receiving pensions and superannuation contributed by the people, and they are receiving la dole in a greater sense than you are. I pity them in their ignorance.” It;S a nice sneer for men who have worked all their life in the interests of their country and others who have put ja bit aside for their old age. A queer statement for a Minister ~of the Crown to make. • i The strange mistakes made by schoolchildren in brave attempts to answer the awkward teasers of exarriiners are a never-ending source Of fun. Here is the latest selectioh, culled from recent English school examination papers:— “Substitute means the right article made out of the wrong stuff.” • “The grizzly bear builds its den in the Rockies where it sits still arid grizzles all day.” i From an essay: “The climate of England is not very good and it is always the same, but the weather changes every day. The 8.8. C. tells us all they know about the weather every day, and it is not'much, 1 but they do not tell us anything about climate because they know nothing about climate.” “The valley of the Rhone is the valley that the river Rhone runs through. Since the Rhone runs through it, it is called the‘valley of the Rhone.” / “A pharmacy is a place where prescriptions are carefully confounded.” From an essay on the House of Commons: “The members sit round about and argue about the bills that have come in. If the bill is passed it is law that we obey and pay them, but if they do not pass we do not pay them.” “‘A coin of vantage’ means.a lucky penny or a threepenny piece with a hole in it;” “Herrings are caught in the North Sea. First they are smoked and then they become blotters.” “An open cheque has nothing at all on either side.” , “An invoice is words that are said inwardly and not aloud.” “An abstract noun is the name of anything which means nothing and which is not a name of anything.” “The barons said to John: ‘This is Magna Charta and you have got to sign it,’ but John only kept saying, ‘Remove that bawble.’”