IN LIGHTER VEIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21345, 21 November 1932, Page 6

IN LIGHTER VEIN

A GOVERNOR'S STORY

THREE KINDS OF SPEECH The Governor of New South Wales, Slf Philip Game, began his speech at the recent centenary celebrations of the Temperance Movement in Sydney by telling a story. A very old woman, who had such poor sight that she could not see the hands of a clock, boiled eggs excellently, he said. When she was asked how she did it, she replied that she sangs two verses of " Abide With Me" for soft eggs and three verses for hard. Sir Philip would give his audience soft eggs. There were three forms of torture for a Governor and his audience. The first was saying a few words; the second was making a shortj address; and the third was making a speech.

" I cannot truthfully say that I am a total abstainer," said the Governor.- " However, I take very little alcohol and my wife takes none. I hope with her help to pass muster. There has been an extraordinary spread of temperance since I first joined the service in 1895. I cannotJ say how much is due to the Temperance Movement, how much is due to high' prices, open-air life, or physical games. A year or two before I came oufe here I visited a Royal Air Force station. Of 270 men at the station, only 19 drank beer. In 1895 I think the figures would have been the other way in the services.