DEPARTMENT OF SOAP.

NZ Truth, Issue 66, 22 September 1906, Page 4

DEPARTMENT OF SOAP.

Among the portfolios to be allotted by Premier Ward or any successor to him, m the near future will be that of the Minister for Soaping (Geysers. It is inevitables It must come m due course. The Geyser is evidently a factor m New Zealand affairs and its due Soaping a factor of vast importance to the prosperity, welfare and good name of the colony. Let usoap that we shall not long be deprived of this Minister ; that ere many moons have passed he will be m full charge of a Department devoted to the due Soaping of Geysers, with a vast reserve stock of the most approved brand of Soap and a staff to administer that Soap with due dignity and respect for the mighty powers of the coy and Tricky Geyser. These remarks are induced by reading m the "Hot Lakes Chronicle" the following, which, if apparently trivial and. parochial, is really of vast National Importance. Says the "Chronicle" : "The Tourist Department missed a splendid opportunity on Wednesday last of directing attention to' the wonders of Rotorua, by omitting to have the Wairoa geyser j soaped on the occasion of the visit to this town of the team of Auckland footballers. Application was made by telegram on Monday by the secretary of the Rugby Union that the geyser give an exhibition on Wednesday, but to this there was no response. On Tuesday evening a second message was sent, repeating the request, but no reply was received. There may have been ' frpod and valid reasons for not soaping the geyser, but surely the representative df a body such as the Rugby Union is deserving of the ordinary courtesy. So far as the soaping of the geyser is concerned, this has been done heretofore for the benefit of one individual only, and at a couple of hours notice ; had the request been complied with the eruption would have been witnessed by quite 200 people. On Friday a telegram was received by the chairman of the Rugby Union from the Superintendent, of the Tourist Department, as follows :— 'Am prepared play Wairoa Sunday, if suitable. General objection to geyser being played on week days.' " Now, what does the Superintendent of the Tourist Department mean by this dilatoriness and lack of common politeness and why should Wairoa be Soaped only on Sundays ? What are Gibb, North and Company doing to permit this desecration of the Sawbath ? Speak up, Sirjoe !