A Ruefal Resurrection

NZ Truth, Issue 850, 4 March 1922, Page 1

A Ruefal Resurrection

We have heard 'so little of late from the Welfare League that we thought it had been decently and quietly interred. The league, for a while had had been quite a pleasant joke. The unintended humor of its neatly-word-ed screeds m the day-lies had provided pleasant relief m the mess of stodge that characterises the dreary sheets. But then a tiresome sameness, the reiteration of empty argument, began to pall. At length, as if realising that it had outlived its usefulness, the Welfare League ap-. pearel to fade away and die, a few pathetic twitches being apparent before rigor mortis set m. It was a sad sight, therefore, to see Mr. C. P. Skerrett endeavoring- to muster the mouldy bones' together a few days ago before the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. In a pitiful attempt to put life into the fleshless bOnes, Mr. Skerrett dangled the skeleton before the plute press proprietors. The; only sound that could be heard was rattling bones, sounds that did not resemble even a respectable death rattle. Clever and adroit at words as he is, the well known IC.C. failed miserably at his ventrilbqulal turn; his dummy sagged pitifully on his knee, and his performance fell hopelessly flat with, the public. Mr. Skerrett must have realised that his was , a big task, but perhaps there, was the faint hope m his heart that' the , newspaper men, how that Parliament is' over, would realise that surplus space could be mopped up by more of the pitiful "Welfare" dope. The "day-lies" do not make it plain how Mr.' Skerrett was received, however, and are silent as to whether ho arid ' his "Welfare" friends! are to^have space at so much per inch or. whether-.' they are to be guaranteed space m the Saturday supnlement pages m place of the usual joke cpl"umns.% Deadly dope as the Welfare effusions are remembered to have been. "Truth" must confess that they

V would be an improvement on the "Alleged Humor" columns of our daylie contemporaries. Spruced up with humorous sketches and dished up by a competent . writer with a real sense of humor, the old "Welfare" dope should go down alright with the "day-lie" readers-. The' newspaper proprietors can' take "Truth's" suggestion for what it is worth. In, the meantime, if he is anxious for a successful resurrection of "Welfare" propaganda, we would suggest to Mr. Skerrett that he- should thoroughly oil the joints of his skeleton, galvanise it into some- sort of activity with a current of a few thousand horsepower, put into its mouth a few topical gags from Fullers', and open up a side -show, along Lambton Quay. The public, after all, might like to see its old friend again m action. .