THE COMMON ROUND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20705, 1 May 1929, Page 2

THE COMMON ROUND.

By Wayfarer.

/'Oh, my dear,” asked Mrs Fitzgown, with a fine contempt for grammar, as she helped herself to a second slice of hot buttered toast, “ who are you voting for to-morrow for Mayor?”; “ Well, you know, my dear,” replied Mrs MacJeames, .refilling her cup, “I was going to vote for. Charlie Hayward. He seems such a dear (fra. gentleman, and his voice is so reassuring, and, you know, my Lizzie’s boy, Jim, says* he knows such a lot about Waipori,” " Waipori ? And what has that to do with it? ” “ Well, I don’t know exactly, but Jim says it is terribly important, so I am going to vote for him. It’s something to do with electric irons and such things.” “ Oh, I haven’t got an electric iron yet, but I’ve been promised one if we win at the trots next week. Anyway, I am voting for Black. I felt so disappointed when he didn’t get in last time. He sold my Lizzie a fur coat three years ago. It was only a rabbit fur, of course, but he said it would look just like the genuine article, and he was so sweet about it, and it does too, and you wouldn’t ever know the difference. Lots of people think it’s a musquash, and we don’t tell them they’re wrong. After all, it’s best to vote for someone you know, isn’t it? ” “But have you read some of the things they have been writing about him in the paper? ” ‘ /' I don’t care. Whenever I look at Lizzie’s coat - and think how spruce Black is, and what a nice car he drives, I know ray mind is quite made up. Who do you think will get in? I do hope he does.” “Well, I don’t like the way he coops rabbits up in hutches. I think it is quite cruel. Besides, ?here's Mr Macgregor ” “Oh. you mean Mr M'Donald.” “ Oh, yes. I forgot hia name, though he has been Mayor before. But that was ages ago, and he seems to be too modest and unassuming. What you want is a man who lets you know his own good points. And then there’s Mr Jones. I really don’t know much about him,” “ He’s the Labour candidate. They have had his picture in the papers. But I wouldn t know him if I saw him, and I know all the others by sight. Really, you must vote for someone you know something about,. That reminds me. About Mr M‘Donald, my Lizzie’s Jim was saying only the other day—well, bless me, 1 have forgotten what it was. isut anyway, my mind’s made up. I know who I am voting for, and it's all through Lizzie’s fur coat.” From the case that will probably jo down in history as “The Savoy Licensmg- Case, we have learned many things, -p irst, tlie Somerset Lounge is not u restaurant. Of that we never had any doubt, but it is pleasing to know that legal knowledge has been brought into line with our own. Then we are enlightened with regard to the involved and arduous duties which lie upon the police in their crusades against breaches of the law. What private citizen would ever sleep with a clear conscience if he had failed to consume more than three whiskies for an outlay of five shillings? But the last and most important revela tton of all concerns the Scottish Societies of Dunedin. Imagine a gathering of chieftains, which but for the thoughtful providence of one member, would have been utterly bereft of liquid refreshment’ That is bad encugh, but the worst is yet to come. The whole business is bound to be talked about in the northern cities, and then we shall be for it.” Dunedin’s “dry” Scottish feast will doubtless become as good a joke as a shamrock salad at an Orangeman’s banquet. But what of the _ constable who paid the price of admission and investigated the proceedings? If, as the societies claimed, the whisky was purely a largehearted donation in no way connecter! with the price of admission, why was not the constable’s sense of duty satisfied with the consumption of one whisky, if his consumption of any was purely a formality? On the other hand, if, as the constable apparently believed.' the price of covered the cost of the whisky, why such a half-hearted attempt to get his money’s worth? Unless, per haps, he was afraid that a fourth whisky or a fifth might be inconsistent with that devotion to duty which had accompanied him through the consumption of thre<* altogether unnecessary whiskies. If we reckon three whiskies at two shillings and threepence, there remains a little matter of two shillings and ninepence owing to the constable. It seems only fair thar the constable should be recoiipled—through .the funds of the Police Department. Personally I- can never work up any enthusiasm for Anzac Day,” remarked a' returned. soldier in Wellington last week (says the Dominion). tf Eighty per cent, of us Diggers never saw the sma. but we saw a great deal of France and Flanders. Now, if they would onlv commemorate the taking of Flers, the Battle of Messines, or .the capture of Le Quesne, I would be with them.” ’-as not the'digger rather escaped the point of Anzac Day? • There are many .returned soldiers who are proud that Anzac Day should be the one day, set apart for the memory of those comrades who have not conic back. And after all, Ins suggestion is only the substitution of an individual occasion for the general field which Anzac Day in intended to cover. The actual date is merely one of many that may have been chosen,—all the more desirable because it is one that was already fixed on our hearts when the idea of a general commemoration was mooted. And does not the very name ‘Anzac,” with, the history of its origin, strike that note of dear intimacy that would possibly be absent from such a name as “ Messines Day ” or even “Gallipoli Day?” : . ; At present the matter of the acceptance of a tender for the supply of tobacco .to prisons and State institutions is before Cabinet. Prolonged investigations of the tobaccos for which tenders have been prepared have been undertaken by one section of the service, and. it is stated on good, authority that one officer has been kept busih smoking . samples of all the various . brands. The unfortunate side of the proceedings was that the officer had to accomplish so much in this practical test that he became ill. That was not the only unfortunate side of the proceedings. Here is yet another example of governmental incompetence and lack of foresight. The samples should have been distributed among the various members of parliament. They could, th’en have been required to debate the merits of their respective samples in the House. The idea is surely a sound one. It would be a subject for. profitable discussion, and it would be a preliminary canter in preparation for the debates on the Mental Defectives Bill. Spice might also be lent to the proceedings by allotting scented cigarettes to the Labour members and cut plugs and shag to the mernbevs of Cabinet. It is time members earned their honorariums. , Shooting is becoming a more serious business every day. The’ hardy enthusiasts who set out this morning have had to brave not only the discouraging weather but also the frowning disapproval of a by no means small section ot the public. Those who find that their prospects of sport have been spoiled by rabbit-shooting expeditions (under the patronage of Sir Thomas Mackenzie), will cherish no amiable feelings towards the bird lovers. There, of course, they have ,us at a , disadvantage. The man with the gun is always a power to be