ON FLIES-AND OTHER INFLICTIONS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXI, Issue 2722, 23 November 1910, Page 2

ON FLIES-AND OTHER INFLICTIONS.

; [By T.M.]

A revcreiitt gentleman once told me that'all things were for our good, including flies and wet Saturdays. As I have a great respect for the cloth I did"s**^ not contradict him, but all the same, I did not admire his taste. Of late years flies have worried me more than ' they used to. I put that .down to, the scarcity of fresh .fish in Paeroa. Seems curious, but it works out alright." Fish is a brain iodd; through lack of food the brain becomes stagnant and the hair above it withers and falls oft. That is where the flies come in, for if there were fifty acres of surface on which they could land they would prefer to alight on the one bald spot that has shown through and proceed to make a skating rink of it. Still it is an ill wind that blows no good, and even in the fly nuisance there is some good it j'ou look at it in the right light. For instance, I took an order to fit a . house with window screens and doors, and they gave such satisfaction that I have since received several . repeat orders, including one from the wife, and although that was not C.O.D. it has helped to make life worth living by keeping the pests on the right side of the house, viz, outside. That, I take it, is a clear case of out ot evil cometh good. As the rain was descending last Saturday it struck me as a great pity that our bowling green was not fitted with a sliding roof in a manner similar to the American millionaires that I was reading: about in one of the magazines. He had got things arranged properly—a series of columns; and light girders supported a water-proof canvas roof that j could be run over the whole green at short notice ; the caretaker released a switch, and the roof, in sections, came automatically info place, and the players rejoiced exceedingly ; no' wet * feet or enlarged livers on that green. In the days that are coming things will be arranged differently. Instead of moping at home getting the hump when we have struck a wet patch, we shall just jump on to an electric car that will run us out five; miles in ten minutes to the recreation centre, and in the dry we can play as long as we want to ; the enthusiasts will not have to knock off because the sun has, the greens—bowling, tennis and croquet—being fitted with electric lights as well as sliding roofs. And then some uninformed individuals say there is no need for Socialism.* Why, we should all be equal to millionaires under a common-sense system. He can only eat three meals a day and have all the fun he wants, and we should be in exactly the same position. It is funny, although lamentable, to hear men who have been struggling against the competitive system for the last 40 years say they have no use for Socialism; they profess to know all about it and its aims, how it wishes to assure a decent and comfortable existence to all mankind, tree from the worry and trouble that 1 exists to-day, and still they say they have no use for it; and as they have no use for it they do their level best to prevent others obtaining it who have a use for it. ..,."■

All round are the evils of the existing system, and people must be very dense or wilfully blind if they cannot see them.

Take our school that was burnt down

some four months ago. The Government have been dilly-dallying about with red tape and frivolous excuses about expense ever since, while the youngsters and teachers are putting up vvilh all manner ot inconvenience ; and they say they have no use for Socialism, and that the present system is the best possible and must not be tampered with on any account. Under Socialism that school would have been, up two months ago, with the addition of gymnasium and a swimming bath, and our kids would not have to risk, their lives all through the summer by swimming in any old place.' ; ' i Another cvii is, that in a place like Paeroa there is no public swimming bath and there seems no" likelihood of

getting one! Paeroa is too poof to rjjfo a swimming bath ; it has five religious denommations,but no bath. It evidently does not believe that cleanliness is next, to godliness, or it would proclaim a

bath Sunday and get the thing started.

Well, it's no'good kicking a dead horse, or I would mention to the people who have no use tor Socialism that we

have a river running through our midst that is likely to flood us out any day ; it has only to rise high enough, and Paeroa and its people will be as if they never had existed. This state of things could not be under a common-sense system. In the first place, an evil that affected the welfare of one section of the" people would affect all and would be promptly remedied ; and in the second place, that evil could not possibly exist, as there would be no wasted labour grubbing for gold under Socialism— labour would be too valuable to waste it in that ridiculous fashion; therefore there could be no silt to choke our rivers, ruin our lands, and wake us up '" at night in tear every time there was an extra shower of ram.