Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3888, 18 September 1928, Page 5

The advent of civilisation in the South Sea Islands has not been an altogether unmitigated blessing. For one thing, it has brought clothes. The resident commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Island Colony, Mr Arthur Brimble, makes the following statement in his annual report, issued recently:—“ European clothes have been used in the colony for a quarter of a century. The dirtiness of the garments worn by women and infants in arms is often horrible and indescribable. While such conditions persist the race will contine to carry the chief focus of filth and contagion next to its skin.” In the hope of bringing about some improvement the import duty on soap has been removed, while, with a view to eradicating tuberculosis, the passing of pipes from mouth to mouth has been prohibited. The latest schoolboy howler, which originated in a Southland school recently, goes to show that the often misquoted Respondez s’il vous plait is still open to variation (reports the Southland Times). The familiar R.S.V.P., along with other abbreviations, was submitted to the scholars as a test in general knowledge. One pupil surprised and amused the examiner by answering the first question with, “Railway station via post office.”