CURRENT COMMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

CURRENT COMMENT

OTHER POINTS OF VIEW

M.O.S.)

(By

Fly, Byrdie, fly. * * * * Christmas will be here—presently. * * In the Comedy of Life in. the last week or two, nothing stands out so strikingly as the action of the four “embers of Parliament in renouncing their illN bonus. It would be cruel to carry the ' allusion further and call it a fine piece of acting. After all, £lOO is, or used to bo before the days of price inflation, £ioo.

Rather, the action of the members or Parliament is what the foreign correspondents of a year or two ago used to term with loving frequency, a gesture •—the gesture of the master of the house ; turning his . back on a rich meal until the servants (civil ones) have been fed.

The generous infection, however, has not spread as rapidly as one might have imagined/ The flame of self-sacrifice has not°ruh through the country like a fire through prairie grass. Personally, I had Composed a most pleasing tale, which is now useless, to commemorate such an occasion. In the middle were bags each containing' £lOO. On one side .were ail the members of Parliament, with then hands raised before them and their heads turned away, firmly refusing any increase in salary. On the other side were ranged all the members of the Civil Service in a similar attitude who, not to be outdone in generosity, were refusing with equal firmness the restoration of the cut.- « * * • It 'was merely a fairy-tale. » « ft * .

The small consolation is offered by Professor A. M. Low that, probably, in a thousand years’ time we shall be able to regulate these affairs as we wish. We may take our meals, he says, in a few moments, and inject life, rest and. even educate by electrical methods which today seem but the wildest dream. It will be nothing to travel at 40’0, 500 and perhaps 600 miles an hour. He thinks we shall still have with us tire dear old ladies who, for example, get off at Stratford when they meant 'to go to Eltham, but in the future they will get off at North Cape when they meant to get oft at Australia. i « ft .. * * ■

The State, he says, will take a stronger hand in education, in marriage permits, and in the people’s health. He would expect to hear. that children were being looked after by the State, that, mothers would be able to choose the colour of their babies’ hair and sex, while the nurse of the period would perhaps gent-. . ly recommend the injection of a little poetry. _

Letter from a mother of the future to the chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board: Dear Sir, I beg to draw your attention to the case of my son Francis Joseph, whom I forwarded to the hospital. for treatment some six months ago. lYou will remeir » - that at an interview I had’ with you, I explained that the child appeared to have iiAerited the symptoms of lazy. good, nature unfortunately so strongly developed in his father, of whom being dead I shall say no more. iYoti will remember that at the time you recommended as a corrective the injection of .01 c.c. of spleen. When the child returned home, he was for some weeks, as you, prophesied, quiescent. Then apparently the injection began to have its effect and gradually he began to develop those characteristics which have destroyed my peace of mind, made life unbearable and caused me to write this letter. All day long he calls his little brother names; when corrected he becomes red in the face; persistently he argues and while he argues he bangs his fist upon the table. When we sit round the table for a cup of tea, a chat or to some work, we never have a moment’s peace.—Yours despairingly, an Inglewood mother.

The reply: Dear Madam, Upon receipt of your letter I made immediate enquiries and discovered that your little boy had, through a regrettable error, received an injection of 10 c.c., which was to have been given to another little Inglewood boy undergoing. treatment at the hospital with tho idea,. of taking up a definite calling in life. Under the circumstances, I can only tell you how sorry I am and suggest that Franc’s Joseph should ultimately take up the Calling for which the other little boy, having received only .01 c.c., is now totally unfitted. It appears, from reference to my files, that the calling in question was that of Inglewood County Councillor.

The present, however, is infinitely more important than this far off future, and it is interesting to see that a newspaper correspondent who, evidently feeling very warmly on the subject signs himself Perspiration, has brought up the question of dress reform for men. This Perspiration, this swallow in winter, favours the open necked shirt, flannel trousers and shoes or sandals with socks.

No doubt wo should all live longer, healthier and therefore happier lives if we adopted these reforms, but then what is that compared with the deep sense of shame we should fdel at having so indelicately exposed the bare neck and bare ankle to the vulgar gaze in the street?

The following was received in Nagpur, and its authenticity is vouched for by the sender:—“Sir,—Having observed in exaulted columns of Times of India that your distinguished self desires services of male clerk in your office, I tender myself with humble apologies. Qualifications I have many. I am apologctical-. ly peace-loving and quiet nature. I am hot afraid of work. When the other men sit and look at it I work like 5 h.p. donkey engine, and when 4.3 d p.m. £omes I never keep eye on face of jplock counting the minutes for five £’clock and the liberty to go home, but rather I will never look the clock in .the face until I hear you telling me -‘Gopal, you not going home to-night?” (•“-presuming your honour to love work also,