ROUND THE COMPASS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18785, 14 June 1929, Page 8

ROUND THE COMPASS.

James Redtape. THE British Civil Service has been the butt of many jibes, and in England recently several books have tilted at the system. One English writer says: “Another name for System in the realm of the Civil Service is Red-tape. Everything must be done by rote,- by rule-df-thumb, according xo precedent. Woe betide the clerk who ventures to cast System aside, to seek to unshackle himself from the bonds of red-tape, to be a human being and not a soulless machine.” Another writer burlesques an entry in “Who’s Who,” giving the life story of a Government official as follows: JAMES REDTAPE. Executive Officer, H.M'. Office of Loans. Born 1875; educated Putney Secondary School, passed Junior Cambridge Local. First prize school gardens, 1887. Entered Government service as Boy Clerk, 1891; Second Division, 1894. Achievements— Winner of Office Derby Sweep, 1896. Married 1903John Augustus, 1904. Vera Mary, 1906. Runner up in Y.M.C.A. Draughts Championship (Brixton Branch), 1904. Hon. Treasurer, Brixton Star and

Crescent Cricket Club, 1909. Works— Letter to "Times” on "Underpaid Civil Servants” <not published), 1901. Anonymous letter to "Daily Mail” on “ Suburban Train Service ” (published), 1906. Five-shilling prize for joke, " Funny Bits,” 1912. Report to parish magazine of church concert, 1914. Paintings— Scullery, 1906. . Toolshed, 1907. Bathroom and kitchen, 1908. Dog-kennel and garden-seat, 1910. Recreations— Gardening, cross-word puzzles, draughts and reading detective stories. Clubs— Office luncheon. Streatharp Mutual Improvement. Hon. Member Brixton Star and Crescent Cricket Club. Over-taxed Tea. M R WINSTON CHURCHILL is evi- 1 dently not strong on some aspects of history. In his last Budget speech he declared that tea had been taxed since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. But that monarch died in 1603, and it was not until 1615 that tea was first mentioned in a letter from an English agent of the East India Company. In 1660 the first Parliament cf the Restoration imposed a tax of eightpence on “every gallon of chocolate, sherbert, and tea." On September 28 in that year Pepys wrote: "I arose from the table and went to the Temple Church, then home, when I did send for a cup of Tee (a China drink) of which I had never drank before." There was a time when the tea tax rose to 5s a pound, and at the close of the eighteenth century it was 2s 6d. Only ten years ago it was Is. There have always been calls for the abolition of the tea duty. A score of years or so ago there was a strong agitation, in which Lord Devonport (Mr Hudson Kearley he was then) figured prominently. Hoardings were plastered with posters depicting a working man ad-

dressing his fellows. Beneath his fig- * ure ran these lines: Talk not of taxing the people’s food— I 11 tell you what I think. to many a. starving woman and child Tea s food and fire and drink. Food and fire and drink it. is,And it don’t seem right to me To make ’em pay a penn’orth of tax For every penn’orth of tea. New York Nights. N IQ HT life in New York, according to travellers, is mostly clamour. Nosse, noise and more noise seems to be the motto of after-the-dinner amusements, and “Texas” Guinan, who figured in a recent trial, is still the dominant personality as a “hostess."| “Tex'* is pro-British, humorous and kindly, and sits on a piano to receive. Her newest revue contains a Wild West song, with girls in pure white cowgirl costumes armed with non-silent revolvers. They punctuate the chorus by firing their “guns." After this shooting song the place is dense with smoke and acrid with the smell of gunpowder. But sensation is piled on sensation, and a snake charmer performs in Oriental raiment with a basket of cobras. The new American music is considered very much up to standard. Some of the best songs are “Come West, Little Girl, Come West,** “How About Me?” “Weary River,” and “Let’s Sit and Talk About Us.” And the newest gag is to answer every question, “And—how ?” 71 K 55 U.S. Liners Go Wet. 'T’HE screaming farce known as Prohibition, as some New York writers term it, reached its culmination on April 11, with the announcement that the United States liner Leviathan and nine other big American ocean liners had restored the privilege of alcoholic refreshment to their passengers. What the United States Lines, Ltd., who recently bought the ten ocean liners from the U-S. Shipping Board propose to do is “ within the law,” and they are going to do it in the sacred name of commercial success. The new dispensation is based on the fact that the'Supreme Court of the United States has decided that every American ship is allowed to carry uhder seal a liberal quantity of medicinal alcohol, rated at so much for each passenger and member of the crew. The humour of this system of rating is illustrated by the fact that there is not more than a quart of alcohol in seven quarts of wine. The Leviathan, for instance, is allowed to carry 700 quarts of alcohol in wine, beer and spirits. When the liner passes outside the twelve-mile limit this liberal supply of alcohol can be served to all healthy passengers who desire it. Bottles of wine must not be placed on the tables in the dining saloons. They must be discreetly hidden in ice-buckets under the tables. Wines and cocktails and other refreshments may be served in the smoking saloons and cabins. 'The owners have no desire to make profit from this traffic. Courtesy is their sole motive —and a laudable desire to place American ships on competitive equality with their foreign rivals.