SANDY’S CORNER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 224, 21 September 1945, Page 4

SANDY’S CORNER

THE EFFECT OF BANNING. It is a wonder sometimes that those who ban books uo not realise what a great advertisement they give the books they ban. Many an auuial' would gladly endure a ban to get hit work imo lite news. There is nothing noble in that, but it is true. It is also a true picture of human nature to saj that every book banned becomes a badly warned book the minute it ,'s banned. We remember a preacher, in a Halcomoe church, preaching from his pulpit against a certain book, tellir.g lus hock to ban it rigidly, it may nave been a coincidence, but on the following Monday to .Saturday booksellers in Feilding could not keep pace with the demand for the book trial the church had trowned upon, that, book to-day by the way, is on most people's shelves. But banning will go on, we suppo -c, despite dire penalties. We can feel the aches still ol the switching we got for having Jules Vernes book anout round the world in 40 days (from memory we think it was 40>. Ban a book, be you father, be you preacher, be you saint or criminal, anct, as sure as you ban it, you make it! CURIOSITY NEVER SATISFIED. Have you ever had your curiosity about advertisements aroused, yet never satisfied? There was a case in point yesterday. We are still wondering what the advertiser ol yesterday wanted with a cavalry sabre and scabbard. We think there ought to be a law against such sort of advertisements in so bold a foim. They should be amplified, and so set at rest the minds, both ea-,y and uneasy, speculating as to what use can ba made of such a weason in these daya ot aeroplanes and atomic bombs, tanks and armoured cars. Maybe, it is to clip the hedge, or cut rhe borders ol the lawn. On the other hand, it may be for a stage show, such at "Our Miss Gibbs," though we can hardly associate that lovely lady with a cavalry sabre Again, ’if the advertiser’s feelings are akin to ours in regard to taxation, the operation of the Milk Act and a few other things, we could find for him a very realistic use lor a sabre. It is interesting to note, when oa this aspect of a suitable use of a sabre, that German war criminals may be executed with an electric guillotine. The "Scarlet Pimpernel' 1 will turn in his grave (we confidently believe he is dead) when that happens. Electric? "Too beastly common, and all that. Tony, old boy, 100 beastly common, and IsWing the human touch-" ,