THE MINGY COCKATOO.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VII, Issue 6, 1 March 1903, Page 446

THE MINGY COCKATOO.

Ten or fifty miles from nowhere, By a road that's on the map, Where the bush is wild and thickest, Ton -will strike a new cleared gap, There will be a punga whare, And a bearded fellow who Drops his axe and growls " good morning," As he turns and stares at you. Look at him and stop and ponder — He's a Mingy Cockatoo ! He's the man who pays your taxes, Raises children for the State, Works from daylight unto darkness, Hardly knows the day or date ; Yet 'tis he cements the Empire, And from such are born the great. •Stop, 0 citizen, and ponder ! Think these factß are somewhat new? Why the backbone of the country Is the Mingy Cockatoo !

Who has felled the mighty forests, Ploughed the fern and burnt the flax, Cleared away the stumps and rubbish, Formed the roads and cut the tracks, Made your boasted batter merchants, Builded up your meat exports, Brought the trade that raised your cities, With their shipping and their ports ? Look around you, pause and wonder ! Think it over : it is true — He's the maker of your country Is the Mingy Cockatoo. You may cheer your Transvaal heroes, Ye may sound your fife and dru*n, Ye may laud the God of Battles, But remember ye the one Who is fighting a lone-hander With an axe and not a gun — Fighting Nature in the back-blocks In heroic silence, too, For the hero of your country Is the Mingy Cockatoo ! Colin C. Bibenacki.

VII.— No. fe— 99.