ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

New Zealand Tablet, 25 August 1921, Page 13

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

To Several Correspondents. Times are very serious and paper is very scarce. ; .Our natural benevolence is hampered by those two conditions. Thus it is that many specimens of exquisite prose and verse that reach us '. never get any farther. Please remember that we often have to make a supreme act of self-denial in not publishing for the public your admirable contributions which are not generally .interesting only because the public is not yet educated sufficiently to appreciate them.

To Regular Correspondents.—Verb. sap. here too. We know that like ourselves you often write out of sheer good nature items that can possibly have no general interest. Unfortunately such philanthropy does not pay and the Tablet is a business proposition, as we are at times rudely reminded by prosaic directors. May we ask you with due deference to your superior judgment* not to send in notes concerning events of everyday occurrence, and not to expatiate on matters that are already known to most people. For instance, where's the use saying that Father Gilhooly or Father von Nicht Rauchen preached an eloquent and impressive sermon when we all know they never preach anything else? It might be well to remember that while some of the clergy love a little limelight there are others so modesty that if it appeared in print that they spent a week in August or November in Christchurch they would be consumed with as holy an anger as is compatible with the text: Irascimini et nolite peccare. Knowing that she is so deeply rooted in humility that a compliment will not worry her, we venture to suggest that our Wanganui correspondent's taste and judgment are worthy of universal imitation.

To Subscribers. editor has taken on the job of looking after the Irish Relief Fund. It takes more time and trouble than one might think. It takes twice as much of both because people will not go to the trouble of writing their names distinctly. Consequently when we enter a subscription from a person who after long study we decide must be Herr von Heissenson, we get a letter from Henry Hennessy asking why we did not acknowledge what he sent in. That means going back patiently over back numbers and saying long prayers for Henry and finally writing to tell him that we mistook him for a Prussian nobleman owing to being unable through lack of education to read his beautiful Italian script. Please note and remember for future occasions as our stock of prayers is nearly exhausted now.

Heligoland.—(l) Your suggestion that Mr. Massey should on his return open a class in Christian politeness for Members of Parliament is a good one. But there is an old saying about a silk purse and a sow's ear. (2) The issue of copies of the penny catechism to the same gentlemen (the word means nothing now) might be advisable. As far as we know they do not know the Ten Commandments, and we doubt if one of them could tell what he was created for. (3) Greenwood and Lloyd George confound the evasive answer with the plain lie. An evasive answer need not be a lie. It is simply a weapon of defence against impertinent persons who ask you what you had for breakfast and whether you paid your tailor's bills. Sometimes evasive answers sound like what Mr. Dooley's father said when he hit his finger with the hammer. And we are sure the recording angel makes due- allowance for the • .circumstances, as he did in the case of Uncle Toby.