EDITORIAL

What Knots, Volume 3, Issue 3, 17 December 1945, Page 1

EDITORIAL

...It has been.arweek•of - strand doings without much being done,Stories have been heard of lines of coolies migrating from, the depths with fenale mattresses, bales have been told of bats and bosun birds and bunyips on the midnight deck. The interward competition has increased in tempo until even the weather is joining in, and gaining the false impression that it was c. marathon,decided to stay. In certain, cabins •■on B deck it far outstayed its welcome, indeed was the Cental Officer who Was visited in his cabin by a wave that had neglected to make an. appointment.. The -resultant, queue of sightseers seemed somewhat reluctant to accept his explanation that he had over-indented for saline. : The interward competition got away to a good start with the ladies right out 'in front brilliantly . riding' sidesaddle on a steed called Crossword. But it is J a ; track with many "hazards particularly at those treacherous milestones known as Quizzes. Already some of the competitors at- the quizzes have,to judge by their •answers, got confused with the tall story competition. The odds ’ are shortening on the dark horse /hard J,the occupants of which have been reading .again- the story of the hare and the tortoise and are reputed to be quietly backing themselves heavily. .'■ '...The. tall stories that have come .in are not tall enough.He want something . that .re’ally won’t'.go, under the, Sydney Bridge. The American •blimps suspended enormous magnets over the sea and lifted German submarines out. of the water until at a.height of .15>000 feet the ack ack shot the submarines down. That sort of thing. They don’t have to be original,they couldn’t possibly be true and anybody from any ward nay enter as many as he likes. Certain correspondents are critical of the Public Announcement System.ln turn they disapprove of its organisation,personnel,enunciation,policy,adverbs-, and even its existence, They don’t like the word ’'immediately 5 ' .neither do we,and would agree that the word was unnecessary if everyone -would answer the call — immediately. There is food for thought'in this for those-: ; call,those who Gome and those who criticise. . - . bard M are getting nationalistic. They are proud of their little suburb,have formed their own Ratepayers Association and wish to be left inpeace,But the expansion of the metropolis that has its centre in the Orderly Room threatens to swamp them. In other words the shadow of. the Convalescent Patients’. .-..ess ' darkens their threshold, This is where Convalescents worship*the Cult of the Competition and at such times M tarns off its loudspeaker,disconnects its telephone,lapses into silence and resigns itself to the Burma road being again closed. well, we sympathise with k. The problem is- the same as in Persia and Palestine. Redress will come but owing to meteordtcgical conditions it is doubtful if Li can be granted complete independence immediately. They, are' asked therefore to accept this promise and-to defer their threat of migrating en masse to the lifeboats where, like Garbo, they can be alone. It is regrettable that a few extremists among, -them have urged that the Q Staff and the R. d D. Staff should be called upon to strike in sympathy with their aims. We have no:.' invaded the territory of the northern Hemisphere and opr advance continues according, to plan. Colombo is expected to fall at any moment.. are committed to leave a small garrison of seven there,and we leave also our wishes for their future success. We shall embark - for,alas, we know our Colombo - at least seven more.ln addition we shall be'giving passage to that fine old gentleman,Rather Christmas.