Now Then!

—By the Scribe

"Trouble with students," he said, fingering his glass absent-mindedly, "they're all either Capitalists or Communists, Zionists or Arabs, Indonesians or Dutchmen, virgins or vipers." Local Press of course grabbed the story and ran it under banner headlines, "Outbreak of Schizophrenia at Victoria College."

* * *

A lot can be said for the new enrolment system. Five days instead of two, with one day to each faculty should be ample to cater for the full roll, and ought to banish the queues that have ornamented sundry corridors and the Bridge of Sighs in times past. Could have read a book while waiting to be served this year.

Marxian influence is strongly rooted in universities, according to Mr. K. V. Roundhill, travelling rep. of the inter-University Fellowship of Evangelical Unions. He uttered these words to a meeting of the Wellington Christian Businessmen's Association. The only effective way to deal with the menace of Communism and defeat its fallacies was by means of a sound philosophy, he said. And there, of course, the matter must rest. Pity an argument should founder on such an obvious rock.

* * *

For years now a friend of the Scribe's has been called a fellow traveller, yet never once has anyone offered to pay him travelling time.

* * *

Here's the National Party complaining-about restrictions on car imports, yet nobody's yet been able to solve parking problems for cars already here. Another thing: take a walk through the village any time of day and you'll find you can't move for cars, old and new, mostly new—and without Government number-plates. Ever been hit by a car in front of the college? If not, it's a wonder. Can't see what anyone's got to worry about, except maybe the pedestrian.

* * *

See in the paper that jails in Czechoslovakia have been flying white flags to show they are empty of prisoners, a result of the amnesty granted by the new President M. Gottwald, on June 19. This, mark you, in the Police State.

* * *

J. F. Little's recent letter condemning a Salient editorial as "just another piece of Communistic propaganda" prompted friend Gadfly to try his hand at verse—

Well-known warrior wins a fan:
Little supports the Marshall Plan!
Leader-writer gets the razz:
Little plays band-wagon jazz.
Can't have "Commos." saying why
The U.S. banks are running dry.
Or are they true, these tales I've hear—
They've given the Marshall Plan the bird?

* * *

Wonder if the boys beating the drum for conscription find it a melancholy business? It's hard to get enthusiastic about becoming a potential strike-breaker; or for that matter is it easy to work up any animosity towards the Soviet Union, in spite of what the daily Press is up to. However, what have one's personal views got to do with a thing like this? After all we're free or something, aren't we?

* * *

What's the point of insisting on marking preferences when only two candidates are standing for the position? If these two happened to tie on first preferences, it doesn't need an involved mathematical calculation to prove that there'd be exactly the same result on the counting of second preference. Result: deadlock.

* * *

There's a move afoot to separate the University of New Zealand into four autonomous universities in the four main cities. This could be a step towards making realities of the Student Labour Federation's proposal for an improved bursary system and the Socialist Club's plan for faculty committees.

* * *

Secret voting may be all right in theory, but when they scrawl on the back of your voting paper a number corresponding with that opposite your name on the roll, it may be considered doubtful if it works out in practice.

* * *

In his own fair hand the Prime Minister wrote to various Auckland firms which co-operated in the production of "Frontier Forsaken," an outline history of the Cook Island, put out recently by a number of industrial unions. Auckland papers say that Mr. Fraser accused these firms, in his "Confidential" letters of aiding Communists to spread their insidious propaganda and expressed serious displeasure at their unfortunate action. It is questionable whether letter-writing of this sort comes under the heading of Prime Ministering; but as Hafiz said to the dentist while recovering from a hangover there are more ways of causing a dog to succumb than by choking it to death.