* * *

It is urged that all taxi-cabs should have a cowcatcher in front in case of accidents.  We gather that the drivers are quite willing provided they are allowed to charge for anyone they pick up as an “extra.”

* * *

It is reported that the muzzling order may come into force again in South Wales.  We understand that a dog which thoughtlessly attempted to bark in Welsh in the main street of Cardiff was responsible for the belief that rabies had broken out again.

* * *

During a brass-band contest a few days ago three members of the winning band were taken ill just after they had finished playing.  It was at first feared that they had overblown themselves.

* * *

“A true lover of nature is nowadays very hard to find,” complains a writer in a Nature journal.  Yet we know a golfer who always shouts “Fore!” on slicing a ball into a spinney.

* * *

The two African lions which escaped from the Zoo in Portugal have not yet been captured, and were last seen near the border-line of Switzerland.  It is thought that they are endeavouring to walk across Europe as a reprisal for the flight across Africa by two Europeans.

* * *

The Dublin Trades Council called a one-day strike last week “to secure the release of Mr. James Larkin.”  So successful was the strike, we understand, that the United States authorities have decided that the presence of Mr. Larkin at forthcoming celebrations of a similar character would be quite superfluous.

* * *

Speaking to an audience of miners at Morpeth Mr. Ramsay MACDONALD said he dreamed of a time when the miners would govern the country.  Not even the miners, on the other hand, would dream of letting Mr. Ramsay MACDONALD govern it.

* * *

“Does the Government realise,” asks a newspaper correspondent, “that as regards the situation in Ireland we are on the edge of a crater or with a thunderbolt over our heads?” We rather imagine that the Government, like the writer, isn’t quite sure which.

* * *

Oswestry Guardians have accepted an offer to supply Bibles to tramps.  This is the first occasion on which the current belief that the tramp class is nowadays being recruited largely from the ranks of the minor clergy has received formal recognition.

* * *

A bricklayer has been summoned for not sending his son to school.  It appears that the father, finding his boy could count up to twenty and wishing him to follow his own occupation, thought further schooling unnecessary.

* * *

“When the country really understands the need of the Government,” says an essayist, “we shall travel far.”  But not at twopence a mile, thank you.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  True politeness.

“Your eel, I think, sir?”]