PAUL HOLT presents readers' GHOST
STORIES
CRITIC, drama critic,
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1947.
The conclusion in not established, Wallop time in hotels it in vehemently maintained that Pluke elther married Liza, changed, lato a hare, or did both.
I have used ftetitious names be- cause the good people of the Wal- lops do not exactly recall whether nome was Hepplejelty, Liza's Cholmondeley or Tabbit; or Pluke's name Fothertingay or Webb.
music critic, a compo- but near closing ter, conductor, a swing composer, a B.B.C. woman an
a travel writer, σ nouncer,
baritone, woman novelist," a an ex-officer of the Guards, a retired major-general, a' bal. let dancer, a B.B.C. music dr. partment executive, a B.B.C. secretary, a girl from Paris, a woman ex-war correspondent, a woman reporter came to party i gave.
a
-J. B. Hendry, Canterbury- avenge, Liverpool. 22.
The man who loved the view
HAD been hiking from early morning. Tiredness was creep- the ing over me as I approached
the village where I intended to stay night. A mile further back I had had I quarry passed the deepest
The mountain path be- ever seen. ing narrow and winding I had come on it anddenly: and was shocked by nearness its depth and dangerous to the path.
They drank hot punch and sang "Ikla Moor" and carols, and when they had tired I themselves out they sat on the floor and I turned the lights out and read to them the ghost stories my dear readers have been sending to me.
The man who missed the bus
CRISP cold on
Christmas
However, as I got nearer to the village I noticed a man and a dog coming along the path in my direc- tion.
The man walked steadily as If he were enjoying the walk and
Eve UN 1 reached the the dog seemed assured there was a lonely crossroads at the end of rabbit in every bush as he darted Friar's Walk. I stumped my from one to the other.
feet and turned my back to the
When we met, 1 remarked how place
bluff gust of cold, and waited beautiful the view from the for the last bus home,
fields.
Moonlight and cold hard ronds and loneliness. Just
stood. where we
ile, slowly re- moving the pipe from his mouth, So beautiful one rejoined Ayt.
never wishes to leave it.
gone.
After a few more remarks I ask- ed him where his dog had "Dog?" he
incredulously. anic "Dog? Must be old Peter's ghost. I -haven't seen him since the night we
were killed in the quarry...."
Alfred Jouphin. Grecha, Thurstasion-road, Ieby, Wirral, Cheshire.
The husband who killed his wife
sald that she And merely have her revenge.
would
Mr Brown carried out his threat,
A cold clutch of fear stirred in the trees-as-the-faraway-and when the opportunity Inter church clock struck the hour, cume he burled her under Eight o'clock-and the last bus greenhouse floor, telling the neigh- left Friar's Walk at 7.15. My bours afterwards that she had
him after a quarrel.
watch was slow and the bus had gone.
The bus glided to a standstill,
the
left
did
AURTURN 13 CEREMONIN
"Spivs!"
FALDS
MAN'S ILLUSIONS OF
GRANDEUR
by Paul F. Ellis
MAN'S belief that his earth is the centre of the
universo and that he is the perfect specimen of creation are only "illusfons," Prof. Robert L. Schuyler contended,
He told the autumn meeting of the American Philosophical Society that man on earth has always had a "subconscious vanity and has refused to believe that he is cosmically un- important.
Dr Schuyler, Professor of History at Columbin University. described mon 08 B "parasite of a minor planet," one of many billions of planets.
"During almost the entire course of man's existence he has taken it for granted that he occupied a central position in the physical universe and that non-human objects and beings possessed tributes to his own," he said.
"This illusion has been the greatest of all his illusions, and the most pregnant of its con- sequences.'
4
Ho anid "we can no longer believe that we are literally at the centre of the universe, as was believed by everybody down to about ten years ago."
"But, Dr Schuyler said, "It is still possible for us to believe that we are at the apex of creation, though there is no satisfactory basis for this bellef, which appears to be nothing more than an instance of wish- ful thinking and a delusion of grandeur,"
ON THE FRINGE OF
THE IRON CURTAIN
ROM the time of Munich Czechs enjoy freedom
until the arrival of the Red Army, Czecho- slovakia endured seven bitter years of suppression. During this period the deeply ingrained democratic
of speech though Com-
beliefs of the munists rule the country
Czechs suffered badly. The Germans ruthlessly stamped
out any attempt at resistance.
In terms of physical destrue-,
from
Allied
By CONRAD DIAS
unlikely
He said the types of such grandeur are individual, na- tional, racial and human racial.
"The remedy," he said, "Is the spirit of humility. Morally wise men of science and philosophy. have recognised the necessity of plain that the best beer is for ex-humility for the acquisition of port only. The local ten importers knowledge and the attainment would be only too glad to oblain
of serenity." supplies from Ceylon, but are pre- vented from doing so owing to cur- rency dimculties.
Postwar
A
of
Humility, according to Dr Schuyler, is a virtue to which man pays only "lip service.".
"There are some modest in- dividuals in our race," he said, "and we should rejoice at their presence."
GRANTED 15TH DIVORCE
taurant
40-
for
and
in the
in-
re- Flipping pancakes
Mrs she owns,
Duniavy said... 15, unlucky triala find not soured her on marriage.
"I have no prospects for No. 10. but I hope the right man will come
"They say
life
the cent of the votes at the General It seems very will be attained, tempt has proved unsuccessful and ticipating in the Morshall plan. Egg Sent Her Into
them
nearer
the
the
these targets
the experienced Цита, Firstly,
which supplied
materials for been recalled. the bulk of raw Czech fodustry, has ceased to do expulsion so. Secondly, by the of 750,005 Germans, including the
industry Crech Sudetens, prived Rself of a fair proportion
of sidled inbour.
slon
Is
de-
д on
0
A Trance
tho
water
the hand-
2
Czechoslovakia has seen big and fur reaching political, economic and social changes that were carried out in an orderly constitutional manner. Despite Commurlist majority in power, there is 1 complete freedom of speech. Communists and Duo- crats freely criticise each other. The
is free the Germans, to arrange a credit to purchase presa.too
very signifi- cant feature is the profusion
the stage when his wife's nagging fered much, partly due to the Batá, the world-famous shoe manu from Ceylon the first 500 tons of a British newspapers on sale in
facturers being. one. Such owners total of 3,000 tons such a night ten years back poon Mr Brown had got to the lion the country has not suf- collaboration with
required. The as did not come under the above Bank refused to financa the pur streets of Prague. No other Euro- when the heavily loaded bus and incessant
Betty Dunlavy, attractive talking were more great distance crashed into the river at the than be could stand, and one day he
shades pressing all foot of the hill on Christmas told her that he was going to kill bomber bases, and partly due categories received credit notes stat- chase because no Sterling was avail- pean Capital hud such liberal sup-
political her 15th divorce recently. an unspecified date, out of profits, essential for industry and for the pres
opinion. It is also asid that Eng- She charges husband No. 15. John maintenance of employment. Eve. The river was in raging her. To his amazement she smiled to the swift arrival of the Red as the compensation to be paid, at able even to obtain raw materiais plies of British daily papers, ex-year-old Oregon brunette, sued
Army units, before the Ger- if any.
lish is studied by a larger propor- Dunlavy, 32, with cruci flood and none survived.
time to put their mans had
Another interesting feature of the tion of Czechs than by the nations human treatment. Two-Year Plan
the of any other country. new economic set up has been futile attempt to eliminate the scorched earth policy into opera-
The---Czech-economy--is--planned middleman. In the industries, ex tion.
Trend-of---Events and controlled by the Two-Year The Czechs now have a new Plan for 1948-47, with the dual ob- cept where the previous owners and
best Although Czechs desire the managers stayed on, the control is
both a Coalition Jects of raising industry output, in the hands of your inexperienced relations with the West for Constitution and
10 percent above the 1037 level, men, well versed in Socialist theory, political and
economic reasons, the along," she said. duly Government, controlled by Com- and agricultural production to
the They tried to eliminate the raiddle- present trend of events points to begins at 10." In the spring Mr Brown sowed some seeds in the greenhouse, munists, who obtained 40 per- 1938 level.
man by establishing direct agencies wards greater dependency on Rus that in the bigger markets. This at- sla, especially since she is not par- But no A flicker of light at but to his consternation they the bend of the lane and the 'not spring forth, green shoots;
flesh. Election. The lesser partners the colour of
middlemen have Russin cun supply much of the raw shoots were bus sailed into view. Swaying he started to strow so rapidly are Socialists, Social-Democrats
materials that she is precluded from They
buying elsewhere. Also, there is a headlamps, gilded windows and that Mr Brown tried to cut
In the larger sphere of interna- big and expanding market for her ting on
Mrs. Helen Mazzio, 27, was sit- the step of her South long shadows on the frozen down, but this merely increased the and Catholics. Owing to
politics, Czechoslovakia's
Philadelphia home when two roadway. I stepped into the speed of their growth until the ter-balance of forces between
tional Brown had to lock the
position on the very border of the finished goods both in Russia and rifled Mr
the Eastern bloc.
introduced them- strange women Left roadway and raised my hand.
and Right, the Com-
Iron Curtain, is a very precarious greenhouse door.
one. Nearly all the Czechs I met Recently Czechoslovakia, Poland selves as fortune-tellers.
concluded trade proudly boasted that Russia did not and Yugoslavia
They asked her to get a gloss of Soon the pink shoots forced their munists have proceeded in a
Internal agreements
barter basis. water, a man's white handkerchief silent, and I heard the sough of way through the crannies, and as constitutional manner, although
As a political decision the expul- interfere at all in her
The affairs, except a shrewd business- Should the present division between and an egg.
made One woman understandable. the wind in the trees. A ter- the days passed they crept
have bigger Sudetens went over to the Germans man who remarked, "Why should the East and the West take a de-
a
non-Rus nite form, it is perhaps rible, unnatural silence, with the house. Mr Brown lled some Czechs fear that if the
to Russia interfere, when.
possible "boil," put the egg la ture against every door, but in Communists the conductor staring at me
vain. And at last the shoots crept majority, their policy might be in 1938, and as they refused
merge into the Czechoslovak nation, sinn Communist party is in power." that Czechslovakia may get absorb kerchief, laid boil on top of the
completely
into
the
Soviet glass. from his platform and a con under his door and around him until
**Watch egg very could be found. This air of sturdy independence re- ed no other solution
closely," the. result big ceived an unexpected shock when fused picture of stiff, ataring the breath was squeezed from him, come more revolutionary.
welcomed by the fortune-tellers told Mrs. Mazzio.. would not be faces within.
It is still the Right Wing that Still, their departure leaves a D. I. Hammond. Desborough-
She did and immediately fell in- gap in the ranks of skilled labour, Moscow ordered Czechoslovakia to sphere of influence. Such n
to to a trance. She awoke hours later avenue, High Wycombe, Bucks. Jealously watches the liberty of the when the shortage extends to non- drop out of participation in the Mar- majority of the Czechs, who are
agriculturni shall Flan, when such help is need- freedom, loving people devoted subject, and the freedom of expres- skilled industrial and
ed more than anything else in the principles of democratic govern-to Ond $1,000 worth of belongings labour as well.
had been stolen from the house. slon in the Parliament.
Standing above Party is the much beloved President Benus, respected the acceptable to all by all and
An experiment in nationalisation
Despite the experiments political leaders. The President's 'by a country as industrially ad-
to vanced as Czechoslovakia deserves tionalisation, Czech economic ro- covery has been a little more rapid a time when ponents of State ownership loudly than in some other occupled coun- Fortunately hor Industries cure for all tries. proclaim it to be the with economic evils and inequalities. The were undamaged, with the excep- Czechs have set themselves a target tion of the Skoda, works, on which concentrated heavy which they are clearly falling to the Allies
raid, only a few
the days before achlove
German
the collapse. As one of
UNRRA help. Nallonalisallon has meant a large main recipients of Shortly after the liberation, increase of bureaucrats and endless Czechoslovakia was certainly saved Czechoslovakia adopted a policy of red-tape. Overhead costs, have from starvation, while at the same nationalisation of the bigger indus- shot up. The big increase of wages' time her industrial revival was set tries, comprising about 83 percent of workers after nationalisation re- in motion.
In proportionately In-
It is intéresting to study the reor- of the industry. The rest of the sulted not
creased production but a serious
ganisation. of Czech Industry under Industry remains in private hands, decline in outplit.
rational ownership. Factories. turn- fn the which is State controlled
Worse sull, prices soared to such ing out similar products are group. sense that the 'Government distri- butes the raw materials. It is in an extent that they are, in many ed together to prevent uneconomic the competition and to reduce costs. By classes of goods, high above teresting to note how nationalisation world price-level. The Govern the adoption of standardisation, it is
output.
For was carried out, for it met with no ment's atern powers to mobilise and hoped to raise the
Circumstances render control labourers threaten the free instance the motor industry
dom of the workers. Big loases ex- produces only three makes of cars, opposition:
Aero ed the change of ownership, easy,
"Tatra and the million Kes. have the Skoda, ceeding. 2,000
mining and instead of a dozen as before. Each The dispossessed owners fall into been incurred by the
Industries. The re group has its own sales and export high
n department. The higher executives export prices has Bult of the three distinct categories, the metallurgical Germans, Jews and the Czechs. With serious effect on the export trade are mainly young men without much their which nione can corn the vital experience, and often a loyal Party respect to the Germans, all property became liable to confisca foreign exchange to purchase raw man has received his reward. tion. This meant a lot because Ger- materials without which nearly the investigation mans had not only extended some whole of the Czechoslovak industry respects similar to that of austerity The food alluation is in many Tie Inavitable jarring of this did reveal that within living | factories, but had also. put up new will be crippled.
Britain. Rations are much the same, complacent routine occurred when memory, the floor level of the hall ones in what they considered
The desperate shortage of foreign except that a better choice and one: Tom Pluke, a poacher, mot Liza had been raised, and it was there-area safe from bombs. Secondly, so
this Variety con be had in Czecho 18:0 meadow and shot her. To fore assumed that the Ghost was many Jews had been exterminated exchange can be seen from Pluke's
Germans that several face example in June-tast, the Directors slovakia. Cheap. substantial meals amazement, he found ho of a conservative turn of mind and by the
tories had no owners. From the of one of the largest motor type are served in the State restaurants. had a woman with a shoulder in- preferred using the old floor..
ranks of the Czechowners a good factories, faced' with' on imminent The general feeling, is that the food Jury Instead of a dead-rubbit Ho
Christopher Millet, Capel proportion was weeded out and close tłown owing to the Jack of situation is improving slowly, Like carried her home and, treated her
Barres, punished with, coriscation owing to rubber called.on the National Bank their neighbours the Czechs com-
My foot was on the step when the dank cold of the hand- rail scalded the to a stop. The conductor stared with a deathly "pallor and beckoned me silently
and I saw his face clearly, and the mantle of frozen green slime on his tunic.
The ghost who
was conservative
Endless Red-Tape
A COLLEGE servant was parsing personal influence has helped
through the dining hall late shape the foundation of the Czech close study of
Elizabethan costumo
a figure in
I stepped back to the shadows one evening and saw
to- foreign policy, which is based coming and he looked after me intent- wards him. The figure was cut off good relations and friendship ly, longingly......and then at the shins and was hobbling along bolh the East and the West. allently reached for the bell- on the stumps of his legs.
cord
-W. Hobbs, Hessel-road,
West Ealing, London, W.13.
The woman who
troubled Wallop
T the turn of the contury Middle
A Wallop
was disturbed by the
activities of Liza Happlejetty.
..It was Liza's habit during tho
summer months to assume the body
The servant reported the intruder of a rabbit, and, her domeatle work to the college authorities and.
records, either undone or postponed until search was made in the
disclose a pre- Sunday, she would go out and frolic which did in fact with the other rabbits.until the vious appearance of the Figure. But carly hours of the morning, when, nowhero on record was there reanauming her human form, she mention of the obvious and rather would make her dilfly way home impressive multilation. on the near end of a broom.
www.Injury, dalin ARANA
However, further
Nationalisation
on
an
Ex-
country.
National Ownership
ment..
in
DAVID LANGDON CARTOON
now
TICKET CHANGE MACHINE &
I hear waʻto inventing a machine which fights boo