Off The Beat

NZ Truth, Issue 1200, 29 November 1928, Page 6

Off The Beat

DRITHEE, smite the librettist m the I eye when he tells you that a policeman's lot is not a happy one! At any rate, thirty odd years of service have failed to quench the sense of humor and joviality of one Sergeant Andrew McDonnell, of Thames, who m a week or two will fold away his tunic, his stripes and his old shako for all time. That such an upright stalwart, m the full plenitude of fitness, should 'be drafted to the pension brigade seems something of a joke, but the qualification of long service — of hard service — cannot be denied. Sergeant. McDonnell has earned his pension. In the long street , which connects old and' new. Thames, the Sergeant has been a prominent landmark these nine years, and as far as crime is concerned, it is. his proud boast that the town is as clean as the proverbial hound's tooth! Father O'Flynn of song and story is reputed to have "lifted the lazy ones on' wid a stick*! Now, McD. doesn't use a stick, but he has "Moved on" more than one derelict and border-line case with a chunk of sage advice; an illuminating home-truth; and a final admonition : "Don't - lemme-see - youagen!'-