FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 66, 9 June 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

the LOOK-OUT MAN.

BE KIND TO THE OYSTER “If the shell Is damaged, the liquor within will leak out ancl the oyster will die and go bad, instead of living for two or three weeks, as it will if properly treated,” says a learned dissertation on that delicacy which is shortly to become legally edible. Yes, the oyster should be well treated. You should grip it firmly in the hand, express your delight in meeting it again after the long- off-season, drink its health, and, in the most friendly fashion, ask it inside to lunch. WHAT FARES? Though the community buses are claimed to be “pay-as-you-please” vehicles, it is expected of each passenger that he shall place the regular fare in the box —which, according to Mr. Schmidt, means threepence, for he claims that threepence is an ample “contribution” for any run, no matter what distance. And it would he woe betide the “scaler,” for every passenger is a fare-collector, in that he watches what the other, fellow contributes. The passenger who tried to ride at a lower rate than that tacitly recognised would soon become exceedingly unpopular. “In fact,” said a community bus patron to the Look-Out Man, “he would he told that he no longer belonged to the club.” Now that the community bus has made its appearance on the Point Chevalier route also —and In opposition to the City Council buses —some entertaining developments may be looked for. A determined people can find a way of getting round inequitable regulations. Just how far round has yet to be determined. SWEETS AND FILMS It appears that Young Auckland is suffering a sad loosening of the moral fibre, as the result of two evils, sweets on Sundays and the films. The sale of sweets on Sundays makes them untruthful, and is damaging to their morals (also it is liable to attract Sunday School pence in the wrong direction, although this aspect was not emphasised) ; the films are “distinctly harmful.” The Council of Christian Congregations has said so, and it has, by resolution, urged the Minister of Internal Affairs to make the censorship more stringent, so as to “eliminate films lacking in moral idealism.” The Look-Out Man sympathises with the parsons in the misdirection of the Sunday pence, but he fails to see why the purchase of lollies and the like on Sundays should affect either the truth or the morality of children. He has always understood that truth is super; iof to circumstance. Also, he has always regarded dissimulation as a form of untruth —and the C. of C.C. wasn’t particularly frank about this Sunday spending and its effect on the parsonical plate. As for the entire elimination of films lacking in moral idealism—does the C.C.C. wish the entire abolition of the picture show? Films may lack “moral idealism” (so might football, cricket, boxing or billiards) and yet be entirely unobjectionable. Unfortunate though the fact is, people do not go to see the films for moral uplift. They can (or should) be able to get that from the churches, and if the churches are so anxious about it, what is there to prevent them from screening films brimful of moral idealism as part of their services?

RACING “ CROCKS ” Evidence was given at the inquiry into the running of Memsahib in the. Hunt Club Hurdles that the horse was “very unsound and liable to break down at any moment.” The racing authorities need to be very pertinently asked how many “very unsound’ horses, “liable to break down at any moment,” are permitted to race w-th the money of the public, ignorant of their condition, invested on th ur Buckley-like chances. Wouldn’t it be a fair thing to expect those who eon trol the sport the public pays for to protect their patrons by refusing to allow "crocks” to run? WATERING THE WHISKY The Wellington Licensing Bench has issued a timely warning against hotelkeepers adulterating liquor for the making of more than legal profit. This warning must have been earned to have been littered. The Auckland Licensing Bench might take the tip. It is bad enough to have to pay ninepence for a measured “nip,” as you do in some of the allegedly “best” hotels, without having it watered. Whisky at ninepence a tablespoonful or thereabouts ought to pa.y the publican quite handsomely enough. The pallor and feebleness of much of the stuff sold over hotel bars seem to necessitate skilled attention, and the energy of an inspector just about now might not be wasted. If it is a long time since there has been a prosecution for liquor-adulteration in Auckland, it is not because of lack of justification, if the complaints that reach us are to he believed.