FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 108, 28 July 1927, Page 10

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN 1 ’ TOO LIMITED A RANGE That little group known as the Union Islands is brought under the Samoa Act by the most recent legislation. In the words of Mr. Coates, the object is to give the Administrator of Western Samoa power to “bustle out of the group" any deportees from Samoa who may take refuge there. What an immense pity it is that New Zealand has not a mandate over Fiji, Tonga, the Solomons, New Caledonia and the Sandwich Islands! Anybody who dared to express tlie opinion that Western Samoa was not administered with the wisdom of Solomon and the forbearance of a Job could then be “bustled" right out of the Pacific. It would be even better if we had a mandate over the whole earth —we could dispatch critics to the jurisdiction of the Old Fellow who is reported to be working overtime preparing for the reception of some of our legislators. HORSE OR MOTOli?

Having been baulked by public ridicule and resentment from abolishing dogs from the streets, the City Council has turned its attention to horses. It is proposed that horses shall be prohibited from Queen Street between the hours of 4.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.—probably because they frighten the motors, so noted for their timidity. The pedestrian, however, still retains a sneaking regard for the horse, which seldom knocks him down or kills him; and he contends that if either the horse or the motor have to be prohibited the use of the city’s main thoroughfare, it shouldn’t be his old friend Dobbin. Some of our councillors seem to think that the only place for the horse these days is the racecourse. Thank heavens the Master Carriers’ Association thinks differently, and it is going to protest against the proposed regulation, maintaining that its four-legged servants are still a commercial necessity in the city. Long may they be so! And though not a betting enthusiast, the Look-out Man wouldn’t mind having a bit on the horse in this argument. THE GOSPEL AND THE HEATHEN Appeals for money to send missionaries among the heathen are made with monotonous frequency. It might be suggested that in times of financial stress and unemployment charitably disposed persons with money to spare would put their contributions to better use if they donated it to something in consonance with the proverb that “charity begins at home." The latest special plea is for money for missions in the Solomons —“the people of which would perish if it were not for the Gospel.” Strange that the Solomon Islanders and other Pacific races showed no signs of “perishing" before the introduction of the Gospel. It is generally afterwards that these primitive peoples perish—from a worldly point of view, anyway, however their spiritual status and their hopes of salvation may be enhanced. Hot on the missionary comes civilisation, with its white man’s morality—and its white man’s rum and other accessories. Then comes the “perishing.” If any Aucklander has any money to dissipate, the City Mission and half a doz<en orphanages could do with a little financial uplift.

REW A R DING ST A TESM ANSII IP Before deciding to accept the gift of a large life annuity from his admirers —it is proposed to make him a present of £2,500 a year—the Earl of Asquith aLd Oxford ought to consider the melancholy fate of that great Australian statesman, William Morris Hughes, ex-Prime Minister. “Billy’s” plutocratic friends rewarded his ser vices to Australia and the Empire (and to vested interests) with £30,000. The Labourites, in whose ranks he had risen to eminence, ostracised him. It used to be a popular joke to pretend that “Billy” didn’t want the money and was going to hand it over to established charities, or for the found ing of a Home fpr the Children of Com pulsorily Retired Politicians, and newspaper reporters used to question him regarding its disposal until it grew unsafe for them to do so. You seldom hear of “Billy” now. Yet he was as vainly ambitious as he was brainy, and it is doubtful whether that £30.000 has ever compensated him for the loss of popularity its acceptance (and m6re so its retention) brought about. He fell even as Lucifer.