Untitled

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 112, 2 August 1927, Page 8

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN

THE FATHER OF PAT A parody of the old verse—“ Who ran to catch me when I fell, and kissed tlie part to make it well?—my mother!” substituted the word “father” for “mother” and the word “spank” for “kiss.” In a quandary what to do with three juveniles who. had been setting Are to buildings, Mr. Justice Herdman yesterday observed that it was not a case which could be dealt with by “a motherly pat on the head.” But there are some cases which could quite effectively be dealt with by a fatherly pat on the pants. TO INCREASE PACE Herein is clearly indicated a method by which runners of the rising generation may make the performances of such champions as Charlie Paddock, Jack Donaldson and Jackson Scholz look tortoise-like. On Saturday last, a member of the Wanganui Harriers’ Club was crossing a paddock when a bull made after him. The time was not recorded, but the runner beat the bull to the nearest fence by inches. We only need to train our athletes with the aid of bulls to produce men who will knock all past records silly. SLIP POSSIBILITIES Slips on the Main Trunk line are becoming almost as frequent as levelcrossing fatalities. If the Government is going to be as slow in dealing with this danger as it has been with the other, there are all the possibilities of wholesale human slaughter. The Taumarunui smash did not teach a very thorough lesson apparently, despite its tragic consequences. There are 100 cuttings between Auckland and Wellington which need to be widened and sloped oack, any one of which may “slip after heavy rain. It only needs a few tons of debris to fall across the track in front of an express travelling at 40 miles an hour for the expected to happen. And in that case the Government will be unable to secure immunity from the public wrath by claiming that it was not expected to happen. THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA The plea of privilege was for long years the prerogative of the doctor, and the ends of justice have probably been defeated on many occasions oy the silence of a medical man in whom: a patient has confided. The law is no longer tolerant of this attitude, “if you do not produce documents 1 will call every doctor and official ill the hospital, and I shall imprison any doctoi who refuses to give evidence,” declared Mr. Justice MeCardle in a divorce case in England. The evidence was forthcoming. “Must the doctor tell?” is now answered in the affirmative. Thus is another error in the etiquette of the profession relegated to the past.

HEXRY ! If we can’t all afford Fords, we can at least afford time in our youth to study Ford and seek to emulate him. It has been said that any boy of average intelligence can become a Ford, if he is sufficiently painstaking and doesn’t waste his opportunities. Mr. Ford celebrated his G4th birthday on Saturday—that is to say. it was celebrated, though it is doubtful whether Henry himself had any time to join in the celebration' This country has an overplus of Ford cars, but it could not have an overplus of Ford men. At present it would be very thankful for just one Ford to start with. Henry Ford has paid nearly £400.000,000 in wages in 20 years—or an average of £20,000,000 a year, which is about one-third of the total value of New Zealand’s exports. Haply, out of the scores of thousands of ambitious boys in this Dominion, there may a,rise one Ford to enrich a country which may not find salvatio'h by butter-fat alone. THE DOG'S POINT Lord Dawson . Penn carried the war into the enemy’s camp when he put in an uninvited appearance at the annual meeting of the National Canine Defence League, and spoke in favour of vivisection. Though he declared himself to be a lover of dogs, he received anything but a cordial hearing. The famous surgeon favoured the dog as a subject for vivisection because it had “no power of anticipation, no consciousness of duty to others left behind, and no family or social ties,” and he told his audience that the phy sical sufferings of human beings in illness was much less than the mental sufferings caused by the thought that their near and dear ones might suffer Latest files show a very fierce controversy raging in England around the Dogs Protection Bill, designed to pre vent the use of these animals in vivisection. The only view not put forward is that of the dog. If a dog could only talk, as it can reason, those who regard it mainly as something on which to exercise their scalpels might change th-eir attitude. At any rate, it seems a weak excuse to argue that because dogs have no sense of anticipation it is no harm to dissect them You might as well argue that because a man does not anticipate being lulled it is not murder to shoot him dead.