FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 113, 3 August 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By "THE LOOK-OUT MAN"

OUR WAILING PLACE The sun sinks in the west; the dusk draws down : Then darkness holds the busy world in thrall. And o'er the sea that girds the sleeping town Fog's ghostly fingers weave a shrouding pall. Where sunrise paints the renters rose at morn, Perverted industry has built a reef, Aand on it placed a fiend-invented horn, Through ichich malignant spirits voice their grief. And. through the hallowed darkness of the night. The woe of all the world, in one wild wail, Is hurled abroad with strident, shrieking might, Shattering the peaceful stillness like a flail. Strong men start up in terror from their sleep, Cursing, like Job, the day that they icere born; Distraught dogs howl, and little children weep, And Wakeful eyes await the weary Unwanted cats who found cold watery graves Take sweet revenge with long-drawn snarling yowls , And dogs drowned fathoms deep beneath tlic leaves Bemoan -man's perfidy with mournful howls. Brown brother's wailing tangi for his dead Is as sweet music to the soul a thirst To such dire sounds as never yet were By Scotia's bagpipes at their wildest A. W. FOGS Such heavy fogs as those experienced lately are a rare experience for Aucklanders. Not so for Newfoundlanders, for Newfoundland, where the warm air from the Gulf Stream Drift meets the chilled air from the Labrador current, is probably the foggiest region in the world. The North Atlantic generally is notorious for its fogs, and the loss of the Titanic, with its awful holocaust of human life, was only one of many ocean tragedies for which fog was responsible. The fog danger is very real all along tlie Eastern coast of the United States and of Canada, and also on the coasts of Northern Europe. The United States has over 400 fog coast signals, England over 300, and Canada over 200. There is a fog siren at Platt Fongere, Guersney, which has been heard a distance of 33 miles. This shatters the assumption that the siren at the Ferry Buildings, Auckland, is the loudest on earth. -DON'T rpT.LOW AMERICA" Sir Hugh Denison, Commissioner for Australia in the United States, is a shrewd, observant man, and his counsel to Canada might, well be followed by Australia and New Zealand. During his tour of the United States, Sir Hugh was appalled at the hordes of Southern Europeans who lived in packed communities and did not assimilate the customs of the new country. That is the way of Southern Europeans when they gather in a new land in any large numbers. They are of the “huddle together” type and not at all good elements in a virile and progressive community. It is the virile Nordic racial strain which young countries such as the new British Dominions require—the hardy, industrious peoples of Northern Europe, who readily mix with the native-born, intermarry and produce splendid stock. Australia has already experienced trouble with the “groups” of Southern Europeans already admitted as immigrants. She doesn’t like them, and, as regards the majority of these people, it is not to be wondered at.

THE PRICKLY PAIR Australia is a country in which the imported pests, like those of New Zealand, are far more numerous and damaging than the native. The principal vegetable pest of New Zealand is the blackberry; that of Australia is the prickly pear. In the opinion of Australian landowners, death would have been too light a penalty for the adjective idiot who introduced prickly pear to the country. The prickly pear is a native of the warmer parts of America, and is officially described as “a succulent shrub.” Succulent it may be; but its spikes will kill even a goat in time, and it has spread to such an extent in New South Wales and Queensland that it has rendered millions of acres useless.