FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 127, 19 August 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN” civic hvmoist: Last night the City Council received complaints from people who had clothing washed away, fowls drowned and property damaged by stormwater, and from a lady who ruined a pair of silk stockings by falling into a hole in the street. A newspaper report says that “a ripple of laughter ran around the council chamber after the reading of these items in the correspondence.” The civic sense of humour is exceedingly intense The councillors, they chuckle in their glee When they learn that floods have washed away a fowl-shed or a fence , Or sent somebody's washing out to sea. Yea, the City Fathers’ humour is amazingly immense, They love to hear an angry owner’s growls When the floods have given reason for some trifling offence — Like marooning him, or drowning all his foiuls. Their sense of fun is wonderful—the saving seventh sense Of our councillors- —all other talents mocking. They simply scream with laughter at the tear-ful evidence When a lady fall's and spoils a good silk stocking. Whatever damage may be done, they never take offence, They’re ever free from worries and from But you can bet their laughter would immediately condense. If the water damaged something that was t heir's. —F.U. ROME BRITON, S’ IGNORANT. TOO “Dear L.O.M. (writes 8.C.), —Rc geography and humour: In view of the many acrimonious jibes at alleged American ignorance of N # ew Zealand, the following letter from the Earl of Meath, P.C., to the London “Evening News,” may serve to break the monotony, if nothing else. “ ‘Sir, —Because of the interest I take in the sale of Empire products, I receive letters which sometimes point to a lack of knowledge among some (I hope only a few) British subects in regard to Empire geography.” A distinguished Empire trader lately wrote: “I received an inquiry from a lady for a certain well-known brand of grape fruit, which the customer had been informed was a British Empire product, and we find that this was actually grown and supplied from the United States of America.” Another correspondent says: “Two educated women applied to me not long ago to decide the point of whether California was in the Empire. They had been offered Californian fruits by a grocer’s assistant who said that he thought California was in the Empire. “As both ladies were doubtful about, this, they wished to have the point definitely, settled. All three were, I think, genuinely anxious to encourage Empire trade. I think there is a genuine desire among retailers to promote Empire trade, but there is a most lamentable ignorance of geography.” Some Britons appear to believe that the British Empire includes such American possessions as Florida, Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. MEATH. 130, Ashley Gardens, S.W. I.* ” # & r'r. r\i X & %

DIFFERENT DAIRY FARMING An article in “The New Statesman” on the growth of dairy farming in England might have been written of the changed conditions of the industry in New Zealand. Dwelling on herd-test-ing and testing for tubercle, the hygienic conditions under which cows are now milked, improved cattle and higher yields, there is drawn the contrast of an old-time farm, where “there were five milkers, elderly men for the most part, who had been brought up to the practice of wet-milking, that is to say, when their hands got too dry, the least offensive thing they did was to dip them in the milk pail . . . There was neither feeding trough in front or gutter behind; cleanliness was not demanded of the workers; you could not expect it for 12s a week.” But even in New Zealand there are still thousands of small sheds wherein cows are milked by hand. True, there is now a pretty general idea that the hands should be washed before milking ( if they are particularly filthy); but it is not universal.