FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 163, 30 September 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN”

TIN-HARE LUCK Mary had a legacy, So bought a hundred shares From off a private company That ran electric hares. She went to see a race one day Pressed up in fancy “togs' 1 : ’Ticas plain to all who knew her She was “going to the dogs.” Poor Mary had such awful luclc ; She didn't have a win. So Mary promptly “lost her hair” Because she'd lost her “tin.” —B. C. H. “GET INTO THE COUNTRY ” Sending a homeless man to gaol for a. month for having slept on vacant premises, an Auckland magistrate asked the unfortunate (who had been twice imprisoned for this same dreadful crime of seeking shelter) why he didn't “get out into the country.” The same question was asked the workless by tlie Prime Minister last year. In the country, of course, there is work i for everybody; food grows by the wayside, and there are comfortable beds scattered everywhere about —for cows and pigs. THE PARNELL BATHS After trying to make a cheap job of it, and failing, the City Council reluctantly gave in and consented to do what it had been urged to do from the first —that is to say, it is going to concrete the bottom of the Parnell baths. At least, half is to be done in concrete, and the other half in tarred macadam. This decision has been reached only after the absurdity of the proposal to provide a cheap iloor of finely-broken metal had been demonstrated by the removal of scores of tons of filth, and distinct evidences of foul seepage. Sense may be driven even into the municipal head with sufficient pounding, and bathers who enjoy a clean swim at Parnell during the coming summer will be able to reflect that all is well that ends well —though in this case to have ended sooner would have been to end even better. ANOTHER REACTIONARY LAW Time has proved that the iniquitous amendment to the Vagrancy Act, which, contrary to the basic principle of British justice, puts the onus of proving innocence upon an accused person, established a dangerous precedent that would be taken advantage of. The same course is followed in the Dangerous Drugs Bill, passed by Parliament last night, despite protests by some members, who objected to the rights of the subject being trodden on by a Legislature which treats Magna Charta as “a scrap of paper.” The excuse put forward by the Minister of Health for amending the law so as to put the onus of proving himself innocent on an accused person was that convictions would otherwise be difficult to obtain. The great boast of British justice, of course, is that every man is innocent until he Is proved to be guilty. The. New Zealand Legislature reverses this; expedience is regarded by it as of greater importance than justice. Just a little more of this sort of thing and other British communities will place upon New Zealand the onus of proving it is really British, and not what it might pardonably be mistaken for —a blinded little bureaucracy. w-. as m & % a; & a* a; at as m as

MT. HOBSON FOR MOTORISTS .* While protests have been received on every hand against encroachments on public reserves, the Mayor of Auckland proposes to hand over part of Mount Hobson to motorists for a camping ground. A splendid idea—for the motorists, those kings and killers of the road who now desire to extend the realm of the Juggernaut to the parklands. Not such a grand notion for pedestrians, including women and children, for whose recreation these reserves were meant. The Mayor proposed last night that the City Council should bless the scheme for making Mount Hobson a motorists’ rendezvous, but those citizens who don’t own motors will be glad that his proposal was not received with unanimous enthusiasm, and be especially thankful to Miss Melville for having politely doubted the advisability of giving control of a city reserve to a private organisation. The proposal has been deferred, so that legal opinion may be obtained as to the council’s power to hand over the property of the people for the delectation of the few. In the meanwhile, those who desire to establish a motorists’ camp might explore the possibilities of other areas, in which the public may have less interest.