FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 215, 30 November 1927, Page 10

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN” ST. AXDREIV’S DAY It’s a terrible pity we’re not in Dunedin to-day. There flows the rich wine, and beneficence is lavishly dispensed by all true Scots, world-famed for their generosity. Still, even in Auckland (where Scots are accused of disguising their nationality for material benefits), there are some today who are making merry with the fruitful, grape, not forgetting those products of barley and of rye, and there will be fearful recriminations if forgetfulness leaves unadorned the statue of Robert Burns In the Domain. History is very vague concerning StJ Andrew. • We know far more about Robert the Bruce with his spider and that grand rebel, Wallace. But Andy was a great traveller. He was the son of Jonas, the fisherman, and a brother of Simon called Peter and one of the lamentably few (there were only two of them) disciples of John the Baptist. It was Andrew who brought Simon Peter to Christ, otherwise we might never have had the church built upon a rock. After that Andrew was, neglected (Peter must have arranged that, with the customary brotherly gratitude), for he is not mentioned in the New Testament. He is believed to have travelled with the Word through Asiatic and European Scythia, and to have afterwards * passed through Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus into Achai, there to be scourged and crucified at the behest of the Roman Governor. But Scots the world over chiefly remember this of St. Andrew —that he was the disciple who was responsible for finding the loaves at Galilee. MIXED BATHING Mixed bathing has formally been approved by the Mount Eden Borough Council and the Mount Eden Bathswill be lent a real festivity between 6 and 9 p.m. during December and January. Friends of opposite sexes need no longer separate after a game of tennis, each to bathe as a duty In the unattractive company of his or hey own sex and the little world of Mount Eden will wag the better for It. It is meet, anyhow, that in Mount Eden, Eve should approach Adam unembarrassed by silk stockings, while Adam for the nonce enjoys the absence of creased trousers. Gradually we are “getting back to Nature,” and the more we see of this the more we will appreciate each other. Bathing suits are any amount sufficient in an Auckland summer. FIJI PROGRESSES Only a few years back-—it was in 1919 when the L.O.M. last sojourned i there—Fiji was in the dumps. The banana growers were losing money; copra wasn’t profitable owing to high freights, and there was nothing to look forward to in the little Crown Colony, which was additionally depressed after having just emerged from the ’flu epidemic, that had taken dreadful toll of “the bravest and the best.” But desperation drives to experiment. Contemplating the prosperity of Hawaii, which lives largely oil pineapples, Fijian men asked why hey should not cultivate this delicacy oil a larger scale—and can it. The experiment was a success, it being found that the Fijian canned pineapple was equal to that of the best shipped from Honolulu. Now it is announced that a Canadian company is prepared to invest a very large sum In this particular industry. Also, In recent years, Fijian butter has come to the fore, the product of the few factories being comparable to the best.

HUSH! Parliament accepted a lead from the Wayback Road Board and decided to exclude Press and public from the sitting at which the Secretary of State for the Dominions was to tell the ele cited representatives of the Britain of the South all about it. Thus would the politicians have the stage all to themselves in their respective constituencies, and each could tell his own good tale, Independent of the callous Press, which has the obnoxious habit of only reporting what is worth telling. Unfortunately, that oft-inconvenient gentleman, Mr. Peter Fraser, has gagged their eloquence in advance by stating that Mr. Amery told members nothing that could not be said in public and had added the same high figure so the staggering total of their knowledge. Still, Mr. Fraser is slightly exaggerative in his deprecation. It has come to the knowledge of the L.O.M. that Mr. Amery made several confidential communications, such as “New Zealand is more British than Britain,” “Blood is thicker than water,” “We must never loose our hold on the sliver thread of kinship,” and (tremendously significant), “Trade within the Empire.” It would never do to let the Soviet know of this.