FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 217, 2 December 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-GUT MAN” TRAM AXOELS The complaint of overcrowding made by conductors and motormen might remind the travelling public that human patience has its limits, and that the toe-trodden, crowd-push-ing, fare-collecting piece of energy contained within the tramways uniform of the City Council has more nerve impulses than a penny-in-the-slot machine. To expect a “Thank you!” and a “Beg pardon!” with the ticket that receipts every fare is to anticipate the courtesy of angels. The L.O.M. does not know any tram conductor who lays claim to being an angel; but he does know that, as far as time and circumstances will permit, the conductor is generally courteous. The man who collects fares on (rams in the crush hours has a hard job, and those who would murder him in thought when he makes an occasional mistake might remember the tact. TRUSTFUL NEW ZEA LA XDER New Zealand is the natural, happy home of the confidence man. So many offenders come before the courts for passing valueless cheques that the query arises as to how many who have similarly obtained easy cash are NOT apprehended. Credit is given at the wink of an eye, and a stranger has merely to wander into a town and state he is a doctor, a lawyer, a retired naval officer, or something else that sounds well to have the run of the place at the expense of the locals. One of these days a Shah of Persia will pass through these islands and take away the State Treasury—just as a loan against the Crown jewels he has inadvertently left at home. C A XCER MORTA LI TV Another medical man arises to warn the world against cancer. Unless men soon conquer the disease, says Professor Blair, the nations will be forced to stop warring and to unite to stamp out the horror that will threaten the existence of mankind. But iu placing some of the blame for causing cancer upon smoking, the professor has gone back to what some modern doctors j have declared to be “an exploded fal--1 lacy.” There is said to be no appar- | ent cause for cancer and that if cause I could be discovered, cure could be I effected. One Auckland surgeon i blames bad teeth lor cancer of the | mouth and throat —not tobacco, which ; Professor Blair views with grave susi picion—and he says that he has never seen such forms of cancer accom- ; panied by a sound and healthy mouth. “THE NABOBS ‘OF THE SC REEN" Miss Beatrice Tildesley, of the Good Films League, has not a very high opinion of film producers. Men without artistic ideals and natural taste, she called them, in giving evidence before the Film Commission in Sydney—“ Nabobs of the screen” who have gone into the industry with exactly the same enthusiasm and the same aim of high profits as actuated them when they dealt in cheap clothing. Where once they purveyed “reach-me-down” suits, they now purveyed “drag-me-down” entertainment. Miss Tildesley must have been seeing some queer pictures. One wonders where. Neither in Australia or in New Zealand do the censors pass “drag-me-down” pictures. For one thing, the public would not tolerate them. The lady* is over-em-phatic, and -seemingly in the same class as the New Zealand clergyman, who, after a most vigorous denunciation of the films as a danger to the morals of society, admitted that he had never been to see a picture show.

APPLYING THE “BOOT"

Mr. Bavin is most energetically applying the “hoot” to the State servants appointed by his predecessor, Mr. Lang. Few men have the doubtful honour of being “sacked” by direct legislation. Mr. A. D. Kay will be able to claim it. According to the present N.S.W. Premier, Mr. Kay was appointed to the Meat Board because Mr. Lang wished him out of politics so that he could be replaced by a pledged Labour man and thus strengthen the GoverDment which was threatened by dissention in its own ranks. Bluntly, Mr. Bavin puts it that Mr. Lang, in appointing Mr. Kay to the Meat Board at a salary of £1,500 a year, had really offered him £7,500, payable at the rate of £1,500 a year, to betray his constituents. Regarded in this light, the appointment was a despicable piece of political jobbery. So are a good many other appointments of politicians to paid positions under the State, but they do not all receive the limelight that has flooded the Kay case. Perhaps the result will be the exercise of greater discretion in future. In any case, the Bavin Government will need to be very careful. If it is going to be “spoils to the victors,” any officers appointed by the present Government will need to prove their worth up to the hilt to escape the “boot” when the Lang people get back into office.