FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 231, 19 December 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “1

THE LOOK-OUT MAN'

ROCK ROSES Sergeant Rock, o£ Newmarket, won the championship and first and second prizes galore at the recent show. Now we know where Rock Roses come from I NOT CRICKET Ponsford, of Victoria, made 437 runs in a cricket match against Queensland. He played for 10 'hours SI minutes, and hit 42 fours. This is not cricket. It is work. IV.4R AMD AFTER In Australia, 20,000 metal-trade workers are in for an unkind Christmas, having been given notice by their employers that there will no work after next Friday until the New Year. In Germany, the employers in the metal works have granted their men a 2 per %ent. increase in wages, and they will have a real good old German Christmas. Let’s see; who was it won the war? We really forget. THE HORNED RULJj One of the most common fatalities in country districts is that resultant from being gored by a. bull. Another fatal goring is reported from East Taieri, near Dunedin, a married man being the victim. The de-horning of cattle has long been advocated, for, apart from the risk to human life, horned cattle do great damage to each other in transit —particularly when trucked —and their market value is often greatly depreciated. Still, it is a matter which nobody seems to take any great interest in. Cattle are cheap in New Zealand, so, apparently, are men. THE DEFENCE OF AUCKLAND Can we jeopardise the safety of this great city for the sake of a few windows? Decidedly not! Devonport residents who have had windows broken and chunks of ceiling dislodged by the discharge of guns at North Head, wrote to the member for Waitemata about it—in fact, over 200 of them forwarded a petition to be handed to the Minister of Defence, asking him to have gun practice carried out elsewhere than at North Head. In reply, the Minister states that the conditions complained of have obtained for approximately the last 50 years. Fort Cautley, the Minister points out, is the “principal” protection for the City of Auckland, and it is quite impossible to close it. Seebig that modern enemy ships could stand 20 or so miles off Auckland and bombard it, those concerned regarding the defence of the city would piefer to see the guns shifted to some point about 19J miles further seaward. One does not hunt the alligator with peashooters, and though the guns complained of may be excellent windowbreakers, their efficiency against warship armour at long range excites the sceptical to sarcastic remarks. FREE ENOUGH It is so often declared that this is a free country that one takes it for granted. Now, there was the ease of Pene Cassidy, of Kaihu, who was accidentally killed by a tree falling on him. Pene left seven children who were said to be dependent on him —two by his wife, two by another woman, two by the other woman’s daughter, and yet another by a fourth woman. It must have been quite all right, for in the Arbitration Court the representatives of the various groups admitted that each had a claim, and the Court ordered that £SB4 paid into Court as compensation should be “whacked” out by the Public Trustee.