FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 244, 5 January 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN’’ THE MOTOR IN N.S.W. During last year new motors were registered in New South Wales at the rate of 735 a week, making a total for the year of 38,236. It is rumoured that the Sydney City Coroner has demanded a large increase in salary and the appointment of an assistant to cope with the extra work, and that unemployment has entirely disappeared from among the New South Wales undertakers’ assistants and (monumental masons. FLYING SNAKES Flying has become so popular that even snakes are taking wings, so to speak. When Mrs. Keith Miller and Captain Lancaster left Rangoon in continuation of their flight to Australia, tpey saw a snake in the cockpit. The captain being unable to take his hands off the controls, Mrs. Miller killed the reptile. This is an authentic fact, guaranteed true in every particular by British Official Wireless, and it is -well-known, in any case, that the brand of champagne dispensed to guests at Rangoon is quite above suspicion. A TEAR STORM The Water Supply Committee of the City Council is visiting the Waitakere and Nihotupu dams to-day. Confidential wireless reports to the Watch Tower state that when they saw. the low water in the dams, the members of the committee were so affected by the realisation of their folly in not having made better provision for the citizens that they wept in showers—a regular tear storm, in fact, which raised the water at least a foot. It is expected that the heavens will shortly weep in sympathy, and complete the filling, whereupon the repentance of the councillors will be ended, for “When the devil was sick, the devil a saint would be; when the devil was well, the devil a saint was he.” A WONDERFUL NECK “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” but a special providence must care for the Royal head that gallops under a jockey’s cap or the bell-topper of the point-to-point steeplechase. The Prince of Wales has been thrown from his horse again. This time he was hunting with the Cotteslce pack, and his horse stumbled at a fence. H.R.H. landed head first—on the other side of the obstacle. Fortunately he descended on a snowdrift, or there might have been a fractured Royal skull or a broken Royal neck. The gallant young Edward retained the reins, remounted, and continued the chase. He must have a wonderful neck to stand the strain of all the falls he has had, since he seems to be as much out of the saddle as in it. Still, one can fall too often, and if the Prince continues riding horses there is a grave possibility that he will plunge the Empire into mourning before the cap of the jockey can be replaced by the crown of a king.

% * & * * % * % % at at as %- at as x THE POWER TO SLEEP Marshal Foch has told the “Petit Journal’’ that he is able to sleep soundly at will, and that during the war he could be awakened by a subordinate, give an order and immediately drop off to sleep again. That was one of the attributes claimed by that remarkable butcher, Napoleon, who could go to sleep on horseback. But when one considers the duration of the late war, it is apparent that the power to keep awake was required more than the power to sleep. In fact the indications are that those -who conducted the war were altogether too sleepy—not Marshal Foch, or the soldiers, of course, but the Great Ones who campaigned (and champagned) from the security of guarded offices. » * » CHEAP EATING The introduction of scientific, rationing, which gives foods to supply the full measure of vitamins, calories, etc., has greatly benefited Tommy Atkins, ’tis said. Not only does it give a more varied menu (Tommy gets more than stew and “spuds” these days)—but it is cheaper. Colo >e! Wright, Inspector of Army Catering, supplied a wholesome, varied and attractive diet at a cost of only £lB 15s lid a week for each 100 men. The colonel has just retired, but there is a job waiting for him in New Zealand if he will accept it. If he can teach us how to feed a family of five on a trifle over 18s a week, he will be received with open arms. And the colonel could make a good income by doing the family shopping on commission.