FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 265, 30 January 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By ‘•THE LOOK-OUT MAN" CINEMA RIGHTS RESERVED! In the list ol this year’s best-sellers must be Included “Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms.” For bedside reading nothing could be more effective and as soporific it leaves the works of Mr. Harold Bell Wright and “Ruby M.” furlongs in the rear. “What chiefly appeals to me is the evident fact that the author has lived the life that he depicts here for our delight,” says one eminent critic. “There is no characteristic of the invariant that he has not studied at close quarters.” Those who complain bitterly that no book can be opened these days without a surfeit of love and divorce, will welcome the new thriller which, it may be claimed, produces excitement without blushes. * * * “EARNEST PEOPLE ” A New Zealand club flourishes at Salt Lake City, Utah, the home of the Mormons. Dr. James Hight, the newly appointed Rector of Canterbury College, who returned to New Zealand last evening by the Aorangi, after spending some time at the Leeds University, was invited to lunch with the club when he arrived there on his way home to the Dominion. Dr. Hight met the members of the executive of the club, all of whom were anxious to hear of the Dominion. The club has a membership of 300. Only those who have been in New Zealand are entitled to membership. Most of the members have been Mormon teachers or missionaries in the Dominion. “They are very earnest people,” said Dr. Hight, referring to the Mormons. » * • CAMISOLEFUL DRAMA In these days of camisoleful drama (the school which has succeeded soulful drama) new subjects have to be included in the curriculum of the School of Dramatic Art. The actress of to-day has now, in addition to the usual course, to study:— 1. The correct pronunciation and emphasis for all modern curses. (Under the direction of one of Billingsgate’s leading female vendors of fish.) 2. Styles in pyjama suitings. 3. Catch-as-catch-can wrestling, Rugby, ju-jitsu and other exercises such as will enable her to stand the rough and tumble of modern society drama. 4. The taking of a curtain call in response to cries of “Back to the Laundry.” 6. (Most important). The gentle art of registering complete surprise and delight when the property bouquets are handed over the footlights at the conclusion of act three. * • * MOON MAGIC It’s all fixed. M. Robert Pelterie, inventor of the joy-stick, has turned his attention to the exploration of the moon. The 240,000 mile flight will eventually be made by man, he claimß. The time to be taken, the distance to be covered “on a free engine,” the course to be steered; all have been arranged on paper. The only thing remaining to be decided upon (on paper) is the plan for the return. ’Who’s going to • start the lunaviators (that’s a good one!) on their trip home?

AMERICA’S AMAZING DISHONESTY “The United States Steel Corporation is not the biggest industry in the United States. Neither is General Motor* nor the billion-dollar enterprise of Henry Ford. A £600,000,000 traffic in stolen goods is America’s major industry. When phases or correlated enterprises are reckoned with, the ghastly thing well may be considered as a £2,000,000,000 project. The cost ip saddled on the ‘overhead charge’ and included in the operating account of legitimate business. It turns up finally and eventually in the ‘expense account’ of every housewife in America,” wrote David Barray in a recent issue of the New York “Evening World.” “This biggest business of all in modern America is headed by two characters. Both trade on the indifference of the public, the misinformation of lawmakers, the leniency of the courts, and the incomprehensible refusal of legitimate business to arm for defence of its own cash drawers. The firm is described by District Attorney Banton, of New York City, as that of Fagin and Fence! ‘The one is that person who corrupts the useful employee and entices him to steal, and the other is that person who receives the proceeds of larceny,’ Mr. Banton declares. This criminal firm is the shrewdest and most dangerous in America to-day. It is doing a business of £600,000,000 a year. It is the most highly organised criminal institution known to-dax. Ris natfon-