From The Watch Tower

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 8

From The Watch Tower

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN” TABLOID DRAMAS (1.) Tidal race; eight-oared boat, Men tipped out: One afloat. (2.) Water shortage: Unwashed boy. Shock too great; died of joy. GIFTS OF* GAS Speaking at the New Zealand Librarians* Conference, the president (Mr. J. J. Clarke) soundly rated people who, sending books to the hospital, included such intellectual tomes as “Hansard.** In his opinion even commercial journals were more interesting than Hansard. Evidently Mr. Clarke does not recognise the publication as a report of the Gas Company. * * • TAURANGA ONE UP From the “Daily Mail** (London), December 23: “To the Editor: Sir, — Having seen a reference to the burial of the last Crimean veteran, I thought it would be of interest to you to hear that in New Zealand recently I had the pleasure of visiting my uncle, Mr. Eyre, of Gate Pa, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Mr. Eyre is a Crimean veteran and also an Indian Mutiny man. Although 96 years or so of age, he can still read ordinary newsprint with perfect ease.—W. G. Maw, Dursley, Gloucestershire.** ... THE MISSING LIBRARY Several hundred volumes of Sir Isaac Newton’s library, part of which has been lost for 200 years, were recently found In a house in Gloucester. The lady who borrowed them in the first place is unable to account for the delay in returning the books. * * * THE EARL’S “SHOUT” Once no commoner would have refused a drink with a peer, but times have changed. When the Earl of Craven was found near an English inn without lights on his car, he said to the policeman, “Don’t haul me up for this. Come inside and have a quick one.” The policeman declined. It must have been a terrific moral struggle. When constabulary duty’s to be done, to be done, a policeman’s life is’ not a happy one. EMULATION Recent figures show Shanghai as the most criminal city of the world, but American police are convinced that when their records are completely up-to-date Chicago will recapture the position. We like to see this rivalry between nation and nation—town and town. Friendly competition leads to greater progress. SPEEDING UP THE SPORT According to a Sydney paper (writes “Smack ’em and Scoot”), motordom in Australia expects sacrifice, at the rate of one life per day, to the great God Speed. But unless the signs are askew New Zealand is not going to be so far behind. Rarely, even now, does a day pass without the recording of some mangling by, or of, motorists. Much, of course, yet remains to be done to speed things up here. For instance, the removal from our highways of trams and horse-drawn vehicles is long overdue, and must be resolutely Insisted upon. That accomplished, then those detriments to sport, the safety zones and centre poles, will have no excuse for existing; and unsportsmanlike pedestrians will be encouraged to attempt a non-stop run through traffic, instead of huddling in craven manner in the lee of a centre pole, or scuttling ignominiously to the sanctuary of a nearby safety zone. Now about the banking of corners. Not suggested? Oh, well, it is only a matter of time.

THE PARAGON While an old lady in Australia was lauding the good qualities of her butler to some friends in the drawing room he was upstairs robbing her jewel box. She could truthfully say: "He was above doing a bad action!” * * * DEATH TRAPS Perhaps it is not surprising that the Government of the United States of America is quite willing to scrap submarines as instruments of warfare. The American Navy ha* had a long and most distressing series of submarine disasters in peace, while the latest tragedy off Provincetown, in Cape Cod Bay, has convinced the voluble public of the United States that under-sea boats are death traps. Since the World War the United States Navy has lost 110 lives through submarine disasters. Nation-wide resentment at the recent tragedy is easily understood. The stricken submarine’s complement of officers and men included representatives of 19 States of the Union and also of Canada. Hence the wave of sorrow swept America from Lowell to the island of Negros, far away in the Sulu Sea. It is not likely, however, that all the other nations will agree with America and Britain to abolish submarines" France believes in them. They are cheaper than battleships.