FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 278, 14 February 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN”

HOOVER > The TJ.S. Secretary of Commerce, Mr. H. C. Hoover, who has announced his candidature for the Republican Presidential nomination, should make a clean sweep of his opponents. WORKERS OF THE WAIKATO They have some wonderful workers in the Waikato. According to a contemporary, on Sunday last 10 men, working with buckets, removed 400 tons of slit from the Hamilton reservoir in eight hours. This was 40 tons for each man. We have heard a fish yarn or two, but this is the first bucket yarn that has drifted this way. Any improvement on it will be awarded the Munchausen Medial. SOMEBODY’S ERROR The Conservative Government has lost the Lancaster (England) seat through an unexpected defeat,following the elevation of Sir Gerald Strickland to the peerage. Such things cannot go on, and probably Mr. Baldwin is now searching industriously for the man who first suggested that Sir Gerald should be given a coronet. Possibly tbe result will be a check in the flow from Commoners to Lords. Ultimate result, no more Lords; and thak would be a calamity indeed. * * • *1 FREE LIFE PASSES Free tramway passes for life are to be granted ex-Mayors of Wellington. It is suggested that the honour should be made an hereditary one. Some of the distinguished gentlemen who have ornamented the mayoral chair in Windyton cannot, in the ordinary course of nature, live sufficiently long to get full value from the passes—and some of their sons may need them. It is time that Auckland woke up, too. Auckland is lamentably behind Wellington in some respects. This city has long languished for lack of a live Mayor. There have been few worthy aspirants for the office. The promise of free life passes for ex-Mayors would result in a rush for candidature, and the successful candidate would take a very personal interest in tramway administration. We need such a Mayor. CLERGY ON THE BEACHES During a fiercely debated controversy at the Onehunga Council meeting last night on the question of children using swings on the Sabbath, the Mayor countered the religious arguments adduced by asking why the clergy did not follow the people to the beaches and preach to them there. No doubt the clergy would prefer to do their preaching in the open air instead of in stuffy churches these stifling evenings. However, somebody must remain to look after the churches, and so the poor clergymen cannot go to the beaches on the Sabbath. But to return to our swings—the Onehunga Council decided by a majority vote that it is wrong, if not exceedingly sinful, for children to swing themselves on the Sabbath, so the swings at Jellicoe Park are to be closed to them on that day. Wonder what Lord Jellicoe, whom the park was named after, and who loved to see the little ones enjoying themselves, would think about it?

%%%%%%%%as% a- a* % % * * * TOTI’S RISOTTO Toti dal Monte, that tubby little songstress who would have made an equally large fortune in vaudeville if she had chosen that line of business instead of grand opera, has been signally honoured in her native'ltaly. The operatic stars for the forthcoming season in Australia have been ordered to stay in Italy for an extra three weeks by order of II Duce so that he may attend the reopening of the Teatro Reale in Rome. Now, a command performance by Mussolini cannot be disregarded, and so Melbourne must await her grand opera, and the Dictator’s pleasure. Anyhow, what does it matter to II Duce? Toti was a general favourite in Sydney, and at the Cafe Latin, the general meeting place of her compatriots, she was always received with the honours accorded a queen of song. If you ask her, the buxom madame —she, incidentally, is a Polish Jewess with a marked Australian accent—will show you the necklace of acquamarines which an overfed but appreciative little Toti, with a burst of characteristic generosity, placed around her neck ere she sailed last time for Australia. Though Dal Monte lived at the Hotel Australia, she invariably partook of her meals at the Latin, as did for that matter the courteous Kreisler, Chaliapin the basso, Anna the Adorable, and many less well known to the public spotlight. And when Toti was unable to come to the Latin, an agitated tenor then much in favour with the diva would demand from Madame her choicest risotto. Madame would hand it to him with a happy little speech in what she termed her best “I-talian.” Back would the risotto go to the hotel, carefully ensconsed in a taxi-cab, and guarded by the faithful henchman of the songstress.