FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 305, 16 March 1928, Page 9

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By "THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” CITY WATER HARMLESS The suggestion that city water is harmful to the radiators of motor vehicles is denied by the authorities, who declare the acids and alkalis used in the process of filtering are harmless. The water is harmless to the human radiator too. It is analysed and is “baeteriologieally pure.” The L.O.M. knows this to be true. He filled a glass with water, covered it, and in three days there was an eighth of an inch of green sediment on the bottom. He doesn’t know what the sediment was, but it must have been “bacteriologically pure,” because the analyst says so. All the same, he would rather have it without that sort of sediment. » * * STAKES AND STAKES One of the grounds advanced by the owners of the racehorse Boomerday in their claim for damages against the Takapuna Jockey Club for injury to the horse is that the stakes erected on the Takapuna course were inadequate. Judging by the fact that only four horses started in two races at Waimate and only five in another, the stakes there may be considered inadequate. They certainly fail to attract owners. The manner in which unsuspected “champions” are produced on some of these country courses is marvellous. Generally speaking, the “arrangements” are ail that could be desired —excepting by the sorrowful punters. NOT FOR NICARAGUA Despite Its revolution, Nicaragua still has a Parliament. Apparently that Parliament is not yet moribund, either. This week it tossed out a Bill to provide for the supervision by the United States of the Presidential election, which is to be held in October. Nicaragua doesn’t want an American President, or a President elected under American “supervision,” which would be the same thing. IN SEVENTEEN YEARS The New Zealand postal system delivers its letters. A Wanganui firm has just received a missive addressed to it 17 years ago. In 1945 a Wanganui man may expect to receive something like the following:—Dear Tim, Things are bucking up in Auckland. It has rained and we are allowed to wash at last. The chairman of the Harbour Board is going away on a long trip, and the Mayor is said to be inconsolable. There are no races until April, and Queen Street is full of horse owners, trainers and jockeys. You can tell them by their diamond rings and bow legs. A citizen has just been made to pay £2O damages for saying that a city councillor hadn’t paid for some blue metal he got off the council. They say a lot of things about councillors; perhaps they will hold their tongues now. It’s costly to talk —but they can’t touch you for thinking. We can’t swim at the Parnell baths now; the water has to be scraped off with a putty-knife. In fact the whole harbour is said to be polluted, and I think the Harbour Board will have to drain it. I bet they’ll find some funny things in the bottom when they do. The Sun is shining brightly. It is just about to celebrate its first birthday. I celebrate my 21st next month —on the 13th, Tim, don’t forget. They say the 13th is unlucky, but I’ll bet they’ll change their minds when they see what you send me.—Love from Gertie.”

THE E. R. STERLING The E. R. Sterling, badly damaged in a hurricane in the South Atlantic, is well known In the Southern Seas, as is her master and owner, Captain “Bob” Sterling, whom the vessel Is named after. The E. R. Sterling is a five-masted barquentine, a most handsome vessel. Her home port is Seattle, in the State of Washington, and for man}’ years now she has traded to Sydney, bringing lumber from the United States and carrying coal from Newcastle to the West Coast of South America.. Bob Sterling, who unavailingly fought for the life of his chief officer, Mr. Roderick Mackenzie, when the latter was fatally injured in the gale, is a brisk and jovial character, and, strange to say, a sailor is the last thing he looks like. During the war, full cargoes, high freights and fast passages were his luck. The saloon quarters on the E. R. Sterling were comparable to those of a liner, and the barquentine was probably as luxurious a windjammer as ever floated. Captain Sterling carried his family with him, and when in port in Sydney stayed at the most fashionable hotels. He is very popular in Sydney, as was his son. Captain Roy Sterling, who commanded another Sterling ship. Yet another Sterling, a much smaller vessel than the “E.R.,” made several voyages to Auckland. She foundered in mid-ocean between here apd Sydney, her crew being thrillingly rescued in a heavy sea at the last moment by H.M.A.S Melbourne.