From The Watch Tower

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 312, 24 March 1928, Page 8

From The Watch Tower

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

THE WEEPING WILLOW What is this? The Minister of Lands declares he is thinking seriously of having the willow declared a noxious weed! Is Mr. McLeod not aware that the Wairau River Board has just made £22 6s lid by “grazing” cattle on the willow growth in the bed of the Wairau River? “Wil-low-fed beef for willowy figures” should be the motto. Let us retain our willows, fatten large herds of cattle on them, and “slim” the figures of our robust maidens. Besides (and this is a serious matter), think of the number of cricket bats this country will need, following on the visit of an Australian XI. If we have no willows, how can we make bats? OFF AGAIN! The Prince of Wales has had another fall—quite an acrobatic feat this time, for he turned a somersault on leaving the saddle and alighted on his feet. H.R.H. was later indignant at the alarmist rumours regarding his fall, and said he would be a poor man. and certainly unworthy to be Master of the Merchant Navy, who could not survive such slight mishaps. As sailors are notoriously poor horsemen, there is a dim suspicion that H.R.H. staged this particular fall to let sailors know that, as Master of the Merchant Navy, he did not consider himself above them in such matters. H.R.H. has a happy knack of putting other people at ease. » * * THE CUL-DE-SAC A basic wage gave a bare living to a married man with three children. Mr. Justice Detheridge pointed out in the Commonwealth Arbitration Court. And, he added, under this system the single man lived well at the married man’s expense, but “an uproar would arise if unmarried men were deprived of part of their pay to meet the position—thus an industrial and legal cul-de-sac had been created.” The married man works for a bare living for himself and his family. The single man, receiving the same remuneration, has enough to live on and more than twice as much again with which to enjoy his spare time—“at the married man’s expense.” It is a system which discourages marriage and decreases the birthrate. Meanwhile, there does not appear to be a political' mind bright enough to frame a workable remedy for what is obviously a national disaster. CLOSE FINISHES The feathered sporting fraternity was greatly excited at the conclusion of the Auckland Poultrykeepers’ egglaying contest, in which, as a daily paper Informs us, “ a very noticeable feature was the very close finishes registered in all departments, there being few eggs between winner and runnersup.” With eggs at 3s 8d a dozen, Mr. Black Orpington displayed inordinate pride at the success of Mrs. 8.0., who was ahead in the “single bird” competition. This so incensed Mr. White Leghorn that he flew at the unseemly crower, and only for the intervention of the Rhode Island Red constable there might have been murder. As it was, the feathers flew considerably, while hundreds of excited layers cackled in a tremendous chorus, and even the ducks left their nests to quack. Finally Mrs. 8.0. won by nine eggs, with 11 eggs separating second and third. A great finish to an eggs-acting race! ?!( ?!(