FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 393, 29 June 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

IN THE AIR Some time ago the L.O.M. heard talk of nothing but “wheel base,” and, being ignorant of the term, he went out of his way to study it. No sooner had he become sufficiently familiar with the subject to risk being moderately garrulous about It than the trend of conversation veered upward and all was “wing spread.” He is now wondering whether it is worth while endeavouring to keep up with the rapid changes in the topics of the times. NO HATS FOR UNDERGRADS A visitor to the city yesterday told the L.O.M. that, happening to be in Albert Park opposite the University at the close of day, he had remarked the prevalence in Auckland of hatless young students. What was the raason for it, he asked. The L.O.M. can only suggest that the mortar board, which used to denote the student, having fallen into disuse, undergrads feel that they have to advertise their identity. Besides, if a student has no hat, it is easier to overcome his tendency to talk through it. FOOLS AND THEIR GUIDANCE A famous admiral once said, “Rules are made for the guidance of fools. There is no rule without an exception, and that is where the brains come in.” The magistrate who dismissed as trivial the charge against an Invercargill dairy company of having sold butter containing 16.09 per cent, of water, when the amount allowed by law was only 16.00 per cent., must have thought that the provisions of the Act should he interpreted in the same way. * * * GO EAST YOUNG MAN The L.O.M. notices that there is a marked decrease in the number of lynchings taking place in the Western States of America. Judging by the experience of a Wellingtonian who happened to be in Chicago during the Mayoral elections, the “good old days” are not gone from us, they have merely shifted their location. It looks as though the old slogan urging the youth of the cities to “go west” will have to be reversed, in which case, of course, they will be merely going East to go West. “A LISTENER'S DREAM ” “Radio Pan” writes:—Last night I had a dream. It had to do with unpopular performers on the radio. A large brick (preferably concrete) was suspended directly above, but a little in front of the microphone. By means of an elaborate radio signalling apparatus (yet to be invented) a stage was reached when a majority if lis-teners-in effected a “saturation” point, which had the effect of releasing the brick. Unfortunately, my long pent-up spirits of approval had the distressing effect of waking me up before I could investigate the details of the apparatus. But I have provided the idea, and I hope IYA will take it up. “CANTERBURY LAMB ” The Argentine has long been a rival of New Zealand in the frozen meat trade, but some of the methods employed are not so generally known. From Punta Arenas, half-way through the Straits of Magellan, two million carcasses of sheep and lamb are exported to the British Isles each year —according to a South African newspaper—and sold as “Canterbury lamb!” Punta Arenas numbers about 20,000 inhabitants, and of them about 1,500 are said to be British. The occupations of the Europeans are panning the goldbearing beaches of Terra del Puego and sheep farming.

LORD LONSDALE’S POPULARITY Of all the picturesque figures in English public life none is more popular with the people of England than Lord Lonsdale, who has received so signal an honour from sportsmen the world over on the occasion of his golden wedding. With tall hat, his lavender gloves, his gardenia and his long black cigar, Lord Lonsdale is as familiar a figure as Mr. Stanley Baldwin. His family seat is in Rutland, and in that quaint little county he hunts with the Cottesmore. The spectacle of Lord Lonsdale’s house-party arriving for the meet is an interesting one. All the coaches and barouches and what-not are coloured yellow, and all the drivers wear yellow livery—“Lonsdale’s Canaries,” the Rutlanders call them—and the cavalcade sweeps down like a scene from a musical comedy. At the racecourse, at the ringside (he is the donor of the Lonsdale Belt), at the annual Costers' Revel (where he is inevitably kissed in public by the queen of the pearlies), Lord Lonsdale is to be found, and, a great sporting occasion without him and his gardenia and his long black cigar would be deemed to be lacking in interest.