FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 415, 25 July 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” I OF THE SESSIOX No. 10: Mr. E. J. Howard Proves he is no coward, '• l have a poor opinion ■uf wireless in our Dominion.-' EUCHRED In a reeent divorce case the husband said he first met his young wife at a euchre tournament. For the first time the L.O.M. finds himself in sympathy with the authorities who regard such tournaments as lotteries and have consequently banned them. ... IMPERTURBABLE G.B.S. We have a sincere admiration for Mr. George Bernard Shaw —he seems to be equal to every occasion. Let him tell a little story about himself. He is good at it. “During 20 years’ motoring I have only once been prosecuted,”. said G.B.S. recently. “I was informed that I passed through a police control at 27 miles an hour. The constables were highly pleased because they knew they would be in the papers next day. I was pleased, too, that they had not got me half an hour before when I was driving at 50.” SCHUBERT IN POLITICS What would gentle Franz Schubert have to say if he knew now that his music was a fusing element for two nations. A big movement for the union of Germany and Austria is rapI idly advancing, and now the Schubert festival in Vienna has given it new force and significance. Poor Schubert; he might have liked to know that 100 years after death he would have been so great a force —maybe even, a uniter of two peoples. Of course, this sort of thing is possible only on the Continent. In other countries music could scarcely unite a street. * * * TIME FOR THOUGHT Minhinnick’s cartoon on Friday on the subject of a chess tournament reminds us of the story of a chess enthusiast who, for all his prowess, never returned from a match bearing, in triumph, a salad bowl or a set of meerschaums. Asked the reason, he explained that he was so deliberate in making his moves that he was barred from competitions, and, indeed, found it difficult to secure a partner for a friendly game. One day, however, he was encountered, wreathed in smiles. “I’ve just fixed up for a permanent chess opponent,” he said. “Sort of man I’ve been looking for all my life. He lives in Tristan d’Acunha and we’re going to play our games by post.” Then, with a triumphant gurgle he added: “There’s one mail every three years for Tristan d’Acunha. SCOTS DELIGHT Nearly 150 Scotsmen assembled for their annual reunion at Belmont on Saturday. The proceedings opened with the traditional ceremony of playing in the haggis. Only once has the L.O.M. tasted haggis, but that experience has left him with the opinion that a haggis is quite capable of playing itself in. At most Scots functions it is usual to sound one note on the haggis as a signal for all Sassenachs to leave the building.

TRADESMEN-SURGEONS A carpenter and butcher were associated in a tricky surgical operation performed at Birmingham last week. The butcher presented a bone for grafting into the subject’s spine, and the hospital carpenter, working from a cardboard model, cut the bone to the shape desired by the surgeon. All the doctor did was to put it in the correct place. These tradesmen no doubt will be given honorary F.R.C.S. degrees for bringing a democratic spirit into modern surgery. # * * WHY N.Z. MEN LEAVE HOME Mr. Alexander Marky, one-time editor of the American “Pearson’s” Magazine, asked the Auckland Advertising Club yesterday why men like Hugh Walpole and Sir Ernest Rutherford had to leave New Zealand to achieve success. The club, of course, furnished no answer. Can it be that talent and unorthodoxy are suspect. Professor Alexander Bickerton, late of Canterbury University College, would probably say so. One of the world’s most eminent astronomers, he had spent 28 years at Canterbury College, and then was indiscreet enough to propound a Cosmic Impact theory. He also announced that fresh air was the only treatment for consumption, and in accordance with his belief, founded the first fresh-air sanitorium in New Zealand. But people did not like his ideas, so he left the country, and later had the satisfaction of having his theories accepted in England.