FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 424, 4 August 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.’’ HEENEY A BENEDICT So Heeney has jumped off the deep end, which only goes to prove that sweet are the uses of adversity. What New Zealanders wish to know is when and where was the Marian Dunne? ELIMINATING STATIC Fifty miles above the surface of the earth there is no atmosphere. Local radio enthusiasts, we are told, are planning an excursion for the upper regions. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT For biting off a portion of a woman's finger, an Alsatian wolfhound has been condemned to death by the court at Tunbridge Wells, England. It was the animal’s second offence: a case of once bitten, twice, die. TAKING WAYS We read with interest that “Prince Takamatsu is an enthusiastic collector of souvenir spoons, and has found a number in Auckland.” Although a member of the Japanese Royal Family is above suspicion, we cannot help thinking that this paragraph might have been worded more carefully. We know of a man at present out of town for six months who, at his trial, was described in almost exactly these terms, ON ONE WHEEL Paris promises to lead the world in solving traffic problems by the construction of the first underground highways. Competitions are to be instituted for the best design incorporating schemes for underground footways and roads for motor traffic. Moving belts on the lines of escalators will convey goods from one substation to another, thus eliminating heavy transport on the roads, and removing one of the causes of traffic blocks. It is right that Paris should take the lead in this question, for the City of Light is notoriously the worst in Europe so far as dangerous traffic goes. It seems to be a recognised thing for Paris taxi-drivers to take all corners on one wheel, and when those sort of things become a tradition it’s a hard world for tourists with heart trouble. SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS Every Tuesday, through the bounty of Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., each member of Parliament receives a sprig of daphne. It would, perhaps, be a nice idea for every Parliament, before it breaks up for the last time, to have a battle of flowers in the House. It would be good to see the Hon. R. A. Wright, for example, with a rose between his teeth, dancing from pillar to pillar in an attempt to avoid the floi/al missiles of the Leader of his Majesty’s Opposition. Anyway, it would give members an opportunity of throwing bouquets at each other before the election campaign began. 8.0.8. A. “We hope in time to get Borstal traditions at least equal to those of Eton and Harrow,” said Dr. J. C. W. Methven, Governor of the British Borstal Insitutions, at a conference of magistrates held at Blackpool a few weeks ago. “We are modelling Borstal on public school lines.” So we may live to hear of the Eton v. Harrow cricket match being played at Hounsditch instead of Lords, while the Empire’s most successful company promoters and lawyers will proudly wear the colours or badge of the Borstal Old Boys’ Association.

GALLIPOLI SECRETS A war incident that does not appear to have been told before was narrated at the annual dinner of the First Battery, N.Z.F.A., on Thursday. A bombardier recalled that he was one of those with the last gun crew in the final moments of the evacuation. The gun was to be removed down a certain track to the beach, and the track was then to be provided with barbed-wire entanglements. The gun crew had been advised that, the job once done, any movement in the wiring was to be greeted with fire from massed machine guns, all trained on the spot. All went well until the spot for the wiring was reached, but to their consternation the crew then discovered that the work had already been done. The devil and the deep blue sea had nothing on the Turks on one side and the Australian machine guns on the other. However, there was only one chance, to cut the wires and get through, which the crew with its gun did, expecting every moment to hear the first staccato notes of the machine guns which would have annihilated them. But the machine guns never opened fire, and the mystery is still a mystery to the handful of men who had such a close call.