FROM THE WACTH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 431, 13 August 1928, Page 8

F ROM THE WACTH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” ROOM TO TURN It is estimated that there are 55,000,000 square miles on the planet of Mars. Immigration, however, is not encouraged. SPARKLES Messages from the South describe the trots in Christchurch as being run “under blue skies and on a lightning track. That may explain the good performances in the Electric Handicap. * * * SECOND TOP Great Britain leads the world in the taxation of its inhabitants, and New Zealand is a close second. In the House of Commons last month the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill gave* the following details of taxation per capita in various countries. This is the tell-tale record:

THIS JUSTICE! “We all talk —think and act, but are we always just?” asks an advertiser in an Auckland paper. There is something splendid in this dispassionate search of the universe. After interviewing the leading business and professional men of the city, the L.O.M. is proud and happy to be able to inform the inquirer: “Always—always and always.” THE ONE THING LACKING It is with interest we read that extensive improvements are to be carried out at the Ellerslie racecourse. The programme includes building up and widening sections of the track and altering the number board, but the most diligent inquiries have revealed no plans for a free bus service home after the day is over. VERS LIBRE “Cat” is now adjudged too difficult to spell for New York schoolchildren under nine years of age. They will be limited to “at,” “if,” “it,” “as,” and such words. Here is an example of free verse written by the bright boy of the class: ip If it as at Is it at if (?) As if it as At it at (!) !f . . - LAKE VICTORIA Lake Victoria, in Africa, the second largest fresh water lake in the world, is almost circular in shape and, strange to say, its capacity is always measured in round figures. VAIN EFFORTS Thimbles were formerly made only of iron and brass, but in comparatively late years they have been made of gold, silver, steel, horn, ivory and even glass and pearl. Yet in spite of all these strenuous endeavours, the good old game of hunt the thimble continues to decline in popularity.

1913 or 1925 ( or 1913■14. 1925•2G. d. £ s. d. Canada 3 8 3 6 19 4 France .. 3 7 0 8 5 10 Germany 1 10 8 5 6 b Italy .. .. 8 3 S 9 U.S.A 1 7 It 6 1 1 1 United Kingdom .. 3 11 4 15 2 8 Australia 3 S 1 9 1 6 New Zealand .. .. 6 3 0 14 0 9 South Africa .. . . * * 6 15 4 11 17 2