FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 479, 8 October 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

By ‘-THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” GENTLEMEN ANGLERS Messages from the South tell us that bigger catches of fish are reported from the Rangitata River than from Ashburton. We must congratulate Ashburton on attracting a better class of angler this year. “ PADDING THE HOOF ” The taxi rate war is ended and normal fares will be charged once more from to-day. His brief period of indulgence over, the L.O.M. can only console himself with the thought that he needed some exercise anyway. * * * TEMPORARY PEACE About 40 packages of music have arrived from England for the band contest to be held in Wanganui early next year. Wanganui residents brightened considerably when they read that the music would be kept under seal, but were thrown to the depths of despair that this precaution was only being taken for a few weeks, after which the music will be distributed among the contesting bandsmen. THE INTERLOPER A bronze-winged cuckoo has been seen in the Hamilton Memorial Park and its arrival is hailed with pleasure as this is the first time that one of these birds has been seen near the town of late years. Bearing in mind the schoolboy definition of a cuckoo as “a bird that lays its eggs on other birds and viva voce,” feather inhabitants of the park are holding a mass meeting of protest against the welcome accorded this interloper. “One Bird, One Nest.” will be the slogan of the complainants. * * * “ CLARET ” CUP Addressing his congregation last evening, an Auckland clergyman blamed the introduction of claret cup for the origin of the drinking habit in girls. The so-called claret-cup often contained two-thirds proof spirit, he claimed. If the reverend gentleman would tell the L.O.M. where he has found this insidious beverage masquerading under a comparatively innocent name, he would be delighted to sample it; solely for the purpose of substantiating the statement, of course. Prom his own experience the L.O.M. has always held the belief that claret cup is synonymous with a mixture of lemon, water and cordials—perhaps with a whisky cork soaked in it, but no more! * * * DETERMINATION Determination is possessed by A. McGregor, a young jockey. He it was who rode his horse second in a race recently when it had fallen twice. And then came the Ellerslie meeting on Saturday. Seeing the hostile crowd attempting to stop his horse, McGregor drew his whip and rode the horse right through the mob to win the pace. The incident had rather a “Six-Hundred” flavour: Punters to right of him, Punters to left of him, Punters in front of him, hollered and thundered. His, not to reason why; His, hut to do or die; Someone had blundered.

TIED WITH TAPE Lord Beauchamp has just taken a hand in a crusade which has been carried on intermittently over a number of years—the crusade against the writing, printing, circulat ; ~g and storing of unnecessary and redundant official “papers.” It is many years since Gladstone pointed out that “papers” required binding, that bound books required bookcases, that bookcases demanded buildings, and that buildings demanded custodians. It is nearly thirty years since Lord Curzon noted how a dispatch from London might produce, on one topic mentioned therein, “41 folio pages of print” by way of comment from one clerk, after which “comes clerk No. 2 with 21 more pages upon clerk No. 1.” To these were added more and more pages as the dispatch rose to higher levels and demanded more and more and more pages in an ascending scale of the importance of the commentators. “Bach has his say, and the result is a sort of literary Bedlam." But there is little real chance of reform. There are always people who enjoy reading these productions. There will always be Dilkes to whom nothing that has to do with the public service is dull or superfluous. “Papers” must be accounted among the necessary evils of democracy. A back-bencher may not be able to make great speeches or to promote important Bills—but he can always “ask for papers.”