FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 488, 18 October 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” A CORDIAL INVITATION “Come early. Come hungry. Be merry,” suggests an invitation to a Trafalgar Anniversary luncheon. If that advice is foUowed the hosts may be assured that their guests will do their duty, whether England expects it or not. * m * IN THE FRAY Mr. A. W, Moncur, who is standing -against the Hon. K. S. Williams for the Bay of Plenty seat, is a Whakatane taxi-driver. As Minister of Public Works, responsible for the application of the petrol tax and other forms of levy on cars, Mr. Williams has already given his opponent something to go on with. * * * BIG-GAME FISHING A football smoke concert and the devious ways of its aftermath took ah hilarious party to a Victoria Street restaurant when the evening was very, very far advanced. In the window of I the shop was a large bowl of goldfish, which allowed a member of the party to stage a game-fishing expedition on a miniature scale. His efforts were frustrated only by the extreme activity of the fish themselves. They swam as they had never swum before; but never so fast as maledictions flew from the .lips of the restaurateur, whose short-sighted policy may have resulted in the loss of another Zane Grey to the world. “ HAIRY-HEELED " The retirement of Lord Birkenhead from active polities recalls that, when a brilliant K.C., practising at the English Bar, he w-as condemned by Lord Alfred Douglas as “a horrible public danger.” This denunciation, supported by the affirmation that the noble lord (then Mr. F. E. Smith, M.P.) was “hairy-heeled,” followed the sensational cases in which the detractors of the depraved genius, Oscar Wilde, were prosecuted for criminal libel, Mr. Smith appearing for the prosecution. * * ’* BATTLE OF WITS In the suits brought forward following the death of Wilde, one of the defendants was a remarkable genius, T. W. H. Crosland. In a series of fierce passages Crosland scored freely, even over the brilliant F. E. Smith. At one stage Crosland said he was anxious that the jury should not be confused. Mr. Smith; The jury can probably take care of themselves. Crosland; I dare say they can. But I want them to take care of me. “As a man grows older, he becomes riper,” said the witness later. “As you grow older, even you will become riper, Mr. Smith.” The jury duly took care of Crosland, who w-as acquitted. He died in 1924. * * » WATCH OUT, TIM ARE! Two teams of women have left Auckland for Timaru to compete in the St. John Ambulance First Aid competitions. The L.O.M. hopes that the City on the Bay will not be expected to provide casualties as well as hospitality.

ON THE MANUKAU The excellent work of which the Government film publicity branch is capable is demonstrated in pictorial views of Auckland, now being screened in the city. We see ourselves, and are favourably impressed. Hurrying along busy Queen Street, floating upon the bosom of the harbour, or surveying the wide prospect from the summit of One Tree Hill, Aucklanders are shown to be a favoured people. But there is one grievous blunder, a sad reflection upon the producers’ geographical knowledge. Wherever the Auckland Harbour is mentioned, it is called the Manukau. • * * OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

Mr. Frederick Gilfillan, the American who. has remained in Europe for 12 years because, having been twice shipwrecked, he had sworn never to tread the deck of a ship again, seems to have got more than he bargained for when he decided to escape his peculiar vow by crossing by air in the Graf Zeppelin. In spite of much beer and ample champagne, the airship’s voyage does not seem to have brought unmitigated joy to its passengers, and Lady Drummond Hay seems to have done more to revive flagging spirits than all the 200 gold-topped bottles of Hiedsieck or Moet et Chandon. Airsickness appears to be such a fearsome malady that a few bottles of Mothersill would probably have been a better gift to the trippers.