FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

THE BUTTRESS “Supported by Mr. X., the candidate spoke at the corner of Terrace.” —Extract from a report of an election speech. It sounds as though the candidate is a continuance man. EASY STREET “It seems to me a waste of time to have traffic policemen in Queen Street at all,” said the blase young man who had just returned from New York. “Why, in the States, you do see traffic, but here—good Lord ”, Then he stepped off the pavement, and was knocked over by a bicycle. IN TUNE AND OUT If quotations are to be obtained for tuning the city organ, we suggest a price should be obtained from Mr. V. H. Potter, M.P., who on Thursday evening made an excellent job of tuning up the City Council. THE HUMAN TOUGH The shortest answer yet to hand in the “If I Were Prime Minister” competition is in some ways the most effective. Sent in by “Worker,” it reads: “I would feather my nest and then retire.” IN THE FRAY Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, who is opposing the Hon. O. Hawken, Minister of Lands, for the Egmont seat, is a prominent Taranaki merchant. He was a member of Parliament during the war, and is the real father of six o’clock closing in New Zealand. It was through Mr. Wilkinson’s pertinacity that what was originally intended as a war measure secured a permanent place on the Statute Boiik. He got it through by one vote in opposition to the wishes of the late Mr. Massey So Mr. Hawken has a worth-while opponent. TALKING BIG Specimens of political repartee will be to hand in liberal quantities during the next few weeks. One is reminded of the Hon. L. M. Isitt, now an M.L.C., who at one of his meetings spoke as follows: “Will any man who endorses this policy stand up?” Up rose a member of the audience. “Now will any intelligent man who supports the policy stand up?” said Mr. Isitt, and there were no further offers. One is also reminded *f “Pussyfoot” Johnson, the famous American prohibition lecturer, who at one of his New Zealand meetings delivered himself as follows;

“America is a land of big things—big mountains, big rivers “and big liars,” was the crushing comment from the back of the hall.

WEALTH AND THE SHINGLE Talking of the decree against the shingle. The short hair vogue among women has meant the difference .between poverty and wealth for thousands of barbers. A barber in Bellingham, Oregon, U.S.A., told Max Murray, an Australian pressman working his way round the world, that he owned three motor-cars, though business had been poor before the advent of the shingle. He inquired where Murray came from, and Murray told him Australia. “Oh, back east, huh?” said the barber. EXIT THE SHINGLE The shingle is doomed. At the opening of a hairijressers’ fair whiph Dame Clara Butt attended at White City, mannequins gave demonstrations of how hair should be dressed while growing. “Each small bunch is waved or in curls at the nape of the neck, or tied over the ears”; The shingle is doomed. Let us sound the death knell Of the crop that became our young sisters too well; That our grandmothers copied, at Fashion’s decree, While their skirts, quite in season, reached just to the knee. Exit the shingle; now hair, it appears, Must he curled at the nape and tied over the ears; And, festooned with ribbons, how strange it will seem To hear girls remarking, “Your bows are a dream.” They will borrow and beg, resurrect their old stocks, And even buy switches to add to their locks, While the hairdressers sharpen their scissors in. vain, And sigh for the custom of Daphne and Jane. Exit the shingle; now tresses must grow, For the hem of the skirt is surprisingly low . . . Like the useful Schottische that has outlived its day, The shingle is banished and vanished away.