FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 536, 13 December 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

SIR HARRY’S FISHINE Sir Harry Lauder, taking liis first holiday for 20 years, plans to spend liis time fishing in Nexv Zealand. Perhaps the Acclimatisation Societies will give Sir Harry a special concession so that trout, if so minded, can try singing, “Stop Yer Ticklin’ Jock.” PALE BUT POTENT Two fingers' of vodka, the pallid stimulant which the Soviet Government is relying upon for more and still more revenue, is enough to put the hardest non-Muscovite toper under the table. The volatile, watery-look-ing spirit contains up to 90 per cent, alcohol, and in pre-war days was consumed by Boris and Ivau xvith such zest, that they drank themselves into a stupor almost every night of the week. Vodka was banned during the war, but came back strongly afterwards, and the production of potatoes and other homely vegetables for the manufacture of the tipple is one of Russia’s staple industries. A peculiarity of vodka is that it make 4 the consumer drunk on his feet. There is evidently more in a potato than starch. * * 4 EXALTED PEDESTRIAN Mr. Harry Atmore, the new Minister of Education, fills in liis vacations by making walking tours, and he has covered nearly all of the Dominion on foot. Originally a painter by trade, he is an extraordinary incisive speaker, capable of administering severe verbal punishment to opponents. “I have listened to the Minister's little sermon,” was the way in which he prefaced one of the most biting speeches made in the House last session, a reply to a speech by the Hon. Mr. Downie Stewart. After Mr. R. A. Wright had taken over the port--folio of Education from Sir James Parr, he made it clear that he disagreed with many points of his predecessor’s policy. It will now be Mr. Atmore’s turn. SEATS OF THE MIGHTY Sir Joseph Ward’s refusal to upset his domestic arrangements by shifting from the comparative isolation of Heretaunga, a dozen miles from Wellington, to the large official residence in the heart of the city, is evidence of a reluctance that is not usually exhibited. Rumour has it that one tenant of former years showed no desire at all to quit the ministerial residence, and had to be threatened with extreme measures before evacuating the position. “Ariki-Toa,” as the Prime Minister’s residence is called, is a large house standing in beautiful grounds. Just opposite is “Lednam,” formerly the home of Sir Harold Beauchamp, where Katherine Mansfield spent her girlhood. It is now a block of flats. “Ariki-Toa” is probably the second best official residence in New Zealand. The best is Government House, Auckland, which makes the vice-Regal residence in Wellington look like a sanatorium. STIR IN THE LORDS Lord Clarendon’s proposals to reform the House of Lords may have their origin in the fear that if the Lords themselves do not undertake the task someone else will. Two Centuries ago there were only 170 hereditary peers; now there are 800. The liberal distribution of peerages in recent years has been folloxved by a decline in the influence and authority of the House of Lords, but many anomalies—which the Lords themselves recognise—still exist. At present the main power of the House of Lords is in the hands of those peers who have taken their titles through holding high judicial appointments, and when the House of Lords functions, as; it often does, as the supreme court of appeal for the British Empire, these are the only members who may participate.

UNLIKELY INTERVIEWS MR. H. R. JENKINS —“It’s better to have loved and lost tban never to have loved at all,” mused Mr. H. R. Jenkins, as he dashed off answers to a couple of hundred telegrams.of congratulation. “You might imagine,” said Mr. Jenkins, “that the rumour of my prospective appointment to Cabinet was a mere wild-cat story, started by some Press correspondent who misinterpreted some remark of Sir Joseph’s. But that is not so. Although I was absent in Auckland at the time I have had it since, on good authority, that Sir Joseph xvas very concerned about having 13 in the Cabinet. He regarded it as a distinctly bad omen, and xvas undecided whether to add another Minister or sack Bill Veitch, xvho was the only one who had not ordered his topper. However, he receixed a reassuring communication from the Anti-Superstition League, and is now satisfied that it is safe to go on. Consequently my services xvere not required.”