FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 566, 19 January 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

THE CURSE In the court yesterday a man who j threw a half-pint mug at the barman j in a city hotel was sentenced to eight j weeks’ imprisonment. Though he I missed the barman, he broke a large j mirror. Ancient minstrels sang the ditty Of a damsel proud and pretty Called the lady of Shalott, On whose head* hefel the token. Of a mirror cracked and broken . . . ' Well, it’s evident the legend Wasn't superstitious rot. For where onions (out of pickle) Thirsty topers’ palates tickle While they dally with their "spots/’ There the subject of this ballad Sometimes had a bite of salad, Or in contemplative study Fingered succulent shallots. There he seized a foaming tankard, Quaffed the draught—which means he drank hard — And with anger flung the iiot, At his former friend the barman, Who was quick to take alarm, and Ducked in time to see a costly mirror Shattered by the shot Consternation filled the gentry, In the tavern when the entry Of a policeman followed hot. Brandishing his deadly truncheon He approached the counter-luncheon. te Oh, the Johns have come upon me/’ Cried the Student of Shallots. Beowulf. I THE HEAT WAVE While New Zealand is perspiring in j a heat wave, it is interesting to find | that the highest temperature registered yesterday was at Dunedin, where 92 in the shade was recorded. Timaru lays claim to the high figure of 96, but there was probably something wrong with the thermometer. Christchurch, with ! 89.5, is more modest. Here in Auck-! land 85 degrees has been recorded, but i the humidity has made the heat oppressive. In fiery summer weather it is ] usually inland towns that run the | highest thermometer figures. Rotorua has one of the hottest summer climates. Taumarunui can be devastating, and Otago Central will make even the strongest wilt. In spite of the subtropical atmosphere of the North, Napier has the highest recorded mean temperatures over any one month, and it is probable that Hastings, where the heat can be positively withering, maintains a still higher level. It is cheering to contemplate that, in spite of the terrific heat of the past week, February is usually a hotter month than January. However, we suffer manfully, and the blessed compensation comes on the beaches at the week-end. HISTORIC TOWN A rare episode in history is associated with Cumana, the Venezuelan seaport that has been disastrouslyshaken by an earthquake. When the country was in the hands of the Spaniards, Charles V. of Spain granted the great Banking house of Welsers a concession extending over an immense slice of the territory. They had authority to con quer the country and then settle it, but they soon found pioneering in Venezuela a different proposition from fawning on the treasuries of needy European monarchs. Cumana, which had had its origins in the venture, fell rapidly into decay. Nowadays Venezuela —which got its name from Venice —is .flourishing on account of oil de velopments. Of this commodity its output in less than a decade increased by over 17,000 per cent. Many countries would tolerate a few earthquakes if such liquid treasure were the result.

ENTERPRISE Mr. C. D. Kennedy, who has died in Napier, Was associated with the Napier South ' reclamation, about the most striking demonstration in New Zealand's history of the fallacy that a public body can accomplish more thaD private enterprise. The flourishing suburban district of Napier South is built almost entirely on swamp laud, which was reclaimed by a syndicate in which Mr. Kennedy and the Nelson family—of freezing works fame —were the leading figures. The syndicate’s material profits were substantial, anti the Napier Harbour Board immediately- bought it out. with the resplt that only an acre here and there has been reclaimed since. Meanwhile Napier grew to its limits, and the surplus population settled at Hastings, to the great benefit of that progressive town. There is an unfounded rumour that Captain Cook cruised in the deep channels of the swamp which Mr. Kennedy helped to reclaim.