FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 645, 23 April 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” THE DOMESTIC TALKIE Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford are beginning to make their first “talkie” picture together. News item. Said Douglas, “I am due to make A. tallcie film with Mary, But really cannot understand What keeps her so contrary. Ah, here she is. . . . ‘Good morning, dear. . . . You've condescended to appear•■f f ’ “There teas so much to do at home — The menu to attend to, And then the ice-man happened round; The hill lie's going to send you. . . “Such things should not have kept you late, But then Eve learned to icait and wait. 3 ' Now after years of wedded life And happiness domestic, The doughty “Doug." will take the floor And talk in terms majestic, Just like the citizens we know Who love their wives and families so. And Mary? She will answer what Occurs to her as like as not. —SQUIDGE. KNIGHTS OF THE WILLOW Mr. Frederick Toone, manager of the triumphant English cricket team, has been knighted, and now becomes Sir Frederick Toone, a knight of the willow, in good sooth. Announcement of the following additional honours is also expected at an early date: — Percy, Viscount Chapman of Marylebone. Jack, Baron Hobbs. Sir Harold Larwood, Bart, Lord Hammond. Recognition of other leading sporting figures is foreshadowed; Dame Betty Nuthall. Mr. Steve Donoghue, O.M. And New Zealand must not lag behind. The next Honours List should include the names of Sir William Hornig, Bart., and Sir Stanley Dean, not to mention Mr. Fred Lucas, C.M.G., and the Rt.. Hon. Edgar Bartleet, P.C. HOPES REVIVED Hope springs eternal, especially among those with a cause. The cessation of work on the Palmerston North deviation gives Levin and Foxton fresh hope that they may yet have the Main Trunk running straight across flat country from Marton, instead of curving in to Palmerston in a big bow. and thence going Shan-non-wards through deep cuttings and across great embankments. Undoubtedly the coastal $ >ute would cut off many miles. At present the only railways in that district are the quaint “Sandon tram” and the scarcely less eccentric State railway to Foxton. If a sufficient number of Main Trunk travellers back up the revived agitators in the appeal for 1 a shorter route their cry may meet success, but the prospects are scant. In the old days the railway from Levin on to Palmerston was laid by a private rail way company. The Government timorously declined the task of carrying the tracks across the vast Makerua swamp, but the company did the work, ran a connecting service, and made a fortune. FIJI BREEZE To at least one Auckland newspaper man the departure of Sir Eyre Hutson from Fiji—he passed through Auckland by the Aorangi—removes one of the last links with an interesting happening. Sir Eyre was Colonial Secretary in Fiji during Sir Bigham SweetEscott’s Governorship 15 years ago, when the downtrodden Fiji Press, led by an independent New Zealander, flatly declined to publish a speech delivered at a Council meeting from which the Press representatives were excluded. The New Zealander when approached declined to run the speech except in a leaflet supplied and paid for by the Governor. This unheard-of lese majestc staggered the colony, but more was to come when the Governor, in an effort to be loftily conciliatory, sent his carriage to the newspaper office, and invited the newspaper man to come to Government House and talk the matter over. Back came the coachman with the editor’s reply, “My office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and I can be interviewed at my office between those hours.” Nothing happened for a few days except that dark threats of deportation began to reach the editorial desk. The centre of the storm was setting off to go to the war in any case, so blithely invited the authors of the threats to “box on.” Thus foiled, the Governor next invited the stubborn fellow to morning tea. Even this failed, and it was not until Sir Bigham supplied the leaflets and paid for them, according to the original stipulation, that his speech saw the light of day.