FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 779, 27 September 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” ALAS. POOR RIVETTER! My neighbour who carols—l frequently dub That fellow a terrible bore. Defenceless I’ll get him, one morn in his tub, And plaster his bathroom with gore. Yet bad as this is, there's an even worse noise Whose clamour my tranquil goodhumour destroys. Let motors go past with a hideous grind, The grating of gears on the hill: Let church bells chime merrily, still I don't mind; I'm perfectly placid until Just outside my window a structural job Releases the rivetter’s harrowing throb. That hammering din! Ah. pity my verse, My sentiment crippled in rhyme. The rivetter's at it again, and' I’m terse. I’d cheerfully contemplate crime. . . . The fell deed is done. Of your charity pray For the soul of the rivetter over the way. PARENTAL PROBLEM “Are the children of New Zealand being over educated?” asks Mr. Albert Spencer, and proceeds to answer the question in the affirmative. Undoubtedly it is saddening to see a hoy who might become a thoroughly efficient navvy struggling through the classics with the foolish idea that he may ultimately become a doctor. Moreover, it is also saddening to see one hundred or so young lads lined up outside a city office at nine o’clock of a morning after a job has been advertised for one office boy at 12s 6d a week. Just at the moment it seems to be a problem for parents to decide whether it is a better paying proposition to keep their young hopefuls at school and out of mischief or home and out of work. TIMELY Sheriff Bigham, the representative of United States law and order, who has come all this distance to get his man —though, mind you, whether he has got him or not is yet undecided — seems to have arrived at a particularly timely moment. There are people who will never be persuaded that the sheriff did not step straight out from the robust chorus of Texas rangers in “Rio Rita.” It is a pleasant thought that i;hen the company departs today, with its motor-bike and associated appointments, the minions of the Texas law might take with them any fugitives from Justice they could lay their hands on. Thank Heaven the stage isn’t always true to life! EPITAPH Unhappy coincidences sometimes happen in the publishing business, and they even have a tragic aspect. At the time relief was sent to Gordon at Khartoum, London “Bunch” was so certain that Gordon would he reached that it published a cartoou depicting Gordon shaking hands with Stewart, who led the relief force. Just as the paper was being issued, when the cartoon was beyond recall, news of Gordon’s death came through. Similarly the “Country Gentleman,” American journal, recently published an article by Miss Marvel Crosson, the aviatrix. Just as the papers sped off the presses, Miss Crosson was killed in the Women’s Air Derby. The last words of her strangely prescient article read: “I have given my life to prove that women are the best pilots In the world.” TIME, PLEASE That boisterous Scot, Mr. D. McDougall, is in trouble again. This time he has been described as a political clown. Of course, Mr. H. S. S. Kyle was ordered to Vithdraw that epithet, but though he did so, it is highly improbable that he modified an opinion probably shared by this time by most of the House. As it happens, there has more than ouce been a sad need for someone to come along and check that interminable Parliamentary practice of having extensions of time granted on any provocation. But it is unfortunate that the crusader against the practice should have come along in the person of Mr. McDougall, whose tartan waistcoat exhibits a lack of taste only paralleled by some of his public utterances. EVENT OF THE SEASON The promised public inquiry into the question of one-roomed flats promises to assume quite a sporting flavour. The City Council viewpoint will not doubt be a favourite in the early betting. Will it not have the benefit of such -wellseasoned representatives as Mr. Tom Bloodworth and Miss Alice Basten? Both these know the course thoroughly. Then there are various associations to come into the field. On the Marlborough Mansions side Mr. J. Osburne-Lilly will run strongly. Mr. S. S. Alleman will be another fancied runner in these colours. Altogether public interest may well be keen. The most intriguing point of all is whether, if the apartments concerned in Auckland are forbidden, will those authorised in Wellington and Christchurch he pulled clown forthwith ?