FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 783, 2 October 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOKOUT MAN.”

THE SAINTLY CITY Saturday night dances in Christchurch must in future end at half past eleven. Let cities less morally upright The proper observances shelve. But here there’s no dancing till midnight Or even a quarter to twelve. The saxophone’s wailing to heaven In a way that the saxophone has; But promptly at half past eleven They close up the temples of jazz. The pious municipal purview Will stamp out each sinister blight, So ring out the Saturday curfew — It’s Christchurch, and Saturday nightl THE HUSTLERS The people who protested against the speed of a train on the South Island Main Trunk line would be positively repelled hy the speed with which developments are occurring in the deal between the Auckland City Council and the Government over the old Shortland Street post office. According to Mr. Baildon’s last report, all now depends on the Government. This direct intimation to the Hon. J. 13. Donald should induce the parties to hurry stilt more. Perhaps when the deal is completed Mr. Donald and Mr. Baildon will be able to celebrate the occasion by taking a stroll on the harbour bridge. • * • KNOCKS AND ROCKS If Tom Heeney retires from the ring New Zealand will be in the sorry plight of once again being without a native son who is a possible contender for the world’s heavy-weight championship. Apparently Tom is the kind of fellow who can bear adversity with a smile, but takes success a little suspiciously. He wins a fight for the first time in many moons, and at once states that he is dissatisfied, though he had earlier lost fight after fight without emitting so much as an audible murmur. Possibly he will now fulfil his intention, of going into the diamond business. It is an abrupt translfion from pugilism, but in one way the two occupations are parallel. The successful dealer in both trades can be said to be rocking it in. T-SQUARE RAH PANT Touching on the progress of the Civic Theatre, it is by an architect friend that Super Construction, Ltd., the Sydney firm that has this contract in hand, has an interesting history. Big building firms in Sydney began to compete with architects in matters of design and draughtsmanship. Threats of reprisals failed to discourage them, so at length potent architects banded together and hy way of retaliation invaded the domain of the builders. Naturally they commanded entry to some of the principal contracts. The firm is now in a very big way of business. It shows that even an architect can be a desperate individual when he raises his T-square to a menacingattitude. WINDOWS OF THE ORIENT The Japanese as a race seem implacably addicted to horn-rimmed spectacles. Two photographed visitors are twins in this respect. Perhaps one is to conclude that the little men fx'om Nippon have a heritage of optical infirmity. Or perhaps this may be part of Nippon’s upward march to civilisation. ’ Possibly the spectacles are just a piece of half-conscious flattery, though it is queer that the monocle and the dainty pince-nez have not yet found favour. However, there is no doubt that the owl-like devices are a mark of distinction, and with due modesty another of the bespectacled hereby acknowledges the graceful gesture. But as an afterthought it may be established that the Japanese, too. have home lessons to do. THE CLARENCE TRADITION

The name Clarence is not usually associated with robust masculinity That is, it is one of those unfortunate names that seem inseparable in Infancy from velvet suits and long, curled ringlets. Even in their later years the Clarences of a prejudiced world are often unable to overcome the handicap thus imposed on them by devoted parents; but if anyone suspects that there are no exceptions to this rule he would do wpll to study the manly shape of Mr. Clarence Eklund when in wrestling trim. If all the Clarences were patterned on Mr. Eklund this -world would be an unpleasant place for males of frailer texture. The L.O.M. somehow cannot imagine that this particular Clarence ever clothed his immature frame In plum-coloured velvet, or that long curls ever dropped from his shining dome. In fact, the general impression of Mr. Eklund is that he represents virile masculinity in its most powerful and even violent form. The long-suffering Clarences are hereby vindicated.