FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 930, 25 March 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

AN OMINOUS PROPOSAL

With the aid of "electrical nutrition and glandular control” a Japanese biologist proposes to make negroes “Caucasian in physiqiie and appearance.” O too accomplished Japanese, Your project does not wholly please; Such interferences as these Seem sinister and tricksy. Come, would you fill, from end to end. The world with one Caucasian blend'.' And does that mean you now intend To bleach our all-black Dixie? What? Do away, for evermore, AVith coal-black mammies round the door, And coloured vocalists galore On Ol’ Man River's reaches? What? Must we see, with deep regret. The black-eyed Susans, dark as jet, Transformed into a perfect set Of pink-faced Nordic peaches? Imagine, too, the ballroom’s plight Deprived of many a negroid rite Through which, with infinite delight, The true Caucasian prances. Remove the inspiration lent By ooons of African descent, And who on earth will then invent Our melodies and dances? So pause before you interfere To bleach a single toe or ear, Dor it is very plain that here Is loss as well as gain meant. O leave these fatal plans unfurled—• Think well before this bomb is hurled Into the black but comely world Of Nordic entertainment! (DuciOj in the "Manchester Guardian”) * * * DEFIES THE WOULD Dr. P. A. Cook, tlie discredited Polar explorer, lias been appointed physical director over 900 boys In Chicago, and has told the boys that he defies the world to prove he did not get to the North Pole. It Is just a question of point of view. The world defies Dr. Cook to prove that he did get there. DOUBLED VP Our librarian tells us that subscribers are finding these war books terribly confusing. Twice now she has had subscribers come in and ask for “A farewell to all that.” Some time ago a country subscriber wrote in for “The bridge of Sam Louis Rae,” and added a note to the effect that he had always been interested in cards. But the classic among these recollections is the cryptic request forwarded by a man who wanted "The scarlet ship,” by O’Mark Higham. Investigation showed that what he really had in mind was a classic called “The Ruby Yacht.” OVER THE EDGE Another of life’s ironies! A man has been fined for tipping oyster shells in the Manukau harbour from the Mangere bridge. Just a little lower down the harbour are the banks on which hundreds of tons of shells are spread, much to the satisfaction of local bodies that use the resulting product road surfaces. It is very difficult to imagine that a bag' full of oyster shells would much Impair the natural charm of the Manukau, and if charges of this variety are in order, what about a prosecution of the local bodies responsible for the pollution of both harbours from out-of-date sewage outfalls? * * * OFT TICK Estimates of the gulls which congregate in Albert Park and elsewhere may have to be revised now that someone has discovered that seagulls harbour the cattle tick. Hitherto the ways of life have been made very easy for the seagull. It is a strictly protected bird, venerated as a picturesque portion of the country’s maritime trimmings, and revered according to the amount of garbage (which is considerable) that it manages to consume in a working day. Once it was quite common for fishermen and other sportsmen to hook gulls by means of a herring impaled on a floating line. Others have even shot them. But popular opinion has been so much against j these practices that harming a seagull is considered almost comparable to matricide. Beneath its charming exterior, however, the gull may not deserve all this respectful immunity, and the discovery that it harbours cattle tick strengthens the suspicion that we have been gulled. BLACK-BACKS Far from being a gentle and agreeable creature, the large black-backed gull is actually one of the greediest and most selfish of birds, and a cannibal to boot. Well versed in the art of allowing the smaller grey gulls (which are equally greedy) to investigate possibly dangerous sources of food, it waits in the offing until there is no evidence that danger exists, then triumphantly stalks in to monopolise the harvest. Near the deep-sea fishing grounds off Mercury Bay there is a large gull rookery on a rocky shelf called Flat Island. Here the gulls have actually been seen attacking and devouring smaller birds. Fishermen give them a thoroughly bad' character, but concede that both the strikingly

marked black-backs and the delieatelyhued grey gulls are very beautiful. In Albert Park the grey gulls have brought to a fine art the business of wheedling scraps of food out of the office-flappers’ lunch basket. They are also fed regularly by hand from the dining room windows of the Northern Club, but with their insatiable appetites are always ready for more.