FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 940, 5 April 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” TREASURE TROVE Captain. Malcolm Campbell is about to set out on his yacht tor the Cocos Islands to search for pirates’ gold and jewels. Intrepid Malcolm Campbell, O speed-king brave and bold! Around the world you ramble In search of pirates’ gold. You fill your hours of leisure Not in your bed asleep, But trailing hidden treasure You scour the surging deep. O daring Malcolm Campbell, Thou monarch of the track, or L£ oard y° ur >' ac ht you scramble When business is slack. When islands you’ve discovered You drag their rocky pools, And find the bottoms covered With currency and “jools.” O dashing Malcolm Campbell, W hose name the public howl, Through jungle, swamp and bramble You diligently prowl. But though it yields a profit To find a pirate’s hoard, Oh noted sir, come off it— It leaves us rather bored. ~ PAKITI. * * * MUSCLE-RAISER The news that a pearl has been found In a mussel at St. Heliers Bay shows that the era of pleasant surprises Is not yet over. But for the drainage problems, which induce the cynical reflection that it is not much use looking for pearls in a Waitemata mussel, as one might as easily get a touch of typhoid, a healthy new industry might be established. As it is, there seems some justification for the idea that St. Helier’s residents should develop their mussels. * * * POLITICAL PITTANCE Mr. W. Lee Martin, M.P., says that in legislation, as in everything else, you get what you pay for. This disclosure from one who knows is rather disconcerting to those who have fancied that politicians enter Parliament with high-minded Ideals of service. The curious part is that Mr. Lee Martin virtually advocates payment by results. Under such a system some mercenary M.P’s. that we know of would find it harder than ever to subsist. * * * BACKYARD GRANDSTAND While others debate the charges set by the New Zealand Rugby Union for admission to the British team’s matches, those whose backyards border Eden Park will merely set about improving their own private facilities, which mainly consist of stagings erected behind fences and hoardings. During the season.it is not uncommon to see rows of heads peering over the top of an advertisement for whisky or tobacco. Housetops also have their advantages, particularly if the owner equips himself with field glasses. Possibly the demand for a sight of the British team this season will allow prudent householders to turn an honest penny. The New Zealand Rugby Union is not the only body that can invent “special enclosures.” BY WAY OF PROTEST This is by no means the first time that charges imposed by the N.Z.R.U. have aroused the ire of the body politic. Once before when a British team came round the scale of admission fees was resented. At Dunedin the resentment was so active that irate enthusiasts ripped down a hundred yards or so of corrugated iron fencing, making a gap through which thousands streamed without paying a brass farthing. Neither the police nor the Rugby Union officials could do anything to stem the tide of deadheads once the news had spread (as it did like wildfire) that the fence was down. The heads of Dunedin Rugby oflicials turned grey in a night as they watched the spectacle of men getting into their ground for nothing. * * * DRUG TRAGEDY Since poisons are in the ring, and chemists have been discussing restricting regulations coupled with the fact that there are always a few unfortunates ready to try any dodge to get opium and derivatives, it is timely to relate a censored incident that happened in a southern town just a few years ago. A young medical man in one town was a drug fiend. Finding it impossible to get more of the “dope” from the local chemist, he drove in his car to the next town, 17 miles away, broke into the chemist’s shop there, and took a supply of the drug from the shelves. Unfortunately he left a burning match in the shop. It set the place on fire, and the fire was traced to the doctor. By the time his prosecution for arson was due to come on, he was In a pitiable state, largely through the effects of the drugs. The case -was eventually hushed up. and the unfortunate victim was sent away to a mental institution. He did not come out of it alive.