FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 944, 10 April 1930, Page 10

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By "THE LOOKOUT MAN." BRIGHTER ELECTIONS

An attempt to kidnap an alderman, one shooting, one bombing outrage, gangster raids, and other acts of lawlessness were features of the recent Chicago election. Three hearty cheers for Chicago, The city of muscle and brain! Light-hearted and gay, They will show you the way To conduct an election campaign. Let’s all sing the praise of Chicago, Where men are too bad to be true. If the voting gets slow. Well, they give it some '‘go,” By bombing a statesman or two. What a fine town is Chicago, There’s never monotony there! They elect their M.P. With amusement and glee; If he’s shot—well the devil may care! Hail to the “burg of Chicawgo,” The home of the cannon and shell! Let them slay if they must, But we fervently trust They won’t try the same thing in Parnell' PAKITI. HIGHER LEARNING Mr. J. H. Skou, au official of that excellent institution, the Auckland Automobile Association, has had a bright idea. He thinks motorists should be offered a post-licence scheme of training, a sort of finishing class. This suggests a good slogan, “To school with Skou.” Apart from such unseemly levity, it seems a good idea to finish the motorist, instead of finishing the pedestrian, as hitherto. “HERE IT IS.” A little over three years ago a conspicuous series of posters heralded the dawn of The Sun. One of them was a vivid representation of a gamecock, crowing vigorously. Another was an effective piece of typography in black and white, bearing the letters “Here it is.” People evidently kept those posters as many kept the first issues, as souvenirs. But not all of them were cherished for sentimental reasons. A suburban tea-house still uses the second one. Decapitated so that it no longer bears the Sun sign, it arrests attention and attracts business with the commanding statement, “Here it is!” FALLING FLAT One disadvantage about conducting an air pageant in flat country is that proceedings can be seen from afar. This disadvantage would particularly apply to Taranaki, which in parts is as flat as a billiard-table. It. accounts for a rather melancholy note in a report of the air pageant at Hawera yesterday. The report states that while there were only 600 or 700 people on the ground, a good many more witnessed the goings-on from outside. It looks as though Taranaki people have cultivated the Aberdonian spirit. One of the chief charms of Mount Egmont as a piece of scenery in that part of the country is that it can he seen from all parts of the province for nothing. GOLDEN CHANGE Perhaps it is because we are a. backward people, but it is enlightening to read that when quarter-of-a-million in specie was unloaded from the Maunganui at Wellington, the freight was simply stacked on to a motor truck, the only sign of anything unusual being the presence of two policemen, who do not seem to have been put to any great trouble iu restraining the rush of- souvenirhunters. Had this happened in America, a squad of private detectives, reinforced by some marines and possibly by some knights of Columbus or a guard of honour from the Ku Klux Klan, would have mounted guard over the armoured car into which the gold was deposited. Even then, some racketeer or bandit would probably have intervened. Is it honesty on our part, or just lack of enterprise, that prompts us to let these golden opportunities slip by? THE CHANGING TIDE Mr. G. W. Hutchison has turned attention to the growth of Auckland, a satisfying development for the loyal citizen to study. Local pride has been fostered of recent years, and we now have a margin of something like 80,000 people in hand against the possibility that some rival in the South may challenge our supremacy. For the moment, at any rate, there is no danger. Perhaps the people of Dunedin thought the same in the ’sixties, or thereabouts, when Dunedin reigned as queen. There was a time when the populations of the four centres were much more even than they are now, and all in their turn claimed the honours. Thames, too, had its days of glory. Only a few more hundreds, and it would have been chief centre (>f population. Perhaps some littleknown hamlet of today may be guarding a surprise of the future. Kaukapakapa or Maramarua may be the metropolis of the future.