FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 946, 12 April 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

A DISCLAIMER ' ■ Sunday cat-racing is said to be a new sport among English miners. “Tile cats are simultaneously released from traps and race after artificial mice.” I read this item out aloud And sought our cat’s defence, For cats, 1 thought, were far too proud To show so little sense. I said, “To carry on like that Is surely not the way For any self-respecting cat To spend the Sabbath day?” The cat regarded me as though The yarn was one I’d dreamt; Its tail waved gently to and fro With infinite contempt. And yet it managed to convey A certain sense of joy— It winked an eye, as though to say “Don’t you believe it, boy I “The futile dog will gaily chase 5 The non-existent hare, Since members of the canine race Have little sense to spare.' For men may fool the greyhound oft While crowds roll up to see, But cats, my lad, are not so soft As greyhounds seem to be. “No artificial mouse could make A standing Sabbath sport. Though cats at first might rush to shake An object of that sort ; But, having once been fairly ‘had,’ They would not do it twice— For cats may look at kings, my lad, But not at clockwork mice !” (Ltjcio, in the “Manchester Guardian.”) * * * DISTINGUISHED SON Like Mr. Coolidge, Mr. H. R. Jenkins does not propose to re-enter politics. This will be a terrible blow to the Taranaki town of Eltham, which gave Mr. Jenkins to New Zealand as its second greatest gift to cultural advancement, the first, of course, being Sir Walter Carncross, Speaker of the Legislative Council, who is the proprietor of the local paper, the “Argus.” After the election of Mr. Jenkins to the House, he started an individual “back to Eltham” movement, and was entertained there, one of the speakers (if memory serves aright) expressing the earnest belief that the guest was a potential Prime Minister. We don’t know how Eltham feels about the matter now, but there seems to be a grave danger that the favourite son will be suspected of lying down on the job. * % * HARDLY FAIR On May 7, the day of the Parnell by-election, Broadway, Newmarket, will become a one-sided street. This shows the essential futility of enactments designed to protect the body politic and keep it free from the terrors of intemperance on great occasions when its judgment is supposed to be free - and unclouded. Any Parnell electors who feel like celebrating the occasion will have no difficulty in doing so as the hotel across the street will be open for business in the usual way. Even in the case of employees in the shops, it is probable that the majority, are not Parnell electors at all. Thus the one effect of the legal obligation is to deprive the tradesmen on one side of the street from their share in a perfectly good afternoon’s trade. There is sorrow and tribulation among the gold-diggers of Broadway. RAIDERS OF THE SKY With the mild curiosity that aircraft still excite, people in the streets gazed aloft yesterday at planes flying in formation over the city. The Aero Club’s device to stimulate the air-consciousness of the people in the interests of today’s pageant prompted a few pleasant thoughts on this theme. In war time London, the novelty of gazing at the Zeppelins and Gothas never lost its fascination for some people. Others chose to dash for safety. Contrary to general belief, airplanes w r ere more effective than the Zeppelins in the air raids. In the terrible raid of June 13, 1917, when 40 Gothas flew over London in broad daylight, 15S were killed, and hundreds more injured. It was a lesson in the effectiveness of the airplane. Now if those machines that sailed over Queen Street yesterday had been scattering bombs . . . PIANO WIRE At least one man who watched yesterday’s display was forcibly struck by the contrast. He still carries in his shoulder a bit of metal as a souvenir of the bomb that hit a London printing office in a daylight raid in January, 1918. That raid cost 65 their lives. The Gothas overhead seemed as thick as sparrows. After all, to be forcibly struck by the contrast is better than being forcibly struck by a piece of exploding shell. It was about that time that the device of hanging dangling piano wires in screens from captive balloons w*as adopted by the defenders of London. The piano wire was strong enough to cut a wing off an airplane going at speed, and it had a strong moral effect on the enemy pilots. There was one great day -when "a Gotha ran into a screen of invisible wire and fell at once before a million eyes. Had the war lasted longer. London and several other Allied capitals would have been sheltered on all gides bj- barriers of piano wire.