FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 957, 28 April 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

-VO NONSENSE “Why are we wasting our time listening to all this drivel?”—The Deputy-Mayor, Mr. Entrican, at Thursday’s council meeting, after Cr. J. R. Lundon had six times spoken to the time limit. The council at all of its meetings Prefers to be brief and concise; No lengths', prosaic repeatings, And useless, long-winded advice. If his views in irrelevant fashion A councillor ventures to tell, The Deputy-Mayor in a passion Gets up and commences to yell: “We're wasting our time With all of this drivel. A shame and a crime, We’re wasting our time In absurd pantomime. Why can’t he be civil? We’re wasting our time With all of this drivel.' 1 Irrelevancy is forbidden. Verbosity scorned and despised. The pedant is scolded and chidden, The bore is severely chastised. The average councillor knows he Must time his addresses with care. For the man who begins to get prosy Is drowned by the Deputy-Mayor; “Enough of this rot. We're sick of your drivel. You ought to be shot. Enough of this rot! It’s getting too hot. So go to the divil! Enough of this rot. We're sick of your drivel.” „ PAKITI. /-V THE STEW Hint to a householder from a suburban fruiterer: “Have you ever tried putting vinegar with stewed pears? If you add a teaspoonful of vinegar first before you dish them, it completely takes away the flavour of the pears.” Probably, but why not stew turnips with a dash of vinegar and serve as apple dumplings? AMONG THE CLASSICS A contributor drops a line to say that the New York daily’s “King’s Canary Will Not Chirp” as applied to the late Poet Laureate is not the classic among American headlines An irreverent Texas sub-editor was even more pungent when Allenby conquered Jerusalem. He headlined: “BRITISH TROOPS ENTER CHRIST’S HOME TOWN.” THE GHOST SHIP (From an Evening Paper MANUKA FROM MELBOURNE r v . ia Bluff, Dunedin and Lyttelton, the Union Oo.’s passenger Thnr"JL Ma "S a . lef ‘ Melbourne list Thursday. She is due at Bluff next Friday l ' and at Wellington the following A good many people will be anxious to see what the old Manuka looks like after nearly five months under the sea. CELESTIAL, APPOINTMENTS It was unfortunate that low-lying clouds obscured the view of Venus and Mercury just about the time when they were making advances to each other from a distance of only a few million miles in the sky last evening. To astronomers there is something novel about the adjacence of two major planets, but the man in the street will want something better for his money. Now, if Venus and Mercury were actually to hit each other, there is no telling what might happen. Vet even in disappointment, it is refreshing fo read that Venus, “the brighter body,” was visible above the clouds last evening. That seems a very good way of describing Venus. Judging by her romantic career, the original Venus must have been a bright little body, too. THE INFORMAL VOTE If the advice of “The Red Worker,” a highly-seasoned sheet distributed occasionally in Quay Street on a Sunday afternoon, is heeded by electors til the Parnell constituency, there will be a large number of informal votes cast at the poll on May 7. The “Worker” puts it this way:— Workers in the Parnell election should nave no truck with any of the candidates. They all stand lor the main lenance of capitalism. It has not been possible for the Communist Party to put up a candidate, but we advise all work•ers to vote for Communism. Write across the ballot paper:—"I vote for Communism. To Hell with the lot.” 4 * * BASHAM BASHED Another interesting item in “The Red Worker” is a letter from Comrade J. Basham, who recently left his familiar haunts on the Auckland waterfront to go to Sydney. Mr. Basham is remembered by local newsgatherers because his name and address (a house in Hobson Street) were cabled out to New Zealand in new s of a raid on the headquarters of Russian Communists in London in 1927. Mr. Basham had left his former address in Hobson Street, but was located on the waterfront. In spite of his unprepossessing name, he proved to be quite a likeable fellow', but he appears to have had considerable ill-luck in Sydney, as his letter complains of brutalities at the hands of the Sydney “Basher Gang” (i.e., the police). Hence the above headline.