FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 965, 7 May 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

By

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT They’ve talked and brayed by the gallon, Tom, Allan and Bill; Thomas, William and Allan, They’ve waged the light with a will. They’ve wooed the wily elector With energy and skill, They’ve covered the whole darned sector— Tom, Allan and Bill. From Abbot’s Way to St. Stephen’s, Bill, Allan and Tom Have broken forensic evens jDebating it to and from, And now that the fight is over And we’re all of us in at the. kill, Who will recline in clover — Tom, Allan or Bill? giving her the HEIR ~~ Opening of a play written as a literary exercise by a small scholar. The count and countess are seated in the lounge. Enter the butler: ‘‘Countess, a son has been horn to you.” * * * NEW PERIL Another menace to society is indicated in the report from Taranaki that a man, rushing out of his house at night, suffered injuries through tripping over a baby car. The possibility of some such accident happening has long been realised, so the ultimate revelation does not come as a real surprise. As a matter of fact the report was silent on one- essential point—what happened to the car. Whereas the pedestrian is reported to be progressing favourably, the car may bn itermanently damaged. Moreover, it is only in extreme circumstances that the man who tripped over a baby car would suffer real injury. More often it would be just a matter of minor inconvenience, which he could rectify by kicking the obstruction over tlie nearest hedge before proceeding on his evening stroll. “PAPER!" 8 People do strange things by way of amusing themselves. Yesterday a railway surfaceman was painfully hurt through being struck by a stone or some other missile thrown at him by a passenger on a suburban train. The incident recalls the prank of a passenger on the Daylight Limited, who, when a gang of workmen on an isolated portion of the line called out “Paper, paper,” tossed a bundle of heavy magazines at the next man he saw standing by the line. The victim happened to be a King Country farmer waiting at a crossing, and the passenger had a painful shock when some weeks afterward he received a legal document threatening proceedings for damages. Since the case against him happened to be strong, he paid up rather than face the court Nowadays, when he has finished with his magazines he carefully stows them under the seat. COTTON FROCK# Women who favour silks and satins instead of homely cotton must have read with some disapproval, if not actual trepidation, the news that women M.P.’s in England are follow ing Queen Mary’s lead in donning cotton gowns as a means of assisting the languishing Lancashire cotton in dustry. An authority on questions like this points out, however, that cotton as a material is so cheap that the political Amazons have little need to make a virtue of their actual or proposed purchases of cotton frocks In fact, their appearance in cotton may have been a mere formality. They may have no more intention of favouring cotton permanently than they have of using cloth of gold. In any case, it has yet to be demonstrated that women in the mass have sufficient admiration of politicians of their own sex to make them follow their preferences in dress. The com uient of one domestic arbiter, when shown the cable, was “What rot,” so here at least a well-intentioned crusade failed to touch a sympathetic chord. -1 GOOD SPECIMEN Earthquakes crop up in all sorts of unexpected places. Hitherto we had entertained the delusion that Burma, of all places, was immune, but now the famous city of Rangoon has been rocked, and presumably the gilded dome of its celebrated pagoda shim mered as it swayed. Earthquakes are very interesting phenomena—when they happen a comfortable distance away. They form an interesting sub ject for study by seismologists, and the collection of pictorial records of dis tant 'quakes is becoming almost as fascinating as big-game fishing. Dr C. E. Adams, official New Zealand seismologist, claims to have obtained "an exceptionally fine record” of the Bur mese disturbance. Soon the eompeti tion for such records will become more acute, and perhaps a world’s championship will be instituted, in which Dr. Adams and his latest trophy will be entered with the cordial support of all right-minded New Zealanders, _