FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 990, 5 June 1930, Page 10

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” THE MENACE Pine trees and other timbers are being attacked in various parts of the country by a pest known as the sawfly.—News item. We’ve met the summer blow-fly. The lazy, will-not-go fly, That bangs about the window-pane and hums annoyingly; Familiar is the house-fly, The nerve-but-little-nous fly, Who skims across the butter-dish and nosedives in the tea. And then there is the sandfly, The bite-’em-foot-and-hand fly— He meets us at the seaside and keeps us up to scratch; While, back at home, the greenfly. That scarcely-can-be-seen fly, Is populating rose-leaves as fast as it can hatch. But now they’ve found new fly— A deed-of-derring-do fly. That works on quite a large scale by gnawing forests down; They call the thing “the saw-fly’ V—-"Declare-a-timber-war” fly . . . We’ll rent a house of concrete if THIS insect comes to town! M.E. • * * ROYCE AED ROLLS At least one New Zealander—a South Island man—has personal interest in the list of Birthday Honours for deserving people in Great Britain. He is a nephew of Sir Frederick Royce, newly created baronet, and Sir. Frederick, besides being an exceedingly wealthy man and having an unlimited supply of exceptionally good motor-cars at his disposal, is a bachelor. Frederick Royce, incidentally, is a self-made man. The son of a flourmiller, he became an engineer and specialised in gun machinery and Street lighting—curiously unrelated branches of his profession—before concentrating on motor-cars. The Hon. C. S. Rolls, whose name is identified with Royce whenever motorcars are discussed, was associated with petrol-driven machines in the days when they had iron tyres. He was among the pioneer motorists of England, and one of the first to drive a British car in a road race. PLAGIARISM Composers of popular songs will be severely handicapped if the court’s decision in a case now being heard in London goes against the producers of "Silver Wings.” It appears that the owners of the copyright of "Madame Butterfly” contend that airs from that opera form the basis of melodies in the new musical play, whereas the defendants assert that Moody and Sankey provided their inspiration. At present popular songs writers plagiarise habitually, but usually are careful to alter a few notes, besides making sweeping changes in rhythm. If, as is now possible, even a basis for their ideas is denied them, fewer millions will be made in New York's picturesque Tin-Pan Alley. THREE LUCKY MEN Three young bricklayers had reasonable justification this week for considering themselves the luckiest people in the Empire. They drew the Derby favourite, Diolite, in the Calcutta sweep, and were made an offer of £12,500 for a half-share. Although Diolite ran only third their ticket is worth a substantial sum. This giant sweepstake, conducted each year by the Calcutta Turf ' Club and subscribed to in a more or less surreptitious way throughout the world offers a prize that may be anything in the vicinity of £200,000, but it is only one of many sweeps, public and private, State-controlled and otherwise, that are held regularly in every land. The London Stock Exchange conducts a private sweep that, last year, disposed of upward of £1,000,000. This sum was considered so large that the Government has stepped in, and the lottery is now limited to less than a tenth of that sum. The Shanghai Club Sweep, "Tatts,” Queensland’s “Golden Casket,” a big Danish lottery, and the State lotteries of Cuba and the South American Republics are among orher sweeps of national and international importance. ROYAL SCHEME * State lotteries are. no longer conducted in England, the last being drawn in 1826. Evidently the system had fallen into disrepute, for” contemporary critics referred to it as "that legalised swindle” and, finally, hounded it out of existence. Its disappearance deprived the Government of an annual revenue amounting to between £250,000 and £300,000. The lottery originated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and by her Majesty’s orders, the prizes being “money, plate and certain sorts of merchandise.” The first prize was £5,000, threefifths of which was paid in cash and the remainder in kind. The lots, each of which had been purchased for 10s. were drawn in a building erected for the purpose at the west door of St. Paul’s. The drawing was made a social function of great brilliance. The public was somewhat tardy in taking up the Queen’s scheme and gentle j persuasion was brought to bear, but j the lottery was voted a complete sue-1 cess in Royal circles. History does ! not record the opinions of those who ! were forced to subscribe.