FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1040, 2 August 1930, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By -THE LOOK OUT MAN." IRISH VERDICT After five minutes’ deliberation, a jury returned to thq Supreme Court yesterday morning and found an accused not guilty. The foreman then asked his Honour to address the prisoner and point out to him the necessity to retrain from such offences as that in question. Tour Honour, we find that the young accused Is innocent of the crime; -Although the evidence is confused (.We freely admit we hsA'e been bemused By the singular arts the counsel used). We’ll let him oft—this time. The charge has failed, but we would explain A point you'll all endorse; Henceforth the prisoner must refrain Prom giving a criminal impulse ein. "Not guilty," but—don't do it again. Or the law will take its course. -M.E. • • • HUNGER STRIKE Unemployment in Australia appears to have reached a stage whereat its permanent members believe they are entitled not merely to assistance but to luxurious charitable treatment. The other day a number of relief workers went on strike and claimed higher rates of pay. But this remarkable piece of bravado has been completely overshadowed by workless and penniless Melbourne men who have complained officially that the Salvation Army’s free meals consist only of mut ton and potatoes. Furthermore the Salvation Army kitchen has been de dared “black.” There is something about this action that Is pitiful —a unique case of a refusal to accept the half-loaf. Or, to employ another metaphor, of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Of a certainty Australia needs more men of the pioneer stock. It was once said of the old iron-bark settler that “he’d tackle grass before he’d starve.” Mutton and potatoes indeed! MINISTER'S VETO In defiauce of an unwritten law that has been observed, within reasonable limits, from time immemorial, a condemned man’s last request has been set aside. The document prepared by Arthur Thomas Munn for submission to the Press —a document to which he attached such importance that its fate occupied his last earthly thoughts—has received the disapproval of the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, Minister of Justice. What is more, this disapproval apparently is not based on the grounds that the statement is contemptuous or in other ways undesirable. It has been voiced and acted upon because, to quote the Minister’s w'ords, “there was nothing worth reading in the statement, and no good purpose would be served by its publication.” Mr. Cobbe may or may not he a competent judge of that which is and that which is not “worth reading,” but the fact remains that the exercise of editorial discrimination is hardly a part of his job. He has cast a slur on the intelligence of New Zealand journalistic executives, besides riding rough-shod through a time-honoured custom. * * • BIRDIES, EAGLES—? \ M.S. —Speaking, bo it understood, as one whose acquaintance with golf is limited to casual excursions with a somewhat rusty but exceedingly versatile putter, one is entitled to ask if such terms as "birdie” and "eagle” are in common use in these 'parts From a cabled report of a boy golfer’s remarkable performance on an English course, I learn that the first means one stroke, and the second two strokes, under bogey. To the lay mind the strange thing is that there should be such a wide difference between the two terms although in reality it amounts to only one stroke. The question that suggests itself immediately is: What do golfers term three strokes under bogey? In this country,*it must be a "moa” at least. And, as for holing out in one—well, in all fairness, that must be a “roc”! Of course, a man who gets down merely to bogey, in such exalted clubhouse circles as those'occupied by “birdie” and “eagle” specialists, will be little better than a bad egg. * * LOST BALL Damage estimated at £50,000 has been done in Massachusetts by a fire at the golf factory of Messrs. Spalding Bros. People who lose golf balls one at a time, and in 2s fragments, ma” be excused for feeling slightly impressed at the thought of £50,000 worth lost in one fell swoop.

There is no “local rule” to cover a disaster of that magnitude; you migh as well go home and give up golf for the day (comments an English paragraphist). As for those who are inclined to give it up, in any event, here is a magnificent and perfect gesture to that malignant Colonel Bogy. Breaking a mere set of clubs is noth'ng to losing half a million balls (£50,000, at 2s a ball, equals 500,000) in a single forenoon. Except to Messrs Spalding Bros., there is .something almost satisfying in such a remarkable result.