FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 13, 6 April 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

the LOOK-OUT MAN

“U BACK” Wliat is U Back. A man was sent to gaol tor a montli yesterday because he had been found demonstrating “the game of U Back” in the bar of an hotel. We are familiar with ludo, draughts, two-up and Crown and Anchor, but U Back sounds strangely strange, and public perplexity was not dissipated by any explanation from the police. Never mind. Perhaps ’tis better so, lest we try our prentice hand at it and be “vagged” also. The name suggests, however, that U Back and I win—if I have the utensils. The convicted player was stated to have had several previous convictions, so the correct greeting of the warders at Mount Eden yesterday would have been, “Hello!—U Back again?” BACK TO AUCKLAND Let Aucklanders not be too proud to take a hint. The “Back to the Coast” excursion to the West Coast this week took 1,500 ex-West Coasters in two trains from Christchurch to Greymouth and Hokitika. A “Back to Auckland” movement just naturally suggests itself. Advance advcrtis f ng of a “Back to Auckland Week” (or month), in which high carnival would be held, would bring to their home town thousands of Aucklanders from near and far—even from the uttermost ends of the earth. But let not the festival be organised before we have covered up the naked horror of the “Civic Square.” Some of the returning Aucklanders would doubtless be frail with the long years spent abroad in less kindly climes, and the shock pf seeing this outrage of all that is aesthetic in the heart of their beloved birthplace might be more than they could survive. FATHERS OF EIGHT Mr. Hunt, S.M., declined to make an order against a debtor in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court, saving he would be very sorry to be in the man’s position and have to keep a wife and seven children on less than £6 a week. At Waihi a brother magistrate declared “most emphatically” that he was not prepared to make an order against a man with eight children. The cynic may remark that the obvious move for married folk who wish to avoid paying their debts is to have more children. But the cb' ious fact is that the average wage man cannot pay rent and properly feed and clothe eight children, a wife and himself, and pay all his debts. The latest figures of the Government Statistician show that the cost of living is about 60 per cent, higher than in 1914; rnd a deputation to the Minister of Public Works this week has pointed out that, allowing for only one idle day per week through wet weather, the average wage of the labourer on puoiic works is £3 10s—which is certainly not an increase, of 60 per cent, since 1914. Seems to be something wrong somewhere! WHO PAYS? Families ot six children are not uncommon among the average wageearners of Auckland. If the A.W.E. averages £4 a week all the year round, how does the large family fare? Not on turkey and trifle! A house for eight people will cost at the very least £1 10s a week—and it will he a p-etty poor sort of house at that, and in a pretty poor locality, unless it is miles out, when fares will further swell the cost of living. Placing the rent as low as £1 10s, that leaves £2 10s a week —or 5s per head—for food, clothing, fuel, light and fares. Hov. can it be done? The answer is that it can’t be, and yet it is. The children don’t go naked, and they aren’t seen in their hundreds in a state of emaciation, as might be expected. They get fed—somehow—and clothed —somehow —yet the shops don’t put up their shutters. Who pays? Why those who can pay pay for those who can’t. Thus comes about the high cost of commodities. A curious system, surely? CHINA’S NEW ALPHABET Those people who see the Yellow Peril changing the hue of their skies, and who fear a future with the Chinese race dominant, will doubtless find much consolation in the news that the Chinese alphabet of 43,000 symbols is to be reduced to 40 phonetic signs. Anxious parents, looking forward to the day when they will be able to retire from work and allow filial children to maintain them, have been greatly perturbed by the thought that when the Chinese take possession of New Zealand and make Chinese compulsory on the school curriculum, it will mean many years of extra schooling. The glad news regarding the new alphabet is the gladdest received concerning things Chinese since the price of Mangere cabbages came down. WIRELESS FOR THE SICK The blessings of those who are blessed (or the reverse) with the ownership of wireless sets will be showered upon those who are seeking to raise £3,500 for the patients of the Auckland Hospital. One of the most essential requirements for recovery in a sick person is a cheerful and an occupied mind, and it is the monotony of hospital life that often delays its own purpose of cure. Indeed, there are many people who are decidedly not suitable hospital patients, though they need hospital treatment, because of the despondency of mind which confinement to hospital brings. It is these people, among others, that such things as wireless will help, by bringing entertainment and, consequently, more content. Those who do not wish to “listen in,” of course, need not do so, as reception will be by earphones, and patients who are too ill to be entertained will likewise be free from interruption. One hopes' that by the time the hospital station is ready, “Auckland IYA” will have tottered through its infancy and proved itself a really grown-up entertainer.