FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 47, 18 May 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By the LOOK-OUT MAN BILL SIKES’S THANKS “Dear Look-Out Man.-—I was very interested in your news about five Southern detectives coming to Auckland. It was very good of Mr. Mcllveney to give us the tip by publishing the names of the D’s. I know those from Wellington very well (too well), and when they come here I will be back at Wellington—me and the Artful Dodger. We ought to do well there with the D’s that know us up jn Auckland. Will you thank Mr. Mcilveney for me for the tip I would write to him personally, only we haven’t been the best of friends for some time. —Yours, BILL SIKES.” PIRATING LANDSCAPES “Beautiful Samoa,” a film “released” by the New Zealand Government, was shown at Suva and astonished the natives, who, after being shown a few “very hazy and poor pictures of Apia,” were treated to a number of splendid scenic views of their own Fiji—and Suva in particular! In fact, a correspondent claims the cream of all the pictures in the “Beautiful Samoa” film were pictures of the sights of Suva. After this, who will accuse the New Zealand Government Publicity Department of lacking enterprise? Think of the added attractiveness of this country to the minds of audiences abroad after viewing a “Beautiful New Zealand” film embracing landscapes borrowed from the Swiss Alps, the Riviera, Japan, Tasmania, Norway and the Blue Mountains of New South Wales! There is scope here for very valuable work.

INDISSOLUBLE UNION Confetti having been overlooked, guests at a Maori wedding last week used flour and water literally “pasted” the happy pair. This provides a useful suggestion. Seeing how frequently the injunction “What God has put together let no man put asunder” is disregarded, and that the Divorce Court is working overtime, let the paste idea be improved upon, and glue used in place of confetti. Married couples would then stick together, and the marriage bonds be indissoluble except by boiling. * * * A DOG’S TAIL The humane farm manager who cut the tail off a fully-grown collie dog at Taupiri, because it was “too slow in turning,” ought to be appointed tailattendant to a slothful merry-go-round. If he is slow in taking the hint of the magistrate who awarded the owner of the dog £lO damages against him, and slow also in turning to a different view on the feelings of animals, amputation of his own right hand might bring him around quickly to the view taken by the dog in the case. Then, of course, there is the S.P.C.A. view. What is the S.P.C.A. going to do about it? LEPER RATS The Sydney health authorities assure the public it need not be alarmed because a rat afflicted with leprosy has been caught. They say many doctors are inclined to regard rat leprosy and human leprosy as two distinct diseases. But aren’t there some ratlike men, with all the attributes of the rodent, barring that they talk and walk on two legs? And wouldn’t these ratlike men catch rat-leprosy? However, perhaps it wouldn’t matter if they did, and this might be why the health authorities aren’t concerned about it.

“T. 8.” CURE New “cures” for “T. 8.” are discovered with unfailing regularity. The latest killer of the' tube-germ is the germ of erysipelas, which is alleged to have cured an advanced case in

England. The probability cannot be scoffed at —has not the germ of malaria been proved as a cure of certain forms of paralysis, including the dreadful G.P. of the insane? Still, it would be difficult to discover even a sufferer from tuberculosis to willingly make acquaintance with the germ of erysipelas, which is itself a most deadly and disfiguring fellow —the English patient referred to make his acquaintance quite accidentally, after having contracted chicken-pox from his children. However, it is quite possible that science will take eager hold of Mr. Ery, tame his malignancy to reasonable limits, and use him by injection to chase the T.B. germ through the bloodstream and devour it. It can safely be wagered that this very day the news of erysipelas’s reported victory over tuberculosis is being discussed by medical men all over the world.