FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 July 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By the LOOK-OUT MAN

THE TEST OF SANITY It was the duty of a suburban constable to arrest a prowling vagrant a few days ago. He took him along to his house, to which is attached the police station, and sat him on a chair in the office. “He looks cold; give him a cup of tea,” said the kindly constable to his wife, and the equally kind woman hastened to brew hot tea. It was handed to the prisoner, with a couple of scones, lavishly buttered, which the good wife had made only that afternoon. Now', if there is one thing this lady can cook better than another, it is a scone. Judge then, of the surprise caused the constable when his prisoner took a bite—and spurned the treat. “These k are no good to me,” said the ‘vagrant. “I don’t like them. Give me some sw r eet cake!” he commanded. Not like his wife’s scones—something wrong with the fellow. “Good God!” said the constable, “he must bemad!” And he was. He had only that day escaped from the asylum!

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS The habit of Government by regulation is developing sinister qualities. Magna Charta becomes an insignificant scrap of paper in contrast with a New Zealand Order-in-Council. When these laws by signature take away from certain people the ancient right of trial by jury, and discriminate as to who shall have that right, without the authority of Parliamentary sanction, it is time somebody sat up and took notice. Mr. Parry, M.P., appears to have discovered something that has been slipped through to the detriment of a section of the King’s subjects. He is to ask the Minister for Justice if it is correct that an Order-in-Council, published by his Government, deprives injured workers of their right to trial by jury when they claim damages independently of the Workers’ Compensation Act, and if so, will the Minister restore that historic right and place it beyond the possibility of future interference, save by the representatives of the people in Parliament. The reply of the Minister will be aw'aited with much interest. INFLUENCES OF LITERATURE Almost daily, another popular fallacy is shattered with a distressing crash. Take the ten-year-old boy of Christchurch who perpetrated 22 burglaries. Among the selected booty were 19 volumes of Shakespeare and “Maxims of the Wise and Good,” which highly moral and elevating literature the youngster had been reading in his burglarious lair —an untenanted furnished house. Did the ,good books make the bad boy better? They did not. When he had been escorted to his home by the police he evaded the parental eye again, robbed the gas meter of 4s, and bolted. When we were small boys and read “Jack Sheppard,” “Paul Clifford,” “Robin Hood,” and other glorious tales of cut-throats and highwaymen, we remained good boys; that is why we are outside gaol to-day. If we had read “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Sandford and Merton,” “Eric, or Little by Little,” “Tales of Truth and Honesty,” we might have ended on the gallows. Clearly, wise parents must now select literature for their boys with their ideas concerning mental vitamines completely reconstructed. THE MALCONTENTS ( Mr. Glenn resigns the position of Junior Whip; Mr. Potter and Mr. Harris refuse to attend the meeting of caucus. In political language, there is a “split” in the Reform Party in Parliament. It is said that Mr. Glenn is dissatisfied at not having the Agricultural College located exactly where" he wanted it. It is said further that his real dissatisfaction is in not having been included in the Cabinet when the cards of portfolio were re-shuffled. Mr. Potter was in the portfolio hunt, too, they say, with his eyes on the Defence Department. These, of course, are merely “they say’s.” The outsider cannot fathom the deep workings of political intrigue. But it i* certain that Mr. PGtter is no longer the “white-haired boy” of the Reform Party, as was the case when he was under the parental wing of the late Mr. Massey. He defied the party by championing the cause of Miss Melville against the Reform candidate, Sir James Gunson, in the Eden by-election, and he “made no bones” about speaking back when smitten by the official reproach. Mr. Harris murmured something about “considering his allegiance” to the party in his representations in regard to the Motor Omnibus Act. He was told by Mr. Coates, in the manner of a schoolmaster to a bad boy, to “go home.” Unlike the mettlesome member for Roskill, Mr. Harris “uttered never a word” in reply. He appears to be only now recovering from the stunning blow. “I want more freedom,” he ejaculates, as he opens his eyes once more. He is likely to get it.