FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 89, 6 July 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN

"MU ST A PIIA KEMAL" Even the Turks are departing from the veneration of tradition. Cabled news is to hand that the age-old name of Constantinople, visioning those great emperors, the Constantines, is to be changed to that of Mustapha Kemal, in honour of the Turkish Mussolini of that name. To the Turks, however, Constantinople has more commonly been venerated as Istambul, or Stamboul, and it is not probable that this word will depart from Moslem lips. Still, it seems a pity that the Constantinople of a former mighty empire should be robbed of a name to which attaches considerable . glory. When the Russian Revolution wiped k saints off the slate, St. Petersburg ‘became Petrograd. Now it is Leningrad, after the gentleman of the first two syllables. It may yet become Trotskygrad, seeing that things are not yet quite settled in the centre of revolution. PLEA SING THE CHILDREN “School children were there in strong force, and many of them exhibited youthful delight in the scene of a school—to some it was their oavii school burping,” said one report cf the blaze at the Normal School. It is "understood that quite a number of Jewish children attend the Normal School. Some of them may have had the mistaken idea that their fathers owned it. It is more likely, however, that the youngsters were delighted not so much with the fire as with the inevitable result —an enforced holiday. But since spectacular blazes are so popular with children, why not make bonfires of the awful old wooden schools which Auckland members of Parliament are always urging the Minister of Education to demolish? It is far easier to burn a building than to pull it down, and the children need some more natural form of entertainment than those demoralising pictures —and, talking of pictures, the Education Department might make quite a financial haul in selling the film rights of such fires fin conjunction with the insurance authorities). THE POOR DOCTOR Medicine as a profession is not a lucrative calling. This is on the authority of Dr. W. A. Fairclough, w*ho last night delivered a lecture on “The Prospects of Medicine as a Profession for Youths.” One has only to note the houses in which the .doctors of Auckland live to realise the poverty of this unlucrative profession. So small, inferior and dilapidated are these dwellings that only for the brass plates on the doors one would think they were the tenements of the labouring fraternity. This is especially noticeable in Symonds Street and other abodes of the lowly. If you go inside their waiting rooms, you will not see more than three or four paintings by old masters —paintings, that is to say, really old —as old, for instance, as the magazines lying on the tables for the perusal of waiting patients—and the general air of poverty pervading will make you wish you could afford to give your doctor two guineas a visit, instead of merely one. And if you have to wait long for your turn, you will understand (as you watch the twenty-fifth guinea patient go in) how hard is the lot of the doctor. The unlucrative nature of the medical profession will be further impressed upon your mind when the doctor tells you that the operation he is going to perform will cost you only 50 guineas. You wonder how they manage to live at all.

JAM AND PICKLE STRIKE The crew of the steamer Echunga refused to take the vessel out of Newcastle last week unless they were given their pickles in bottles, instead of in bulk, and their jam in lib. tins, instead of 51b. tins. The Echunga was delayed for 48 hours, the agents finally conceding the men's demands. It is understood the Australian Seamen’s Union regards the matter seriously, and in future all food supplied to ships must be- approved by experts. Strawberry conserve and calves’ foot jelly must be in Sib. jars; preserved fruits and ginger must be bottled, also. Eggs will have to be guaranteed as having been laid not more than 24 hours. Hams must be honey-cured and from pedigree pigs only. All poultry must have been examined for age and health by a veterinary surgeon. Tobacco, cigars and cigarettes must be of highest grade. All wines, spirits, liqueurs and ales must be of House of Lords strength and quality. Failing this, the men will walk ashore and work on farms, where the menu is varied, consisting of such delicacies as bread and roast mutton, bread and boiled mutton, bread and fried mutton, and bread and mutton-stew.