FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 142, 6 September 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN”

! MURDER-HOUSE MUSEUM In commemoration of the tenth I anniversary of the Revolution, the | Soviet is having the house in which j it butchered the Tsar and his family, f at Ekaterin, transformed into a Comj munist museum. The 1 skeletons of j the murdered monarch, his wife and | children, with the implements of I assassination artistically arranged, | should make an exhibit entirely pleasi ing to the Russian proletariat, duly | emphasising the refinements brought ; about by the new civilisation so gently propagated by the Soviet. A DEAR LITTLE RAILWAY The L.O.M. congratulates the Prime Minister on the crossing of the Xorthern Wairoa River by the first train to run on the new line into his electorate. It’s nice to have a dear little \ railway in your electorate, and this is a (fear little railway. Barely 14 miles in length, the section ha 3 cost roughly £1,000,000, which works out at a. little under £BO,OOO a mile — and it will cost from £350,000 to £500,000 to connect it with Dargaville, the great metropolis of the Coates country. If passenger fares were fixed at £1 a mile (and you could get passengers to travel on it at that fare) the line might be made to pay interest on the cost of construction —in time. LAUDER AS -1 -TORY" Sir Harry Lauder has been called all sorts of things in his time, but the L.O.M. had not until yesterday known him to be “a Tory propagandist, who has denounced trades unionists.” This was how he was described in his own country by a Labour member of the Edinburgh Council, who opposed the freedom of the city being conferred upon the comedian. And surely it | was the unkindest cut of all for the I Lord Dean of Guild, in moving an j amendment that the honour' be not j conferred, to say that they must be | careful “not to do anything to lower |or cheapen this great honour.” Howj ever, despite this and the description by another Edinburgh alderman of Sir Harry as presenting a type of Scotsman who was not to be found in the heavens, the earth or the waters, and who, if he came in the flesh would be “packed off to the asylum,” the council decided to confer the freedom by 30 votes to 22. As Sir Harry never yet refused anything free, he will doubtless accept It, however mad he may feel with some of the Edinburgh aldermen. ENGLAND'S POPULATION Reference to world population and emigration in The Sun’s leading article yesterday draws attention to the fact that during the first quarter of this year there was an absolute decrease in the population of England. The decrease was less than 2,000, but it must be seriously regarded notwithstanding. The truth, as emphased by the London “Times,” is that the British birthrate has now fallen so low that the margin between bifths and deaths, at aay given period of the year, is very small, and any moderately severe epidemic of influenza is enough to wipe out. this margin altogether. And the fall of the birthrate is continuous and still shows a tendency to accelerate. In fact, the British birthrate for the first quarter of this year was the lowest ever recorded In any first quarter, with the exception of that of 1919, the year following the complete “mobilisation” of the nation for war service. This being so, there is dismal reading in the statement of the British delegates at the World Population Conference that hygienic improvement in the slums means only increased fertility without increased quality. Is it to be fertility, minus quality, in the slums, and a continuously diminishing birthrate among those classes which could most suitably replenish the race? The prospect isn’t, pleasing.

DO YOU SMOKE? The latest controversy is whether or not the brains of non-smokers are better than those of smokers. It arose, of course, in America, that land of extreme views, in which one State at least has prohibited the smoking of cigarettes. Spreading to England, the controversy condemns the “fag” and recommends the pipe—and smoking is declared to be the best fashion that has been introduced for women, as it “steadies the nerves.” Per contra, to come right home, there is an Auckland physician who says that the nerves of some of his lady patients have been absolutely ruined by smoking. But there is a medium in everything, of course, and too much smoking is as bad as too much anything else. As to the effect of smoking on the brain, there are many non-smok-ers who are not over-intelligent, and, on the other hand, some of the worlds : most brilliant men have been very heavy smokers. Whether they would : have been even more brilliant if they | had not smoked is a moot point.