FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 336, 23 April 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOCK-OUT MAN.” ST. GEORGE , St. George, the saint honoured today, was a good sort of saint, for, after he had slain, the dragon, he put off ■ his knightly habit and, obeying the | injunction of the Master, gave all he I had to the poor, and went forth to i preach the Word. He is greatly worshipped to this day—no endeavour being considered too great, and no means too subtle, to obtain the picture of St. George engaged in slaying the dragon. Some people have thousands, or even millions, of these pictures stowed away in banks—they are engraved on sovereigns, the acquisition of which is a form of religious mania with some collectors. St. George was put to death by Diocletian on April 23—1,625 years ago-. He was first recognised as England’s patron saint under the Norman kings. MAY NEED OUR EGGS Efforts are being made to develop an export trade in eggs, it being represented that there is a great market for them in the United Kingdom. That is all very well in its way, but it must be borne in mind that -he general elections are to take place in New Zealand this year. We may need all our eggs. AN HONOURABLE DEATH Immediately on winning the Ledburn Steeplechase, in England, a horse called Ben crashed into a fence and broke its neck. Better far to die after winning a race than to be like some New Zealand horses —“dead” before the race. WHEN THE "ZEPPN PAUSED The death of Viscount Trematon, following on a motor accident in France, recalls a thrilling experience that befel the Viscount when he was about 10 years old. With his mother, Princess Alice, and sister, he was on a visit to Eastwell Park, the hom e of Lady Northcote, wife of a former Governor-General of Australia. The house, a fine Georgian mansion, stands in the middle of a large estate in Kent, in a direct line between London and Folkestone; and It was not an uncommon sight during the war to see Zeppelins, passing overhead on their way to bomb London. One night a Zeppelin stopped right over the house, evidently to get its bearings. The Princess and her children spent an uncomfortable quarter of an hour, expecting a bomb to be dropped on them at any minute, before the Zeppelin moved off on its mission of destruction. ENGLAND REGAINS A TREASURE The greatest price ever received at auction in America for a painting was paid for Gainsborough’s “Harvest Waggon.” It was bought by Sir Joseph Duveen for £ 72,000. Sir Joseph is a trustee of the Wallace Collection, in London, and so England regains the great painting that Judge Gary, of the U.S. Steel Corporation, bought last year from the estate of Lord Swaythling. So much English art has gone to America of late years that it was being feared that England would be stripped of all its treasures by lich Americans. There is a suspicion, however, that some of the American purchasers took advantage of England’s period of poverty to acauire valuable objects d’art with the idea of selling them back again (at a large profit) when conditions improved. England is prospering again, and the shrewd “Yanks” are wide awake to the fact. We may now expect to see many paintings, tapestries, books and manuscripts return to the Old Country at greatly enhanced prices from the pawnshop of “Uncle” Sam.