FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

COMPARATIVE VALUES Radium is worth about £350,000 an ounce, and Tunney is worth about £IO,OOO a round. Both should be used with care. THE MYSTERY LURE + London has now about 900 detectives, and there were only 15 in 1577. This probably shows to what an extent Edgar Wallace and his school have inflamed the young imagination. R.I.P. Says a morning paper: “A player in a whist drive at Wallingford, Berkshire, held all 13 trumps, the suit being diamonds.” Still, this does not equal the record of a player in YapYap Valley, Yukon, who held five aces. The suits were ones —that afternoon. GOOD INTENTIONS “He never spends any time with me,” cried the appellant in a recent separation case. “His home is neglected while he wastes his time at the football club.” We would gently point out to the irate woman that her husband is obviously training to be a better half. TIIE COLLEGE COMPLEX There were about 3,000 people at Middlemore to watch the Rugby match between King’s College and Auckland Grammar. A remarkable crowd! What is it that draws the public in such numbers to these college matches? Not unnaturally, ex-students like to gather at their old school, but their enthusiasm infects hosts of relatives and friends. All flaunt ribbons. Cars are smothered with colours. The crowd shouts itself hoarse. Old friendships are renewed, and one sees bright, clean football. A sufficient recompense, surely, for a trip to Middlemore? BUTTONS! AND BRASS A Southern clergyman complains that the public spends so much on luxuries that it has little to give to the Church. It is obvious that some cure is required. When the great button scare was at its height a few years ago, the Church authorities effected a brilliant stroke by changing bags to plates. It seems that the only course open at present is to make an appeal to the congregation’s generosity. It is certainly not fair that our clergy should be forced to suffer attacks of threepenny bitterness. MAORIS AND CHINESE It is rather a pitiful picture, that of Maoris who have been forced to earn a bare living by working in vegetable fields for Chinese. It is a picture that has been half-heartedly criticised from time to time, but few New Zealanders have realised the import of such service. Near Wanganui and Otaki, the sight of Maori labourers of both sexes working for Chinese is common enough. It has come farther —as far as Auckland City. Such mingling is not in the best interests of the Maori race.

BUILDING DE LUXE A house at Rio Vist.a, Nevada, is built entirely o£ beer bottles. The erection is 20 feet long and 16 feet "wide, and has two rooms. Ten thousand bottles went- to its construction. We suppose that when the owner wants a wash-house or a verandah built on, he has a party—and what a party! INTERNATIONAL POKER “Poker in England must be far more exciting than in South Africa,” said the L.O.M.’s great-uncle, after reading a sporting paper yesterday. “The All Blacks have won nine matches and lost four, but the New Zealand bowlers, who appear to have been making higher raises, have won 26 matches , and lost 34.” NEW ZEALANDERS ASTRAY New Zealanders know as little about the United States as the Americans know about this country, if the remarks of the three American debaters recently in Auckland are to be believed. Listen to this from Mr. L. M. Ames, debating leader, speaking in Sydney: “We were frankly a disappointment to school boys and girls in New Zealand. They had been led to believe that we would wear loud check suits, gaudy ties, would chew gufn, smoke black cigars, and speak with an accent.” Even debaters must have their little joke! Mr. Ames did not tell New Zealanders that they had a wrong idea. In Sydney, Sir Henry Braddon described his guests as debating their way round the Englishspeaking world. “A far nicer phrase than that coined by a New Zealand mayor,” was Mr. Ames's comment: “he said we were blowing our way round.”