FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 508, 10 November 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” ALL HEEDED A fish with three distinct mouths has been caught at Opotiki. Evolution would naturally play Its part in the Bay of Plenty. * * * HOSPITALITY Three residents of Hikutaia, near Thames, were placed in an awkward dilemma when, on their refusing to have a drink with an Irishman, he produced a loaded revolver. Obviously he wanted to get them “shot.” SAINT TO HELP * Saint Vitus, the saint invoked by villagers threatened with eviction from their homes by the advancing flood of lava from Mount Etna, seems to have all-round qualifications as a friend in need. It Was to the shrines of St. Vitus that victims of muscular nervousness hied themselves in the Middle Ages. Thus came the term, St. Vitus’ dance, applied to these disorders. There is a large cathedral dedicated to St. Vitus in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia —where the lampshades come from. THE COMMANDER Wing-Commander T. R. Cave-Browne-Cave, commander of the four British flying-boats which have now reached Manila, managed to make himself particularly unpleasant toward the representatives of the Sydney dailies when his squadron was- in Port Jackson. Reticence and aloofness from publicity are often highly commendable qualities, though they tend to recall the story of a young man who visited the newspaper office. “How dared you insert the notice of my engagement? It is most painful. My people are annoyed, her people are annoyed, and I am frightfully annoyed. Now give me two dozen copies of the paper.” There are, however, various ways of refusing to give a newspaper man a "story," and Commander Cave-Browne-Cave, whose motto in life should be “What is a hyphen or two, more or less?” chose the offensive way. The result was that in all the Sydney papers, during his stay, he figured simply as “Commander Cave.” MESSAGES FROM THE SEA Not one in a thousand of bottlemessages cast into the sea, ostensibly by mariners in peril, is genuine, according to a pronouncement by Lloyd’s concerning a bottle-message purporting to be from a passenger on the Titanic, which sank after a collision with an iceberg in 1912. The message was picked up near Swansea in September, and must, if genuine, have drifted for 16 years. It is discredited, however, by the authorities. Thousands of these bottle messages are picked up every year, but most of them are the k work of hare-brained humorists. One which was thought genuine was picked up recently on the Dutch Island of Rottumeroog. The signature was that of the lost explorer, Raold Amundsen. Another famous bottle message was that picked up after the disappearance of the Inman liner City of Boston in 1870. She disappeared without a trace somewhere in mid-Atlantic, and her fate is a mystery to this day, but those who had relatives aboard were caused terrible anguish by the alleged humour of a bottle message that was afterwards proved to be a fake.

BRIGHTER POLITICS Mr. A. M. Samuel, who has intimated that he will resign from the Reform Party if the promised public crushing plant for Thames mining interests does not materialise, is one of the most polished speakers the present Parliament possesses, and also one of the best-tailored, rivalling Mr. W. S. Glenn, Mr. E. H. Tapley and the Prime Minister, for the sartorial championship of the House. He is the member who distinguished himself by getting his car bogged on one of the approaches to the Kopu bridge, Thames, when that structure was opened last May. Possessing a ready wit, he was at his best in the past session, when discussing the MusicTeachers’ Registration Bill, in which he suggested the inclusion of a clause covering the Jew’s harp! At a dinner given to a political celebrity in Thames, Mr. Samuel was entrusted with the toast to the Press. One of his allusions was to a tablet found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Archaeologists would ultimately learn, he predicted, that this was a page from the note-book of an ancient Egyptian reporter. The allusion waa supplemented by one of the local pressmen, who in returning thanks said the tablet referred to would be found, when translated, to reveal the whereabouts of a certain famous gentleman when the light went out.