FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 511, 14 November 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” GETTING THE RASPBERRY A market note states that strawberries have been coming forward freely in the past few days Raspberries also are in good supply, as election candidates have discovered. 4 * 4 SWEEPING THE DEEP America is to have a navy second to none. The programme recalls the boast of tbe old Dutch admiral, who hoisted a broom to the masthead; but instead of hoisting a broom, Mr. Hoover will naturally hoist a vacuumcleaner. =i* * * THOUGHTS FOR THE BAY R.H. (Otuhi) sends a kind thought for election day: The photographs of Parliamentary candidates remind me of the story of the gentleman who took his little son to see the American Senate. The boy said, “Who is that man, father?” “That is the chaplain, my son,” replied the father. “Does he pray for the senators?” “No, he looks at the senators and then prays for the country.” * * * AIRMAN AND STAR Blanche Satchell, the beautiful blonde whose name has been coupled with Lindbergh’s, is an Australian girl, who toured New Zealand in 1922 as a member of tbe chorus in “Tbe O’Brien Girl.” She has risen in the theatrical firmament and. is now a bright light In a New York revue. Having conquered the heavens, Lindbergh Is now among the stars. * * * BELIEVE IT OR NOT Because he is deaf, Michael Haack, a Canadian farmer, who was convicted of murder, read the sentence of the judge, condemning him to he hanged, on January 9. Throughout his trial, four court reporters, working in 15minute relays, typed the evidence and gave it to Haack to read. In this way he was able to follow the testimony closely. When sentence was pronounced, it was copied in longhand for the defendant to read. How the judge would have managed had the prisoner been unable to read is not clear. 4 * * MH. URU IN THE HOUSE From wrestling In the active sense to wrestling with legislative problem? was a simple transition for Henare W. Uru, who lost his seat at yesterday’s Maori elections, aud will be remembered as one of the bulkiest members the House had had for many a long day. Mr. C. E. Macmillan and Mr. Tau Henare ran him very close, but Mr. Uru probably won by a pound or so. When he and Mr. Tau Henare were both “at home” on their bench, they filled it to absolute capacity, and it was a poor lookout for one of them if he wanted a stretch. One of the dreadful uncertainties of the Maori elections is that, from the point of view of avoirdupois, you never know what may come next and if Mr. Uru’s successor happens to be a man. of even greater weight, then the bench will have to be extended. Maori members rarely participate in the ordinary debates of the House, and Mr. Uru seldom opened his mouth to speak. With his amiable features, and curious curly hair, raven-black at the roots, but silvergrey at the outside, he was one of the picturesque figures of the House.

THE WOMAN'S WAY

Sweet are the uses of adversity, as Mrs. Margaret Young, the very independent Labour candidate for Wellington Central, has demonstrated by capitalising the uproar at her meetings. Simple human beings love nothing better than a fight, even when the encounter is only verbal, with one woman against the mob; so Mrs. Young secured a crowded house for her meeting In the Wellington Town Hall, at charges of 2s and Is a head. The quaint part is that something of the kind was suggested by “Minhinnick” in a cartoon not long ago. Few politicians could do It, because the average candidate, unaided by his hecklers, could not draw a crowd without paying them for their presence. Mrs. Young, however, is obvi ously the type of lady we should encourage. She would make a capita Minister of Finance, and with a few suggestions might be able to turn Parliament, the greatest entertainment o. all, into a payable turn. Once upon a time there was a reporter who leaned over- the gallery in the House of Commons, and cried: “A song from Mr. Speaker.” He was arrested, fate which would befall anyone vfli risked a similar foolhardiness in New Zealand. But under the revolutionis ing touch of Mrs. Young, these thing: could be altered, and Sir Charles Statham might find himself “able tc oblige.”