FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 615, 18 March 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” THE DREAM “Even now an English victory j would not surprise me. I dreamed j on Thursday that the match would be a tie.”—Mr. “Plum” Warner, on the j final test. Having propelled a lusty quill all day, By hopes of final victory inspired, The noted cricket pundit hit the hay, Or rather, to his downy couch retired. And he assured no craven fears imposed Their harden on his spirit ere he dozed. lie did not dream he dwelt in marble halls, Or like Ben Adhem (may his tribe f ind an' angelic scribe within the walls. No visions such as these disturbed his peace. Far worse—he woke with strained and staring eye, “Ye Gods l I dreamt the match had been a tier’ Delusions thus conspired to let him know ~What Fate for dear old England held in store. England went cheaply, and he said: “Just so. Be confident. The match will be a draw/* Alas, poor Plum, by wayward fancies crossed ! Distrust those heavy suppers—England Dost 1 — T. TOHEROA. I | THE OMEN A Marlborough sportsman travelled to the Trentham races on Saturday by airplane. That should have been a good enough tip to him to back Eaglet, and if he did not collect that dividend he has only himself to blame.. UNBREAKABLE The unbreakable records mentioned in The Sun on Saturday will no doubt command the attention of Arne Borg, Nurmi, and others who make a habit of shattering all the records in sight. These being gramophone records they may have more difficulty than usual. There is now no hope that the lady next door will drop and break her favourite Gene Austin or Jack Smith, and it therefore seems clear that a new terror has been added to civilisation. PING-PONG BALLS What Aucklander who pats his pingpong balls back and forth over the net, or drives ferociously at his opponent’s solar plexus, could imagine the little white sphere having anything to do with Segrave and the world’s speed records? Yet when Segrave pilots the Miss England along the Miami sea-front it is on 5,000 ping-pong- balls, concealed in a bulkhead, that the craft will depend for buoyancy should it capsize. Bike the racing-car Golden Arrow, the Miss England is powered by a Napier-Lion aero engine. The makers of this unit evidently move with the times. Except tor special jobs, they have given up making cars in favour of making aeroplane engines. Thirty years ago the firm made printing machinery for bank notes, but it gave that up to build cars. Had the principals foreseen the coming boom in bank notes, they might have doubted the wisdom of their decision.

PIPING IN THE HAGGIS At a Highland gathering held last week at Dargaville, the haggis was piped in with traditional ceremonial, and the potent dish was duly consumed after some of the less wellinformed guests had been formally persuaded that it was edible. The difficulty with most people on their first introduction to haggis is not to persuade them beforehand that it is edible, but to convince them afterwards that it is digestible. As for their craven fears, the uncouth Sassenach will undoubtedly aver that after the piping-in part of the business a man ought to be game to eat anything. THE OLD NAMES Whenever there is a big flood in the Mississippi valley or adjacent basins the striking lack of originality shown in the naming of American towns is illustrated. To he just, what we now condemn as lack of originality may really be the evidence of touching fidelity in exiled Europeans. Napoleon might have put up at the hotel at Elba, now wrecked by flood waters, and so passes still another historic tavern. But no, that can’t be right. Nor can

there be anything in the horrible fear that the League of Nations will not be able to meet now that Geneva is inundated. We know, q£ course, that Dunedin, Florida (population 2,000 or thereabouts) sent greetings to Dunedin (New Zealand) at the time of the Byrd expedition’s departure, and it is also on record that citizens of Syracuse (N.Y.) have expressed profound disappointment in Syracuse (Sicily). The American Syracuse has a population of a-quarter of a • million, v.Tiile the Sicilian port beasts a mere -10,‘JVJ, and has not even got a |Chambsr, of Commerce, .... J