FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 636, 12 April 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” A CHANGED OUTLOOK Four kangaroos and two wallabies from Australia have arrived at the Auckland Zoo. Oh, yes, we lcnow Australia, The land of the prickly pear; In fact wc modestly confess That we were captured there. Now we have come, to Auckland, In whose palatial grounds Our fortunes ivill, we all assume , Progress by leaps and bounds. — SQUIDGE. WESTELLA GOES WEST Processes of subdivision go on slowly, but Inexorably. Westella, the fine Feilding estate whereof 850 acres has just been taken over by a paternal Government for slicing up Into farmlets. is a noted pastoral tract on which stands one of the finest homesteads in New Zealand, the residence of Mr. R. Levin. Here in an appropriate atmosphere assembled the polo players for the Savile Cup tournament last week. Westella has been one of the nurseries of polo in New Zealand, and the ability of hard-riding Waikato dairy-farm-ers to take their place with scions of the aristocracy of sheep indicates the rise of Strawberry to a new level. A- NICE LINE An esteemed colleague notes that male players in the Little Theatre Society’s production show a nice line in silk pyjamas. Blue silk the one, and stripes the other, with robes of pleasantly contrasting hue. The stern days are gone when the robust male called out into an hotel passage at night appeared in a military overcoat cast carelessly over a set of drab pyjamas. Still, it is a fact that, dramatic licence allowed for, the selection of pyjamas of suitable hue is still an embarrassing process. At the military camps we attended when we were “very young,” severe penalties were exacted for any night-wear of a pretentious character. Blue silk would have been worth a ducking, at least. CALLED TO THE BAR Detention of a member of the Maltese Parliament “at the pleasure of the House” is a reminder. This trick is occasionally practised by outraged majorities in New Zealand Parliaments. The procedure is ceremoniously simple. The offender, be he scribe or legislator, is hailed before the Bar of the House, that slim rod that divides the sanctuary of Parliament from the world without. There he is reproved, verbally castigated, and sentenced. A notable New Zealand journalist now in Sydney suffered this extreme penalty on one occasion, and was sentenced to remain “within these precincts” for some days. He had the time of his life, living on the fat of the land at Bellamy’s at the expense of a paternal Government, and between meals either playing billiards or a violin. Parliament has power to do these things or worse. It may fine a man. imprison him, or even hang him. The detention “within these precincts” appeals to at least one member of the present Press Gallery. He believes it tyould be a grand advertisement. But so far the only bar he has been hailed before has been of a delightfully familiar variety. i

m m m A: rh -1- -'r. rj- r-h r-h 7& SUBMARINE’S EXPLOIT The disclosure in a new history of the Gallipoli campaign that the Australian submarine AE2 scared away a Turkish battleship - during its historic passage up the Dardanelles to the Sea of Marmora adds fresh lustre to a memorable exploit. Sent on her perilous mission to cripple the minelayers that had caused such havoc among British ships, the AE2 stole through the mine-infested Narrows at night. After sinking a Turkish cruiser she ran aground within range of enemy forts, and In escaping from one shell-swept zone only ran blindly into another. Nevertheless, she achieved the impossible and won through to the Sea of Marmora, where she might have swung the Dardanelles naval campaign in the Allies’ favour had not a defect developed in her machinery. Unable to dive, she was raked by Turkish gunfire. Commander Stokes and his men dived overboard from their helpless craft, but were picked up and made prisoners of war. Submarines of pre-war vintage, like the AE2 and her sister-ship, the AEI, were not the reliable weapons of the latter end of the war. The AEI was lost In the early days of the war, when she disappeared mysteriously, never to be heard of again, when on patrol duty off Rabaul.