FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 739, 12 August 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

PRETTY POLLY! A parrot was a featured exhibit at the Magistrate’s Court this morning. -'Mid panoply of wig and gown The parrot brought its plumage gay 3 Clambering idly up and down, And yet without a word to say. No comment, “'This is pretty rocky,'* Nor ribald greeting, “Hello, Cocky!'* If Mr. Hunt were thus addressed, How rich the mirth, hoio vast the glee, And what a curious way to test I-lis well-known gift for repartee. For should the bird use terms improper Could Mr. Hunt apply the stopperf No use in phrases crisp and terse To chulc the indiscreet macaw. The net result is something worse, And though I blushingly deplore A bird that greets the Bench as brother, T Vhy not —as one beak to another? T. TOHEROA. * ♦ * NAUGHTY BOYS When members o£ Parliament become particularly irresponsible or turbulent during a sitting of the House, the Speaker makes the threat that one of the offenders will be “named.” Tbis happened when Mr. H. R. Jenkins was speaking the other day, and the Speaker threatened to name one of the interjectors. Only once in the whole of last session was Mr. Speaker’s patience tried to such an extent that he felt like threatening to name anyone, and an actual naming has not happened now for several years. Members while in the chamber are never known, of course, by their surnames, but only by the constituencies they represent. If a member is named, he is compelled to retire from the Chamber, and stay away until due apology has been tendered. Much the most sensational naming in the history of the New Zealand Parliament occurred when Sir Julius Vogel, a Minister of the Crown, was named away back in the seventies. * * » THE POOR RICH! Super taxation in Great Britain is forcing many of those with great possessions to sell their treasures. These sales, however, are not for the purposes of the ancient parable, but are being effected in order to help the poor rich. Recently, for example, the Duke of Northumberland sold the famous Titian Portrait Group to the Trustees of the National Gallery for £120,000, the money having been subscribed forthwith by two private art collectors, three contributions from National Gallery funds, and the Government, which contributed £61,000. The Earl of Pembroke sold the Wilton Diptych, originally in the collection of Charles I„ for £90,000, the Government providing half of the purchase money, and four other contributors the remaining half. These purchases saved two great pictures for the nation and incidentally kept them from emigration to America. Two months ago Christie sold 99 lots of fine jewels, the property of a duchess and two other leading ladies in society, for £113,809. Another notable sale on the same occasion was that of a single-row necklace composed of 55 graduated pearls for £ 18,800. The original owner was a lady whose name was not revealed. It is true that New Zealanders are the second highest-taxed persons in the world, but, so far, none of them has been compelled to sell his works of art (if any), though a great deal of jewellery has gone into pawnshops. MARLBOROUGH SHEEPRVNS In Marlborough, where the first sheep to be grazed in the South Island were landed, the country people are proud of their broad acres, so that there will be a feeling akin to dismay that members of the Monro family, which has held them since 1848, have offered the Bankhouse and Marchburn properties, ten miles from Blenheim, to the Government for closer settlement. Both properties carry about 6,000 sheep, and the adjoining Delta property, which has also been offered to the Government, has about the same capacity. The Monro association with Marlborough pasturage began with Sir David Monro, a doctor of medicine who came to New Zealand as a lad, but decided that sheepfarming and politics were more interesting that practising medicine. For several years he was Speaker of the House, but was unseated somewhat sensationally on an election petition in 1871. Many other leading Marlborough pastoralists were addicted to politics. Sir Charles Clifford and Sir Frederick Weld, of Flaxbourne, and Sir E. W. Stafford, of Upton Fells, were squatter-statesmen of distinction. But the big properties have dwindled in size since the early days, and there will be no more subdivisions like those of 30 years ago, when Starborough (33,600 acres), Waipapa (71,000 acres) and Kekerangu (120,000 acres) were cut up. Waipapa belonged to a stern old Highlander, William Mcßae, and Kekerangu, owned by E. S. Rutherford, was 50 miles long. Those were piping days in Marlborough.