FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1025, 16 July 1930, Page 10

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

"THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

A MELODY IN STEAM A new railway engine whistle, combining low pitched and high pitched notes in an arresting chord, is being tried in New Zealand. Although the sound has been described as a •‘wicked wail,” it is said that the new whistle is the result of musical study on the part of the inventor. They have added something new To the brazen “View Halloo’* That issues from a speeding engine’s throat. ’Tis a plaintive, eerie cry With a pitch both low and high— A whistle with a double-barrelled note: , An N.Z.R. technician (He's an amateur musician) Has frowned upon the present roar or And offered for‘our pleasure The most pessimistic measure Of a “wicked, wailing” Melody in Stea.n. By combining shrilly tooL'ng With a im laiicholy hooting lu the manner of the better classic airs-, He may make on- Sund iv trippers Feel, despite official nippetv. That they’re being recompensed for higher fares. M.E. THE CLOCK STOPPED After spending an exciting hour or so in the Town Hall on Monday evening. city folk were intrigued on Tuesday morning to note that the Town j Hall clock was registering 11 p.m. I The explanation of this was that workmen had begun to repair the I mechanism at eight o’clock that morn- | in;-, and hud pat the clock on to avoid i deceiving (lie world at large; but | wrestling enthusiasts, with liv.ly | memories of the Alley - McDougoT | Naylor - Wilson - Wrestling Asn-tocla-j tion members' bout, were convinced j that, because of the hubbub rising from the hali below, the clock had lapsed into frightened silence the evening before. One theory was that at 11 p.m. the clock noticed Mr. Me Dougall emerging from ihe hall, and ceased operations in case he should mistake its minute hand for a second! ■jak rnrtowisfi Among Ihe queer trades of t)re community is that of the stone jar thrower. A current advertisement calls for a "thrower of half gallon to live gallon jars, piecework or time.” Such a man, of course, is a maker of jars, but to the layman the job appears to have delightful possibilities. Most of us have experienced that primitive urge to destroy that can he felt sometimes when one holds e fragile object of great value or stands before a tempting crate of eggs; and here, it seems, would be an opportunity to satisfy the longing. Then again, other innocents may apply for the billet under the impression that the terms of the advertisement apply to a man's drinking capacity, and that he is required as a side-show exhibit or bar-room pacemaker. This being so, it is safe to predict that among the early applicants will be a certain Public Works employee of giant stature, whose unbeaten record is carved on the wall of an hotel bar in a South Island district. Visitors are taken to it almost with reverence and they read: long beers in an hour,” together with a name and date. This record-breaker could throw jars—and how. TELLIXG THE PILOT On Sunday at the Mangere airdrome a small boy, aged six, was gazing with awe at the preparations for flight in a three-seater monoplane. Only one passenger was available, so the pilot offered to give him a ride. Excitedly he climbed into the vacant seat for his first air trip, the engine roared, and off they went. By and by the monoplane began to bank as it climbed aloft. When it tilted slightly the small boy looked at the wing that sloped down on the inside of the circle of flight. The sight alarmed him so he tapped the shoulder of his fellow passenger and pointed to the drooping wing. “Does the pilot know about this?” he asked. GOLD IX TARARUASt "Aokautere”: News of the discovery of gold in the gorge of the Tokomaru Stream as it dodders its way down from tile Tararua Rangers will not astonish Manawatu and Horowhehua people living in Auckland who really know those delightful mountains aud hills. In the past there have been hosts of suspicions in the district of El Dorados up in the hills. The suspicions, up to 1930, have come to nothing, though many small boys who, according to the frequent practice down there, made week-end rummaging excursions in the ranges have been known to arrive home with pieces of quartz rock. The man who would potter round the Tokomaru stream appears to have quite a considerable laugh on the small boys of many generations who have unearthed chunks of quartz and have had satisfying visions of wealth. Though many towns nestle in the shadow of the misty Tararuas, the ranges are really remote in many places. There is a Tararua Tramping Club, of course, and one remembers tw-o ardent Dampers who became lost in the mountain fogs and had to live for several days in hillside burrows.