NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 172, 20 July 1907, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

. «... as well as Jews may benefit j _£SfflrSisconrses delivered by - i?t Thfef Kabbi in Glasgow recently, tse Ci . i valuable v.-as Dr. Adler s that bane of modem life I * s ?£ He preached from a passage which teaches a cheerful minted optimism in face of the si. B S circumstances. ".More '*• i" said the Chief Rabbi, "than t&rS is the deadly ache of the m : which attacks so many hearts. «?£ 7- the small anxieties that have *"* i it£ effect Trouble kills its & I worry its tens of thousands." fffftrSl a une series of "Do Kfidl are worth remembering-.-I n.'not indulge in anything that is •gjt touch Ul-gotten gains. ■J]*, that Wbich is right; five at peace •ft each other. Alt yon have a difference with your ME do not rush to invoke the aid %% ol the land; try to settle tt iy arbitration. . Ttatis excellent, and touching even - , Jr note is this upon purity of living: Tcaanot conceive anything of greater - \nZce. than the watching over your Tina boys, so that they shall lead til 'self-controlled and .elf--B"fe£i _ve3 It cuts mc to the quick; S5 bitterly when I hear that sf__e cases purity of conduct does not |S5 the sons of Abraham."

A distinguished electrician named Georgia Knap has built for himself a villa in which absolutely all the household work is done by electricity. The service is declared to be the most perfect ever obtained, and yet not a single servant is employed.-. ...

The house bears the name "La Villa Feria Electra," and is situated at Troyes in France.

The Some correspondent of the "Daily tonicle" states that the King of Siam, V become an enthusiastic devotee of fuUobilism. "The Asiatic monarch," Z <ays ' ilas Drou S ht over an expert !_,__» Siamese chauffeur, whose skill m "averting' catastrophes by a hairs breadth keeps Italian pedestrians aghast rift amazement." You bet it aoes! What bo! It appears, furthermore, _iat Bng-Chulalongkorn wants to popularise motoring in Siam; but his subjects as his- JVfajesty regretfully comdainVare not' taking any. They have even petitioned him to relieve the anxi- ' etv of tie lieges by renouncing that form of locomotion, or at least by moderating the speed at motors are driven. "There is.ihvays," the petition suggests, "the Royal sedan-chair, and, in urgent case, carriages with horses." Well, immemorial East is wakiiir njs and is going considerably ahead of°DS Ocriuentals. Siam—if the people get their way, and not their King—will be the only land worth living in for folk Trio like a quiet life. But they will hare to lynch that "' expert young Siamese chauffeur." When they have done thai), and Chulalongkorn has skidded over a precipice, Siam will be the veritable Earthly Paradise.

A visit to the electric house is described as being a realisation of "The Arabian Nights" and Jules Verne's novels.

The 40th Pathans, some of whose members have lately been gaining a rather unenviable notoriety in connection with the disturbances in India, are a curi-ously-composed Teghnent. They consist of'fwo companies of Orakzais, two of

other articles of the table appear with the same silent celerity.

"It is as if one were served by the unseen fingers of ghosts," said a guest.

The same current that gives light and does all the work of the household produces music. Whenever it is desired music bursts forth from the chandeliers and the bouquets of flowers on the table. Monsieur Knap usually gives his guests

"A Life on the Ocean Wave" with the soup and the "Toreador" song from "Carmen" with the filet.

A woman who was invited to dine at i the. electric villa has related her strange c and fascinating experiences. She reached 1 the front gate at dusk, and as she 1 pressed a button a flood of light from an ' electric projector illuminated the gateway. The gate flew open, and as the : visitor entered a phonographic voice : called out: "Welcome! Allow the gate to close itself." As the visitor walked up a pathway the light followed her constantly. As she was a friend of the owner" of the ■ house, the latter ,was able to recognise her from whatever room he happened to be in by means of a tele-photographic apparatus. "Ah! good evening, my dear madame," cries the voice of Monsieur Knap. "All the others are here; we are waiting for you." The caller looked about for the voice, and of course she could see no one. '"Well, why don't you come in?" cried the bodiless voice. "This is growing uncanny," remarked the visitor. ' "Don't be alarmed," replied the voice. "Come this way; now turn to the right. I am waiting for you." As the caller placed her feet within the vestibule she felt a gentle friction upon the soles of her shoes. The stop consists of narrow boards between which brushes worked by electricity move to and fro and clean the visitors shoes. The nest moment she was lifted up as if by unseen hands and carried to a reception room where the host was awaiting her. The dining room is one of the most interesting parts of the house, because it is here that the most difficult features of domestic service are accomplished without the intervention of man or woman. In the centre of the dining table stand several ordinary epergnes, then between these epergnes and the guests a band of elliptical open space, bordered by a band of silver-plated metal. This band indicates the edge of the lift which brings the dishes up and down from the kitchen. In front of each guest, is a bar of glass and silver which prevents him from pushing his plates or glasses inadvertently on the lift. At the host's right hand is a disc of electric keys." He presses one of these and any dish, any beverage he desires makes its appearance. When he touches a button, there is first a tinkling and then a noise, like the rolling of drums beneath the dining room. First the ■ soup comes up on a disc at one end of the • elliptical open space. ■ Each soup plate i comes ready filled and moves silently - into place before the expectant" guest. : Each dish comes up in the same way as E | soon as it is desired. The bottles and

When the dinner is over all the dishes and linen disappear, and the table becomes a place for playing cards or for the convivial bottle and cigars. The table may be sent through the floor if the host desires. •

Punjabi Mahommedans, two of Dogras,

I one of Yusufzais, and one of Afridis. I iAlto_-ether,'(4eyare decidedly a "mixed" ' _t nature, they are any- _ \sa|:b2t amenable to military discipline. ' ' \\iiuid that when'the Amir of AfghanVbtia fried the experiment, a few years r __3, of enlisting men of this, type for (is own army, they speedily got so out 'sf land that he had to dispense with .their services.. Although the 40th Iftthans have no "battle honours," they have a considerable history, all the same. S Baised--in 185S, at Shabjehaupoor, three pars -later they became the 44th Bengal Native Infantry. Their next name iras that of the * 40th Bengal Native lifairtiy, or Shahjehaupoor Levy. In JJSO they were transformed into the fitb Balooch Regiment; in 1592 into the Slth Pathan Regiment of Bengal Native infantry; in 1901 into the 4th Punjab fcifantry; and in 1903 they received their present designation of the 40th .iPathans. The regiment is at present stationed at' Thelum. It was recently Employed on the lines of communication

I have every respect for the ladies and genflemeh who give advice to the readers of the cheaper weekly papers 'twites Prank Richardson in the "Pall Mall Gazette"). I am filled with admiration at the heroism of a literary gentleman who, after examining the letter of Bnunknown correspondent, can unhesitatingly advise him to marry Lucy "if yont__B_ that she Teally loves you, and yon; love her, in preference to Muriel who, if. all you say is true, must be something of a flirt." All must respect or whatever be her nom-de-pltune, for the drastic remedies she recommends to-the infanta of ladies whom Me-has never met; her wonderful dismmination .i_ advising a Moorish wange rather than a Turkish bath in toe hah rf a small flat that she has never visited; her wonderful power in deadmg that "Puss. Puss" ought to flpy Handsome Horace, "if your heart that way, in preference to Bill, wnom you don't seem to care for. even «!°ngh he is earning a bigger salary." •j^ 6 Is a problem, put to the expert*or" ".weekly journal a few days ago: JUorotby" is much perplexed, and writes t™ 3 -' "I am worried whether to tell my I have a wooden leg. I should not ■± e f deceive him; and. moreover, if it ?<raid be enough to prevent him from spying mc, I think he ought to know it. **aat would you advise?" This advice «*? given: '-Tour letter is not very ' Isiw J Caa?t make out whether you a wooden leg. or whether you °cray want to test the depth of your love by pretending that Jon. have." Surely, so strange a test M S!!" a PP Ued to mortal man! But probes the matter more BgW& X the latter," says he, "the |£Ws no. test, as some. men. however :i™ m IoTe > °hjeet to girls with wooden 1 _2L oa .P rmci P'e-'" Principle is a curious junior .objecting to girls with wooden taTm i ° Ught the ? irl t0 haTe one more legs for the principle to apply? gat ordinary man might permit his bride tomT ° ne woodea le S' But mosi S\ 10r motlves of eccnomv. would oba P ine Further lean: if you have> in fact gueh ft SSW eas ""y get over your diffiS ; * don 't see that at all. Once Sfe f ™l d * n le ?- y° u are a^a^ I S l? St - No that s Arc t t^ en ," the g-1 a le-C-nf v ~?l , should I say * clean M a £n^ and , teUs h « finance that she *«*, °in r 36 ' as a matter of nerW are made of <»*■ *heir Utte es P laui s the Irishism of

Around the wall of every room runs an arrangement of wires, and at a given signal any article of refreshment will come running along the wall and stop before the person who has called for it.

After dinner somebody remarks that the room is getting warm. In a minute the air begins to stir under the table and the temperature falls a few degrees. The explanation of this is that when the mercury rises to a certain point it closes the circuit of an electric ventilator in the basement, which then begins to operate' and lets in a current of air cooled by perfumed water.

The kitchen is a place of wonders. Upon .the walls are levers, commutators, amperometers. disjunctors, and rheostats upon big slabs of marble. The range and ovens are made of aluminium of novel shape.

The electric oven cooks all the joints and birds with scientific accuracy. The interior is composed of a series of reflectors and its top contains incandescent lights, by whose rays the roasting is accomplished. The roasting process begins at the centre, the outside of the meat being done last. The operation is accomplished with perfect regularity and evenness. A chicken is automatically roasted according to its weight. The process requires from twenty to thirty minutes. The electric current passes through an ' ingenious timepiece regulated in advance and the fire goes out as soon as the chicken is roasted. A bell announces when the cooking is completed. Eggs are boiled without water by rays of light. All kinds of sauce are prepared electrically in three minutes and an electrical signal announces when each one of them is ready. The meat chopper, the coffee maker, the pastry maker, the churn, the knife sharpener'—-all these are special machines operated by electricity. To put them in operation you have only to press a lever and the process goes on without noise or bustle. A machine washes fifty dishes at once in thirty seconds, and turns them out properly* wiped, dry, and shining. On a long table in the kitchen stands the dumb waiter that carries the dishes to the dining room above it. A pressure on a button in the dining-room sends the waiter down to the kitchen. Pressure on another button brings the desired dish into position, and it rises up through the ceiling to the dining-room. In the bedrooms and the other parts of the house the work is done as exclusively by electricity as in the kitchen and dining-roomand dining-room. In the

THE WONDERS OF AN ELECTRICAL MANSION.

morning a phonographic voice cries "Wake up!" at the hour you have fixed the night before. Then you press a button, and the curtains fly apart and shutters open. Breakfast, papers, and letters arrive in the same mysterious .way. In response to another button a door opens and a bathtub slides into the room. Shoes are cleaned, clothes brushed, floors swept and beds made up by elecI tricity.

It is well-known that the electric current in a certain form generates ozone. This peculiarity is called upon to furnish the electric villa with a constant supply of this most stimulating and invigorating gas.

The therapeutic qualities of the electric current are employed in many other ways throughout the house to increase the health and comfort of the occupants. There are appliances for administering the high frequency current and others for giving mechanical massage by an electrically operated machine. If you are feeling stiff and sore from fatigue, you place yourself in the arms of the mechanical masseur, and in a few minutes your troubles will pass away." If you have a headache j r ou direct a high frequency current to your scalp, and the pain will rarely fail to yield to this remedy. There is an appliance for stimulating and healing nearly every or<»an of the body.

If a man is disinclined to sleep, a magic touch will raise the head of his bed to a suitable reading position, and a reading shelf will come round in front of him. Close at hand is a library of good books.

Electric footwarmers are arranged under the table, and anj'body can put them in operation by pressing a lever with his foot. Cold feet are a serious cause of ill-health in many persons, and by this apparatus they can be cured without appreciably raising the temperature of the room. A similar arrangement for warming the feet is placed in all the beds.

The presence of these therapeutic appliances and of electric ozonators ia the

bedroom enables a man to wake up feeling as fresh and healthy as if he had spent the night upon a wind-swept prairie. Xo matter what his cares and occupations may have been the previous evening, he gets up feeling fresh and free from all lassitude and headache. But if he feels the least disinclination to rise he can press a button, and the operation will be performed for him mechanically, or he may arrange the apparatus for a given hour the night before.

The owner of the magic villa not only hears everything that is said in his house and in the immediate vicinity, but he sees everything also. Upon a disc in his study he can always call up a picture of anything that is happening in the house or grounds.

back of the house. There they can ba seen by M. Knapp sittinfg in his laboratory, and if they are acceptable they are carried down mechanically to the pantry. Many ingenious features of the house minister to the artistic tastes of the owner and his friends. The conservatorsis a place of wonders. Here there is an aquarium containing electric fish, which shed natural electric rays from their skins, in order to be in harmony with the rest of the house. The flowers and plants are cultivated by electric current to an extraordinary degree of luxuriance.

When M. Knap wishes to go riding he presses a button, and an electric automobile rolls automatically out of its garage and comes to the door.

In winter the house is warmed by hot water pipes passing through the walls and heated by electricity. The reason we feel cold in a house in winter is on account of the radiation of cold rays from the walls. Rarely is the atmosphere in the open so cola as to be painful to a healthy person. When you have the walls and ceiling of your house kept warm you can live in comfort with a very moderate amount of heat, which is desirable for the health.

Provisions are not taken into the house by hand. They are placed by the tradesmen in a receptacle in the wall at the