NEWS, VIEWS and OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 299, 16 December 1911, Page 13

NEWS, VIEWS and OPINIONS.

Two ingenious Italian journalists at the seat rf "war" in Tripoli succeedTin evading the press censorship which enVtablished .there. They first Toll adopted a code, and when they Med for instance, that 5000 oranges t, been sent from Syracuse, this meant ♦hit 5000 Turks had started for Tripoli. "T now it seems thai any press teleSms dealing with oranges are suppressS which is perhaps o little hard on the ,ranee trade. Foiled in this regard, the annalists then sent their telegrams to [luusso, on the frontier, whence they «re telephoned to Milan. These niess- " -were so framed that they Beemed to 2nc from England, Tripoli and other towns being described as Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge. "Aeroplanes" dented squadron and "motor cars" Signified an army, while other words dealing with petrol and motors signified bombardment and fighting. The Government seems to have been deceived by this code for some time, until it came to the Conxion that if England bought so much wtrol and so many motor cars it would «o o n be ruined, and e.o the use of English words in telegraphic messages was forbidden. Then the journalists sent their messages from Chiasso to Milan by motor. The Government can hardly stop ererv motor car on the road, and it has leen obliged to submit to the despatch of messages in this way.

The news of several additions being jnde to the Sacred College will be welcomed at Burtscheid, a small town near Aix-la-Chapelle, says an English paper, He brilliant crimson cloth of widen cardinals' robes are made has been supplied for generations past by a Burtscheid firm jf mill-owners, the secret process by irluch the dye is distilled being jealously marded, and handed down from father to soli Curiously enough, the family is of Huguenot extraction, and the present tad of the firm is a staunch Protestant.

loSs of a leg is essential to a job with ,»Chicago firm. All but two of its 102 employees in the factory and in the jmuicb. offices wear one or two artificial w The institution manufactures artificial lower limbs, and the employees letre their work to show the newly-fitted patients how well they can walk, run, ud jump with the artificial article. Makers doubt if there ever was such a thing as a "cork leg"—in which cork entered in any considerable extent into the miking of the limb. Some of thetm claim ti»t the name was derived from one Cork, who made artificial legs early in tie last century in New York. In the present day they are manufactured from English willow, covered with a thin parchment or enamel, or of wood and Its tier.

Tie Liszt centenary recalls the story of the musician's indignation because Queen Victoria,'at a Berlin court concert, caused findews to be opened and then shut tgaia while he was playing. "This proteed a bustle and a going to and fro Spible of ruining the effect of the finest performance in the world-. When the ijfaduction was finished, the master, inttad of playing the piece itself, got up, Hide a bow, and went out in the park fofmoke a cigar. When, half an hour ifinwards, he came back to' the hall, Bug Frederick. William got up from his pace and said to him: Tcou ran away jnitnow; what wa3 the matter V 'I ma afraid,' replied Liszt, 'of disturbing fa Majesty Queen Victoria while she ns giving her orders.'" And he could not be persuaded to resume his seat at the piano until her Majesty had left the 111

He ancient records of China reveal file fact that our aerial post was foreliilled some thousands of years ago, tptly enough by a Celestial. It is true that the first postal airman was an •qnatic fowl, and to this day the post ia China is referred to as "the convenience of the wild goose," and pictures of that bird still appear on certain stamps. He legend tells us that a Tartar chief TO offensive to the Chinese Emperor, rto sent a Bpecial envoy to warn him. Bat the chief took the Emperor's servant prisoner and made him shepherd to hi 3 Socks. In this condition of social degradation the unfortunate envoy languished lor some years, until one day he captared a wild goose, and his mind was jftuninated by the bright idea of using it io carry news of his whereabouts to m friends. With a letter secured to its %. the Samaritan goose flew southward mtil, virtue meeting its customary regard, it was killed in the grounds of the jalace by no less a personage than the imperor himself. The letter was read, •ad a punitive expedition rescued the aptive and punished the rebel chief

Jhe agitation which the newly»rmed "League of House-Tenants" in «ns has been carrying o n against land°rdj who' refuse to let rooms to large amine. found expression in an extramunary demonstration on the grand Wevards recently. A man named Un«ua and his wife, with their nine children, were evicted the other day from m lodgings near the Central Markets, m having everywhere been refused as tents owing to their large family, <f*J have been living on a staircase for dap. The "Tenants' League" reeved to take this family in person to ™ Prime Minister and demand a lod"tfli thfim - Accor <li"gly at te°n "TO one morning a procession of •tout 400 peoplet set out from the Place « l(>pera. At its head marched the •wen little TJnlaud boys and their little .Ww, followed by the father, carrying m youngest child in his arras. Then ™oie a hand-car, on which were stacked «e ramshackle effects of the family, "Mi numerous notices affixed to the fur■pu The organisers of Ihe proces- «»» kept the demonstrators from shgut ?j , 8in B in g> an d reached in perfect m the Hue du Faubourg St. Honore "ailing to the Prime Minister's resl- *"« at the Ministry of the Interior. ««■ a police cordon barred the way, m there was a violent scuffle, the auM»nt,e 9 refusing to allow even a delation to pass. The procession turn's bact, intending to escort the TJnW family and its effects to the house OT a charitable Parisian, who is already «commodating two large families unT 6 to find lodgings. The demonfetors retraced their steps along tho "onlevards, where by this time large wowds had begun to assemble, but at we co rner „f the Rue Grammont the Wire broke up the procession, and •ome of the manifestants were rather [ougnly handled. Finally, the Unlaud Jfnuly, with the - baby "and furniture, *«e all taken to. the police station, were, they were released after an hour *M a-halfs detention, and allowed to Proceed, to their lodgings with, their Stable host*. 6^

Somebody ha* discovered that, thank* j to the influence of magnetic stoma, the-i •world 1b slowing down in its daily rotation, and that, unless a change sets in, it will soon stop altogether. There win then be a perpetual day of withering heat on one side, and a perpetual night of freezing cold on the other, with only a narrow temperate strip between for human habitation. Where exactly that belt will be situated is, of course, not known yet, and it Is perhaps just as well. It would run a grave risk of being cornered by the speculative builder even now—though the earth's stoppage, according to earliest calculations, is not due for 3320 years yet. And much may happen to most of us before 5231!

The Reichstag has read a first time and sent to a special committee the new bill providing for the compulsory insurance of employees. The purpose of the bill is to extendi—without State aid —the advantages of compulsory insurance against invalidity and old age to practically all categories of employed persons who are not subject to the provisions of the "workmen's" insurance scheme and whose incomes do not exceed £250 a year. It is calculated that the new law will affect just over 2,000,000 of employees. The contributions of employers and employees will be equal, and, according to the Government bill, are graduated up to a maximum joint contribution of 8 per cent of the insured income.

Here's a chance for one of the generous British M.P.'s anxious to dispose of the superfluous honorariums now attached to his position. The following appeared in the "Times": —"To an M.P. who is 'thinking' or 'talking* of giving his £4OO a year to charity. 'A man in a hole' would be glad of it and would repay to any charity stated £450 by April 1, 1912.—'Opportunist.'" In case the M.P. should not be 'thinking' when he replies to this advertisement, let us remind him that the Ist of April is known as "All Fools' Day." But some advertisements must not be taken too seriously, or at all events that's'our outlook. Why, the other day over the shop of a tailor appeared the following notice: "Come in here and have a fit." It is reported, however, that his last customer had convulsions instead.

An interesting fact has come to light in connection with Mr. Smith, a groom, who has lately taken up his residence at Peterborough, viz., that his family have heen drawing a pension from the British Government for the space of 236 years. Mr. Smith, who draws 30/ per week, explained in an interview the history of the pension. After the battle of Worcester an ancestor of Smith's assisted Prince Charles to escape, and was one of those who helped to hide him in the famous oak tree. Years passed, and it was not until 1675 that King Charles 11. was informed of the incident. Parliament, on the advice of the King, placed Mr. Smith's ancestor on the perpetual pension list at the rate of 30/ a week, with the result that the family have received (in round figures) something like £20,000 since the pension was granted. Mr. Smith's father, it appears, commuted the pension to another person whilst he lived; hut on his death it reverted again to his eldest son, and in turn it will descend to the present- pensioner's eldest child, and-so on. It is stated this perpetual pension is the only one of its kind in existence. .■

One commonly supposes It to be' quite a modern idea, for men and •women of letters to lend their names for the advertising purposes of soapboilers, chemists, and beauty-doctors; but an interesting anticipation of the practice has just been found. In an old newspaper of the year 1859, a searcher has discovered an advertisement of a "George Sand scent and toilet water/' with the signed puff: "A very delicate preparation; most suitable for persons who, like myself, dislike too concentrated perfumes. —George Sand." Among the notable women who made themselves decoys for advertising purposes was Lady Hamilton. In early life —while she was still known as Emma Lyon—she entered the service of a notorious quack, called Dr. Graham, and used to personify Hygeia at his Temple of Health in the Adebnhi. "This worthy," writes Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his "Life of George Romney," "rendered his lectures on the art of living piquant and attractive by exhibiting to his audience the perfect figure of this beautiful girl. Also he employed her to illustrate the virtues of what he proclaimed as the 'earth cure,' under which patients had to strip and submit to be buried up to the neck in earth. Emma used to be so buried, and the public admitted at a shilling a head to view her rosy countenance on. the surface of the ground. Those who chose to pay five shillings were entitled to remain and see her dug out I"

America's Atlantic fleet, anchored in the Hudson River, was reviewed at the be<nnning of last month by the secretary of "the navy. It is estimated that nearly a million people have visited the fleet during 'the few days it lay off New York, and the banks of the Hudson at night, when the vessels were illuminated, were crowded. It is estimated that the fleet lacks 5,000 men of its complement, but in other respects it seems admirably fitted for either "fight or frolic." American patriotism, writes the "Daily Telegraph," has been greatly stimulated by the" presence of the long line of grim fighting craft, the chief objects of interest being the two latest Dreadnoughts, the Connecticut and Utah, and after them the flotilla of submarines. At the patriotic banquets, when the officers have been entertained by ashore, it has been invariably claimed that, while America's naval power may be ranked formally as third, it is, as regards individual efficiency, the equal of any. The only rift in the lute is the report that the battle+bips have been recklessly looted by souvenir hunters. Pieces of silverware from the battleship Utah's dinner service and trinkets of all descriptions were curried a way. Souvenir hunting has reached a positive craze in the United States, and in some fashionable restaurants the proprietors, to safeguard their spoons, usually provide some little trinket with an inscription, which their fair guests are invited to take home. Bluejackets and marines were stationed throughout the ships to prevent petty thefts, but, according to reports, the visitors wandered from stoke-rooms to fifrhting-tops, taking possession of many things which did not belong to them. Officers' staterooms were entered, and various little treasured articles were appropriated. Photographs, buttons, and epaulettes were among the souvenirs that disappeared. One bluejacket on board the Utah protested that the "darned New Yorkers grabbed everything loose, and even set covetous eyes upon the gunmountings." It is the unanimous complaint that "women, as usual, were the worst offenders."