BENEATH THE NEEDLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

BENEATH THE NEEDLE.

STRANGE ASSORTMENT OF ARTICLES.

Last week, upon our front page, we featured. London's strangest and oldest monument —the needle of Cleopatra. In tlie paragraphs below we disclose some of the interesting and strange articles that wens placed in the foundations of the obelisk. Beneath the pedestal upon which the huge monument is mounted are two large hermetically sealed, jars containing a standard foot and. pound, a bronze model of the obelisk, on the scale of half an inch to the foot; a memorial printed on vellum, giving a brief account of the removal of the needle; jars of Doulton ware; a piece of the obelisk stone chipped off while levelling the a complete set of the British coins then current, from a farthing' to a £5 piece; a parchment copy of Dr. Birch's translation of the> hieroglyphics which are engraven upon the stone; a standard gauge of onethousandth part of an inch; a portrait of Queen Victoria; Bibles in several languages; a Hebrew Pentateuch; the Arabic Genesis; a translation in 215 different languages of the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St. John's Gospel; Bradshaw's railway guide; a case of cigars; a shilling razor by a famous maker; a box of assorted pipes; a box of hairpins; sundry articles of feminine adornment; a feeding bottle and children's toys of the period; a gentleman's walking out and evening dress suits; a model of the hydraulic jack used in raising the monument; wire ropes and specimens of marine cables;' a map of London; current copies of daily and illustrated papers; photographs of a dozen pretty English women; a twofoot rule; a London Directory and a copy of Wliitaker's Almanack for that year. What a strange and varied assortment of articles. One wonders whether, after another 3000 years have passed they will again come to the light of day to serve as a valuable record in those enlightened times of life upon this planet in the year 1878.