RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS LOCAL AND GENERAL (By Cosmos.) The aftermath: The period during which a successful political candidate tries to live up to his election promises. When the public doesn’t know what it wants, it votes for something different from what it lias. » » * It is reported that in some schools boys are being trained to do housework. It is recognised nowadays that early preparation is necessary for successful marriage. *. * * So long as locomotives keep hitting more motor-cars than cows, would it not be a forward step iu the modernising of our railways to abandon cowcatchers and substitute motor-car devices?

Dr. Spooner, the well-known author of “Spoonerisms,” and Mrs. Spooner recently celebrated their golden wedding at Oxford, where they are living in retirement. Dr. Spooner, who is 84, and was for 20 years warden of New College, has from time to time denied the authorship of many of the slips of speech attributed to him. Dr. Spooner is supposed once to have said: “Yes, indeed, the Lord is the shoving leopard.” Dr. Spooner, so the legend goes, once had a maiden aunt who attained a venerable age; not so venerable, however, that she deserved this greeting: “I am delighted to see you looking as hairless and cappy as ever.”

To locate the hidden treasures of the world has been the ambition of many an adventurous spirit during the last few hundred years, and to-day the quest for jewels and bullion still spurs men on to explore the depths of the sea and the fastnesses of the jungle. According to a cable published this morning, a determined attempt is to be made to locate the buried treasure of Bolivia. History points to numerous instances where great riches were buried in various parts of South America in the romantic days of the buccaneers, and it is more than possible that many rich finds will be unearthed from time to time in many parts of Latin America. Treasure trove has been found in Panama. It is believed that treasure may be expected in at least five places surrounding Panama City, and two Englishmen and one American have a four-year license to seek treasure in the republic.

Haiti is also considered a likely spot for the unearthing of ancient valuables. The small island of Tortuga was at one time seized by the Spaniards, who were later evicted by others who had designs on the island. The swift change of possession continued for years, and each new shift would seem to have provided excellent reason for burying treasure hastily. The treasure-seeker may also pursue his quest in Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, while St. Kitts which was colonised by sea rovers, may someday leap into the limelight as the keeper of great treasure. The whole West Indian archipelago is regarded as a potential treasure ground. Ancient bits of gold chain, and pieces of jewellery have frequently been scattered round these islands, and almost every reef in these seas has its story of buried treasure.

America is about to celebrate ths twenty-fifth anniversary of the first aeroplane flight, basing the date on the assumption that the flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, was the beginning of man’s conquest of the air. Although it is generally admitted that the Wright brothers were the pioneers of the modern aeroplane, they were not the first to fly. In 1782, Stephen Montgolfier, a Frenchman, conceived the idea that if hot gases were allowed to ascend into a bag of some light material, it would, when filled, rise into the air. He tried the eiperiment in November of that year. He distended the opening of a small silk balloon, and by placing a lighted paper beneath it, ratified the air inside The balloon ascended to the roof oi his house. The following year he sailed a balloon one and a half miles ii the presence of a great public demoistra tion. On that occasion his ballooi rose to a height of 6000 feet before-tie aii cooled and forced it down, ten minute: after the start.

A few months later, J. A. C. Claries a physicist, designed" a balloon whic! used hydrogen as gas. This rise t over double the height of the first ba! loon, and travelled a distance cf 12 miles after having been in the ai three-quarters of an hour. Upon it coming to earth, the villagers, wh viewed it as some strange monster, al tacked it with flails and pitchforks. I: 1873 a balloon ascended with a cock, i dog, and a sheep as passengers. The: came the first human beings to fly Another hydrogen balloon was built but, Louis XVI of France, regardin; the project, as exceedingly perilous, or dered that two condemned criminals should essay the task. Two members of the nobility, however, persuaded the King that the honour of making the first flight should not be won by criminals, so they ascended on November 21, 1873, and covered 44 miles in 17 minutes. Even in pre-Victorlan days it appears that women took an interest in matters of the air, for ow June 4, 1784, Madame Tible, an opera singer, became the first woman to ascend in a balloon. • » ♦ It is also interesting to record that on March 28, 1843, William Samuel Henson filed with the British Patent Office specifications of a monoplane. It contained most of the essential features of a modern aeroplane, and its motive power was to be a 25-30 h.p. steam engine. Only a model ’plane was built which flew, in 1848, a distance of about 40 yards. Nearly 50 years later, in 1896. Clement Alder, a Frenchman, constructed an aeroplane which also depended on a steam engine for its power, but it was wrecked in a trial flight, when it may have flown some 300 yards. But whether Aden’s “Avion” flew or not has always been a moot point America, which had previously been in the background, ther came forward with a steam-driver model. Professor Langley, of thi Smithsonian Institute, installed a cata pult apparatus on the roof of a Poto mac houseboat, and in 1896 his mode flew a spiral course of one and a hal miles with perfect stability. Fit months later, he built a full-sized aer< plane, but this twice fouled the launcl ing gear and went into the river. Th) was seven years before the Wrlgl brothers came into promjii*c.9h