RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 288, 31 August 1929, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHT'S ON CURRENT EVENTS

LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By

Cosmos.)

“Income Tax Appeals," reads a. headline in a contemporary. To whom?

From a schoolboy’s examination paper: “Liberty of conscience means doing wrong and not worrying about it afterwards.” » • » Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly, a well-known editor of dictionaries, says there is really no harm in a split infinitive. That is probably so, but we doubt whether he would be willing to wholeheartedly and without reservations, except under the most unusual circumstances, and then only occasionally, approve of one like this. Lady Heath, who lies in hospital in a serious condition as a result of an aeroplane accident, is the third wife of Sir James Heath, a prominent British ironmaster. She was well known in aviation circles as Mrs. Elliott-Lynn before her last marriage, and was one of the first women to take up the practical side of aviation. After the war, when commercial flying was coming into its own, it was her ambition to join up as a regular pilot in one of the big airway companies. However, after considerable controversy on the subject, it was decided that the duties were too onerous, and all women were excluded. She then continued to enter for innumerable competitions, and became popular as an intrepid and reliable woman pilot. Since her marriage in'l927, she has continued to fly, and has broken many records. On October 24,1928, she ascended alone from Croydon under official observation to a height of 23.000 feet, three thousand feet higher than the previous record for a light aeroplane. At 22,000 feet, frost formed on her goggles, and a thousand feet higher the intense cold threatened to stop her engines, and forced her to descend.

In May of the same year she had already made herself known throughout the world as a brilliant airwoman in her flight to Croydon from Cape Town, in which she established numerous records. Amongst these she was the first woman to fly through Africa; hers was the'first light ’plane to make the journey from Cape Town to Cairo, and she was also the first woman to fly from the Cape to England. By taking charge of a big 15seater Fokker Jupiter air-liner at the end of 1928 on one of its scheduled, flights to Croydon, Lady Heath became the first woman in the world to act as a regular airway pilot. In fact, she accepted engagement with a Dutch company for a short while afterwards. When asked what it was like to fly such a big liner after being used to tiny Moths,, she remarked: “I find a big liner actually easier to fly than a light aeroplane. These big machines have such an inherent stability when in the air they almost fly themselves. I am now more confident than ever that there is a big future in civil aviation for women pilots.”

Archaeologists have unearthed a marble slab on which is inscribed the will of Ptolemy VIIL The most surprising thing about those old wills was the casual manner in which whole kingdoms were bequeathed right and left, with the liberality of a millionaire providing real estate for his sorrowing family. In this case these tablets show that Ptolemy bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, in the event of his death. without an heir. It seemed to be a habit about that time to do this sort of thing. During the Ptolemy period (there were some fourteen or fifteen of them in all), Euergetes II left Cyrenaica, a huge kingdom, to an illegitimate son, whilst Egypt and Cyprus were unconcernedly bequeathed to Cleopatra, and whichever of .their two sons she might choose as her associate.

Besides putting poor Cleopatra in a rather awkward position, this will very naturally led to a long series of scheming, sudden poisonings, and pitched battles. But the habit seems to have been ineradicable. Even Saladin, on his death, left in his will the whole of Egypt to one of his sons, Damascus to another, and Northern Syria to another. In 844 B.C. a CaUph left Egypt, always being willed here, there, and everywhere, to the Turks. In more recent times monarchs have had to be less lavish with kingdoms in their wills. Peter the Great left a will deposited in the archives of Peterhoff, in which he merely contented himself with willing advice rather than kingdoms. He was anxious for his wife, Catherine, to become his heir, to the consternation of all the. Russians, who didn’t believe in women rulers at that time.

In his will he advocated an approach e as near as possible to Constantinople ■ and India, wars with Turkey and Persia, possession of the shores of the Black Sea and the Baltic, and a few other little details. Napoleon contented himself with giving a few odd kingdoms here and there to his relatives whilst he was still alive. His will, which was purely private, merely handed over a few million francs, hoarded in various parts of Europe, to his faithful followers, friends, and successors. In England, although the making of wills is a very old custom, land and property could not be bequeathed until the time of Henry I. The first will of an English Sovereign on record is often stated to be that of Richard 11, but it is known that Edward the Confessor was also prudent enough to make a will.

Yesterday’s note regarding the Mediterranean fruit-fly has brought forth the assurance from the United States Consul-General for New Zealand that the pest’s activities have been restricted to Florida, an area which does not export fruit to the Dominion. In California. from whence large shipments of oranges, lemons and grapefruit find their way to New Zealand, the fruitfly is non-existent. Just how it found its ways to Florida is a problem that is receiving the careful consideration of experts. At first it was thought that the storms which visited the Florida coast earlier in the year might have blown the pest from the Bahamas or Bermuda, but it has since been ascertained that the countries affected by the storm have not been affected by the fruit-fly.

No more man can understand why a woman will give fifteen shillings for a pair of stockings that give the impression that she isn’t wearing stockings.