RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 121, 15 February 1935, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) The question of the Paremata Bridge having been settled, the next problem is to cut off the “B.” Brisbane is faced with a meat shortage. How to meet the meatless is tlie problem. * * * It is said that the art of plastic moulding began with decorative buttons. Our impression was-that it began with the moulding of husbands.

Our ancestors had a remarkable knack for laying curious wagers, but the individuals who wagered that the one who would eat a penny bun before the other walked a thousand feet almost takes the cake. Our capacity for queer wagers seems to have slumped since then. One can only quote the Texas man who wagered that, he would push a peanut along tlie eleven miles of road that separated Rio Hindo and Harlingen. This seems trivial compared with the wager of Richard Usher who, in 1818, laid a wager that he would sail from Blackfriars Bridge to Westminster in a washtub drawn by four geese. Starting with the tide he completed the distance within the hour.. Wagers to-day seem to be on a more commercial basis. Edouard Rigal, for example, recently wagered that lie would play roulette for three hours, starting with a capital of 1000 francs, and not lose on a stake of 10 francs a time. Actually he won 590 francs. Perhaps one of the most astounding wagers of old times was made by a peer, who bet a large sum that he would walk from end to end of Piccadilly completely naked. His offer was taken, and he engaged an old cab. For the sum of £5 he persuaded the owner to remove the floor. Covered by the cab he walked up Piccadilly naked while the cab kept pace with him. One remarkable bet that may still be seen in black and white is in the wager book of a well-known London club. Two members wagered £lOOO to a toothpick that the next man tosmount the stairs would not fall down and break his leg. The strange part about this bet- is that the book record? that the next man to mount the stairs tripped over the top step, fell down, and was picked up with a broken leg. It is also recorded that a once well-known actor laid a wager that he would stop all traffic in Oxford Street, London, in five seconds. The bet was accepted on the spur of tlie moment. Without hesitation the actor flung himself bodily into the middle of the road where he pretended to have a fit. He won his bet.

In a recent item of news it was stated that a woman had been discovered who emits strange rays of light when she is asleep. Experts, it is said, are investigating matters. Whether investigation confirms or disproves this yarn one should not be too sceptical about these things. Just because experts are puzzled it is no proof that a phenomenon is a fraud. There are all sorts • of curious people in this world. They have baffled experts all their lives, but that does not explain matters For example there is a girl in London now 26 years old who possesses the power td see through people and animals. She discovered her curious powers when she was -bathing a baby. She was horrified to see the child’s bones through its flesh. When she looked at the cat she saw its skull and spine quite clearly through its coat. She consulted eyesight experts, but they have offered no suggestion either how to cure her trouble or how it arose. A curious feature of this strange power is that it does not enable the girl, Miss Hilda Attlee by name, to see through inanimate objects.

There are all manner of freaks in this world from the tiniest man, some eighteen inches or so, to the tallest, nearly ten feet. Possibly the most curious freak of all is the man who can inhale smoke through his eyes. Indeed he will let you bandage his mouth and nose, and yet be able to puff out a candle with his eyes. Perhaps the most albino of human albinos is found in a girl called Rama, a shy, timid creature with a shock of snowwhite hair and eyes of the purest pink. Her eyes are so sensitive that she cannot see to read by artificial light. Switch off the light, however, and hand her a book in pitch darkness, and she can read every word. Rama is inarriec to another albino, and it is said, that her baby is the most perfect specimen of the albino in the world. While on the subject of eyes it is a fact that there is a man alive at this moment with cat's eyes. Instead of having normal pupils, he has pupils with vertical slits) like those of a cat. He was a coalminer by profession,, and found that ho could sc© perfectly in the dark, when those around him could not see anything at all. * / • Most of us imagine that when a Scotland Yard detective is shadowing a man it is his duty to go wherever the man goes. This, however, is not the case. If the man booked a ticket for Brighton or Liverpool and jumped ou the train the Scotland Yard detective does not jump on the train after him. If he dared do such a thing he would spend the rest of his life explaining in triplicate his actions. A Scotland Yard detective is not permitted to go outside the Metropolitan area without permission in writing from headquarters. Moreover, the detective must not be so bold as to, telephone personally to the reputed destination of the criminal. Red tape would have f something to say. The telephoning m done from headquarters in case the detective was spending ratepayers’ money < unnecessarily. In a way this is a relief for the detectives concerned, because they are far too occupied with accounting for every penny spent on buses, telephones, giving drinks to informants. all of which have to be approved at headquarters, for them to have much time to attend to their other duties. i * # ♦ • As things stand at present a subject injured by the Crown, which to all intents and purposes menus the Government, can sue the individual concerned. The official in his turn cannot shield himself behind his official authority. This sounds all z very well. It means in practice that the official can only be sued as a private person. The fact that he broke the law has caused the official to cease being a representative of the Crown. Although an omnibus company can be sued for the negligence of its drivers, a Government cannot be sued for the negligence of a driver of, say, a postal van. It the Government driver has not the means to pay the'damages ordered they cannot be recovered from the Crown. The simple but stony truth is that the public revenues are not liable for the defaults of a Crown official. One cannot help feeling that the public ought to be responsible for its servants, but the matter goes deep down into the often laws pLSIhS?. II ! I,