RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 217, 11 June 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) That cabinet-making in England seems to have used a little chip off the general post. « » * A new party in Ireland has decided to wear green shirts. Colour, we understand, is not even skin deep. « * » According to one speaker we should encourage the study of veterinary subjects. Well, yes, a little horse sense is always to be encouraged. Sic £ * “Many present-day travellers, knowing the road, will smile at the unconscious humour contained in an article in ‘The Dominion,’ 7-6-35, p. 8,” says “Scipio.” “The account describesa party journeying from Feikling to Foxton in the early SO's. The road was so bad half way from Sandon they had to get out and walk! After a quartercentury in the same district one is inclined irreverently to murmur ‘as it was in the beginning . . . ‘The advent of the aeroplane lias, however, since made this ‘main highway’ more comfortable.”

The curious general post of duels that has broken out in Hungary among high-placed politicians seems to indicate that the duel is not as dead as is sometimes imagined. In most countries the duel is frowned upon by the authorities, but only in England do the police take an active part. A year or two ago, when two ex-undergraduates decided to fight a duel at Cambridge, the police arrived first and politely but firmly confiscated the pistols, handing the astounded duellists receipt notes for the same. The police, however, were not present when two miners fought with picks for the hand of a village lass. The duel took place 800 feet underground, and ended in the death of one of the contestants. In contrast to this two farmers in Australia fought a duel with rifles. The site consisted of 100,000 acres of sheepgrazing land. The duel turned into a stalking match. One man was seriously injured. The doctor was called and the man who did the damage was arrested. It is not men only who fight duels. Two women fought a pistol duel in Poland a few years ago for the husband of one of them. The wife was shot dead and the rival was arrested. « M ’ » It must not be thought that the present is the only time that curious methods have been evolved for settling matters of honour by me.art; of the duel. Perhaps the strangest 'duel that ever occurred was staged in mid-air in France on June' 22, ISOS. For the hand of a lady, two gentlemen named M. le Pique and M. de Grandpre agreed to fight in mid-air. On the day of the duel, each with his second entered separate balloons in the gardens of the Tuileries. Each combatant was armed with a blunderbuss. It was their intention to blow a hole in the opponent’s balloon. When the balloons were half a mile up, the signal to fire was given by the seconds, who seem to have been unusually exemplary in their duties. Le Pique got off the first shot, but missed his rival’s balloon. The rival, with time to spare, took more careful aim and blew a large hole in the other balloon. The hit balloon descended with great speed, and Pique and bls second were dashed to pieces, Grandpre eventually persuaded his balloon to come to earth some 20 miles away. This surely must have been the first aerial duel carried out by man.

When an elephant In Minnesota broke away and trampled a little girl to death the keeper said that it was suffering from a tummy ache and was frightened by a dog. One can well understand an elephant suffering from a tummy ache, because it eats 2001 b. of hay, corn and roots a day. It seems more strange that an animal weighing three or four tons should be frightened by a dog weighing perhaps 501 b. For some reason elephants seem frightened by quite small things out of all proportion to their size. It is a fact well known among keepers that some elephants are terrified of mice. I arious reasons have been given for a mouse throwing an elephant into a panic. The most probable is that it has nothing to do with size. There is something in the smell of a mouse which sets an elephant's nerves on edge. Elephants are admittedly very short-sighted, and it may be that they do not see small animals properly. After all, many human beings have a horror of pink mice. These animals, we understand, are very difficult to focus properly at the best of times. 4m* Despite the failings of elephants toward the smaller things of the animal world, there is no question that an elephant is a great worker. On the farm there would be nothing better. Three tons is the average load that an elephant will carry. This would simplify manuring problems. The farmer would only have to load up three tons of “super” and off lie would go for the day casting the good stuff right and left. For sowing grass seed in difficult spots, for straining fencing wire for carrying and inserting posts, what could beat an elephant. There are other handy jobs that an elephant could da on the farm. For example,»a farmer in England who had the misfortune to get the lorry stuck in a ditch selected a spot where a circus was going to pass. One of the elephants was encouraged to press its broad forehead against the lorry, which came out with the greatest of ea\e. Another elephant was stopped at a toll gate while argument continued as to what toll an elephant should pay, there being no mention of such animals on the list. While the toll-keeper and the owner of the elephant were arguing how many horses made an elephant, the elephant lifted the toll gate off its hinges, deposited it in a ploughed field, and walked on.

"Here is a small sea serpent I picked up on the beach at Waikanae,” says a render. "I thought you might be interested in it. and perhaps you can tell me some particulars about it.” ft‘ e “sea serpent” was handed over to the Museum authorities. They declare that it is not even a small sea serpent, and it will never have the pleasure of growing into a real large one because it is a pipe fish, or spiny seahorse, and fully grown nt 15 inches; the size of the one found. They are fairly common in New Zealand waters. « Kt * All the means of action —. The shapeless masses, the materials — Lie everywhere about ns. Mhat we need Is the celestial fire to change the Hint Into transparent crystal, bright and clear, That lire is genius.

—H. }V. Longfellow.