A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 47, 19 November 1936, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Colonel Cody Living in Palmerston North is Mr. Frederick Carpenter, who saw Colonel Cody make his Hight o£ about 100yds. in a heavier than air machine near Farnborough. Born near Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A., about 1801, Colouel S. F. Cody, an American until his naturalisation in 1909, was of Irish- American stock. For his experiments with manlifting kites he was awarded £5OOO by the British Government. His interest in the heavier-than-air machine was but a continuation of his interest in the first British airship “Nulli Secundus.” His military title was an assumed one, originating from the fact that he had succeeded the original Colonel Cody, of ‘‘Buffalo Bill” cowboy fame, although in no way related to him. Lack of financial support made the path of progress a stony one for Cody, but the money he secured from his cowboy troupe and the production of one or two melodramas financed the kite experiments, with the result that when he secured the prize of £5OOO he was able to go forward with the production of his first aeroplane. This became known as the British Army aeroplane. A few hops were accomplished with thi/ machine in 1908, but it was not until February 22, 1909, that he startled the British people by accomplishing a flight of more than 400 yards. The seat for the machine was made from the seat of an old plough. A year later he set up a world’s record with a flight of more than 40 miles. He won all the Michelin prizes except one, and in 19.12 he won the British Government’s prize of £5OOO for the winning machine in the military trials. He was killed in August, 1913, while flying one of his own machines. Refusal to Meet the King. Two Labour members of the House of Commons, Messrs. A. Bevan and W. IT. Mainwaring, have announced their refusal to meet the King during his visit, to the distressed areas in South Wales. Mr. Aneurin Bevan bus been Labour member for Ebbw Vale Division of Monmouthshire since 1929. He was born in Monmouthshire in November, 1597, the son of a coal miner. Leaving school at the age of 13 years, ho followed his father’s occupation. Later he studied at a Labour College. He has been prominent in the councils of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, and is a member of the Monmouthshire County Council. He retained his seat at the last general election by beating the Conservative candidate, Miss F. E. Scarborough, by 25,007 votes to 7145. Mr. W. 11. Mainwaring retained his seat at Rhondda (Wales) against the Communist candidate, Mr. H. Pollitt. by 22,088 votes to 13,655. Both the constituencies are coal-mining centres, and unemployment has been very severe in them. Woolworths. It is stated that as a result vf the bonus share issue, a man who, in 1909 invested five shillings in Woolworth ordinary shares and locked them in a safe, would to-day be -worth £64,187. Woolworths is one of the largest chainstore organisations in the world, its idea having been originated by F. W. Wool worth (1852-1919). He started a small store in Utica, New York State, in 1579, his plan being to sell a large assortment of useful articles at a very small price. The venture was not a success, but he started once more, this time in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Making this venture pay, he graduallyopened more stores of the same kind in neighbouring towns. The basic idea was to sell nothing in the store at a cost greater than five or 10 cents; to sell for cash only; to make no deliveries; and, finally, as he opened more shops, to buy things in large Quantities from, factories, getting the advantage of low prices and a large discount for cash payment. Woolworths now have about 2000 shops in the United States, and subsidiary companies in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere. Mr. Woolworth left an estate valued at £9,000,000. The Woolworth building (792 feet high), built by him in New York, to house all the oflices concerned with his great business, cost £3,000,000 to build, and when built was the highest building in the world. Runnymede. Mr. W. Gallacher (Communist) said in the House of Commons that there was once a march to Runnymede which the present Government would have declared illegal. Runnymede to-day comprises a meadow of about 100 acres on the south bank of the Thames (part of Crown lands) (between Windsor and Staines. From June 15 to 23, 1215, the hostile barons encamped on this meadow during negotiations with King John, who rowed over each day from Windsor. The 48 “Articles of the Barons” were accepted by the King on June 15, and were subsequently embodied in a charter, since known as Magna Carta, of which several copies were sealed on June 19. About half a mile north-east of the meadow is Magna Carta Island (claimed as the actual site of the sealing), presented to the nation in 1930 by Lady Fairhaven and her sons. The name Runnymede means the meadow of council or speech. The clauses of Magna Carta were drawn up by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. John did not. sign Magna Carta, as is popularly believed. He could not -write, and so affixed the Great Seal. No King of England could write before Richard 11. Directly the meeting broke up John repented that he had sealed the document. We learn that he was “constantly raging, biting and tearing his nails and muttering and gnashing his teeth, cursing his father and mother, and raving and saying that he had 25 kings [the number of barons who met him in conference and appointed to see that he kept his promises] over him.” Manzanares River. The Manzanares River, which figures So prominently in the siege of Madrid, rises in the Guadarrama Mountains about 40 miles from Madrid. Its bed is of sand, through which the water filters in summer, leaving it almost dry. Sometimes, however, rain descends in torrents on the Guadarrama Mountains, that, from a rivulet, tin Mauzuna res becomes a big stream. The Manzanares River, which is only 5C miles long, falls into the Jarama River, which is a tributary of the Tagus. Tlif Tagus, the largest river of the Spanist Peninsula, is 560 miles long. It flows into tins Atlantic Ocean, 10 miles las low Lisbon. “Cock and Bull Story.” Lord Hewart, Lord Chief Justice, described George Andrew McMahon’s story, that be was instigated by a foreign Power in his act against King Edward, as a “cock and bull story.” A cock and bull story is a long, rambling, Idle, or incredible yarn. Then are various so-called explanations oi the origin of tile term, but the most likely is that it is connected with tin old fables in which cocks, bulls antother animate discoursed in hutw' language ou things in general