WIDE WORLD NEWS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3135, 18 September 1922, Page 7

WIDE WORLD NEWS.

The ways of femininity are surely unfathomable. The very latest story of a Paris correspondent is that some women were taking henna baths to acquire a nice sunburnt tint before going to the seaside. The treatment not only dyes the face, but arms and body as well, so it appears to be effective. But for what motive? Tf one is going to the seaside, why seek the artificial "sunburn." or if one has achieved the desired tint by henna, what need to go to the seaside ? A gigantic scheme to provide 10,000 cheap houses for miners at the rate of 2,000 a year has been put into operation by English colliery owners. Thirty large colliery companies have formed what is in effect ai co-operative society for housing. For this purpose a company has been registered as "The Industrial Housing Association," with a starting capital of £1.000,000. This sum has 1 been subscribed for by the colliery companies concerned. No profit will 1 be aimed at, but each housing scheme undertaken by the association will simply be required to pay its own way upon the actual expenditure incurred. Substantially-built houses, playing-fields, open spaces, institutes and other amenities will be provided for the tenants. The first building operation of the association will Ije at important colliery areas in the South Yorkshire coal fields, and in Derbyshire and North and South Wales. A beginning has been made in several of these areas. * * * # Few kinds of stone vary more in (futility than sandstone; and one of the difficulties encountered with it is that material which appears quite suitable for building purposes is apt to show extensive crumbling when exposed to the air. A British man of science suggests a very ingenious way of getting over this drawback. He has found that certain compounds of alcohol and sili'•:a, when exposed to moist air. deposit a material which forms a cement. When a piece of rotten sandstone is treated with this mixture it hardens up in the course of a few days, and the resulting cement resists the attacks of acids. It may be mentioned also that in Great Britain lime wash has been found (fuite useful as a preservitivo for sandstone. • * » * The latest German invention is an inegnious instrument for compelling a burglar to ring an alarm bell that shall betray his presence, it is based on the curious property of selenium to become a conductor of electricity as soon as light falls on it. A small, but very sensitive selenium cell enclosed m a box about Gin square comprises the essential part of the apparatus. It is connected with the alarm bell by a relay, and no current passes through ic while it is ill' the dark. Hut as soon as the burglar switches on his electric torch, and the rays strike the seleiuiu, the current flows and the bells ring. And it will he useless to cut the conducting wires, presuming they were suspected, for that very act will start the alarm. The apparatus may lie putt anywhere, several in a room, so that it would lie almost impossible lor any light to be used without operating tins ingenious burglar detector. * * * * When the construction of large factories was first begun, very little attention as a rule was paid to the health and comfort of the employees. The example given by Robert Owen about 100 years ago in Scotland was looked upon as the eccentricity of an enthusiast, but now it is generally recognised that on business as well as humane grounds the right policy is to give svstematic care to the wcllbeing of every class of worker. This phase of industrial enterprise has been very highly developed in England and Scotland, and the extent of its growth may be gauged from the fact that the Scottish Society of Welfare Supervisors has produced a national welfare, magazine. consisting of forty pages, for distribution generally among those engaged in welfare work in Scotland. The aim of this magazine will be to co-ordinate as far as possible the various welfare activities carried out in Scotland.