WIDE WORLD NEWS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3142, 6 November 1922, Page 8

WIDE WORLD NEWS.

The American farmer lately successfully sued throe aviators for trespassingj by flying over his l ground, pz-ob-ably based hm claim on a; ease decided some 40 years ago in tlie City of Cleveland, Ohio. A landowner then sued the municipality for damages because a swing bridge over the Cuyahoga River, when open, passed above his land, some 70 feet in the air. He won his action, and the municipality hadi to pay 10,000 dollars for the right to move its' bridge through the air, the agreement setting fbrtli that the landlord had a good and indefeasible right to the air above hji l ?, land to highest limit it extended. If these American legal decisions were generally adopted 1 ,, aviation would become impossible ;n countries where the private ownership of land (and air?) operates. * * * * The English tradition that if it rains on. St. Swithin's Day rain will fall for 40 days and nights has its counterpart in other countries. The French accord a, similar influence over the weather to St. Medard, whose festival is on .June 8; the Belgians believe their sacred Lady Godoliovo, whose day is July 0, influences the weather for a month threafter; the Germans attribute a like influence to the Seven Sleepers, whose anniversary is July 27; and the Scotch St. Swithin is St. Martin of Bullions, whose festival is celebrated on July 4. The real fact is that weather changes are especially apt to occur ill June or July, and people can alwavs twist these changes to prove the truth of these old traditions; hence their persistence in many minds. * * * • A visitor to Berlin, having occasion to go to the municipal Lost and Found Office, was. he writes, astonished at the extraordinary variety and number of things awaiting their owners there. There were countless gold watches, a little Golconda of diamonds and other precious stones, fashionable furs and hats —all found in taxis, cabs, theatres, and restaurants ,and, as far as the authorities know, never .sought after. Wedding rings were there by the thousand; they are apparently easilylost, when gloves are hastily pulled off. Hut there were even more remarkable curiosities of carelessness. Within the previous week or so the following ownerless things were found in Berlin streets: A peramulator, a horse and carriage, three pigs (alive), a flock of geese and three parrot-cages, each wijfch a. parrot. And there had not been. a. single inquiry after one of them! Are other big cities equally careless asks the writer. * * * * Many people will be curious to know where the Germany company which! proposes to run a. Trans-Atlantic, fleet of giant helium-tilled airships intends to obtain the huge quantities of helium necessary. An airship with a. gas* capacity of 150.000 cubic- metres would need some five million cubic feet of gas to fill it. and at present helium) costs about 5d a cubic foot, which would represent an outlay of nearly 0100,000 in a single airship. But in addition to the cost, there is the enormous difficulty of obtaining large quantities of helium. So far as is known, the oilfields in the United States and Canada are the chief sources of supply, but the percentage of helium that can be. extraeated from the natural u;as in these regions is very small, rarely as much as 1 pel' cent. The whole of the estimated production of helium in America, this year would he barely enough to fill two airships of 150,000 cubic metres, and the American Government have the whole of that at their disposal for experimental work with dirigibles. «• * -x- # The announcement of the engagement of the ex-Kaiser to Princess' Hermiiie, of Reuss, is dividing German monarchists into two camps. Higlir-pllaiced personages* in the ex-Kaiser's suite declare that they know nothing about it. General von Pommes says;— "So much nonsense has heen published lately about our imperial master "that we are unable to take notice of rumors." It is noticeable that monarchist women are more indulgent than the men. They consider the proposed remarriage from a "human" point of view, and declare that "the poor exile needs a woman's sympathy and help." Monarchist, men, on the other luind, are greatly disappointed. "If the news be true," several ex-onicers said to me to-day, "it would not only make the ex-Kaiser unpopular, but it would! divert public sympathy from the monarchy." Princess Herinine is the widow of Prince John of Scholiaieh-Carolath. She is thirty-four years old, and has five children. There is a legend that Princess Hermine's eldest sister led a most unhappy life as the wife of a grand duke, and that she forced her brother, head of the Reuse family, to allow her two younger sisters to marry as their hearts dictated.