NEAR AND PAR.

Evening Star, Issue 15076, 7 January 1913, Page 3

NEAR AND PAR.

A notable firing competition took place, early in November off the Irish coast between the battiesuips Xhunderer and Orion, each of which mounts ten 15.5 in guns. The former vessel (says tho ‘Daily Telegraph') is equipped with the til e-director, tne new invention oi 'Vice-admiral Sir rcrcy Scott, and the latter is not- The test was delayed until rough weather prevailed._ two targets were laid, and then the battles tups at a given signal fired under identical conditions, .Accordin* 7 to a coi’respondent, the trial took place when the eeas running were high, and conclusively proved the advantage of the tire-director, the Thunderer beating all previous records. The firing was witnessed by Vice-admiral Pir John Jedicoe and Rear-admirals Sir George W'arrendor and Rofsiyn Wemvs?, as _ well as hy Rear-admiral ‘.Richard ‘H. Peirce, late Inspector of Target Practice, and Sir Percy Scott. there are various opinions about the origin of the Highland fling, but the latest ana most up-to-date theory is to lie found, of ail places in tne world, in a student's text book on zoology. Professor Sedgwick has found out the origin, and, ns lie is an Englishman, his opinion is naturally worth having. He writes regarding cernudges in this fashion : Ceratopogon is tire midge which causes much annoyance in Scotland, where its presence, in conjunction with that of the kilt, is said to have given rise to the Highland fling! Captain Alfred Cortis, the first Mayor of Worthing, and a famous rifle shot! who represented England on 21 occasions, loft nearly £IB,OCO to charities, and nearly £15,000 in bequests to workers and others. He left estate valued at £151,840 gross, and £100,905 net personalty. Hip principal bequests were: £2,000 each to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, Dr Barnardo’s Homes, tho Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, and the Worthing Hospital; £I,OOO each to Worthing (for the purchase of works of art lor the town’s art gallery), the Royal Blind Pension Society, the Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Roval National Lifeboat Association: £SOO to the Army Scripture Readers’ Society, the Ragged School Union, the Flower Girls' Mission, the Worthing Nursing Association, the Worthing branch of the Y.M.C.A., and the Worthing branch of the YAV.C.A. ; £5.C00 to his manager, James Robinson, and the option of purchasing the business ; £2,000 to be divided among the manager’s four daughters ; and £5,000 to his housekeeper. Tho Rev. Arthur Jephson, Vicar of St. Martin’s, Dover, is responsible for fho following story, which is of interest as foreshadowing the abolition practically of the two Estates of the Realm—tho Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal The vicar of a town parish in Kent had ceased to use the prayer for Parliament in his services, and on being asked why replied; “Prayers for the dead are illegal in tho Church of England !” The payment of members of Parliament lias (says the ‘ Daily Express ’) been long enough in operation to judge of its results, and tho general opinion is that it has been a failure, and that it is gradually undermining the ancient principle of disinterested service of the State, which has for centuries been one of the glories of the British House of Commons, and has made it the least open to suspicion of being actuated by any venal considerations of any other institution of the kind in the world.

The methods adopted by divisional insurance officers to secure evidence against employers in the rural districts who are trying to avoid the Insurance Act have been discussed in the lobbies, and it is asserted that officials have even gone so far as to treat the agricultural laborers to drinks in the hope of obtaining the information desired. The question arises : “ Who is going to pay for these village inn festivities?” As a counter-move against the tactics of the suffragists the masculine rulers of Venice, California, have shown their natural chivalry toward the fair sex by providing practical means for lending first aid to beauty in distress (says the ‘ Standard’s New York conespomient). On the recommendation of the Chief of Police the city trustees have appropriated a sufficient sum to equip every member of the police force with a “ vanity box.” together with such homely adjunct's as threacl and needles, buttonhooks, and hairpins, so that when a woman’s attire becomes disarranged in the crowds that visit Venice she may bo able to resort to the nearest policeman for assistance. The suggestion that a powder puff should be added to the kit was ignored as being frivolous and unnecessary.