LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera Star, Volume L, 9 January 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Another New Zealander who has set his heart on flying from England to the Antipodes is Flying Officer Alan Binley, formerly of Blenheim, who is now attached to No. .14 (B) Squadron of the B.A.F. at Amman, Transjordania. In a letter to a friend in Blenheim, says the '‘Express,” Flying Officer Binley remarks: "I have been here some time and, although it is miles from anywhere, I like it very much as there is plenty of flying and excitement with the Arab raiders. I have set my mind on flying home to New Zealand, and as I have passed the navigation course am very keen--if the financial side can be arranged.” The writer adds that, he hopes 1o be home on leave for next Christmas.' The aviation business in the United States now has a language of its own. It contains 30,000 words and phrases, which include the listing of manufacturers’ names, specifications of aeroplanes and motors, parts and parts assemblies, installations, export terms on shipping, boxing, price quotations, steamship lines, ports, banks, and similar types of terms used in export communication. Avico is a code system worked out by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce to cut down the expense of communicating orders, especially by cable. It is estimated it will mean a saving of 30 per cent. IT.-re is an example of the new code: ‘‘Voslvxbepa. ’ ’ It means, ‘ ‘ Navy requir es price on tri-motored biplane- seaplane. ’ ’

acrman and Dutch lighthouses have Deen illuminated to save migratory birds. Rings of lights have been installed around the outside ol ! the towers. The lights illuminate the ramparts, railings, and cupolas, thus giving the birds some landmarks other than the blazing eyes of the lighthouses •when they seek perches on which to rest.

A commencement was made this morning with the installation of a new overhead lighting system at the Hawera Municipal Baths, in which 3000 candle-power shaded lamps are to he used. The lamps will be placed in a row above the centre of the baths and it will be possible to haul them in out of the weather through a trapdoor at the front end of the building. They are expected to he a distinct improvement on the old system, which proved faulty some time ago.

The manager of an Ashburton firm went w'itli a party of friends to a lake to fish, but he found that fishing was extremely dull; too, bad, in fact, to carrV on with it seriously. He therefore proposed that he should initiate some of the women members of the party into the art of wielding the rod. One woman took a few lessons and then, taking the rod, made a cast. It extended for only two yards into the lake, so she tried again, this time casting out four yards. There was a tug on the line. ‘‘l have got a fish!” she exclaimed. “Oh, no, you have caught a snag,” said the tutor. His surprise was deep when, almost immediately afterwards, the line began to run out of the reel. The line was reeled in, and there was landed on the lake shore a. beautiful quinnat salmon- weighing 5Mb.

A recent visitor to the Crimea has brought back the report that the little English cemetery, where those who fell at Balaclava and in the Siege of Sebastopol were buried, is kept in perfect order. Nearly 80 years have passed since the ill-starred expedition was made, but on the slope overlooking the Valley of Death the cemetery remains a place of beauty and order. The money for the upkeep of the enclosure is provided by the British Government and the work must be in the hands of some faithful person, for the paths are kept free from weeds, the flowers are carefully tended, and even the lines on the headstones are kept in perfect order. In winter it is a bleak spot, but in summer, when the trees are in leaf, it resembles a peaceful country churchyard in the Mother Country. It is indeed one of those spots in a foreign land that are for ever England. High upon the wads of the senior classroom at the Havelock School, a red-handled pen is impaled, and tradition has it (says the Marlborough “Express”), that it was thrown there dartwise by Ernest Rutherford (who attended the school from 1883 to 1886) during a competition in the absence of the schoolmaster —in which the boys of the class vied with one another in flinging pens like darts. 'The tradition may or may not have a basis of truth, but the pen is there to-day and the story leads one to the conclusion that despite all his attainments in the w'orld of science Ernest Rutherford was made of the same human stuff as other boys. Ilis old schoolfellows —amongst whom are Mr C. GET. Mills, of Blenheim, and Mr E. H. Smith , of Havelock —state that he enjoyed a frolic and loved a lark, but despite his pranks was probably the most studious lad in the school, displaying even at that ago, quite unusual attainments. For instance, Mr Mills recalls that at that time his bent lay particularly in the direction of mathematics and it was often noted that whereas his fellows followed the stereotyped methods of working out problems, Ernest Rutherford invented methods and short-cuts for himself. He was popular with his fellows and that shows that he was never that abhorrence of health;- minded schoolboys—a “swe ;. ”