CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 295, 10 November 1934, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”), “Johnnie,” said the teacher, reprovingly, “you misspelled most ot the words in your composition. “Yes’in,” explained Johnnie, J- m going to dialect writer. # Hananuma Masakicki, the famous Japanese sculptor, has at last achieved his life’s ambition. He hase life-sized image of hnnsoH which h been pronounced by eminent members of the medical profession as being absolutely correct anatomically, there are more than 2000 pieces of wood in the image, and these are l iek y° by wooden pegs and glue ho metal of any kind has been used by Masa kicki ‘in its creation. The skin is the same colour as the sculptor s and of exactly the same texture The hair on. the head was clipped by Masakicki from his own pate and bearc teeth are his own, and the eyes are so near perfection that they are a iymder of the optical profession. The features, the knots and seams of muscles, even the finger nails and toe nails, are exactly like Masakicki s own. > of all men, does not require to be ruffled to be “beside himself. #

Baron Edmond' James de Rothschild, who died in Paris this week, was the founder of the Jewish agricultural colonies in Palestine, which he began to lay out in the ’eighties of last century, before the Jewish national movement had been inaugurated. F rom purely philanthropic and religious motives he invested 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 gold francs in Palestine. More than half the land occupied by Jewish settlers in that country to-day belongs to the Rothschild colonisation scheme. When, at the age of 80, Baron de Rothschild visited for the last time the colonies he had established, he was received with great honours by the Jewish population. The late Baron s father was Jacob James Mayer, F reiherr von Rothschild, fourth son of Mayer Anslem Rothschild, founder, of the house and the first of the Paris line. As was customary among the Rothschilds. Edmond married a relative, Adelaide, a daughter of the head of the Frankfort house. Wilhelm Karl Freiherr von Rothschild. The eldest son of this marriage, James Edmond, married Dorothy Pinto, an Englishwoman, lived in London, and served, in France and Palestine with the British forces during the war. *****

There is romance in the modern world of commerce equally as much as that conjured up by reading the lives of its founders, and when ships go down to the seaways the complete story is not to be found in the apparent. Southampton, for this reason, is not likely to take seriously to heart the prophecy of Herr Anthony Fokker that the days of big- ships are numbered in favour of the “pilots of the purple twilight”—the port has lived again the story of Phoenix and risen with fresh vigour from what was at least threatening. When the “depressicr!” came Atlantic shipping slumped badly and ships that should have carried 600 first-class passengers were only taking 60 people on a voyage; this meant a loss of £20,000 for each crossing. Then it struck someone that the summer excursion cruises of the Mediterranean might be advantageously emulated on the Atlantic. New York and Southampton tried it out simultaneously and ever since their passenger lists have left no reason for worry. Ten years ago the English port had 5662 cruising passengers embarking and disembarking in a year; five years ago the figure was 18,203; since the idea started to work a new branch of the industry has justified its existence for last year 79,616 persons “cruised” across the “Pond.” *****

Trace the evolution of the veriest stream and its source will be found in tbe clouds; delve into the history of any British subject and it will be discovered that at some period-—al-most certainly at a time nearly, if not altogether, hidden by the passing years —there is a connection with Royalty. Bringing to notice this intriguing sidelight on the vagaries of history since those days, a writer points out that every person has two ancestors of the “first degree,” his parents. There are four of the second generation, grandparents. Every generation doubles the number so that a person has eight great-grandparents, etc. If the average number of generations per century is taken at 3J, the deduction is that a person born ah the beginning of the Twentieth Century has 2046 ancestors dating back to the year 1600, 524, 286 to the year 1400, and should ancestry be traced to th® year 1066 (when William the Conqueror landed at Hastings) it would be found that the same person would have 2,147,483,646 in his line. Further back than that the aggregation of ancestors —providing an interesting study for the protagonist in subjects of heredity and morals—would become so overwhelming as to dispirit the most individualistic. The longest proven family tree goes back over 70 generations to' 50 8.C., but the overwhelming expense, coupled with uncertainty, and possibly unexpected revelations of what the passage of time had obscured, make it expedient for most people—with the exception of a few affluent Americans—that we should be content to ascribe to our names only those honours which we ourselves have . earned. I * « • i •

Whatever people may say of politicians, there is evidently a lot of affection left for the Houses of Parliament in London. Every scrap of the many hundreds of tons of old stonework removed from the Palace of Westminster .during the last six years —and “repairs” are still in progress —• has been bought by private admirera, the demand tor bits and pieces sometimes exceeding the supply. The Offica of Works is, in fact, doing quite a brisk business, especially in kings and queens, who, though somewhat fogeaten and emaciated, have realised as much as ten guineas a head (writes an observer). Next in popularity are gargoyles of terrific jispect, and assorted crowns and turrets, while some Americans have purchased for a mysterious purpose whole sections of a decayed facade. It is all very puzzling. One can, of course, conceive the inborn respect of every good Londoner for the historic associations of the Houses of Parliament, but it is hard to imagine a good reason for the exchange of hard cash for crumbling masonry. Sentiment not untinged with conceit may well be at the bottom of such a transaction, for even one stone monarch in a suburban garden is better than ten at Westminster.

Meanwhile, the patient work of restoration goes on—and is destined to continue for another half-dozen years. The original estimate of the cost was £1,000,000, but if prices keep low the total bill should not exceed a paltry £700,000. That- will be an agreeable surprise for Parliament, which is so accustomed to the unestimation of estimates. To the immense relief of evervbodv, the rehabilitation of the famous Clock Tower which shelters Big Ben is nearing completion. The unsiglitlv scaffolding is being removed foot by foot, and the clock faces now shine forth in aegilded splendour.