NEWS IN BRIER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15563, 21 March 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIER

In Norway people who are mivaccina l te<J are not allowed to vote at an election. __, . A revolver has been invented by a gunsmith in Brussels that shoots seven times in a second. Despairing of making a living in healthy, Matlock, the registrar of deaths has resigned, his fees having fallen £300 in six years. t

The snail is to be adopted this year as a talisman instead of the horseshoe or fourleaved shamrock, and will be worn in the hair or hate of fashionable women. A clergyman preached a sermon recently at Holy Trinity Church, Wanstead, in words of one syllable. The text- was, The Word was made Flesh," and the preacher used 800 monosyllabic words. A new public office, said to be the only, one of its kind in the history of civilisation, has just been created at Los Angeles, California. Its holder is called the publio defender, and his duty is to defend any person accused of crime as diligently as the public prosecutor conducts the prose* cution.

Lord Herschell recently arrived at San, Francisco as a sailor on the tank steamer Prometheus from Peru. The Prometheus is not licensed to carry passengers, bub Lord Herschell and his valet were so eager to leave Peru that they willingly signed, on, Lord Herschell as "a deck hand and his valet as a sailing cook. Mr. Joseph von Madarasz, a Hungarian who has entered his 101 st year, is the oldest Parliamentarian in the world.: " Uncle Joseph," as he is familiarly called, was elected a deputy of the Presburg Diet in 1833. Until four years ago, when he retired, the electors of his constituency have never failed to return him. Mormon elders have recently been ent" gaged at Leeds (England) in propaganda work. They profess that they are teaching "a practical religion of daily life." They have been diligently calling from house to house, and the work there has created a good deal of opposition, if not indignation.The literature has been zealously distri-. buted. , .. ; Four hundred and ninety-five years is the total of the ages of the crew' of the Lowestoft fishing boat Primrose, of which the oldest hand is B. Grimble, who on,. Christmas Day was eighty. The. other hands are seventy-three, sixty-nine, sixtyone, sixty, and fifty-nine respectively. The. skipper is fifty-five, but the cook is only," „ thirty-eight. A movement is on foot to have the records of the ancient borough of Farnham, . Surrey, translated. Some of the enactments by the old corporation are entertaining. It was decreed that no towns* man should beat his wife after nineoo'clockk k at night, and the penalty for depositing adead cat in a thoroughfare known as Bear Lane was Is.. The announcement has been made of the . marriage of the Rev. Dr. Cynddylan Jones, , a Welsh Nonconformist leader, and Miss) May Gertrude- James, of Cwmcam, Men mouthshirej who is 24 years of age. ' Dr.;.: Jones, who is 75, is a Caivanistic Methodist, a 'celebrated preacher, and-a, graceful writer. The couple first .met in, North Wales, where the young bride.. was staying with relatives. The wedding took place very quietly in Liverpool. ' ■•; The completed record of work for 'last? year issued by the Royal Humane Society shows that the huge total of -867. cases off ;"• gallant action in saving or attempting to) : save life have been dealt with, and'.thaiu 984 persons have received recognition..'/ the form of medal, testimonial, or- pecuniary award. As a result, 885 persons-have been rescued, but .in. 136 .caees.help, cam« toG late arid life was lost;..while in 19; . cases would-be rescuers also,lost .theiif* lives. - ■ „ ' ~c " ,.>'"" V" ■",■

i "secretary- of '•'tire'-Mexican Railway} .V Company; in a recent lecture-to the niem-,. bers ': of ; the Chartered,lnstitute of Secret taries, said that Mexicans had. a special, , weakness' for hats -of the cartwheel type.■-.. It was nothing, to see --a;'man- wearing hat worth £6 or £7, while his suit ofi clothes was not worth 6d. Inone partf, of the , country' it had "been considered' - necessary to pass, a law l ;wfiich~Jmposea' a* fine on every man having r -a hat morethan " 39in wide. _ ~.... : "' ~,''.,-„■-■ ■.'''?,'~~'. . .*"- . •■ ■;!; ' - ; «?•'••,' • - •, ■■.*?{ -;■- Emigration from , the -"United Kingdom during November showed-a considerable decrease compared with the -. ing month last year. According to a state-, ment Tecently issued,' 11,561' persons" left to take up permanent ; residence 'in places within the British Empire, against 17;498 in November, . 1912,, those- proceeding to foreign countries number 5218 against 6332 last year. The number' of <i persons S who' arrived during the month was 7736, against: j 5642 in November last year. .'; _ .::'■.: :,.';■' Viscount William Geoffrey Bouchard da. Montmorency Moantmorres has been or-<-daihed by the Bishop of Winchester at the; Advent; Ordination of the s Winchester dio-/ cese at Farnhani parish church. Ha has been appoinfcfdlto a curacy at All Saints', Ryde, Isle -sgpfight. • Viscount'• Mount morres is thjeSpon of the late ViscbunuT was shot in "Irelandduring the JTahd League agitation. Until recently he-was engaged in journalism, and « has had wide experience abroad. £> r A resident of Mansfield is very proud of r his dog Floss, which has become accusal' tomed to carry messages from Mansfield:* to Sutton, three miles away, with surprising quickness. Floss's most notable,per-; formance was when her master sent ; her,.. from Mansfield to Sutton with a note "in;",, a blinding snowstorm, but the dog brought , an answer back, doing the journey 'of sit' miles in an hour. The dog is also used by a football team to take half-time audi fulL-time scores. of the match from~tfa*vfield to an. inn. ... ■ ■?.

The death has occurred of a wonderful ' performing horse Alpha, -which- belonged■ to Mr. R. D. C. Shaw, of Great Hale. The animal, which had performed before several members of the royal family, could play the National Anthem on a har-.. monium, could write its 'own name on.' 'at slate with chalisheld in its .mouth,. and could, do difficult sums in the first fourrules. Another horse, Little Beta, also; belonging to Mr. Shaw, accompanied;. Alpha on. show, and together they could;. play Home, Sweet Home," with belln fastened on their feet.' .: '^v" The microphone is now used by for picking combination locks. . On turning lock a slight sound is made when theft'proper number comes opposite the work? ing point, and this can even be hearSl;' by a sensitive ear. However, it is imperM . ceptible to most persons,' but "by using iai" microphone it is an easy matter to "hearthe sounds. A suitable form of fla,t phone receiver is employed, and it is ap-U. plied against the safe next the'- lock. Alt pair of rubber ear-tubes are use'' wjith.tha telephone. In this way the sounds ars, heard which allow of opening the Jock. •'.?-• At the newest and tallest skyscraper lity New York a lift or elevator dropped sud« ;• denly 600 ft without anyone being injured.--As a matter of fact, there were no ~ past sengers, for it was a testing experiment".? The car was placed at the forty-seventh, floor, and was weighted with casS-iron up• to a total of 75001b, representing its full capacity if crowded with passengers.. It>.- I was then 3et free by the pulling of a latchstring. The lift was falling at the ..rata, I of two miles a minute when it reached the; .. 1 air-cushioii tube which begins at the; eleventh floor. Then its speed diminished [ gradually, until it arrived at the bottom ? j as gently as a feather. .." "'" '.'■■:' """'

A Paris firm has invented an ingenious method of signalling from aeroplanes. The device consists of a tube, placed in such *.' position that a strong .current of. air ftCßsi. the propeller passes through it and' isnccn-':; nected by a valve with a-reservoir --filled! £; with soot. This valve can be operated --&$> the passenger in the aeroplane-ia /such, af*» manner ;as to .release X either, .a large. 'or> small quantity of soot, from' the. reservoir into the tube. The soot whirled , out ofi\ the tube by the. draught forms in the wake of the machine long or j short screaks of" black, by means of which messages-can. be given in the Morse code. , The waokj [apparatus. weighs not more $<&'9IV ;.;•;*;:;;: \. . • '. .. ' ' 'J