GENERAL NEWS HEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 21 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS HEMS.

IMPROVING LONDON STREETS. \ - ' if;; The coming municipal year promises vto be a" singularly busy one in the City r of ' London, and ; certainly , a ; very costly i one .from the ratepayer's'point*' of view. -The 'b "expenditure, on str&st improvement : provided for is nearly: £820,000. .Of,, this V there will be, according ;. to ' the "Budget* . statement, a refund of • £110,000 by the : 1 London County Council as its contribution : towards "metropolitan improvements." A" further sum , : of •• £51,000 is/ expected" to : be •. derived from the safe of ground rents and b-'; surplus land. ..• ' • * r ' - - - ; '•• ' <' >.'•> ' • iftiJ WILD OAT 43 INCHES; LONG, ; ; Even in . its • last Highland fastnesses r; the wild cat is not safe from the • exterminating hand of . man. A-fine specimen has just. been killed .in> Boss-shire, and f though, no doubt, .it deserved - its fate, &' lays a London paper, it must be -'regret0_ ted by all who ; desire the preservation of -our fauna. This particular one was-of ; unusual size, as it was 43 inches !i;»ong, -•' ••' and recent captures - have been . consider- ; - ably , shorter. When .the wild cat . was commoner, it. used to be. called ■ the • Brit'ish ; tiger, not\rnerely. on account of ■ its ferocity, but because its stripes are usually shaped and angled like the tiger's. Y Its abundant coat is remarkably fine and ' . 60ft. . -■ ' : : . - '• - THE PRUSSIAN: EAGLE AGAIN. > Tho, Prussian Eagle occupies the principal place on the new stamps of Germany for the first time since 1839, although the artist has ' so modernised it that neither ' heraldry experts nor zoologists would- be able to identify it. The bird of the 1889 stamps was crowned, but . the present republican fowl lacks' this' attribute. Its claws - are longer, than ever, and its tongue protudes just as : rudely as before. Since 1889 Germany has ' passed through three periods of stamp - design 1900-20, in , which 1, thestamps - showed Germany as a woman in 1 armour 1921-22, designs typical of labour; and 1923-24, the makeshifts due to ' the Vcrash - of ; the • mark. • - ■ • • LENT IN "PAGAN" ENGLAND. That Lenten fasting ; is <i now little observed in England' is indicated by the official figures for a week in • March • from Billingsgate and Smitbfield. ' ' Although Lent is supposed"to be 5 the great fish-eating season, the sales in the week in question were 4,351 tons, as compared with 4,598 the week before, a drop of , 247- tons.- Meat sales, instead of decreasing, increased by 838 tons. " "London is far less' religious dietetically that it used to be," said : a- Billingsgate official, and as 35 per cent.* of J the fish; which Billingsgate - handles is distributed throughout the country, the infer- ,' ence is. that other parts of England are becoming dietetically as • pagan - as the metropolis. ■'(. CHURCH CHOIR BOYS' STRIKE. Those ■; who • -were • pres'ent - do" not . coneider that" the experiment' of the choir of "Heston- parish church (Middlesex), who' sang the hymns a line behind everyone : else, was- really successful from the artistic point of view. •' ' The trouble - began ? when three of " the choir'boys, arriving late for a practice, were threatened . with the -' loss :• of 1 their attendance marks. • - v •' ' ' Most of the other 1 boys at once downed hymn • books and declared • a sympathetic strike, but three " blacklegs " succeeded in u getting into the -church, although pickets were posted outside. J. - The . strikers followed them in and, sitting in the body of the : church, sang the hymns a line.- behind - the " blackTThe - vfcar has received ' a deputation to hear the grievances • * of the. strikers,. STRANGER THAN FICTION. Arguing that " truth is stranger • than fiction',"" at a lecture at .the Lotion School of Economics recently, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes said no novelist would dare to use the following true incident: A' man in India suddenly made up. fits ; mind to make an offer of marriage to a i pirl in- England. So he ; cabled . Will you?""' The reply - cameback promptly, • "Won't"I!" - . Another true incident said Mrs. Lowndes, concerned a woman i who left her hus- ' hand " who was deeply : attached < to her, without giving him any cause to suspect her motive. Eight vears later the man was visiting Paris when he accidentally met his wife in the street. Ha asked her to come home with ' him, and she came. ■ one never told him where she hadv been,, and he never asked . her, ' although their; later life together was .perfectly happy., . THE ROMANCE OF SPICES. I -.1 •'./ ; :<• - • J 1 In olden times spices were worth almost ♦heir weight in gold to Europeans, owing to thl immense ?: difficulty In obtaining ; th lTthe fifth century .a.d., when Rome was conquered by Alanc the Goth, he asked as a ransom 3000 pounds of pepper, • then worth a fabulous ; price. _ The fraternity of peppers" was said to be the first organisation of - dealers, ana in the fourteenth. century this became 'the guild of grocers." . ' . ~ * . . " Venice v traded . in, spiers to the , extent of many thousands of pounds annually, and > there was ) considerablerivalry»with Portugal qs to who should secure the best cargoes from the Far-Eastern ports. .. . It is said that Christopher \ Columbus . was searching for the profitable spice when he reached America; and Yasco da Gama, the famous explorer, made .one. of • his most important voyages to get a cargo of pepper,- cinnamon, and ginger from India. STORY OF " CLERKS' WELL. - . . After being hidden and almost forgotten for hundreds of years., the old : well from which Clerkenwell takes its name seems; to have been rediscovered : and-laid bare. * It was called ''Clerks' Well*; because *' the parish clerks of ■■ London in reiiiiot© V. ages annually performed sacred plays" in front of it. :' ' / - , ; v ' 'What is believed ' to be the Clerks Well" wa3 discovered recently under a shop floor in "Farringdon Road. v It was while workmen were, pulling . down the building that their spades ■ reveled the well. ; ' .' ' ' ' In the well are the remains of a leaden suction pump, by which the water, it - is said, used to be conyeved - to the street . outside for the use of priors, nuns, clerks ' and ordinary f01k.,. v • r Close to the well a fine piece of Roman wall lias been unearthed. So substantial is it that it is to be used as part of the foundations of a new building to be erected V ;-J on the spot. t WAR STRAIN ON STUDENTS. t London's training colleges, have, lately been Working at. high pressure preparing candidates for .various professional examinations .in May and -Tune. They have had an entirely new class of student since ; the war. ■ ' it A very • large' number 'of t students > are ? ■ . the sons and daughters of professional men who, badly hit, by • the , war, find their finances too crippled to allow-' them ■" to keep their children in idleness. IV-..' " Yountj men are coming to us from the >;-•' great public schools:" said an official of ..- one of the colleges .recently, " anxious to be polished up in •' subjects for the - London University matriculation ' exami- , nation,' -success * in which v excuses candidates ■ from tnkinrr the majority of ( the ; preliminary professional exams." i Teachers have noticed r . that ; while ft}/, students are anxious to study hard, they i'' lack the faculty for concentration - of, prewar ; students. - The • majority ;: of; the lIH students at the time of the war were' ■$$$£ children, and : the - strain -f , they ;. went ' through, - particularly those living in district® " subject l to air raids, has > left f its . - ®iarl c. j '>' ~ \ .

LINERS. ON INLAND;SEAS. ' ' " When the" Ontario Hydro- -V Electric Ummjssion " harnesses; the water" powers of the St. Lawrence, Transatlantic liners Will s ; soony be;.sailing on Upper Canadian 4-52' says i Sir ,Adam Beck, . chairman of the Commission. " v , V. . -" w « hope i that •by the time the ttp. Lawrence . undertaking r is - completed" adds j Sir : Adam, "there % will- be available .V for. i use .in ; Ontario. 1,000,000 , h.p., with , pros- | pects ~ of,< 5,000,000 ; in; less * than". 30., yeii» time.. • :?7\;' 4 "' j ' '' * V ; i ■ELEVENTH ARCTIC : TRIP AT * 72. v- i Cii':- ■-:■■■/ • 'h At l the - age of 72, Captain- J. E. ' : N. Bernier, a • French-Canadian, -is • completing the pla"hs for his -veleventh'x trip to the Arctic.-. '{ . >.; •Captain Bernier, who >left Portland on I his steamship Franklin ? for ; Leith, Scot- - j land,, recently; .is acting; for' the Canadian• Government; :He says ;he has : colonised nearly all . the islands -on the Alaska boundary, which are -•' peopled by. ,8000 British-Canadian; settlers and Esquimaux. .;The ' Franklin is fitted ' with • wireless, and the crew , hope ;to pick up. time signals and a few concerts, while in Arctic waters.; V •~ ' ,y ■ ~ , •-, • • . SKULLS AS ' SCARECROWS. . The i word' " scarecrow'' usually.; conjures up the vision -of" a tattered guy," stuck upon a stick in the middle of a field; ■ but - far . stranger - bird-scarers have sometimes'-! been used. " • ■ J-I -I For example, one . Ceylonese cultivator; guards his ' vegetables from - bird pests by; displaying . two . skulls - on poles.. One . is' that of . a woman . and the ' other of a Buffalo., When aiked to explain the presence of these . gruesome i relics the man' 'becomes, silent.' ' V; ; . , : ■' One of the. cleverest ' scarecrows ever' used was made by a Belgium farmer. He set up a. number of poles, in 4 the cornfields! and- conducted'; a wire from one to ' the other. A bell was -.hung- from the * top of i each - pole and connected ' with the wire.! The end of 'the wire was then' fastened; to a'small waterwheel, and as this 1 went! round the 'bells' tinkled, " keeping off the:' winged marauders: ' WEMBLEY FISH FREAKS. The finest . aquarium ,in Europe, with the: exception-of ;that at Naples, , has been built at Wembley for -the British Empire . Exhibition. / , . ; The strangest .fish' from; all parts of the world were collected • for it. Men on all the seven seas . were hunting for specimens. ' J ; f "-' • The ' most fearsome of - them all .is the Devil Fish Afanta, from the' African coast. It is 16ft. long and nearly as broad and weighs 6000 pounds. It has a mouth 3ft. wide,v and -devours its parents if it gets the chance; ' It - was hoped : to s secure; an . axoloth, which has ( four. legs. ; .If placed in a small - tank • without ' a continuous water supply he ' drinks . up; the water , supply. His v gills, , which > are embroidered ; with fur, - close up, . and <he is fully equipped for the land. His. glands' are used as*a cure ? for rheumatism. *~ V : 7 ■ r . HISTORIC SITE "TOR.'SALE. Another famous old spot- is in danger. Writinar to r the * Dailv •- Chronicle, - Mr. Ed. J. Burrows,: F.R.G.S., says: "Many will- observe with , dismay that the historic Sinodun Hill ' Camp,- overlooking the Thames at Dorchester, Oxon., is being advertised for sale as a residential Slt " Recently ; I visited two, other wellknown camps dating to pre-Roman days Dolbu'ry, the great stone ; fortress road at Churchill, and. Worleburv the equally impressive encampment,, with its triple ramparts and more than 90 pit dwellings • or, storehouses. ■>, In i both cases • I found notices up warning, and even threatening, trespassers with all manner "of due ■ punishment. . _ . "Is it 'not time for the Government Department which deals, with national monuments to secure; reasonable access, for the public 'to * these; ancient ; encampments and enclosures?" * " - ■ ''■ - HOUSE OF , ONLY ONE ROOM. The old jest about the Irishman who,- if he wanted to go from the kitchen into I the parlour ;of -his • humble home,, just stayed where he was," is being translated into reality. . A ; Berlin architect has erected m -the suburbs four novel houses, the object being to. economise space. . - 'In reality .each • house merely consists :of one large room, : at' the end of which is an arrangement similar to. a. circular moving stage." is divided into three sections, one : This is divided into three sections, one containing, the essentials .of a kitchen, another the essentials oil a bedroom, and the third those of a ; reception-room. Thus, for example, in a moment the kitchen can be transformed into a 1 reception room or the latter into a- bedroom. ; - The public appears to view, the idea with some doubt; for despite the shortage of houses only one of these new buildings has obtained a tenant.