GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

\,FOR THE FORBIDDEN CITY. As foreigners are not allowed to enter Lhasa, the Forbidden City of Tibet. Tibetan engineers have been receiving instruction in electrical engineering ai Chelmsford.

A special turboalternator has been con structed for use in Lhasa. As tht machine will have to be carried 40C miles on camels, it was necessary that no part should weigh more than 561b. OFFICE IN THE AIR. What is claimed to be the first office in the air is in use on the trans-Ameri-can air-line between New York and San Francisco, over which flies an airway inspector. The inspector supervises the maintenance of the guiding signs and lights along the 3000-mile route. The machine has a desk, chairs, and table, and the inspector is accompanied by a clerk who, while in flight, operates a typewriter. DANCING IN A CHURCHYARD. The new rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, is bent upon developing the social life of his parish. There is no suitable institute, so the churchyard has beer utilised. This churchyard was recently the scene'of a dance, given at the rector's invitation. The weather was unfavourable, nut when the rain stopped there was a fair number of dancers. Music was provided by an orchestra stationed on the steps outside the church and before the dance there was a concert given by the choir. A LLAMA BORN AT THE ZOO. The little herd of llamas at the London Zoo has been increased by the birth of a calf, the sire being the, very fine male imported from South America last year. ,3 Llama calves are born in a very mature condition. In a few hours they . are able to stand, and within two or three days to follow the mother. The llama has been modified to some extent by domesticity, and in their wild relatives, the Huanaco and Viougna, the young are able to run almost as soon js they are bom, the mothers not concealing them in the bush, as happens with wild cattle. AN ANCIENT CASTLE. For some time a party of Aberystwyth Students interested in archaeology have been carrying out systematic excavations in a field near the ancient parish church of Elanhilleth, near Newport. Their efforts were rewarded recently by the discovery, 6ft. below the surface, of the remains c-f an ancient castle, which is believed -to be of historic importance. The turrets, eye-holds, and some secret passages, have been unearthed, and the operations will continue till the whole fabric is exposed. Some time ago the remains of a font and other interesting relics were found. In the same .field there is a curiously shaped mound, which, it is. thought, will yield other discoveries.

ENGLISH CARILLON FOR CANADA.

There has just been completed in London a combined clockwork and handplayed carillon of 15 bells for installation in the Canadian chuch of St. George's, Oshawa. The playing barrel, which is 13ft. long by 2ft. 9in., and is probably the largest of its kind in existence, has been made to operate by hand. In appearance resembling a huge musical box, the barrel plays automatically five hymn tunes and 130 changes on ten bells. The tunes are changed simply by turning a wheel handle, and there is an indicating dial which shows the tune and selection of changes. • The whole .carillon is a marvel of delicate mechanism. The timing of the tunes is perfect. The total weight of the bells is nearly 12 tons, the largest bell, the tenor, weighing over 2£ tons. PEAFOWL FOB NATIVE RULER. The Emiir of Katsina, a native State in Northern Nigeria, paid several visits to the London Zoo when he . passed through London two or three years ago on his pilgrimage to Mecca. He was crreatly impressed with peacocks which happened to be in full display, and were new to him. f

The Society presented him, the Emir, with a pair of peafowl, warning him that the tails would goon moult off, but that by th'e grace of Allah they might be re stored in another season. The peafowl have thriven and the Emir, who recently arrived in England, took with him a white oryx antelope as a gift to the zoo. These beautiful antelopes extend across North Africa to Senegal. The colour is white with a shade of reddish, rather darker on the neck. The horns are dark, very long, and sabre-shaped.

ST. CLEMENT'S WELL. An attempt is to be made in London to find the so-called Holy Well of St. Clement, from which was named that Holywell Street, which was demolished during the Strand-Aldwych-Kingsway improvements. The well is believed to be beneath the grass plot that lips between the west side of the Law Courts and Clement's Inn.

The Times of May 1, 1874, stated: — "Another relic of old London has lately passed away. The holy well of St. Clement, on the north of St. Clement Danes Church, has been filled in and covered over with earth and rubble, in order to form part of the foundation of the Law Courts of the future.

"It is said that penitents* and pilgrims used to visit this well as early as the reign of Etheired. It was known from time immemorial as St. Clement's Well." DRIVE OF 400,000 SHEEP. Thousands of spectators and a number of Government officials assembled recently in the valleys of the Dee, the Wye, the Severn, and North Wales rivers to witness the dipping of sheep and lambs from the mountain ranges. Large numbers of tanks and baths are erected on the mountains for the dipping against disease, and a " record " drive of over 400,000 sheep was begun, and was continued throughout the week. Each sheep must be in the bath for at least 30 seconds, and the animals were dipped in batches of six at a time. Forty thousand sheep were driven the first day over the moorlands of Merionethshire, Denbighshire, Carnarvonshire, and Montgomeryshire. Onlookers admired the way in which shepherds and dogs divided the sheep into groups and guided them to the bathing pools, afterwards separating the dipped sheep from the others. VALUE OP A HYPHEN. A curious point in electoral law was raised at the Revising Officer's Court, in London recently. A Conservative agent raised an objection to the placing of Mr. Harry Dawson Large, a Labour agent on the register. Hitherto on all the candidates' lists of contests in which he has been concerned the Labour agent has been described as " Large, Harry Dawson." This puts him rather low down on the voting papers, and ho lias for the new register developed a hyiohen, claiming enrolment as " Harry Dawson-Large." This would have the effect of sending his name up any polling card or to! ins paper The Conservative agent objected to the ; new form of the name as inaccu.-ate, but Mr. Large swore that his r<al name was Dawson-Large, and the Revising Officer allowed the claim. "T am bound," he 6aid, " by the Act to permit the name to go on the register. He has sworn that his name is Dawson-Large. and if that Ja not so he must stand by the consequences."

WORLD'S LARGEST ZINC MINE.

What is said to be the world's largest zinc mine, the Sullivan mine, located near

Cranbrook, British Columbia., is stated to have undeveloped ore equal to Jin output of 1,000,000 tons annually for 40 years. The zinc-lead ore is running over 20 per cent., and the mine is estimated to contain 70,OCX),000 dollars worth of ore, with an exceptional opportunity of multiplying this under capable development.'

A LINK WITH TRAFALGAR. The daughter of a sailor who fought under Nelson at Trafalgar, Mrs. Lucy Wilkinson, aged 88, has died at Blackburn. Mrs. Wilkinson had kept her father's discharge papers, but asked that they should be placed in her coffin. Mrs. Wilkinson's husband a Marine, fought at the Crimea, and Mrs. Wilkinson accompanied him round the world when regulations permitted wives on war vessels. VICAR AND THE PENNIES. "There was a time when a penny was an adequate sum to give in church, but to-day it is a monstrous outrage," writes the vicar of Withycomb iR-aleigh, Devon, the Rev. W. Aitchison, in his parish magazine. The vicar says that 180 copper coins at the morning service in the parish church, and 250 copper coins at the evening service, at All Saints' Church, is a scandal. WOMAN SHOOTS ROYAL STAG. The late deer-stalking season in the Scottish Highlands has been quite successful, in spite of the wet weather. The King brought down several heads that are to bo preserved. A woman shot, Mrs. Bell, on Lord Lovat's forest at Guisachan, Invernessshire, had the distinction of bringing down a royal stag, scaling 20st. 81b., which, so far, makes a record for the northern forests. TWENTY-ONE YEARS IN THE POST. A lady in Aberdeen recently received a post-card which was posted to her at Whitehills, near Banff, about 50 miles distant, on March 7, 1903, as the postmark testifies. There is no quastion of the address having been illegible or of the card having been sent journeying about the world by mistake. The writing is clear, and there are only two postmarks on the card—the Whitehills one and the Aberdeen one of 21 years later. Although the card bore a halfpenny stamp, which was adequate postage in 1903, the addressee was surcharged twopenco on delivery. WELSH FOR THE WELSH, It was decided by the council of the little Welsh village of Glaslyn, Radnorshire, two years ago that the minutes of their meetings should be written _in Welsh. A Ministry of Health ruling, however, is that. all minutes relating to financial mattere must be in JSnglish. As some money consideration has been involved in every minute but one since the council took its stand for the WelsTi language, the clerk has stuck to English in recording the business transacted, and the council is feeling grieved. The council has decided that, in_ future, the clerk shall carry out their wishes as regards language, providing a resolution is passed relieving him of personal responsibility.

« EXILES " IN LONDON. In London there are some 20 or 30 societies or associations formed to link together those from distant counties. Devonians, Cornishmen, Yorkshiremen, East Anglicans, and, indeed, men of all the principal oounties, have their own organisations in the capital and meet from time to time to exchange reminiscences and to hononr their birthplaces. Many of these county societies keep in touch with similar organisations in the Dominions and in other parts of the world. Most of the societies are affiliated to the English Counties Conference, and it is suggested that an "English Counties Club," to which the clubable members from each society could might, by co-operation, become possible.

PEAR OP PREMATURE BURIAL. Fears of premature burial have resulted in the formation of a society in England to effect reforms in the law of death certification. There is, however, nothing new in these fears. The Egyptians kept bodies under careful supervision by the priests previous to embalming, and until satisfied that life was extinct. The Greeks often cut off the fingers of a person believed to be dead before cremation. In modern times, the fear of being buried alive has haunted many. Wilkie OHins had this fear, and always left overnight on his dressing-table a note solemnly enjoining that, should he be found dead, his supposed death was to be very carefully tested by a doctor.

TENANTS IMPOSE ON LANDLORDS. During the hearing at the Marylebone Police Court of ejectment proceedings against the tenants of a London house, a solicitor stated that one tenant had not paid any rent for 12 months, and did not even have a rent-book, and another owed £10 4s. The previous landlord, it was stated, had to go to prison six times for nonpayment of rates because he could not get the rents due from the tenants. In another case, in which the landlord was a man of 83, it was stated that the tenant had not paid rent for 90 weeks. The magistrate said that no one could expect, even in these days, to live in a house rent free for all that time. He made an order of ejectment in each case.

BROKEN WEMBLEY CEOCKEBY. How long did it take an average daily crowd of 70,000 people eating in restaurants at Wembley Exhibition to smash 7)0,000 pieces of crockery, weighing altogether five tons? asks the Daily Chronicle. The answer is that it took less than a week, and every six days at the British Empire Exhibition approximately this :i mount of crockery was broken by hungry visitors in the various cafes. In an average week the breakages were:— 761 dozen cups (nearly 10,000), 345 dozen saucers, 472 dozen plates, and 774 dozen miscellaneous pieces. _ These figures do not include glasses broken in the bars, and it was no uncommon thing in a busy week for one bar to smash 1500 glasses, and there are 54 bars. THE BUSH TO WEMBLEY, Wembley is largely responsible for the increase of slightly over 20,000 alien passengers who were landed in England during the first six months of this year. The total landings during that period were 157,317, against 137,545 in the corresponding period last year, while the comparative embarkations were .135,T00 and 124.313. , , . The number refused leave to land am* ing the first half off the year was 1225, fe contrast with 1478 during the first half of 1923. Nearly the whole of the increased landings this year occurred in May and June, when the numbers advanced by 17,842. Visitors from the United States formed almost a third of the total landings during the six months, aggregating 46,714. The embarkations were 32,504. The French were second on the list with 21,398 landed and 20,253 embarked.