GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

GOOD TENANTS IN LONDON. The City of London certainly possesses cood tenants. The total rent roll is within a few pounds of £270,000. "It is a remarkable fact that for three years in succession not a single penny has spent in levying distress. What private owner, asks a London paper, is ever so fortunate ? PROVERBS GETTING OUT OF DATE. Recent events have played havoc with English proverbs, and it looks as i? someone will soon have to get busy making a complete new set, remarks a recent writer. "As safe or as sure as houses" obviously has lost its meaning; so, too, in these days of electricity, has " Moke hay while 'the sun shines." For spiio lime it lias been possible to make ''silk purses oat of sow's ears," and certainly t he people of England's Newcastle, would be delighted to see coals transported there just now. NEW SEAL FOR SCOTLAND. A new seal will probably be required when the forthcoming restoration of the post of Secretary for Scotland to a Secretaryship of State takes place. It is 200 years since there was a Secretary of State for Scotland, and there is a possibility that any official seal used bv the holders of that office a couple of centuries ago may have become lost in the interval. But careful examination of all available records seems to prove that the old Secretaries of State of Scotland did not possess such a symbol of office at all. LENGTHY LAWSUIT RECORDS. France, where a lawsuit begun in 1327 j 5 n ow on the point of settlement, easily holds the record for lengthy litigation. For this is not an isolated case. A suit concerning certain seignorial rights which opened in 1210 was not finally disposed of until 1848, and another between the towns of Campari and Bagneres required well over 500 years to settle. Compared with these, England's longest case, in which the Berkeleys and the Talbots engaged for a mere 120 years, almost sounds like an instance of summary jurisdiction. BRITISH NATION'S INCOME. The estimated income of Great Britain, say the Inland Rovenue Commissioners, is now 2SOO million pounds, over £1 a week for every inhabitant. Of this amount the Inland Rovenue took 510 millions in incomo tax, super tax, and death duties. Super tax was paid on incomes over £2OOO by 87,000 people, and 124 of them bad incomes of over £IOO,OOO. Death duties were paid on 106,000 estates, but 26,000 of these were £3OO or less. One estate was over three millions and there were twelve between ono and two millions. DOG HEROINES' TEARS. Passaic, a town in the United States, has been having sad and stirring days. Two girls were recently sentenced three to five days in prison for not having paid their dog licenses. Several other girloffenders charged with the same offence failed to appear in court, and a police patrol waggon was sent to their homes to fetch them! The police kindly offered to shoot the dogs if the girls could not pay the fines—an offer which was rejected with scorn and tears. Fortunately the matter was comfortably settled by the payment of | the fines by a sympathising dog-lover, and j the girls and the dogs breathed again. j

LOST IN THE MISTS OF TIME. There can bo few parallels to the curious dilemma of the Governors of ■Westminster Hospital, who have been anxious to find some descendants of the original founders Of the hospital in the 18th centui-y. Of tho five founders the only one of whom there is any trace is in tho Hoare family, the still existing firm of Fleet Street bankers. Of the other four no descendants have been identified, and there is nothing but the most shadowy kui n ledge of the lives, actions, and so forth of the founders themselves—William Wogan, Robert Witham, Patrick Cockburn, and Thomas Wisedome. DENTISTS IN GOLD BRAID. The rise of dental officers in the British Navy is a remarkable feature of the last ten years. For most of tho war, the dental surgeons employed to attend the sailors were civilian practitioners, attached to the various barracks, hospitals, and training ships. Then a separate branch was created, and now the 48 dental officers holding permanent commissions are to be increased to 64. By a ne\v order, the rank of surgeoncaptain (D.) is approved for this branch. How the old-time sailors, remarks an English writer, would have stared in amazement at the spectacle of a fourringed officer in full uniform coming aboard ship to extract teeth! A ONE-ARMED COMMANDER. Thero is severe competition for advancement in the post-war navy, only ten captains' commissions being allotted to a zone including about 140 commanders, and twenty commanders" places being given among 310 lieutenantcommanders. But the navy is pleased to see that room has been found for Commander 11. T. C. Walker. This officer had his arm carried away by a shell on the upper j deck of the Vindictive at Zeebrugge, and , lay in darkness while the storming parties trod him under. To Captain Carpenter, who recognised and dragged him aside, he raised his other arm in greeting, and called " Good luck to you!" I ST. PATRICK'S PROPHECY. Dublin, which has in hand a very ambitious scheme for the extension of the city boundaries, had an origin in a very remote period. There was a fishing village on the site long before the Christian era, when it was called " Tho Hill of tho Hazel" Wood." Dublin's modern name was acquired by degrees. First it was Bally Ath Cliatli, the Town of tho Ford of Hurdles; then it became Bally Ath Cliath Dubh Linne, the Town of the Ford ox Hurdles on the Black River, and so Dublin. According to tradition, St. Patrick foreit old great things for Dublin. " That small village shall hereafter be an ancient city; it shall increase in eminence and dignity, until at length it shall be lifted up unto the throne of the kingdom." YORKSHIRE GOES SOUTH, The town of High Wycombe, where the chairs are made, is in Buckingham shire. But so far as its officials are concerned, it might easily be mistaken for a Yorkshire town. Except for the mayor, the inspector of nuisances, and one or two minor officials, all High Wycombe's local affairs are in the hands of men "fra cop North!" Both tho town clerk and the Borough 'Accountant are from Yorkshire; so are the stationmaster, the vicar, the Congregational pastor, tho rural dean, and the vicar of West Wycombe. The principal of tho technical college and two of the masters are from Yorkshire. The roll of the invaders also includes several police constables, the local solicitors, the head of the paper mills, the managing-director of a leading chair manufacturing firm, and a waterworks official.

EGYPT'S NATIONAL HEAD-DRESS. The call in Egypt for a washable hat to take the place of tho fez, it is suggested, may servo to stem the current against picturesque national hats. The turban has been abandoued in Arabia, and' last year Egypt imported 60.000.dozens of felt and straw hats. It will bo interesting to sec now whether a reaction arises in favour of a now national hat. HANNIBAL'S BATTLE. When the Italian army manoeuvres take place the King and Signor Mussolini will be spectators of a great battle at Trasirnone Lake, where, in the year 217 8.C., Hannibal obtained his first victory over the Romans. It is the intention of the army staff officers to produce this ancient battle to the extent of applying the strategy adopted by Hannibal to the principals of modern warfare. FIDO'S SMELLING SALTS. Entering a shop in the West End a correspondent of a London paper says he noticed a dog " begging" of his mistress. 'Sugar, sweets, biscuits, were all suspected, but all the guesses were wrong, for it was the lady's smelling bottle he was after. When the bottle was given to him the i terrier loosened the stopper with his teeth, extracted it, and then began to sniff, with every sign of enjoyment. THE " LUNGS" OF A OITY. Who first described parks and open spaces in a city as its " lungs," asks a curious writer. Tho phrase sounds quite modern and parks are not very old. In a British Parliamentary report for j June, 1808, Mr. William Windham, member for Hicham Ferrers, spoke of Hyde Park as the " lungs of London." He was a friend of Johnsoii, who, after a visit from him, wrote: " Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to the regions of literature." AN EXTRAVAGANT. WOMAN. When tho creditors of Miss Josephine O'Daro, of Grosvenor Square, London, met recently, it was stated that she had inherited £12,000, a £15,000 interest under a will, and an allowanco of £2OOO a year. Nevertheless the heiress had lived for some years in excess of her income and had got loans from money-lendors. Her losses were attributed to horse-racing, foreign exchange speculations, 4 and unsuccessful business ventures. i HORSE'S HEAD FIFTY FEET LONG. Tho White Horse at Bratton Down, England, which it is proposed to scour afresh, is one of Britain's biggest chalk carvings, pleasuring 170 ft. by 160 ft., but it will be put in the shade when the American sculpture now being made at Stone Mountain, Georgia, is completed. This is a statuary group of General Robert E. Lee at the of his troops, and when finished will show over a thousand has relief figures of gigantic size. Tho head of General Lee's horse, ,for example, will bo 50ft. long. DRY GOODS THAT MELTED. It only within the last century that the English people have learned to temper surnmor heat .with iced drinks, says a London writer. The first cargo of Norwegian ice taken to England by some enterprising merchant, whose name is undeservedly forgotten, arrived in the Thames in Juno, 1822, The cargo being novel, the customs officials had to deliberate long and earn' estly as to the heading under which it could be classified for duty.*' When at length they decided to call it "dry goods" the entire cargo of 300 tons was found to have melted.

A VERY ACCURATE CLOCK. America's most accurate clock ticks off the seconds with a variation of two onehundredths of a second a day. Enclosed in an airtight chamber at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, this clock is used for measuring time intervals at the bureau. The clock is electrically wound twice' a minute and has contact by which it may send records signals to any part of the bureau. Its time is checked each day by comparison with the noon signal from the Naval Observatory, which uses solar observations to set the nation's time. ROYAL STAMP COLLECTORS. While most people pass through the stamp-collecting phase, many enthusiasts retain their enthusiasm for tho rest of their lives. How many may be realised from a perusal of " Who's Who in Philately,' the international philatelic directory. The 2500 entries in the directory represent the residue of 20,000 forms sent out for this year's issue. The list of Royal philatelists is nowadays an imposing one. Headed, of course, by King George, it includes the Prince of Wales, Queen Elena of Italy, Kings Alfonso and Albert, the Crown Princes of Italy, Sweden and Japan, the Queen of the Belgians, the King of Yugoslavia King Ahmed Fuad, and ex-King Manoel. CUSTOM OP BURIAL AT SEA. Considerable interest has been evinced in American maritime circles in the decision given in the Supreme Court recently, which practically sustains th» ageold custom of burial at sea. The »etion was against the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for £2OOO damages each to Mrs. Katharine Huff and five relatives because Mrs. Huff's husband was buried "at sea without her consent. v Mr. Huff had sought to improve ..his health by an ocean voyage, but had become worse, and had died aboard the ship. The officers of the vessel stated that there was no alternative but burial, at sea. Tho jury failed to reach an agreement, and the case was dismissed. THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY. El Ashar, where some students have come into collision with the authorities for daring to wear European dress,- is probably "tho oldest university in the world, unless it can bo believed that King Alfred founded Oxford. The El Ashar University is almost as old as Cairo itself, and gives gratuitous instruction to more than 10,000 students from all parts of tho Moslem world. Not one of these need give a piastre for education or maintenance. Their text-book is tho Koran, which is supposed to contain all human wisdom and knowledgo. The Mosque of El Ashar was repaired and greatly beautified at his own expense by Tewfik Pasha when he was Khedive oi' Egypt. AGED , AND GREAT WINES. There seems a certain reluctance. to taste the bottle of port, supposed to be 200 years old, which has been found during excavations in Gresham Street, London. There was, however, no such hesitation about a very famous pipe of Madeira, which has undergone an even stranger adventure. Tiie %'essel carrying this wine was sunk off the mouth of the Scheldt in 1778, and was in 18i4 dredged up by a lucky accident. It was promptly secured at a high price for the royal cellar of Louis XVIII., and when, some time after, a remnant of forty-four bottles came into the market, competition was so keen that the ultimate purchaser, one of the Rothschilds, had to pay literally its weight in gold.