GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

WORLD'S CAVALRY RECORD, Polish cfivalry officers have established a new world record for loug distances on horseback by covering 310 miles in 48 hours 40 minutes. The previous record for the same distance was held by France, with a time oi 60 hours 40 minuUs. THE COW THAT CAME BACK. Dogs and cats, especially the latter, often refuse to recognise their transfer from one owner to another, returning again to their old homes.. Now and then a cow will do the same thing. The other day a farmer near Conway, in North Wales, sold his cow into Denbighshire. Next morning she was found in her old home, waiting to be milked, fcjiio must have crossed the Conway River, walked through Conway town, and leaped a l'our-foot wall to get there. PLACE NAMED AFTER NOVEL. Children named after a favourite novel arc not uncommon, but literature has not gene! ally had much influence on placenames. An exception, however, can be found m Westward Ho! in Devonshire. The name was chosen in honour of Kingsley's famous story, the scene of which was largely laid in the district. Westward IIo! itself is modern enough, but the neighbourhod is rich in antiquities, including the scene of a Saxon victory over the Danes in 877, when Alfred feigned. "THE MAN WITHOUT TOES." The Livingstone Film recalls an interesting fact about the- arrival of the great explorer at the village of the famous, but wicked, chief Kazembe, the entiance to which was through a gate of human skulls As David Livingstone approached the natives began to sing. The words of the song were: "Here comes the Englishman, the Englishman, the Englishman who has no toes." He was wearing boots, and they did not realise it. The song is still heard on the shores of Lake Mweru. SNAKE IN A BICYCLE WHEEL. A strange snake story comes from Africa. A clergyman was making a long journey by bicycle, accompanied by carriers, when he found pedalling more difficult, as if someone .were pulling the bicycle back. He dismounted and found a snake coiled round the hub of the wheel, and partlv entangled in the chain The snake was making frantic efforts to get free. One of the carriers beheaded it with his spear, and the body was uncoiled The snake was found to> be over three and a-half feet long. It must have darted across the path B,nd been caiight up by the wheel. A BRONZE AGE SKELETON. The complete and well-preserved skeleton of a man belonging to the early . Bronze Age has been discovered on Niton Down, Isle of Wight. The skeleton was buried in a shallow chalk grave, in a crouching position, according to the custom of the period. A quantity of broken pottery, evidently of the same period, was found near. As the Bronze Age in Britain—when 'bronze began to supplement stone for material for weapons and utensils—is estimated to have been about 1800 to 900 8.C., the,skeleton is that of a Briton who lived probably over 3,000 years ago. DOCUMENT IN BURIED BOTTLE. In 1857 the lease of a certain property in London was granted by the Clothworkers' Company to a Mr. Sari, and apparently he was hopeful that it would become,' in a sense, n heirloom. Accordingly he had prepared a document on vellum, beautifully written, stating that on June 19 of that year it was deposited in a boitie on the site, in the presence of himself, his wife, and the members oi their ■• family. The hope that Mr, Sari entertained, however, was nqt realised, and six years later the property passed into the hands of a bank. Now the bottle has been dug up in the course of excavations for the new offices of Lloyds Bank. SCHOOLS FOR SERVANTS. ' Schools for the training of domestic servants will shortly be established in Birmingham, if the Ministry of Labour approves of a scheme that has been laid before it by the employment committee of that city. The proposal is that girls should enter upon a course of do- ( mestic training immediately on leaving elementary schools. i The subjects taught will include cookery; laundry work, housewifery, needlework, and hygiene. Courses will be' of 12 months' duration, and girls attending such schools will receive a maintenance . allowance, probably six shillings a week, plus travelling expenses, while undergoing training. ST. PAUL'S BALL AND CROSS. St. Paul's ball and cross, lately in the hands oi the cleaners, which look so small viewed from the London street level, weigh together approximately four tons. The cross is 30ft. high, and is solid. The ball, which is hollow, measures 18ft. 6in. in circumference. Twelve people once sat together within the ball afc one time, though what they gained thereby is not easy to divine, since the ball is without outlook. To reach it 627 steps have to be climbed. In 1822, the ball and cross haying been taken down to be repaired, an artist named ''Horner erected a studio on the vacant space, and painted a panorama of London, afterward exhibited at the Coliseum m Regent's Park. LONDON'S GREAT WINE VAULTS. • One of the most notable sights in Lon j clou docks are the wine vaults, which have j been famous for over 120 years. The magnitude of London's wine and spirit trade will be readily realised when it is said that-of the ten million gallons imported into the country annually, over eight;,, million gallons pass through the hands of the " Authority." Into the London Dock come ships laden with wine from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Madena; in fact, from almost every wine-producing country in the world. On being unloaded, the wines and spirits are sampled and tested for strength by the Customs Laboratory, and the casks are guaged and measured. The duty having been assessed, the wines are removed to the vaults, which are among the largest vaults in the world and throughout winter and summer are kept at a constant temperature of 60 deg! ccs Fahrenheit. BRITAIN'S LAST LOTTERY. The suggestion that a State lottery should be instituted in Britain in order to help the Exchequer to meet the losses caused by the coal dispute gives particular interest to a recent centenary. On October L 8 it was a hundred years since the last lottery was drawn in Britain—on October 18, 1826. Before lotteries were abolished the Government drew an annuai revenue ! >t £250,000 to £300.000 from this source, and some important public works were financed from the proceeds of lotteries The earlier Westmmstei Bridge was built in this way, about the middle of the 18th century. The famous Adelphi Terrace, and the surrounding streets in the Strand, built by the brothers Adam, were disposed of by lottery After a time, however, the evils of lotteries speculation, by which many people were ruined and driven to suicide, be came so great that unauthorised lotteries were made illegal, and finally even the State' ones were abolished.

BAH OH BOBBED HAIR. The education authorities of a German town have issued orders to all the schools under their supervision forbidding girl scholars to wear their hair short. The officials declare that " boys' heads" are against the principles on -vhich girls' schools are conducted. THE ANCIENT " WEIGH." A treatise written by A 1 Kha/ini more than 800 years ago con Urns tables of specific gravities differing little from the values accepted to-day. Weights appear to have been used in Egypt about one thousand years ago. Nothing known of any other age approaches the fine weighing of the eighth century. AN ANCIENT CEREMONY. The oldest ceremony that has been, handed down from ancient times to the present day is that by which the Corporation of the City of London pays its rent to' the King for two pieces of land. The debt is discharged every year by the presentation of hoiseshoes and horseshoe nails, and by the cutting of faggots with a bill-hook and a hatcnet. A MAN'S LOITERING ARM. When a man was charged at Tottenham, London, recently with loitering in the street for tho purpose of receiving bets, it was stateo that he received the bets while standing inside bis garden gate. The solicitor for the prosecution suggested it might be argued that the man was not iri the street, but he reached over the gate for the slips, so his arm was actually in the street. Defendant was fined £2O. HOW NOT TO SELL A CAR. One of the minor tragedies of life overtook Mr. George Chivers, of London. He decided to sell his 18-year-014 motor-car, and succeeded in finding a purchaser, who was ready to give £5 for the old warrior of the road. Mr. Chivers took the car out to show the buyer, but as a result he was summoned for offences under the Motor-Car Acts, and he was fined £4 10s, with 21s costs. He complains that he is now lis out .of pocket and minus a car. TOBACCO GROWN IN LONDON. Tobacco growing in Hampshire seems a thriving infant industry, but few would guess that tobacco—for consumption—hajs been grown even in London, and in such an unlikely spot as Leicester Square. The grower was M. Phillippe, the founder of the well-known Cavour Restaurant in the Square. In his garden, now built over, he raised not only all his vegetables, but just enough tobacco to make -two big cigars each year. They were carefully preserved until Christmas Day and then smoked, one by himself and the other by some favoured (?) friend. HOTEL AS ROYAL RESIDENCE. How many people could point to a Royal residence that is now a popular hotel ? remarks a London paper. There is one, though. This is the Duff House Hotel, which stands near the River Deveron. In the old days, the Princess Royal and the late Duke of Fife used to inhabit the place. After some years the property was presented to the towns of Banff and Macduff, whose authorities turned it into a sanatorium and then let it as a hotel Princess Arthur of Cpnnaught and Lady Maud Carnegie, the Princess Royal's two daughters, spent a great deal of their girinood there. STREET OF MANY NAMES. King Edward Street, which was recently renamed, has had its name changed more often than • any other London thoroughfare. It was originally called Stinkling Lane, which was the resort of thieves and bad characters generally. Later the street became Cnick Lane, but its evil fame continued. It was in a gully hole here that the Meteyards, mother and daughter, hid the dismembered .body of their murdered parish apprentice, Anne Naylor. This brought the street into such unpleasant notoriety that the inhabitants changed the name to BlowBladder Lane. It was next christened Butcher-Hall Lane, eventually to become apotheosised under its present regal title. MIAMI'S RAPID GROWTH, Miami, Palm Beach, and other pleasure resorts in Florida, which were recently swept by a disastrous cyclone, have practically no history. Thirty years ago they were unknown, comparatively speaking. The great land boom of the last two and a-half years, of which the city of Miami formed the centre, caused many million of dollars to change hands. , One town near Miami, only four years old, has 100 miles oi wide paved streets and boulevard!j with mansions, hotels, theatres, schools, etc., to match two golf courses, and two country clubs. The i property sales in this one enterprise exceeded £10,000,000 in value. TEAR GAS FOR MANOEUVRES. Clouds of real tear gas were used in recent military manoeuvres m England. Every battery of artillery was presumed t3 have a supply of tear-gas shells. When the battery commander indicated that his guns were firing that type oi' shell on a particular enemy's position, an urn pire on the battery's side passed the notification to a fellow umpire with the enemy, and that officer proceeded to empty a canister of gas at the place indicated. The gas was not sufficient to cause injury, but the men in the neighbourhood who hesitated to fix their box respirators immediately, or whose respirators were not in perfect order, found it impossible to restrain their tears. LOVELIEST ISLE OF GREECE. Thasos, which the British Mediterranean Fleet seems to have visited for the first time in the Empire's naval history, is the loveliest of all the Aegean Inlands, and has possessed strategic importance ever since the time of Thucydides. It has an interesting connection with Egypt. Mohammed Ah, the greatest of the Khedives, was once a sailor or slave in Thasos and was presented with his native island by the Sultan. The goldmines and marble quarries which he coveted seem now to be exhausted, but this wellwooded islet still retains the chief timber trade of the Levant. Nearly all the timber of Egypt, which has practically no trees except date palms, is obtained from Thasos. EPITAPH ON " ISABELLA." 5 Fulham, London, which is now preparing for an Historical and Literary Week, to be held early next year, has one literary treasure little noticed In the „old parish churchyard is a tombstone bearing an epitaph ou " Isabella*—of this parish. Underneath is a verse: — Ye who possess the brightest charms of life. A tender friend, a kind, indulgent wife, Oh, learn their worth. In her beneath tfiis stone These pleasing attributes together shone! Was not true happiness with them combined ? As the spoiled being she has left behind. Neither name nor date mark the spoiled being's decease; merely the comment He's Gone Too. Now there is no one to praise the virtues of Isabella.