GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A WANDERING BUOY DISCOVERED.

. Two years ago a lifebuoy disappeared from the Canadian coast and was given up as lost; now it has appeared in the Firth of Clyde.

The buoy is 14ft. high, and its gas light is still in good order. After being overhauled at Port Glasgow the wanderer was returned in custody to Canada.

CHAMPION HORN-BLOWING YOUTH

At the Richmond Horse Show in England, Clifford Dewdney, 13 years of age, won the prize for coach-horn blowing. This art has for long been monopolized men old enough to be Clifford's grandfather, but the lad, who showed considerable promise in handling the long horn, was taught by Captain Bertram Mills, who runs the Old Berkeley coach in conjunction with Mr Frank Goddard. THE CAT THAT RETURNED. " Tiddles," a nine-months-old black-and-white kitten belonging to a resident of Farnham, England. toddled off one morning five years ago and did not return. It was mourned for a time then forgotten. The other day a black-and-white cat, hungry and tired-looking, appeared at. the door of the old home, and showed by a display of the little tricks learned in kittenbood that it was riddles. JAPANESE FUNERAL CUSTOM. When the lata Emperor of Japan was borne to his last resting place, the coffin, in accoidance with ancient custom, was carried in a unique hearse, with wheels specially constructed to emit the famous " seven melancholy sounds." These sounds are simply seven different creaks, produced in unison at each revolution bv the friction of the wooden parts of which the wheels are made. Ingenious joinery is required in the construction MEAL THAT WAS NEVER EATEN. A wonderful discovery has been made bv the archaeologists excavating at the ancient Mizpah, north of Jerusalem. An exceptionally fine and well-preserved Israelite house of 25 centuries ago has been found. The house has several romß, in one of which was found a large, four-handled earthenware pot. Most vvonderlul of all, this pot, embedded in the ashos of the fireplace, contains the remains of food which must have been cooking for a meal when the people of tho house left it, never to return ! AN UNSUSPECTED WELL. There is a man in Liverpool who is thankful that he had a small repair done the other day. He has an old house and his children spend most of their time in the kitchen in bad weather. One day it was observed that a flagstone in the kitchen had cracked across. "It must be replaced," they said; but for a little while the repair, like many another small job, was postponed. At length tho craclted stone was taken up, and underneath was revealed a well, half full of fresh spring water. One of the children might have easily have perished in it. This is not the first tme unsuspected wells have been discovered. It was formerly a common thing to have a well in the kitchen.

HABITS OF ARCTIC BIRDS. The males keep house among the rare Arctic surf birds, recent discoveries have revealed. Though this bird has been known to science for 150 years, the first nest and eggs were found only recently on Mount McKinlay, Alaska. From the bird's breeding habits, it is now known that, not only does the father bird hatch the eggs, out he defends them far more valiantly than does the female. FROM PIT TO PULPIT. Mr. William Jones, of Rhos, a young Welsh coalminer. has been called from the pit to the pulpit. He has worked down the mines his boyhood. Mr. Jones began, 'when 20, to win his way out of the pit, and bought books with his earnings, which he 'studied eagerly in his spare time. He began to occupy pulpits in Welsh villages, until gradually lie became known as the coalminer preacher. MONUMENT TO A SCHOOLMASTER. One of the best loved of Eton's masters was the late Mr. H. E. Luxmoro, who took a piece of land near the college and spent 30 years in making it into a beautiful garden. His old pupils, grateful for his help and anxious to keep his gracious memory fdive, have decided to make (he garden his monument. The Old Boys cannot buy the land, but the Windsor Corporation has granted them a 99 years' lease at £32 a year. The Old Etonians will also pay a gardener. AMERICAN DOCTOR'S COURAGE. An interesting story of a doctor's heroism. comes from New York. When Lucy Campbell, a seven-year-old Negro child, was dressing.she put a safety-pin in her mftuth, and it slipped and struck fast in her throat. The girl taken to the New York Emergency Hospital, where Dr. William Cantrell made several vain aterripts to dislodge the pin with his instruments. At last, realising that the child's life was in grave danger, and regardless of the pain and risk to himself, the doctor forced the point of the pm into his own finger, and in this way succeeded in drawing it out. RECORD FOR DEEP BORING. The world's record for deep borings is held by a, Charslor-Canfield Midway Oil Company hole at Brea-Olinda, California, which recently reached 8046 ft. and which it was intended to sink to 10,000 ft. Despite the fact that the well has been drilled past 8000 ft., and may go to 10,000 ft., the oil company does not really expect to get oil at such a depth. All it is seeking is a better knowledge of the strata two miles down, and some firstclass experience in deep well drilling. At 8000 ft. the temperature in the wefl reached 233 degrees Fahrenheit, and increased at the rate of ono degree each 50ft. THE VALUE OF GARNET. Garnet, the red stone formerly so popular as a jewel, is to-day a valuable aid in several industries. For rough grinding, garnet paper, somewhat resembling sandpaper, is made by coating sheets with broken fragments of the stone. Harder than glass or quartz, garnet has the added advantage of breaking up irregularly, always leaving sharp edges exposed. Chips of garnet are often used in inexpensive watches as bearings, instead of the sapphires and rubies required in higher-prices timepieces.

LIFETIME OF A WATCH. —Experts say that the lifetime of a good watch is fifty years. In its daily duties, the balance vibrates 18,000 times every hour, or over 157,000,000 times a year. The hairspring makes a similar number of vibrations, and an equal number of ticks come from the escapement. This is a marvellous record, considering the small quantity of " food " that has been consumed by its constant action. Experts say " food." because, whatever labours must bo fed, and the watch " lives " on about sixteen inches of mainspring every twenty-four hours. A FORTUNE IN A GARDEN. A woman named Maier, who lives in a little villa in the village of Lupvig, Canton of Argovie, found a gold coin as large as a fivo shilling piece bearing the date 1730, when digging in her garden. Mme Maier continued to dig and unearthed a number of gold and silver coins which together weigh 141b., and bear dates from 1730 to 1792. The rare coins, which carry the arms of different swiss cantons, are worth a small fortune, and it is thought that they were buried in 1798, when French troops encamped near the village of Lupvig. A BOTTOMLESS W3LL. One of the most curious and most interesting natural wonders to be found in Arizona is Montezuma Well. This strange lake is located about the centre oi the State in an isolated community. The well itself is some 200 yds. across, and, as far as it has been possible to determine, is bottomless. The water in the well is absolutely clear and pure. It maintains a certain level all the time, which is unaffected by the dryness or wetness of the season. The walls' that rise precipitously above these clear waters and refect themselves in them were at one time the homes of a populous community. For this is the very centre of what was once the cliff dwellers' stronghold in Arizona, a primitive'people in the midst of civilisation WIGS SIX FEET HIGH. The custom of wearing wigs is an ancient one. Egyptian mummies have been found wearing wigs nearly as well made as those of recent times. In early Greece both men and women wore wigs. In Rome no fashicnablo toilet was complete without one, wives of noblemen always choosing dark hair; yellow wigs wore of very little repute. Queen Elizabeth had n large number of wigs, and it is said that when Mary Queen of Scots went visiting her wigs required a special coach. Pepys boldly declared that he spent £3 for a new wig. It was in France, • however, that the fashion of wigs reached its highest point. Louis XTTT , himself nearly bald, started the fashion of wig-wearing, and his Court soon followed his example. AN ANGEL OF NINETY-FIVE. An old lady of 95 living in a quiet square in crowded Southwark has run an orphanage there for over sixty years without once advertising for subscriptions or getting into debt. " Money has been given to me simply in answer to prayer," she says. The'orphanage which cost £25,000 to build, began almost by accident. Miss Sharman kept a little school in tho house of her parents in this Southwark square, and undertook the charge of two small girls who would otherwise have had to go to tho workhouse. Neighbours persuaded her to take others. Now there are 200 and the orphanage has several branches. Most of the children become domestic servants, and several have kept the same E laces for thirty years. Miss Sharman as been kept to her bed recently, but the girls' visit her, and when they are to go out to work she gives them a farewell talk of loving sympathy and advice.

VENTURESOME MARINER. In a twenty-foot sail-boat, Paul Muller, of Berlin, Germany, plans soon to cross the Atlantic. After twenty years as a convict, he intends to start life again m South America. He should reach its shores, he estimates, after three months on the water, though he will have only a compass to guide him. Despite the fact that Muller has never been to sea in all his forty-one years, he steadfastly refuses to believe j.hat has hazardous voyage may end in disaster. VISITORS TO BRITISH MUSEU The absence of the Empire Exhibition no doubt accounted for the drop last year in the number of visitors to the British Museum from 1,110.000 the year before to 1,037,000. In the year before the war the figure was 947,000. The reading room attendances were 172.000, little different from other recent vears, but a startling drop from the 214.000 of 1913. The official guide lecturers had an attendance of 35,000. Sunday attendances at the Natural History ' Museum showed an increase of nearly' 9000, and the total number of visitors was over half a million. "EVIL EYE" ON RUSSIAN CROPS. Women dragging ploughs through the first furtows in the fields to prevent evil spirits blighting the crops may still be scon within short distances of Moscow Idolatrous woiship and superstitions practices continue almost within the shadow of the Moscow Universities, according to a report by the Ethnographic Department of the Commissariat of Education. The God of Hens is still placated with special offerings in villages closo to Moscow, wizards are asked to cure illnesses by applying toads to the skin of the sufferer, quacks and voodoo men conduct a thriving trade. Many other dark and dismal magics persist, in spite of the active educational work of the Government BURIAL CAVES AND SKELETONS. Burial caves, like dwelling caves, are found all over the world, and have done much to throw light on the ways of primitive man. In the cave of Itruipe, ill South America, Humboldt counted 600 skeletons and mummies preserved in baskets woven from the petioles of the palm tree. Along with the skeletons were found sandals, and implements, and oinaments. In burial caves in the Aleutian Islands, Mr. W II Davies found mummies in a sitting posture, which had been carefully wrapped in many wrappings. Besides the mummies were found masks and effigies, awls and needles, axes and arrows. In another cave, in Teneriffe. were found moro than a thousand mummios, which had been embalmed, sewn up in goatskins, and bandaged with leather. HISTORIC INCIDENTS REPEATED. Historic incidents in the centuries-old life of Bridgwater were re-enacted recently betore thousands of people, who went" from all parts of Somerset for tho first performance of the town's pageant in the grounds of Sydenham Manor. One episode showed the arrival of King John; attended by the then Lord of the Manor of Bridgwater, to huut the red deer. The riots during the peasants' revolt were followed by the St. Matthew's Fair in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when tho Bridgwater sailors were greeted on their return from the destruction of the Armada, and Admiral Robert Blakn. Bridgwater's greatest sailor son, bade farewell to his friends before ho left on his last voyage. "King" Monmouth went once more to Bridgwater, the delirious welcome of his reception giving place to his flight from the Battle of Sedgemoor.