GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19762, 8 October 1927, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A WORKING MAN LINGUIST. A self-taught working man who speaks seven languages. Mr. William Marks, of Llanelly, has been taking a party of his mates on a tour through Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Austria. Mr. Mark's services are frequently in request and he often called upon as interpreter in the local police-court. WORLD'S OLDEST HEN DEAD.* The Methuselah among hens is at last dead. The Rhode Island Red hen, owned by Mr G. Male, of Fordington, Dorchester, was 21 years old, and broke the longevity record of the poultry world by two years In old age hens grow weak, and about 14 eggs a year is the most expected of them. Mr. Male's bird, however, was laying well until last year. TOP-SPEED TEACHING. W 7 orking on the principle that all letters are formed with straight lines and circles, Mme. Simon, the widow of a French colonel, claims to be able to teach totally illiterate people to read and write in twenty hours. She says she has obtained conclusive proof of the efficiency of her method by tests on young soldiers from the last batch of French recruits, which included 18,000 men who were completely illiterate. After ten lessons of two hours each, the men were' able to read and write. Three of her pupils broke all records and took only eight lessons of one hour each. Mme. Simon has been authorised by the French Minister of War to start a special course for illiterate soldiers at V ittcennes barracks. WHERE MEN MUST MARRY. Whenever there has been talk of a tax inn bachelors in .New Zealand, theio has "been a chorus of protest. \et our bachelors may consider themselves lucky, for among th- Eskimos of JNorthern Canada marriage is compulsory. Christian Leden, the Norwegian explorer who recently returned from a three Tears' stay among them, says that no people live a cleaner family hie than the Eskimos. Each man has as many wives as ho can support, and al! are remarkably good-natured. Bad temper is considered a sign of being possessed by a devil, and lyins is a crime punished by death. Leden came across only one woman who waj, not married, and that was due.to • e fact that her hair was too short. Evidently the shingle and the Eton crop would not be popular with Eskimos! SUCCESS AFTER 14 YEARS. Curator of the Royal Botanic Society, Mr J. L. North has, after experiments extending over nearly 14 years atised the Manchunan soya bean an olproducing plant from which P va y ing from linoleum to printer s ink can be ™This year Mr. North hopes to be able to supply enough of the seed for of land, and next year, *?sum«ng that weather is favourable, there should enough for 100 acres. The sova bean grows to a height oi about 18in, and the straw can be used as a food for dairycows- TtooU produced from the bean is . than and the fat from it is worth moxs than twice as much as the best tallow Fqr making the best soaps the fat> is aim essential, and is fetching to-day about £B4 a So&

WORLD'S SERMON RECORD. Who holds the world's sermon record? With the exception of John Wesley, no other British clergyman, it is claimed, has preached so many sermons as Canon Hay Aitken, the eighty-six-year-old Vice-Dean of Norwich Cathedral. Canon Aitken has preached 22,000 serous, which is 5000 short of Wesley's record. PRISON FOR CHILD SMOKERS. The Government of the canton of Obwalder (Switzerland) has reintroduced a law, passed eight years ago and since obsolete, which prohibits persons of both sexes under eighteen years of age from smoking. Penalty toi the first offence is one week in prison, with a fine of £4, which is doubled for the second offence. BURGUNDY FOR HENS. That burgundy is an excellent tonic for young chickens, and also causes hens to lay better and increase in weight, is stated to have been proved . by M. Pages, a French physiologist He made experiments on "a farm where Leghorns are raised, and found that three-months-old pullets that had been given red wine mixed with a little sugar, .sand, later, mash moistened with wine, were heavier and fatter than those fed without wine. To start with it is stated the young chickens should be given a teaspoonful of sweetened five-year-old burgundy every second day, and. later, wine in mash. In Luxemburg the peasants often give red wine to their poultry. MEN'S ODD DRESS SUITS. American visitors who have been attending Ixjnclon social have expressed much surprise at seeing some men's dress suits which seem to them to liave come from a musical comedy show. What would one say to a light blue jacket, or a white jacket, with light blue borders and lapels ? Yet these are quite orthodox in London because they stand for scholastic or university honours. The Leander Club members, who wear special evening dress, are rowing stars of the universities. Their evening dress con sists of a dinner jacket of dark blue cloth with brass buttons, dark blue braided trousers, a single-breasted dark blue waistcoat with brass buttons, a dark blue tie, black patent shoes and socks of the celebrated Leander pink. THE LONDON ZOO'S LARDER. Can one visualise a bunch containing 237.986 bananas ? If so. he will have some idea of the enormous annual consumption of this fruit by the animals at the London Zoo. This is only one of the astonishing things revealed by the annual report of the Zoological Society. Here are a few of the most interesting itemß provided by the Zoo "housekeeper" - Dried flies, 5051b.; herrings and whiting. 44|ton.; onions, 4cwt.; shrimps, 1825 pints; meal-worms. 2501b.; condensed milk, 12.624 tins: sunflower seed, 9' quarters; potatoes, 33f tons; and biscuits, 9 tons 2cwt. The special delicacies included plaice, 1 ton 18cwt.; eggs, 25,200; oranges, 19 014; lettuces, 19,401, greens. 2193bushe'ls; apples, 6 tons; dates, More substantia] faro was 383 tons of hay, clover, and straw and 492cwt. of oats, wheat, and other gram*

POPE AND MOTOR-CARS. By order of the Pope, all horse-drawn vehicles in the Vatican are to bo substituted by motor-cars. In the furtherance of his decision, the Pope has sent a representative to Milan, the centre of the Italian motor industry, to select for him a suitable car. The Pope already has a car, in which he has been going for daily drives iu the Vatican gardens. LONDON'S TRAFFIC PEKIL. In the first three months of this year 214 persons were killed in street accidents in the metropolitan area of London. Of this number 75 were killed by trade and commercial vehicles, 69 by private motorcars, 23 by motor-cycles and 17 by omnibuses. In all 21,342 accidents occurred in the streets, causing damage to persons or property. Private motor-cars were involved m 7483 of this total, and trade and commercial vehicles in 5349. THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD PLANT. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, London, possesses a plant that was old at the time of the Norman Conquest. A native of South Africa, where it is commonly called "Kaffir bread," it is known to botanists by the formidable title of Encephalartos Altenstcinii. By qompariiig the number of the leaf scars on the trunk with the number of fronds produced annually, scientists have calculated that it is at least 1000 years old, and may be much older. It gets practically no nourishment from outside, but carries within itself a supply of both food and water, and it is due to the fiict of these being used by the Kaffirs in times of scarcity that the plant "owes its popular name. THE GALLANT AEETHUSA. The last ship to go into action under sail was the Aretliusa, now a training ship for boys, off •Greenhithe, Is.ent. The fact was disclosed by the chairman of the committee of management, Mr. Howson F. Devitt, at the recent annual prizegiving on board. The Arethusa, built in 1842, was on service in the Crimea, and was set on fire there. She had now become what was called "hogged," and her timbers on the port side were rotten. They were having the best advice, explained Mr. Devitt, and were determined to keep the ship, but this meant they must have money. The ship cost from £12,000 to £14,000 a year to run. HORNET'S NEST IN BERLIN. Roe-kid coats, advertised by several firms as the latest thing in women's fashions, have stirred up a hornet's nest in Berlin. Members of Parliament, hunters, sportsmen and numerous nature lovers have joined in protest against "such a gross nuisance, condemning young deer only a few weeks old to brutal slaughter to satisfy the passing whim of certain women." It is alleged that if the fad becomes popular it will menace all German game preserves, for the conservation of which so much is being done, since it will mean the "wholesale butchery and ultimate extinction of all young deer." Inspired by the German Association for the Preservation of Game and the German Chamber of Huntsmen, all parties of the Reichstag, with the exception of the Communists, passed a resolution demanding "that the Reichstag adopt measures prohibiting the manufacture, advertising and sale of all articles of wearing apparel made of roe-kid skins in t]i£ federated states."

LONDON'S OLDEST GROCER. The oldest grocer in London, Mr. Ernest W Bedford, of Beli Yard, has celebrated his seventy-first birthday by refusing a handsome " birthday present.' It was an offer to buy his shop and the floors above it which have existed since shortly after the Fire of London, and have been in his family since 1716. The little shop is now wedged in between a forest of great banks and ofiices. In 1917, Mr. Bedford was offered £25,000 for the property, but refused. OFFICIAL'S CYCLING RECORD. After acting as Clerk of the Peace to Surrey County Council for 37 years, Mr. T. W Weeding is retiring, at the age of 81. On Mr. Weeding consenting to act in an advisory capacity, he will be granted £ISOO a year for life, while a successor is to be advertised for at £2500 per annum. Mr. Weeding is well known as a cyclist. He purchased his first bicycle in 1869, and for years rode a machine the front wheel of* which was 60£ in. high. This bicycle Mr. Weeding, who is 6ft. 4in. in height, rode through every county in England except one, covering 40,000 miles. RUSSIAN BANKNOTES. A surprising run on the old Tsarruble has been attracting the attention of German banking circles. They are at a loss to explain this sudden and increasing demand, chiefly by German and English bidders, for the practically demon? tised Russian banknotes. Some people believe that a British movement is on foot to propagate and lend financial backing to a Russian monarchical restoration. Others think it is merely a scheme on the part of a number of smart speculators who hope later to sell these valueless banknotes at a profit. LANDMABKS IN ABAB PBOGBESS. Tho Governor of Fez, Pasha Bouchata el Baghdadi, has acquired a typewriter. This may seem an inconsiderable incident, but it is, in fact, freighted with much significance as another landmark in Arab progress. Last year an automobile was given to tho Governor. At first he vehemently declared that ho never would enter that "carriage of Satan," though afterward he mad 6 much use of it and got great pleasure from it. Now this progressive official accepts without, demur a typewriter, perhaps tho more readily because General Chambrun, the diplomatic French officer who placed it before him, took pains to have it type for him in Arabic the words "God bless our lord the Pasha." KING FUAD'S PALATIAL YACHT. When King Fuad of Egypt goes sailing on tho Nile he goes in a new royal yacht i which is quite royal, yet different from j tho usual variety of royal yachts in that I it has paddle-wheels specially designed to navigate the river, similar to steamboats on the Mississippi and other American rivers. The Kassed Kheir, as she is named, is 237 ft. long and develops a speed of nine and one-half knots against the current. . Dust and insects have no chance of getting into the royal- apartments, since they are protected by a system of ventilation by which cool or warm air is supplied as desired and can be "dried or moistened.* The King's apartments comprise an observation room, drawing room, bedroom and ante-room. The Queen's suite is similar and there are suites for royal guests. The furniture is of walnut and tulip wood.