GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

LOUD-SPEAKERS fob police. The police authorities of Camden, New Jersey, as a means of aiding in the regulation of motor and pedestrian traffic, are installing loud-speakers in several of the most important traffic towers. The voice of the constable on duty can be heard above the din of motor horns and other street noises. DEAF AND DUMB COUPLE. During an inquest at Stepney recently on Scates. aged 38, of Whftechapel, it was stated that deceased was struck deaf and dumb through falling down .1 well when a child, and that the husband became similarly afflicted as the result of fcarlet' fever. ,< t post-mortem revealed that the woman's heart weighed 21oz. A verdict of 'iieuiti 110 m natural causes" was returned. CHAUNCEY DEFEW'S THBIFT. Mr. Chsuncey M. Depcw, tamous for inany years in the United States and elsewhere as an after-dinner speaker, has long preached thrift, and even for a longer time has practised it. This last fast has just become known with the disclosure that Mr. Depew has the first £2O he ever saved, and that it has been earning interost since 1861. He deposited it in tho Peekskill Savings Bank, and it has grown to £220. the tide that failed. For the first time on record the tide failed to come in at Parkgate, on the Dee estuary, Cheshire, on a recent morning. The water came no further than Heswall, three miles away The Dee estuary is 13 miles in length, and Heswall the highest point reached by the tide mentioned, is scarcely half that distance. The failure of tho tide to reach Parkgate, was due to a strong westerly pale. This blew up a big bank of sand, the effect of which was to hold up the inflow of the water. In the afternoon, how--'Ever, the water reverted to its normal •course, and the tide came in as usual. CBESS QUEEN'S WBEATH. " You shall have a wreath of watercress when you die, mother. I his itnomise, made laughingly to the London Watercress Queen, Mrs. Elizabeth James, ijby her sons and daughters, was fulfilled (It her funeral recently. A huge wreath of watercress lav on the Coffin of Mrs James, a familiar figure at Co vent Garden for more than 50 years, tvho cultivated vast beds of cress at Hurstfhourne. Hampshire. A limousine brought 'Breaths, a donkey barrow brought a load ef flowers. The wreath of watercress only Was lowered into the grave, but many friends of the deceased dropped posies ol flowers on the coffin as they filed past. LONDON AND LONDON CITY. Interesting, indeed, is the fact brought tout by the retirement of a woman registrar in London after 30 years in public llervice, that the population of the City fcf London has decreased from *AOOO when the took over her duties, to 13,000 now. *'What ? " you say, "London has a popullation of only 13,000?" No, that is not lit. The City of London is referred to, and (did you know that the City of London Covers only about one square mile. 01 Course, London, generally speaking* now lis rated as having nearly 7,000,000 population. But there's a difference between London (generally speaking) and the City of .Condon,

BEAUTIFUL BED DIAMOND. A red diamond which appears to sparkle with inward fires has been cut in Amsterdam, and is declared to be an unparalleled speciman. This valuable gem was discovered in the Lichtenburg mine in South Africa some months ago, and weighed, uncut, 18£ carats. It now weighs only 5£ carats, but is so unusually bfeautiful that its value cannot be estimated. STANLEY'S OLD BOAT. The boat used by Henry Stanley 50 years ago in his voyage of discovery to the Congo has recently been taken to Ostend, where the municipality intend to place it on a pediment. On one side of the pediment a medallion of Stauley will be placed. The boat is made out of sheet iron. On tho bows are initials A.J.A. (Association Internationale Africaine). It is 39ft. long and 7ft. wide. • TALLEB GUNNEBS. The British Army Will have taller gunners in future. The War Office stated that until further orders the minimum, height for all recruits, for. the Royal "Artillery will bo sft. 7ins. ' Tho minimum formerly was sft. sin. The two extra inches have been added to smarten up the gunners, and because shorter men are better fitted for the Tank. Corps and other mechanised branches of the Army, where small stature is essential. . i . ' , DISPLAY IN TABLE WABE, Manufacturers of the porcelain for which Worcestershire has for so long been famous are blessing the latest American craze for "display ' dinner and' tea services (i.e., sets which are kept on the tablo except at meal times, when they make way for more utilitarian ware). - • These display sets cannot be too gorgeous or elaborate for the somewhat .eager taste of tho Americans, who insist 011 every square inch that is not thickly overlaid with designs—frequently by wellknown artists —being heavily embossed and chased in gold. EABTH AND ITS PEOPLE. Apart from the Arctic regions, the earth's surface has 33,000 million acres. But only 40 per cent, of this is arable. So that leaves 13,000 million acres available. When account is taken of all that agricultural methods can do at present, or are likely to be able to do in the predictable future, the minimum requirement for each person is 2.5 acres. If this be so, then the earth would support SXO million people, and if the present rate of increase be continued, that will be reached in little over a century. EXPLOSIVE CIGARS. A young athlete at Baden, near Vienna, has attracted attention by his habit Of smoking long cigars - with an cartridge in each. When he feels the explosion is imminent, he holds tne stump between his teeth and lets tho explosion take place. The smoker has iichooled himself to keep his head perfectly still and avoid a recoil by stiffening the muscles di his neck. If an ordinary man smoked an acrasito cigar, ho says, the recoil would almost blow his head off, but he has so trained the muscles of his neck that he will permit anyone to hold a sharppointed instrument close to the nape of Sis neck when the explosion takes place.

QUAINT FUNERAL CUSTOM. Well known as a gipsy fortune-teller at many show-grounds, Mrs. Sarah Pickles, otherwise "Madame Boswell," died at Porfobello recently, aged 78. In accordance with the gipsy custom, Mrs. Pickles' caravan, which had been situated at Portobello for over 30 years, was burned after the funeral. SHOW FOR MONGREL DOGS. Dog owners of the village of Cachen, just outside Paris, have organised a show for mongrels. No dog that has any clear idea of his ancestry will bo admitted. Spots and patches will be assets, not liabilities. Generous prizes are offered, and the judges includo some well-known dog fanciers of France. SNAKE IN A BUNKER. Tho Governor of Assem, Sir Laurie Hammond, lately had a narrow escape ! from being bitten by a venomous snako when playing in a golf foursome with the house party of Shillong. He was by tho eleventh green when the snake came out of a bunker nearb£ and had raised itself to strike. It was seen and dispatched by Captain d'Arcy, A.D.G, by a blow from his mashie-nib-lick. WORLD'S LONGEST ROADWAY. The, largest continuous stretch of concrete roadway in the world has just been completed in America. This road is 137 miles long and passes through 29 towns and villages. •' It is estimated that tho new road will savo thousands df pounds annually, since prior to its beitig reconstructed it was costing as much as £750 a lililo to maintain as a gravel-surfaced road TRAFFIC IN BRITAIN. The last published report of tho Ministry of Transport on railway accidents in Great Britain, which refers to the year 1925, states that only one passenger died as the. result of an accident. The number of passenger journeys in tho year, apart from season-ticket holders, was 1,232,600,000. Moreover, the average number of passengers killed in the six years ending with 1925 was between nine and ten. , FASHIONS IN NAMES, What makes and unmakes fashions in Christian names ? How completely the name Emma has gone out. Perhaps the popular song of "Whoa, Emma," sung and whistled everywhere about 40 years ago, had something to do with this, just as "Jemima" was killed when elasticsided boots were nick-named Jemimas. Percy is a name seldom given to boys nowadays: is it because seaside niggers always address one another as Percy ? And Cuthbert ? Since this was used as a taunt to fling at young men who got off going to the war, has it been shunned by parents ? "MATINEE" AND ITS ORIGIN. It seems inappropriate for the English to describe an afternoon theatre performance as a matinee, as the word comes from the French "matin," moaning morning. Morning, however, is a purely comparative word. The church service of "Matins,", now generally held at 11 a.m., was originally sung at midnight, being literally the prayer of tho very earliest morning. From the French the "matinee" or morning performance of the theatre was that held before "dinner time," and the term was borrowed by the fashionable world to mean an afternoon show at an English theatre.

GARDENING IN LONDON. A garden competition held by the London Evening Standard brought out 12,000 competitors, each with a flower garden at home. Gardening interest has reached the peak of popularity in London. Clerks and office workers now speed home from work to put a few touches on the garden. EATERS OP MEAT. Argentina and Australia are the largest meat-eating countries, with a yearly average per inhabitant of 2501b. and 2201b. respectively. Britain consumes 1201b. of meat per inhabitant a year, while the figures for Germany and Franco are respectively 1021b. and 981b. Beforo the war Italy consumed only ■3olb. of meat for each inhabitant. Her consumption is now about 401b. per inhabitant. V. A MARVELLOUS BUILDING. A combination of features believed never to have been included in any single building in the world are shown in the plans of the new £7,000,000 Fisher Building, latest of Detroit's largo business structures. The plans include a 1000-car garage, a 3000-seat theatre of the most modern type, one wing -of 11- floors devoted exclusively to professional offices, and a full complement of stores and shops so varied that it will bo unnecessary to leave the building for ordinary shopping purchases. INCREASE IN STATURE. According to Professor Parsons, professor of anatomy at London University, Britain is building a new type of man different from his ancestors, and women in Britain are growing taller. The profesor .predicts that the British men of the future will bo of an average height of sft, 9in., and the'women of sft. 6m. or sft. 7in. ' The increasing stature of men is most notable in the upper and middle classes, but as all classes come to share the benefits of eugenics the ( height of the whole community will increase. FAMOUS HOUSE TO GO. One more of .London's famous mansions, Grosvenor Houso, off Park Lane, with its three-feet-thick walls and elaborate ornamentation, has como under the navvy s pick. It is to make way for smart ferro-con-erete suites of offices and service flats, and forms part of tho scheme of a syndicate who havo bought the house and the adjoining property. The house was once tho residence of the Duke of Gloucester, brother of George 111., and has seen many a brilliant function. Tho hugo mahogany doors, panelling and all ornamentation that could bo sold have already gono. VIOAR FOUND DEAD. The Rev. William Pierpoint Rigby, vicar of St. Lawrence, East Bristol, was found dead by. a maid a few weeks ago. He was lying, clad in night attire, with his throat cut. On tho previous day liia wife had undergone a serious operation, and ho had worried over her illness. Mr. Rigby was a pioneer of wireless, being ono of tho first in England to transmit concerts. Ho was known to radio experimentalists over a wide area as " 2GV, Bristol." He became a licentiate in theology at Durham University in 1910, and in the same year he was appointed curate of St. ' George's, Douglas, Isle of Man. He served there for a year, when ho became curate of St. Michael's, Bristol, where he remained until, in 1917, he accepted the living of St. Lawrence in that city. ,