GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20300, 6 July 1929, Page 18 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

HUNGARY AND FEMALE FRANCHISE Tho Hungarian Parliament on April 17, by unanimous vote, discarded a bill that would havo given women thi right to vote jn municipal elections. This was the end of a 10 years' campaign by tho women for tho franchise. Every man who spoko on, tho measure said that woman's placo was in the homo, and not at tho polls. # YOUNG UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT. Dr. Robert Mayriard Ilutchins, tho 30-year-old dean of tho Yalo University Law School, will becomo tho youngest president of n major university in tho United States when he assumes tho presidency of tho. University of Chicago. Dr. Hutchins left college in 1917 to join tho ambulanco. servico of the United States, and served with tho ambulanco corps antil 1919 being dmorated by tho Italian Government for bravery. PRUSSIA DECORATES FRENCHMAN. The German city of Coblenz has decorated Lioutenant Lissc, of tho 23rd French Infantry regiment, by order of tho Prussian Government, with a lifesaving medal for having rescued a five-year-old Gorman boy from tho Rhino. The district president highly praised.tho boroic deed. Every action of this kind, it is felt, aids tho rapprochement of the two nations, and holps to lighten the burden of French occupation of German territory. MARRIED FOR FORTY MINUTES. A workman and his wife in Leningrad have set up a record for tho shortest marriage—forty minutes! They wcro married by Soviet law and left tho offico. Their honeymoon, it seems, was spont on a tram, quanelling, and in less than forty minutes they reappeared at the office to ask for and obtain a divorce. Their quarrel bad been about where to live. Tho girl would not go to the man's rouin bccauso of thin partitions, nor ho to hers, becauso of her mother. —— * A MARQUESS' PARROTS. Tho Marquess of Tavistock, who stated oorno time ago that society life had no pleasures to offer him, is the possessor of tho world's most magnificent collec tion of parrots. Collectors in all parts of the world send specimens to his great aviaries at Warblington, Flavant. Lord Tavistock owns somo parrots that £ro nearly one hundred years old, and one of his choicest treasures is a Latino blue-fronted Amazon which is regarded as a freak of Nature. Its body is a rich golden yellow, while it has a white forehead and red and white wings. • A NEW YORK " SKY-SCRAPER." Ifc is extraordinary to reflect that tho new building to be erected for a bank in Wall street, New York, will be only 160 ft. short of the height of a 1000 ft. mountain! With its 63 storeys and its total height of 840 ft.. this lofty building ehould be one of the sights of the world. Britain's most olevated spire, that of Salisbury Cathedral —merely 400 ft—- . into insignificance, and the distance from the ground to the cross of St. Paul s would have to be added to the height of Egypt's Great Pyramid before it equalled that of the Now York giant. COUNTING BRITAIN'S CHICKENS. It might seem a hopeless task to count the chickens in Britain but a poultry census is taken every year, which gives ns the number* of fowls in holdings of over one acre. When the last census wras taken this amounted to 39,915,578. As hens kept in backyards, which are not included in this figure, are supposed to account for about a quarter of tho total fowl population, this means that chickens outnumber human beings in Britain, the proportions being approximately four to three. Lancashire, which claims to give England tho lead in most things, certainly does lead in poultry. It has a larger poultry population than any other part of the country. A PRISON FOR APPRENTICES How would One liko to have to pay a fee for entering hi 3 own front door ? The vicar of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, has t< do this. Bridewell Place, at tho back of the church wlioro the vicarago is situated was built on land belonging to tho Bridewell Foundation, and tho old dividing wall ran along the lines of the present vicarage railings. Tho result is that thero is no free right of way into tho house, and the vicar has to pay a toll of a guinea a year. Bridowell has had an interesting history Formerly a palace, it became in turn a hospital, a " House of Occupations," a workhouse, and a prison. It ceased to bt> a prison in 1664, when Holloway Gaol took its place, but thero is Btill a cell for City apprentices who may bo committed there by tho City chamberlain. It is never used. MYSTERY OF A GOLD BATON. An 18-carat gold baton—given 29 years ago, by the lato Mr. W. Pritchard Morgan, once Libera] M P. for Mcrthyr, to Mme. Clara Novello-Davies —has reached Scotland Yard in mysterious fashion after being lost for 23 years. Tolling the story. Mmo. Clara NovelloDavies said:—"Mr. Morgan, who was known as the ' gold king ' through his largo interests in gold mining, presented me with the baton after I leturned from my' Chicago triumph with tho Royal ftVelsh Ladies' Choir. " About a year later I tfas giving a Concert at the Queen's Hall, and I aiove thero in a hansom When I got to my drossirig-room I found that my baton was missing. Whether I dropped it or left it in the cab I never found out. This morning Scotland Yard Lost Property Office rang*' me up and said that a mysteri-jus parcel containing a gold baton which hoie my name had been sent to them anonymously. It has since been handed to me, and I found that the label was addressed in an illiterate hand to 'Scotland Vard, Westminster ' " MILLIONAIRE'S GREAT GIFT. A trust fund of £2,000,000 has been created in tho United States by Senator James Couzens for the welfare, health, and happiness of children. Although intended primarily for those living in the State of .Michigan, tho money may also bo used to aid other children throughout the world. Iho annual distribution will amount to £140,00 C? and both principal and income must bo disbursed in 25 years Mental hygieno and child guidance clinics will bo encouraged, and investigations conducted into all subjects bearing on children's health, but no buildings will bo erected noi will" research bo conducted jn the realm of pure science. Mr. Couzens' physician, Dr. Hugo fround, will bo in chargo of tho trustee corporation, which will bo named 1 the Children's Fund of Michigan. Within tho last 10 years, Mr. Couzenn has given away £4,000,000, largely devoted to children. Ho owes his fortuno to his faith in Mr. Henry Ford, for in the days when the motor-car manufacturer was looking round for aid, Mr. Couzens lent faim what surplus he possessed, and ho i lias sinco been enriched a thousand-fold.

TELEPHONES IN UITITED STATES. I Five buildings in New York City—' Wool worth, Graybar, Equitable, New York Telephone, and American Telephone —contain 19,200 telephones—more than ordinarily servo a city of 100,000. This number of telephones ii moro than all New York had in 1885. New telephone wire in the United Su-tes is being added at tho rate of 10 miles a minute. NEW ITALIAN STAMPS, Tho new stamps of Italy, recently issued, are interesting, as they link tho history of ancient Rome with that of modern Italy. Tho designs include busts of Julius Caesar and tho Emperor Augustus, a cas tcllatcd head of Italy, and tho statue of Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf, and portraits of King Victor Emmanuel The Fascist emblems appear on each stamp. MAN WHO SAVED A MINISTRY. Mr. .links after whom the winner of the English Two Thousand Guineas is called, was for somo timo mayor of Sligo. Ho is Alderman John Jinks. Mr. Jinks won an international reputation I for failing at the last minute to support I Captain Willie Redmond's no-confidence motion in tho Irish Parliament two or three years ago. As tho votes cast, for and against, v.-??e exactly equal, his absence saved the Cosgrave Ministry from defeat, PRINCE OF WALES AND A OAT. Reading of the Princo of Wales' atten tion to a kitten at tho Toe H celebration i in London a few weeks ago, which climbed ! on to his knee and went to sleep, recalls I tho fact that there aro men and women ■ so constituted that the very thought of I caressing a cat gives them a creepy feeling. These peoplo cannot sit in a room with a cat. They have an uncanny consciousness if one is hidden anywhere near them. | Famous men have been liko that, Lord Roberts, for example. 22 LANGUAGES IN 14 YEARS. Mr. Harry Robinson, a Leeds railway worker, is master of twenty-two lan guages. He c-an speak English, Fronch, Italian, Russian German, Spanish, and Danish. He can read and writo Greek, Dutch, Persian Esperanto, Swedish, Portuguese, Rulcarian, Chinese, Hindustmi, Arabic, Turkish, Latin, Norwegian, Russian. Serbian and Japanese. Previous to the war Mr. Robinson knew only English and Latin, then ho found a French novel in a railway carriage. and mastered it with the aid of a dictionary All his study has been dono in his spare time sinco then. , WORLD'S LOFTIEST CAPITAL. La Paz. Bolivia, is tho loftiest capital in tho world for it stands on a moun-tain-top 12,407 ft. above sea-level. This is 2000 ft. higher than Quito, in Eucador, and 5000 ft. higher than Mexico City. Its nearest rival for height is tho far-distant Lhasa, in Tibet, which stands at an alti tude of 11,830 ft. j The mean temperature of La Paz is 50 I degrees Fahrenheit, but it i 3 never really | warm there except in tho sunshine, and the cold nights are unrelieved by fireside comforts, for the simple reason that the folk have nothing to bnrn, thero being neither coal nor trees in the desolate mountainous regions around the city. A BOON FOR BATHERS. A large decrease in bathing tragedies at seaside resorts is anticipated, if a new kind of bathing suit, which has just been invented, comes into general use. This suit, although indistinguishable in appear- ! ance from an ordinary one, has special chambers at back and front, which can be blown up either in the water or out. Tho chambers are so arranged that a bather, who becomes unconscious will float face upwards, his head being kept out of tho water. Swimmers, who have tried to »ouch the bottom in these suits have been unable to do so. The inventor, a London doctor, obtained his idea from the air chamber that is often wound round a patient's arm to test his bloodpressure. A patent has just been granted tor the invention. LONDON'S ZOO'S £15,000 MENU. Among the many remarkable facts set forth in the annual report of tho London Zoological Society some of the most interesting aro those dealing with the quantity of food consumed during the past year by tho inhabitants of the Regent's" Park menagerie. There is a long list of dishes, beginning with hay and ending with dried flies; thero appears to bo a much greater demand for vegetables than for meat, 1000 tons of vegetable matter being consumed against 200 tons of flc-sh. I'he vegotablo courses include such varied items as hay, 144 tons; clover, 126 tons; potatoes, 34 tons; grain, 10 tons; grapes, 3 tons; Brazil nuts, 3 tons; bananas. 187,000; oranges, 15,000; greens, 2500 bushels; prepared foods, 12 tons. Other items on the zoo's bill of fare are: Honov, 1111b.; mealworms, 3101b.; cuttlefish bone, 561b.; eggs, 26,000; milk, 10,000 gallons. SWALLOW AS A MIGRANT. A surprising connection has been discovered between Franco and the French island of Martinique in the Lesser An tilles. A swallow habitually, built her nest under the eaves of a certain houso at Saint Avoid, near MeLz. The owner decided to try an experiment, and shortly before the annual migration toward tho end of tho summer attached a message under tho swallow's wing The message read: —" During the summer of 1927 I lived with M. A. R. at Saint Avoid, and when I return to him I am to let him know where I havo been in the interval." The swallow came back arid boro a fresh message homeward, which says:—" During tho winter I havo had my "nest on the houso of M. Bady. in tho island of Martinique, and ho sends by mo his sincere greetings to 'my former host." Martinique being several thousand miles in a roughly south-westerly direction from Franco, this proves tho swallow to be as adept a trans-Atlantic flyer a3 tho pilot? and aerial navigators of to-day. CENTURIES-OLD FIRM. In Franco there is a firm of papermakers that lias been in business continuously since the middlo of tho 12th .century. Tho founder was Jean Monfcgolfier, who joined the Crusades in 1147, was carried a prisoner to Damascus, and was put to work by tho Saracens Wn a null, where for years paper bad been manufactured from cotton.

Tho young prisoner used his eyc3 to good effect, and when freed ho returned to France and established a mill along the lines of the ono in Damascus. Cotton was scarce in France, and Montgolfier, arid his sons spent years trying to find an adequate substitute. Their research ended when they found that hemp and and cloth nude from them, produced a stronger, finer, choaper paper than tho base used by tho Arabs. , ' A descendant of tho first paper-makers of liuropc. Pierre Montgolfier, was honoured by Louis XVI, for his able conduct of the mills at Vidalon The sons of I'ierro were the inventors of tho Montgolfier hot-air balloon. To-day, a grandson several generations removed is re: presented in tho namo of the celebrated firm, Uanson and Montgolfier.