GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20366, 21 September 1929, Page 9 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

TEE / WORLD'S OLDEST STEAK.

The oldest steak in the world hangs over a shop in Sheffield. Ninety-three vears ago tlio purchaser paid for it. Unng it up. and I will call for it later," ho told the butcher. The man never appeared, and to this day the relic hangs at the entrance of the same shop. It is odourless and scales only a quarter of its original weight.

NEW ROADS TO ROME.

More and better roads are being built in* Italy. Already 40,000 men aro employed "in reconstructing and improving the main roads, and now Signor Mussolini has given orders that all roads leading in and out of Romo within a radius of 50 miles must bo completely renovated and perfected within the next year. Jtoads leading from abroad and bearing the bulk of road traffic, are also being improved. More than 3750 miles of road have already been reconstructed or aro under construction.

TAX ON GERMAN BACHELORS

A tax on bachelors has been imposed by the City Council of Gotba. Every nian of 30 "or over who possesses an income fif over £l5O will bo forced to pay 10s a month while he, remains unmarried. The bachelors havo appealed to the Government of the Reich, and have succeeded'in getting a decision from the Ministry of Defence against tho tax. Gotha Citv Council is, however, stubbornlv defending its decision. Tho bacho lors declare that, if the worst comes to the worst, they will pay rather than marry.

RECORDS IN TRAIN JOURNEYS

To tkei credit of tlio British railways is the record for the longest regular nonstop run in the world, which is held by the Flying Scotsman, between King's Cross and Edinburgh, a distanco of 393

V recent analysis of train speeds throughout the world showed that in avera-'o speed and frequency of train services, Great Britain is still slightly ahead of any other country. Tho number of daily " non-stop" runs exceeding 100 miles is MO, tho average speed of the majority of which is 50 to GO miles an hour.

GERMANS IN FOREIGN LEGION.

One of tho roost curious exhibitions #V er held in Berlin is that of tho French : Foreign Legion, or rather of the Gorman i League against the Foreign Legion. extraordinarily high figures are given of 35 000 Germans serving under the trench flag of whom, on an average, 7000 die every year and are recruited again. There is little to be seen except letters. I photographs, and pathetic last wills and testaments, together with comes of the hichlv-coloured romances which first Jed German youths to think of retrieving honour and fortune in. the army whose | servico is the hardest in the world.

CHILDREN'S PENNY A WEEK.

Because well-to-do children in Glasgow ! have been putting by a penny or halfpenny a week 6000 schoolchildren from ' the poorest parts of the city are having a fortnight's holiday by the sea or in the country this year . ; There are 38,000 schoolchildren in Glaseow whose parents cannot afford to give them a holiday. The Children * Holiday Cainp Fund helps the neediest. The fund U run hy voluntary workers, teachers employed by the Glasgow Education Authority, who give their spare time to collecting subscriptions or arranging entertainments for the cause. Their steadiest subscribers are schoolchildren.

PIONEER OF THE PENNY POST

Fifty years ago Sir Rowland Hill was presented with the freedom of the City of London as a tardy acknowledgment of the great service he rendered in the establishment of a penny post. It was in 1837, that llill published his famous pamphlet recommending that within tho United Kingdom tho rate for letters jpot exceeding naif an ounco in ■weight should bo ono penny. The uso of postage-stamps was mentioned almost diffidentlv, for Hill wrote: " Perhaps the difficulties might bo obviated by using a bit of paper just largo enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash which, by applying a little moisture, might be attached to tho back of the letter." Tho Act empowering the penny post received the Royal Assent in 1839.

PROFESSIONAL DOG-WASHER.

Keeping a dog is 0110 thing, but denning it is another, and any dog-owners in England have welcomed with relief tho arrival pf a card bearing tho announcement: "I wash your dog, if you have one." The card is followed by its sendc-r, who is a capable man willing to undertake the work for a modcrato lee. 110 carries soap and powders with him, and sets about his task in a workmanlike fashion, treating his charges to a good brush-up as a preliminary to tho more onerous job of bathing the animal. A coaxing, affectionato manner with flogs stands the man in good stead, and he rarely has any trouble in making them docile enough to avoid the splashing usual with tho unprofessional or unwilling washer. An addition to this_ man s income is made possible by tho sale of dusting powders and brushes.

DRAMA OP RUNNYMEDE.

Visions of the past wero aroused by the gathering of Englishmen at Runnymede on a Sunday,, a few weeks ago, to pay tribute to the memory of their thirteenth-century predecessors who wrested Magna Cha.ita from King John. Amongst those present was Lord Saye and Selc, a direct descendant of tho Lord Sayo who was one of tho barons appointed to enforco the observance of the Charter.

A few years apo this historic spot was offered for sale by auction by the officials controlling the Crown lands. It may have been that tho £164 a year derived from three tenants was not a sufficiently profitable return. Anyway, " Lot 8, coloured yellow," duly made-its appearance on the auctioneer's catalogue. Fortunately no *>lfer up to the reserve was received, so that the ground still remains Crown property. To prevent any further danger, tho Magna Charta Society was founded as guardians of Runnymede.

SCHOOL FOR HORSES.

Caesar and Castor, the late Lord Rosebery's favourite carriage horses, which havo been presented to the King and Queen, will have to attend school and take music lessons before they,are allowed to appear in State processions. _ Each afternoon they will bo taken, with the younger, animals in the Royal stables, to the tiding school at Buckingham Palace Mews, for exercise amid waving flags and the music of the stnblo " band." Grooms, postilions, stable hands, and the Royal coachmen take a hand in tho performance, dressed in Guards' uniforms, complete with busbies, bringing with them the queerest assortment of instruments which ever combined to givo forth music. " The entertainment goes on for about half an hour every afternoon to get the horses accustomed to the noises of public demonstrations, crowds, bugles, the sound of music close at hand, and the_ vivid colours of military uniforms," said one of the Royal coachmen. "To set a good example we bring some of the,older and more experienced horses to school. They have a steadying effect on the youngsters.

CREMATION IN OWN HOME.

Mr. Charles Jean Renaud, Peking's oldest foreign resident, died recently. He was 82 years of age, and had resided for over forty years in Peking and fifty years in China Mr. Rommel was a wealthy recluso. He made a death-bed request that his own servants should cremate his body in his own house

CARDS IN THE CLOUDS.

A ceiling specially decorated by hand at a cost of i'looo is one of tlio features of a new £33,000 aeroplane. There is room for eight passengers while tlio appointments include a lounge complete with bridge tables and reclining chair, an electric kitchen, and an electric refrigerator.

ZOO IN A LONDON STABLE

A horsekeeper at a London milk distributing depot possesses a collection of birds and animals which live on friendly terms, not only with the 100 other horses stabled at the depot, but with ono another.

Included in this private zoo are two Indian monkeys, a wild hare which has been tamed, a vixen which accompanies her owner on walks round London, and a number of rabbits, pigeons, canaries, and foreign birds.

BUBBLES AT NURSERY SCHOOL

Hubble-blowing, kite-flying and paddling aro to be part of tho c.Vilv piogramrno at a nursery school to be built m Liverpool. There will bo a sand-pit for the 200 infants, who will attend tho school to dig in, and iho children will feed and care for bird and animal pets. Babies of two years of age will bo able to attend the school, which will have a garden.

THE BAY OF BISCAY.

Where is the Bay of Biscay'! It does not exist to-day in French geographies. Tho name " Biscayo " occurs only once in tho best French atlas, and then it is applied to a district on Spain's northern coast on a sixteenth century map. From that time to this the name has disappeared, as far as the French cartographer is concerned.

The main body of tho sea from Cape Or legal in Spain to the island of Ushant, off Britanny, which is known on' English maps as tho Bay of Biscay, is simply the Atlantic Ocean *in French geographies.

A CAREER OF ADVENTURE.

Mr. W. Marr is among thoso who were to sail on tho Polar vessel Discovery when it. loft the Thames on another exploration of tho Antarctic under Sir Douglas Mawson. Mr. Marr, who has been appointed as a specialist in the scientific section, has had a career full of adventure. In 1921, ns Scout Marr, ho became famous as Shacklotou s choice for the Quest. After his return from the expedition he studied at Aberdeen University, and his • graduation —in 1925 —was expedited to allow him to join the Algarsson expedition to tho North Polo. Sinco then Mr. Marr has been exploring in the Antarctic with the Discovery, and roturned only a few days ago. lie was only 18 when ho went with tho Quest, and on tho eve of his third Antarctic expedition he is only 26.

FRANCE'S MANY RULING ORDERS.

Someone the other day spoke of Napoleon 111. as " King of France." In point of fact, Charles X. was tho last King of France, Louis Philippe having been " King of the French." Napoleon I. established' the title of Emperor of the French, and when Napoleon 111. appeared after the Second Republic, ho was elected " Emperor." In the century from 1770 to 1870 France was in turn a kingdom, a republic, an empire, a kingdom, a republic, an empire, and, finally, a republic. Rumour has it that Signor Mussolini is considering raising tho King of Italy to the rank of Emperor of the Italians. Disraeli made Queen Victoria Empress of India, and Bismarck had King William of Prussia proclaimed German Emperor.

THE WORLD'S HOLIDAYS.

During tho present year there aro only eighty-four davs on which the banks are open'all over" tho world. On every one of the other 281 days somo nation will be celebrating a civil or religious holiday or observing tho Sabbath. Only one of those holidays is universal. This is New Year's Day, and eleven different dates are observed by various countries as tho beginning of a new year. Five Christian countries do not observe Christmas as a legal holiday. Brazil leads the nations in the number of its holidays. It has eighty-four and the United States is second with fiftyfour. France observes eighteen formal holidays during the year, and Italy twenty-three. Germany observes twenty days. "G. eat Britain sixteen, Japan fifteen, and Rusun seventeen, t Among the favourite months for holidays the world over, November leads, with twenty-six out of its possible thirty dajs. May comes next with twenty-five.

PEOPLE WHO ARE LEFT-HANDED

Left-handedness is hereditary, according to statistics published in " The Journal of Heredity." In families in which one or both of the parents aro left-handed 17.34 per cent of the children are lefthanded, while in families in which neither of tho parents aro left-handed, only 2.1 per cent, of the children aro left-handed. If left-handedness were not inherited thcro would not bo more than fivo per cent, of left-handed children in any of these families. That there is somo sex influence is evident f rom the larger num her of left-handed boys It is also apparently transmitted differently where the father is left-handed.

Against tlio hereditary theory there have been cited 21 cases of apparent iden tical twins, in which one was loft-handed and the' othei not. But these cases prove nothing. I'he proper explanation of this is " mirror, imaging," so often found in identical twins, or it may possibly be the pre-natal position of tho right-hand twin, which would prevent it developing Into a right-handed child.

POKING FUN AT CRICKET

" If you want to play cricket, you have to blot out time altogether," writes Mr. Alan Ivemp, in a skit on the gamo in the London Sketch " Anything in tho naturo of vulgar hurry is bad form. While tho principle of it all is hitting a ball with a bat, a scientific analysis of big cricket recently made by a loading authority reveals the ingredients of this truly British game of dignity and repose to be:— J Per Cent. Sitting in pavilion 25 Luncheon and ten . . . . . 10 Fieldsmen walking miles after every six balls . . . . . 10 • Fieldsmen walking iniles for lefthanded 'batsmen . . .10 Bowler collecting _ ball, walking away from wicket, running up to wicket 10 Intervals between innings . . G Batsmen coming in and going out . . . . . . . 5 Captain moving out-fieldsmen five inches to right . . . . 6 Bowler moving out-fieldsmen five inches to left . . . . . . S Batsmen moving sightboard . . 5 Batsmen moving sightboard back again 6 Batsmen patting imaginary spots on wicket . . .... . . 4 Batsmen hitting ball with bat . . 1