GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20490, 15 February 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A HIT IN A MILLION. 'At Ashford, Kent, the firo brigade is Summoned to attend outbreaks of fire in the daytime by the discharge of a maroon, .which is sent up like a rocket and explodes in the air with a loud report.When the maroon was fired the other day to call the brigade together the rocket struck a pigeon in flight and blew It to pieces. Feathers falling to the ground indicated tho fate of the unlucky bird.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST NOISE. Unnecessary noises caused by motorcars are to be outlawed in London. Tho Ministry of Transport has issued an order guiding magistrates to what should bo considered legal offences. Tho banned noises include:—Unnecessary tooting of horns, grinding and squeaking* of brakes, flapping of loose solid tvres, excessively loud horns, tho clatter of badly packed truck loads, backfiring engines, and unnecessary grinding on shifting. MAN OWNS HIS OWN COINAGE. What tnust bo a unique distinctior 71 enjoyed by Mr. J. C. Harman, a financier," who is owner of Lunday Island, in the Bristol Channel. He has his own coinage and his own stamps. The former are copper coins, called puffins and halfpuffins, with a design of Iho bird on ono side and a hea-\ of Mr. Harma'n on the other. Mr/ Harman and a few fishermen are the only residents on tho island. The coins, therefore, cannot have much circulation. FORGETTING THE KING'S NAME. Mrs. Annabelle Tharp, the only woman member of the Jockey Club in England, who died recently, was always honoured with the friendship of the Royal Family. Of late years her memory began to fail, and a good story is told of her. The present King greeted tho old lady At a meeting at Newmarket a year or two ago, but Mrs. Tharp failed to recognise him. " I remember vou quite well," she told him, "hut —I have forgotten your name." The King told her his name, and both laughed heartily. She was mora than 90 years of ego at her death. " DOUBLE-JOINTED » FABLE. One often hears the expression " doubleJointed " "applied to a man who can bend his limbs or his hack into unusual positions. There is, of course, no such thing as a double joint, says an English doctor. Two bones meet and form a joint; the bones are held together by tight bands .which are called ligaments. The movements are governed very largely by these ligaments. If they are tight, movement can only be performed in definite ranges; if the ligaments are loose tho range of movement is increased. Children are trained early to be acrobats end contortionists, and the early training consists in the daily performance of exercises calculated to stretch the ligaments and allow freer play, for the bones. SOME "Q " SHIP SECRETS. In time of war very little was known cf the mysterious work of the " Q " ships, beyond the fact that, with concealed guns, they were luring German submarines to destruction. Under the auspices of tho Royal Empire Society, Rear : Admiral Gordon Campbell, V.C., has been giving de-' lightfullv entertaining lectures to youthful audiences, in which ho makes known humorous features hitherto kept secret.. One commanding officer, the lecturer related, even asked for 30 pretty girls to adorn the decks. Headquarters refused, but gave him 30 additional men ,to bo dressed as girls " from the waist up." This is the lighter side, but the admiral is able to stir the emotions with storieu of heroism at sea that compare with any deed/ of valour on land. ABANDONED FOOTBALL MATCH, Tho loss of the only two footballs on the spot led to the abandonment of the. Westmorland Challenge Cup match between Temple Somerby and Windermere, at Ullswater, England.^ The first ball to be lost was kicked out of tho field and across the road into the Grisedale River, which runs into Lake Ullswater. The river was swollen by heavy rains, and before anyone could reach the ball it was carried by the current into the lake. A second ball was provided, and eight minutes from the end of plav, when the light' was very bad, this ball was actually kicked out of sight. No other ball was available, and players and spectators joined in search of the missing ball. The referee abandoned the game, and the ball was found three minutes after he had left. SPORTING INDIAN PRINCES. England is the sporting " nursery "* of Indian princes, many of. whom are at public schools or at a university. _ The Nawab of Pataudi, for example, is in the running for a hockey " blue " at Oxford, and the Maharajah of Jaipur turns out regularlv for the Royal Military Academy (Woolwich) team. The young Maharajah of Cooch Behar, who is at Harrow, is looked on as a most promising cricketer. His mother, tho Dowager Maharanee, is tho only Indian woman who has cvei. hunted. Flying is another sport which is proving extremelv popular among the princes. Tho P.ajah of Kalsai is training to obtain hn? pilot's certificate, and other members of Indian ruling families aro also taking lessons. Prince Duleepsinhji has established himself as a favourite cricket enthusiast. Ho is a nephew of tho famous " Ranii the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar—and like his uncle, he plays for Sussex. He won bin " blue "at Cambridge, played for England against the South Africans, and i> now touring New Zealand as a member of the M.C.C. team. BABY BRIDES OF INDIA. „'in enormous number of child marriages is taking place throughout tho Bombay Presidency, with a. view to thwarting the Child Marriage Prevention Act which comes into force next April. The orthodox section of tho Hindu community in Gujarat is strongly opposed to tlie new legislation, and marriage processions, with brides and bridegrooms between five and 12 years old, have been a familiar sight during tho last fortnight. The Suart correspondent of tho Times of India reports that the child marriages in that town alone will number 2000 this season. Even marriages between babies have been arranged. The correspondent recalls that in fomer days one caste used to marry unborn children, their mothers going through a marriage ceremony. If tho children of the two women taking part in the ceremony were a boy and a girl their marriage held good. The Child Marriage Act, which received the Viceroy's assent last year, provides that tho age at marriage shall not be less than 14. The measure to remedy the appalling conditions recently brought to light. In 1921 there were 218,000 child-wives and 15,000 child-widows under five, and 2,000.000 wives and 102.,000 widows between five find 10.

FOOTBALL AND THE " DOLE."The Ministry of Labour in Britain has decided on on appeal case from Sunderland that a man who acts as gateman at a Saturday afternoon football match is not entitled to unemployment benefit for that day. This decision will affect referees, linesmen, and others who are paid for their services at football matches.

BISHOP TRAVELS " TO TIME." | That he was only a quarter of an hour out in his estimate of the time it would take him to go round the world on his recent tour, which included New Zealand, has been revealed by the Bishop of London. " It. took me nine months," the Bishop said. " When I left in July I said I would bo back at 7 o'clock on May 7. Actually, I arrived back at a quarter to 7." DOING GOOD BY STEALTH. Eight hundred of the poorest people of Manchester were entertained at a dinner given by an anonymous benefactor, who at one lime was destitute, but who now possesses considerable means. Thanks to him, 6000 Manchester people have been givon warmth and shelter. The same person previously distributed £IO,OOO to tho poor, "and the Manchester poor have just shared in a gift of more than £3OOO made through Manchester City Missions. STRANGE SHOWER OF FISH. Many freaks of weather have been recorded, but it is doubtful if the experience of a man at Glencoe, Rhodesia, has been equalled. lie awoke recently to find that live fish had been raining on his property during the night, a tennis court being covered with small silver fish. As tho nearest sheet of water is three miles away, the only solution seems to be that a' whirlwind rose in tho night ant] carried the fish on their queer journey. NUT CRACKING "FACTORY." In a remote village in North Wales there is an industry solely devoted to the cracking of Brazil nuts. A peep inside tho " factory " reveals dozens of girls each using a hammer with marvellous dexterity, the nuts being cracked with just sufficient force to leave the kernels ,intact. The demand for Brazil nuts is greatest at Christmas, when huge cases of kernels go from this Welsh village to tho chocolate factories, where they are coated to make " chocolate Brazils." SACRED FOOTBALL CAP. A school football cap, once owned by a Marlborough Jiehoolboy, who afterwards fell in the war, and was awarded the V.C. posthumously, has been added to tho collection of war relics in All Hallows' Church, Barking-by-the-Tover, London. The cap had belonged to Lieutenant Sidney Woodroffe, of the 7th Rifles Brigade. In July, 1015, ho was killed, leading the attack in which Gilbert Talbot, in whose memory Toe H was founded, fell. All Hallows is the Toe H church. WONDERFUL GIRL ENGINEER. Miss Winifred Hackett, a 23-year-old Birmingham girl, has beaten all the men students In the engineering department of Birmingham University and won a scholarship entitling her to a year s research course. The professor of the department declares that Miss Hackett is head and shoulders above any of the men in originality, persistence and patience. She was an elementary schoolgirl originally. She had several 'important posts offered to her, but turned them all down because she wants to give her time to her research work. HORSE AGED SIXTY-TWO. Mrs. H. Watson, writing to the Daily Mail from Sunderland, states that her pet ponv, Polly, which had to bo destroyed owing to an injury, was about 45 years old. This instance of equine longevitv follows.on the burial in a coffin a fortnight before at Markfield, Leicestershire, of a pet horse aged 40. A horse called Old Peter, which was taken from England to Argentina and died there, aged 47, sired 17 foals in his last year. A horse in Edinburgh lived to be 50, and one at Norton Conyers, Ripon, to be 62. Both instances aro well authenticated. A hunter, aged 43, was ridden to a meet of the South Durham hounds a few years ago. GREAT MUSICAL PRODIGIES. When Yehudi Monuhin finished his programme at tho Albert Hall, London, a few weeks ago, tho audience swarmed on to . tho platform in its enthusiasm, almost overwhelming the marvellous boy, and with difficulty was a small space cleared around him while he played the encores demanded. Similar_ scenes marked his appearances in Berlin and New Yoik. This 12-year-old violinist, Kreisler declares. is the greatest musical prodigy sinco Mozart. Mozart is tho prototype of musical precocity, still without a parallel. He played the harpsichord at three, _ composed minuots at four, and gave brilliant public performances at five. He toured Euiope as an infant prodigy, unspoiled by the torrents of praise and constant petting he received, remaining a simple and unaffected child. Monarchs kissed and caressed Mozart. At seven he sang, played like a master on tho harpsichord, organ, and violin, and his first published compositions appeared two sets of sonatas for harpsichord and violin. AMERICAN LINK WITH ROYALTY. There is only ono American--a woman —who can claim to bo a relative of tho British Royal Family. Tho woman, according to tho Sunday Express, is the wife of tho Hon. Montague Charles Eliot, and beforo her marriage she was Miss Holon Agnes Post, daughter of tho late Arthur Post, of Now York. Tho Hon. Montague Charles Eliot is tho heir presumptive to tho present Earl of St. Germans, who is unmarriod, and it is through an alliance between the Eliot family, of which tho carl is the head, and tho Somerset family, of which tho Dulio of Boaufort is tho head, that there is Ibis connection between the lloyal liouso and tho United States. The present Marquis of Cambridge is a son of tho late Duke of Teck, the Queen's brother. Tho Duke of Teck married a daughter of tho first Duke of Westminster. Tho Duke of Teck becamo in 1917 tho Marquis of Cambridge, his wife being Miss Dorothy Hastings, niece of tho Earl of Huntingdon. One of the sisters of the present marquis is now Duchess of Beaufort.

Miss Post, of New York, is therefore closely related by marriage to the Somersets, and, should she become Countess of St. Germans, she will be the first American to claim cousinship with the Royal house. It requires but a slight step forward by marriage of tho children of these families to mingle Boyal blood with American.