GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 7 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

EMPIRE'S OLDEST HOSPITAL. Bants, the oldest hospital in England, situated in West Smithtield, dates from the time of Henry 1., oil whoso wasto ground it was built. Tlia archives of the hospital go back to remote ages, and some of them, written in old English, are as difficult to read aa tliu Domesdav Book.

CIiOCS'3 FISTS SECORD. For over three hundred yeans tho Queen Elizabeth clock at Castle Rushen, Isle of Man, has gone without needing attention. This fine record has at last been broken, for. the clock was recently in tho hands of menders.

The clock was presented by Queen Elizabeth in 1597 and has only one hand and three wheels. The bell which strikes the hours was presented by the Ear.! of Derby in 1729. ft. is probably ono of the oldest clocks still going.

THE LAST OP A WA3 VETERAN. A sailor in England recalls the fact that the Frances Duncan, which sank off Land's End iu the recent storms, wa3 well beloved by the bat.tie cruiser squadrons of tho War. By day or night tho Frances Duncan gave coal to hungry vessels at the rate of 160 tons an hour. Sho and her brother, tile John Duncan, were the two finest colliers in the Fleet, and men always welcomed tho sight of them, because it meant they would be supplied in the quickest possible time.

BXEDS' TRUST IN GLASGOW. Ib is evident that the adoption of an All-Inclusive Bird Protection Order by Glasgow is loading toward a better understanding between birds and mail in the parks of that great city. The keeper of tiie Dawoholm Park has recorded visits of 61) kinds of birds to tile park, and 25 kinds nested there last year. Thu visitors included the gold-crested wren, the long-tailed lit., the woodpecker, the oyster catcher, and the corncrake; and amunir the uesters have been the grey wagtail, tlio kingfisher, the sandpiper and the pheasant. Sixty is a very good record for a city as far north as Glasgow, but there is a likelihood of a considerable increase as the habit of confidence grows.

EATING BEACHY HEAD. Peachy Head is being swallowed by patients at St. Thomas's Hospital, Loudon, at die rate of two tons a year. The chalk of this famous cliff is tho chief ingredient of a new powder that hats reduced the number of operations at this hospital for the relief of certain stomach troubles from one or two a day to one a month. In the out-patients' department a hundredweight, of the powder is used every month by two hundred or mora patients. The powder consists of a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, mag nesia, bismuth and chalk. Bismuth costs the hospital ffs 9<! a pound, while chalk can be bought for lis a hundredweight. And chalk gives just as good results as bismuth.

LODGERS' DEFENCE LEAGUE. *

A Lodsers' Defence League has been Mrined at Kenlig Hill. Glamorgan. Tho object is to- obtain uniformity of treatment respecting the price of board and lodgings and the quality of food supplied. Above ail, the right of lodgers to bring their sweethearts to tea on Sundays is to be fought for. Iho men also want a minimum menu. One of the-leaders of the league said: " Lodgers are the only unorganised body in the mining community oi Ken fig Hill, and in consequence they are in certain cases being fleeced and deprived of cherished home comforts." The Lodgers' League hopes to provide legal advice to members who cannot settle grievances by arbitration.

TELLIITG- THE TIME BY WATER.

Natives of Canton still use the prirnit .ve method of .recording time by water Although one of their docks is 600 year

old, it still continues to measure minutes. The clock consists of four largo copper jars standing on steps one above the other.

jars standing on steps one above the other. The jars arc placed in such a position that when the t'ip one :s filled the water gradually trickles dnrp by drop into the nest jar. and so on down to the fourth. 11l this jar a float is attached to a measure. and it takes exactly twelve hours for the water 1:1 the top jar to he emptied into the lowest. As the water rises iu the last jar the float indicates the hour. At certain intervals during the day the time is written 011 a board outside tiio buiiding. JULIUS CAESAR'S FAMILY TREE. Julius Caesar left Weymouth recently 011 a trip to the homo of his ancestors. He did not travel by galley and mule, but went iu the ordinary way adopted by the 1930 traveller. This Julius Caesar is verv modern. He is rt Weymouth chemist, a member of the Town Council, and he claims to belong to the old established family of Caesars. "I a::i descended from Cesare Adelmnre, court) physician to Queen Elizabeth. and the Italian Dukes de Cesarini, and I. myself bear tile Christian name of Auelmare." Mr. Caesar said. "Mv

' Mr. Caesar said. " family originated at Padua. and I havo recently received certain family records that may holp nie to trace my lineago right back to tJio Julian line of Caesars, which flourished before the Christian era.

the ceocobele citee. Mrs. Cherry Kcarton. wife of the e:r-plorer-cinematographer whose films of wild life are deservedly popular, states that on her last trip into the wilds witli her husband she found a novel cure for arthritis. Her husband was filming a crocodile,, and asked her to turn the handle while he approached it. When ho was quite near, the crocodile snapped its powennl jaws, missing her husband bv inches.

A minute later Mrs. Kearlon was halfway up a tree. In her hurry she forgot all' about, arthritis, although until that moment it had been so bad that she had been forced to walk with ;i stick. Hie discarded her stick there and then and has not thought about it since; yet she had been told, only a few months before, that an operation was the only thing to cure the trouble.

WCELD'S OLDEST CLEEGYMAIT

From County Londonderry comes the announcement that the Rev. Hugh Me-

Intyrc Butler, of Magiliigan,/ has celebrated liis IG4( h biafchday. It is believed that he is the. oldest clergyman in ;tie British Lies. According to insurance

statistics, clergymen are longer lived than the members of any other profession. The great Pius IX.. whoso reforms made history in the Church of Rome, lived to be 86. Pius Til. was 33, Benedict- XIV. died at 83. Pius VI. was 82. ;oid Alexander VIII. 81. Cardinal Newman was in his 90th year when lie died. In the Church of England there has been an outstanding modern instance in Archbishop Lord Davidson, who was Archbishop of Canterbury for 25 years, and is now in his 32nd. year. John Wesley, ihe founder of the Wesley an Methodist Church, lived to be 88. His brother Charles, who wrote about 60CQ hymns, reached the age of 81.

INTRINSIC VALUE OP COINS. The actual value of a British, minted half-crown on the present alloy used is sd. If the half-crown were pure silver its value would still be Iqss thaa 10d., and silver would have to ri9Q to 5s 6d an ounce before the half-crown would be worth faco value.

There is, of course, one bright aspect of the present situation. There is not much danger of people hoarding silver coins at their present value.

CUBIOTJS ISLAND IN PACIFIC. Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, is a curious place. The island is entirely covered with forests, except on the vertical faces of the cliffs, and ferns and creepers beautify it 3 3cenery. The climate is delightful all the year round, but some of the inhabitants are not so pleasing. Among these inhabitants art) swarm 3 of rats and many varieties of land crabs. Then there are vast numbers of formidable robber crabs, which readily climb trees in search of food. Christmas Island has- been found to be well suited for coffee-growing.

3083ED-HAIE WOMAN JUDGE. Miss Florence E. Allen, judge of the Supremo Court, Ohio, claims the distinction of being the first bobbed-haired judge in the world. An attractive woman, with long chestnut-coloured tresses, she was a distinguished figure on the bench, and long refused to " bob."

Mis 3 A linn surprised her seven male colleagues one morning by appearing in court without her long hair; but nothing was said. Miss Allen, who has been on the Supremo Court Bench for six years, was the first woman in the world to pass sentence of death on a murderer.

TYFSWBITEES IN KINUSEGASTENS

American children may learn to use typewriters before they learn hand-writing as a consequence of experiments now under way in a number of American schools. The experiments began with the recognition by psychologists that children in kindergarten classes had difficulty in mastering the complex muscular movements involved in learning to write script. Some letters tho psychologists observed, required as many as eight muscular movements before they were perfectly formed by hand. But by means of a typewriter a, perfect letter might bo made with a single linger movement.

BUST COSTS £500,000,000. The effects of rust on steel are said to cost the world no less than 500 million pounds ;i year. To prevent corrosion by rust, it is necessary to painfc all exposed steelwork and to keep it painted. In the case of a structure like the Forth Bridge tiie task is a never-ending one. It takes three years to paint it cnce and fifty tons of paint are required for one coating of this mile and a half of steel. Thirty men are kept in continuous employment. Unfortunately it is not enough to> paint steel-work periodically. It must he inspected at frequent intervals and a further coating of paint applied whenever necessary. EUEOFE'S FIRST SMOKES.

The youngster who is scab straight to bed when discovered " enjoying" his first smoke may find comfort in the? fact th;ib the man who first smoked tobacco in Europe was arrested and imprisoned for many years This is recalled by the proposal to erect a memorial to Kodrigo do Heretic. who, it is claimed, was Europe's first tobacco smoker.

Kodrigo accompanied Columbus when ho discovered America, and brought back leaves of tobacco which ho smoked. His family were horrified, and his wife, a

good Roman Catholic, denounced him to the Holy Inquisition as a man who

swallows fire, exhales smoke, and is surety possessed by the devil."

WAS ON RUM-RUNNERS. | | Puin-runners on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario will have to bo very clever to I escape the coastguard patrols there 9*ho i future. Preparations for the greatest earnI paign against Liquor smuggling are being i maile. These include listening devices to | enable coastguards to hear the noise of the | smugglers' speed-boats, and also the proi vision of 100 new speed-boats for the coastguard. | Immediate action lias been made necesj sary by the practice at boot-leggers ini stalling silencers to muffle' the sound of j their engines when running the preventive J officers''' cordon. The sound of the proj pollers, however, cannot be muffled, and | the listening devices will pick up the i sound of these'.

PRISON USED AS TOOL-SHED. One of the oldest prisons in England, is at Wheat ley, near Oxford. It is shaped like a pyramid, with a stone floor, has no windows, or other means of ventilation, than cracks in the stones, and tlio door is a network of bolls and oadloeks.

This prison was built originally to prevent sympathisers with highwaymen from rescuing them after thev had been caught holding up coaches, and since then has several times saved officers of the luw from a mauling at the hands of an angry mob.

" Wo do not use this building for criminals to-day," said the local policeman lately. " Xoc that it is not, strong enough, but t here might bo complaints if we did. You see, the'village uses it as a tool shed !"

KISS IN EMERALDS' VALUE. Fifty years ago very few emeralds were considered of great value. The thousand pound mark was rarely reached, that being reserved for pearls or diamonds. The Esterhazy jewel collection possessed a stone worth only £7OO, but when Mrs. Lewis Hill's jewels came to the market at Christie's there was a. first bid of £BOO and dealers were talking up to £4500. This year emeralds have been prominent and at ffurcombs, London, within the last few weeks, £IO.OOO, a record suggestion, was made at the opening bid for 11 emeralds made up as a necklace. Stimulated by that valuation, emeralds will be coming to jewel auctioneers ne.xt season, and figures of gods and idols in the Far East will be asked to yield their jewels.

KING CANUTE'S DESCENDANT. Living quietly in a Chiswick villa is a prince who claims descent from King Canute. He is Ernest Vladimir Stanislas. Prince von Dembinaki, who in 1904 was married to Carmen de T. Bates, of Carshaltou, Surrey. The prince and his wife were celebrating their silver wedding in their villa at Barrowgatn Road a few weeks ago.

" I spent thirteen years," (lie prince snid. " tracing my ancestry. I have established that I am of the Royal House of Lothringen-Rawiez and a descendant of the kings of the Franks or Cymni, who ruled in North Germany before two thousand years ago. Til tliu early part of the eleventh century a Duke of LotJiaringia, which was the title the family had then assumed, married King Canute's daughter, Princess Clothilda."