A REMARKABLE STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20538, 12 April 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

A REMARKABLE STORY.

Sir Aurel Stoin, the explorer, who has recently received tho Petrio Medal, is the hero of a rornarkable story. lie was telling an archaeological meeting in London that in a particularly desolate part of Tibet he picked up a coin not of tho country.

Dr. Nanscn, who was in the audience, stood up and said that be had dropped it there fivo years previous, and he proved his assertion by his correct description of tho coin.

WARNINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. A board at tho side of tho NewportCardiff road breaks into poetry, thus:—; Life is nhort. Don't mnko it shorter By Bcorchinß when You iindn't oughter! In tho Wiltshire town of Bradford-on-Avon, where the streets aro steep and winding, is a board bearing tho words — " Cars and motor-cycles. If you drivo fast through this town wo can pick up tho bits."

CHEF AND NOVELIST. One of tho most intimate friends of tho late Blasco Ibanez, tho novelist and archenemy of King Alfonso of Spain, is now working as chef in a Soho restaurant. Ho is Mr. Antonio Roca, and is one of tho characters mentioned in Ibanez's book, " Round tho World." " Ibanez was a remarkable man," Mr. Roca said. "Ho gave ino a signed portrait of himself, which I treasured for years. Ono night it fell down from tho wall and was smashed to bits. Next morning news camo of tho death of Ibanez."

CRUSADE AGAINST KISSING. " Reflect before von kiss!" is tho slogan of a new crusado which has been launched against the habit of kissing in France. Kissing is more prevalent in Franco than in most countries. Tho crusado follows tho pronouncement of an eminent professor, who said at a recent gathering of doctors that forty-five per cent, of infection was caused by kissing. Tho common cold, ho said, would not causo a third of tho ravages it did were it not for tho ancient custom of kissing. As part of their propaganda against kissing the crusaders have produced a play at a suburban theatro in Paris.

LARGE TOBACCO BILL. Cigarette smoking in the United States increased 13 per cent. Inst year compared with 1928, and vieldc-d tlio Government £72,000.000 in taxes, or £8,000,000 more than 1928. Tax receipts from all tobacco manufactures, cigars, etc., totalled £90,000,000. North Carolina, which led all the other States in cigaretto manufacture, produced 60 per cent, of the nation's total. The cigarette increase is attributed largely to women, who now smoke in trains and othor public places, and even on the streets.

130 YEARS OP NEWS. Tho purchase of a file of The Times from JBOO to 1950 by tho Marx-Engels Institute of Moscow probably gives them tlio most cxtensivo " run " of this paper in any institution on the Continent. This set of Tho Times, originally held by the Royal' Statistical Society, extended back to 1785, but the earlier volumes were bought by The Times Publishing Company to completo their own files. Not for many years has such an extensive file of The Times appeared in the market. The longest in the last 40 years was one put up for auction in 1912, extending from August 1, 1828, to June 30, 1911, in 283 volumes-

RESCUED YOUTH'S FLIGHT. A splash, followed by tho cry " Man overboard!" was heard when the Elder Dempster liner Bathurst came into dock at Liverpool late one night recently. A baggage attendant, Mr. Hugh Laverty, leaped in the darkness from the deck of tho vessel into the dock and shouted " I have got him." Ropes were thrown, to which Mr. Laverty clung, holding up a drowning youlh. A boat was lowered by the shore gang, and Mr. Laverty and the youth were picked up and taken to the quayside. Immediately tho rescued youth darted into tho darkness. lie was pursued by a police constable and a crowd of men, but was lost among the dockside warehouses.

LORD NELSON'S MARRIAGE. Separated from the West Indian Island of St. Kitts, an island which boasts of being the oldest British possession in that quarter of the globo, by a channel called the Narrows, is the small island of Nevis, seven miles long by five broad. It was discovered bv Columbus in 1493 and colonised by tho English from St. Kitts in 1628.

Tho chief town of Nevis is Charlestown, in tho parish church of which a notablo ceremony was performed in 1787. An entry in tho parish register records:— " 1787, March 11, Horatio ISelson, Esquire, Captain of His ship Boreas, to Frances Herbert Nisbet, widow." The bride was given away by tho Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV.

THE RAILWAY HOSPITAL. Tho latest mechanical wonders of rail, coach and waggon repair work were revealed recently to a party of visitors who went over tho great London Midland and Scottish workshops at Derby. Mass production methods of building rolling stock were first introduced to tho railway world at these works, and have been followed by a progressive system of repair and overhaul which has resulted in a 50 per cent, saving in the time carriages are kept out of service. Visitors saw the various stages of " doctoring " carriages, from tho timo they enter tho repair sheds until they lcavo a fortnight or so later spick and span in fresh coats of paint. About 60 carriages a week aro turned out fully repaired under tho new system. A dozen workmen rival tho speed of tho quickest scene shifters by. assembling tlio framework of an entire coach in 22 minutes.

EVOLUTION OF THE CLOOK. Tho clock dates back at least as far as the 14th century—and is not, as many people suppose, a comparatively recent invention These early clocks were only to bo found in churches, monasteries, and public buildings, as they were worked I,y heavy driving weights susponded on ciiains. The invention of tho mainspring by a Nurumberg clockniakor at the beginning of tho 16th century made portable and small clocks possible.

The " net," or ship clock, was made for the Emperor Rudolf about 1580. It showed not only the time but the signs of (ho zodiac and the days of the week and month. Clocks with automatic figures pointing to the hour on a revolving globe wero very popular in Germany during the second half of the 17th century. An early British example was the brass clock, dated 1590. This was made by Bartholomew Newsum, watchmaker to Queen Elizabeth, and was a fairly common type of design. The gilt sun-ray clock dates from the 18th century, and of French origin. Specimens of these "very beautiful clocks are plentiful in the antiquo shops, and give an exquisite finish to 18th century period rooms,.