GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20560, 10 May 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

GOLF FROM AN AEROPLANE. * Captain G. A. R. Pennington, commandant of tho National 'Flying Service Aerodrome at Reading, England, recently played a game of golf from an aeroplane •t Sonning, Berkshire. The airman took up 80 balls, and each one ho dropped on a green was regarded as having been holed. Ho did the round in 29 " strokes." The game was the re suit of a wager with Mr A J. Young, the Sonning professional, who went round in 68. WHERE COLUMBUS WAS BORN. Italy must not bo blamed for having produced Christophor Columbus. Tho responsibility lies with Corsica, according to Canon Castaing. Canon Castaing stated at Marseilles recently that ho had evidonce that Columbus was born at Calvi, where ho began his studies. According to tho Canon, an historian named Do Corto makes this assertion, -whilo bo also cites as proof a stono found in Haiti bearing the inscription, " Accursed bo the Corsican who led Tis hero." Columbus himself tried to hide the place of his birth by passing as a Genoese.

DRAIN-PIPES TO HORNPIPES. In direct contrast to the attitudo of tho Coales twins is that of Mr. Jack Lambert, an Ayrshire plumber who has decided to givo up a future in science and engineering to sook his fortune on the stage. Mr. Lambert was laying drain-pipes at tho bottom of a trench when ho received an offer to play a leading part in a new Scottish comedy by lan Hay, tho wellknown novelist and playright, who had soon Mr. Lambert in amateur theatricals. Tho ex-plumbor has been on trial at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, " and I intend to make a success and justify my decision," ho said. UNUSUAL MOTOR-OAR TRAGEDY. When tho Duke of Gor, a highly placed member of tho Spanish aristocracy, learned that a man knocked down by his motor-car hail died, he himself collapsed and died boforo medical aid could bo called. The Duko was driving through Madrid, and.his car knocked down an old man, who, taken to tho hospital, died within a few minutes. Tho Duko had returned homo to await news from the hospital, and when informed by telephone of the old man's death ho foil dying. He was 65 years of ago. < STOCKINGS AS BROCADE. Many wives of sailors, who are proud of beautiful brocades brought back from Japan by their husbands are really treasuring their old silk stockings. Tho manager of the soft furnishing department of u Manchester store said recently that Japanese brocade manufacturers discovered that they could buy worn silk stockings abroad, ship them to Japan, and nnravel and recondition the thread to obtain good silk at about quarter the cost of thread from new silk. The brocades," the informant said, 41 are sold to tourists at high prices that loave a tremendous margin of profit for the manufacturers. BUS AND ITS IS INCHES. " A hundred years ago a law was passed Sn England and a bus conductor got into trouble about it a few weeks ago. The law was that every passenger in a public yehicle must have 16 inches to sit on. The bus conductor, who was a yonng woman with a kind heart, allowed 49 passengers to get into her bus, which was-licensed only for 32. It was tho last bus to take colliers to work at a colliery near Doncaster. If Daisy Loadwick, the kind-hearted conductor, had not allowed a last-minute boarding party to get on the late-comers would have lost a day's work at the colliery. There was, in fact, every excuse for Daisy, but none was allowed for the Doncaster Corporation, in whose service she was. and it was fined £l. OVER 56,000 PIECES OF CHINA. - At Crumpsaal, near Manchester, there is a collection of Chinese pottery and porcelain which is believed to be the % largest in the world. Mr. John Hilditch f brought it together, pottery of TangjsMing r porcelain, black and green and aubergine, famille-rose of the three great periods of Kang-Hi, Chien Lung and Yung Ching. Everything, apparently, that Peking produced, over 56,000 pieces in all. The collector lived for his treasures, which included statues, tapestries, silks and lacquer, and Mr. Hilditch steeped him self in their history and in Chinese lore. If the porcelain was his hobby, China was the spiritual home of this Manchester man.

STRANGE FORM OF MANIA. Instances of ;i form of mania known as ''stereotypy" were given by Dr. George M. Robertson, superintendent of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Mental and Nerv pus Diseases, in a recent report. One patient wrote a single word in exactly the same way 2560 times without stopping. Another spent all his waiting moments for 18 years making and reshuffling a pack of cards until it was worn by friction into a grotesque shape. A third man who was 48 years in the institution asked for his "train fare to Carlisle" from every oflicial he met. Dr Robertson said, " The patient came from Carlisle, and, no doubt, when he was first admitted he may have asked for " his> train fare to Carlisle' with a definite de sire to return home. The request- soon became a parrot-liko repetition." THE SCHOOL ON THE BORDER. The Board of Primary Schools of the Mexican Ministry of Education has decided to establish a number of high-class schools in the cities bordering its northern frontier, which runs alongsido that of the United State? This step is meant to keep Mexican children from going over the border for their education, becauso it is feared that Mexican children will grow up not learning Spanish and, being taught American history, will lose somo of their love for Mexico. This yeai four schools will bo opened in Ciudad Juarez, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, and Matainoros. A fifth school on tlie frontier with Guatemala will be opened at Motozintla, in the State of Chiapas. The purpose of this school will be to strengthen the ties of friendship be tween Mexico and Guatemala. Guatemalan children will receive free education at this School, arid will thus learn to under stand and love Mexico. RICHEST ROYAL PERSONAGE. Former King Manuel of Portugal is the tichest royal personage in the world Since his dethronement in 1910 lie has been holding a sort of royal court in London, and ho is said by his friends to be worth upward of £10,000,000 in real eslate alone. I°' addition, Manuel is a largo bondholder in various Portuguese. British, and French companies, and ho also possesses valuablo collections of jewels, oil paintings, rare tapestries, minaturcs, and priceless old coins, il' Unlike other exiled kings, Manuel has Deou alowed to retain all his estates and Wher property in Portugal. The former j.ovcie,g n s mother, Queen Amelia, who is in France, also has immeuso hold■J)®, 8 . W rca ' estato in Portugal, which ff'dd her a largo incomo.

A FENCE MADE OF SNOW. A most curious fence has been made near Warsaw in Indiana. It was a fence of sacks and snow, put np hastily to prevent tho highway becoming blocked by drifts irt unsually heavy snowstorms. Wires were strung across a number of steel posts and hundreds oi „ucks were tied to the wires. The snow fell on the sacks, froze them, and bound tl:em together into a huge sack wall, against which the snow itself then drifted. The tence was about 100 ft. back from the road, and it had the desired effect of keeping the roadway clear. DANGERS OF THE OCEAN. It is difficult to behevo that in theso days there still remain hidden rocks under tho sea in routes whore ships aro travelling continually. A French cruiser, tho Edgar Quinet, of 14,000 tons, has nevertheless, sunk recently off Oran. Tho vessel had been fitted out as a training ship for naval cadets, and was on , a cruise in water where the sunken rock, though well known to the fishermen, had never been charted. This is tho second French battleship to bo sunk by striking an uncharted rock. GREAT WOLSEY PAGEANT.

lo commomorato tho fourth centenary of tho death of Cardinal Wolsev, Henrv Vni.'s famous Chancellor, tho son of an Ipswich butcher, his native town is to have a great pageant in Juno. The Prijico of Wales is to be present. Wolsey had planned for himself a wonderful funeral, but, owing to his downfall, was buried ignominiously in a common grave at Leicester. After lying dormant for 300 years, tho magnificent coffin he had prepared for himself was used by the Government for Lord Nelson, and may now bo seen in St. Paul's. LONDON BRIDGE'S WHITE HORSES. t A Londerer has amused himself by testing the truth of the old saying that no one can cross London Bridge . without seeing a white horse. " Morning and evening daily I have crossed the bridge," he says, " and, surely enough, each time • I have seen at least one whito horse—except, to bo honest, when I have forgotten to notice." The saying originated before transport became mechanised, but it is curious that its application should yet survive. Much of tho London Bridge traffic is still horsedrawn. !> WORLD'S WORST SNAKE. Tho hamadryad, which has reached the London Zoo, is probably the most terrible reptile now in Europe. It is ono of tho snako family, which is found in Southern Asia, and which some observers suggest is slowly disappearing. This snake's merit lies in its practice of killing other poisonous snakes, caring nought for their venom, but digging in its fangs and pumping in venom until they cease to struggle, and then swallowing them head first. A bite from the hamadryad, which is about 14ft. long, would kill a large elephant in two or three hours, and a man in a much shorter period. GRAMOPHONE CHURCH MUSIC. An attempt will bo made to introduce music to replace the choir and organist in churches following a -successful gramophone recital at the Moseley Road Congregational Church, Birmingham. " I see nothing irreverent in tho proposal," says a famous Nonconformist minister. " The congregation could then hear sacred music rendered by the finest organists and vocalists in the land." A church organist who had been forced out of a cinema orchestra by the " talkies," and is now in danger of losing tho small salary which his Sunday occupation brings him, said:—" If we aro to have mechanised music in our churches, why not havo tho service and sermon presented by this method, and so dispense with the minister ? " LAST RIDE DOWN THE THAMES. A familiar sight to all, tho Royal Sovereign, has made her last journey down the Thames This famous steamboat has for 37 years done good service for its owners, carrying two million passengers from London to Southend, Margate, and Ramsgate. During the war she was used as a mine-sweeper.

The vessel's last journey was from .Deptford to Rotterdam, where the boat is to be broken up. She rode in due majesty not on her own "steam but towed by a Dutch tug, and on tho fateful trip down the Thames many tugs, oil tenders, and other craft sounded a saluto on their sirens.

GAMBLER'S GOLDEN SHOWER. Mrs. Frank R. Phipps, a visitor to Nice, sat down at the baccarat tablo in the Palais do la Mediterrance to try her luck. A few minutes later she rose the richer by £290. " What am Ito do with all this money ?" she asked the croupier. She then opened a second-floor window and threw her winnings to the crowd which was celebrating the arrival of King Carnival. When the woman scattered her winnings there was a wild scramble in the carnival crowd, and it became necessary for the polico to step in to keep order. Meanwhilo the carnival procession was broken up and nearly camo to a premature end. Even the carnival king himself gave signs of joining in the rush. By the time carnival business as usual had been resumed it was mid-nighty QUEER TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION. The recent law suit against a husband for alleged libel on a tombstone recalls to an English writer the fact that gravestones have been used for other purposes than that mere obituary notices. " I am told," the writer says, " that on a gravestone in a north county churchyard orio could once read: ' Sacred to the memory of John Roberts, stonemason and tombcutter, who died on Saturady, October 8, 1800. N.B.—The business carried on by the widow at No. 1, Freshfield Place.' "And -in a graveyard near Gateshead: ' Here lies Jeremy Jobbins, an affectionato husband and a tender parent. His disconsolate widow, in the hopes of a hotter meeting, continues .to carry on a long-established tripe and trotter business at the same place as before her lamented bereavement.' . " Both these examples of obituary advertisement are vouched for by a standard work on advertising." BRITAIN AND THE WAR. Tho war has left Great Britain with a debt of over £6.000,000,000. The country has to raise each year from taxation a sum of £350,000,000 for tho service of this debt without makingjin appreciable irn pression on the amount of the debt. At tho present rate of repayment of tho debt.it will take 140 years to liquidate it.Taxpaverw have to pay on the debt services £1,000,000 a day, £40,000 an hour, over £6OO a minute. It takes tho wholetime labour, of 2,000,000 workers, year in, year out, to produce tho means to pay the annual cost of the debt services. Add to this the £115,000,000 Britain annually spends on tho fighting services and £56,000,000 it pays yearly for war pensions, and ono gets a total of £520,000,000 a year, £IOOO a minute, which the people of Great Britain have to provido for war purposes.