General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

General News Items

WORLD'S FULL-RIGGED SHIPS. Tlj'ere are only about 40 full ri«t;ed ships still in nclivo service in various parts of Iho world. The majority tiro under tiie German and Scandinavian (lags, including tho Archibald Russell, the last .sailing ship ever built in the United King chilli. There are three or four French ships, engaged chiefly in (ho logwood trade lie luecu i'rance and the West Indies. / "GOD SAVE THE KING." The origin of (ho famous British ac» clamation, " God Save the King," scorns to Ito traceable to tho " State Papers," in which, under (he heading, " Fleto taken by the Lord Admirall on the 10th day nf August, 1545," is the following:— 'The watch wordo in the night shal be (litis, 'God save King Ilcnrye': 1 hot her shal aunswer, 'And long lo raign over us.'

DOG FASHIONS IN FRANCE. 'I lie whole of France is said to be dogci nseious. With the exception of French poodles and an occasional chow, dogs were formerly almost as rare as blackbirds in FratrVe. To-day, particularly at the pleasure resorts, dogs swarm everywhere. Nine tenths of them aro English or Scottish terriers—Cairns, Aberdcens, and wirehaired terriers predominating. Bobtailed sheepdogs arc also to be seen. Alsatians seem to have gone out of fashion. Dachshunds are coming back fast, but English terriers are the rage. PRINCE OF WALES' WARDROBE. The Prince of Wales possesses the most varied individual wardrobe iij the world, and just now important changes are being made in it by his personal valet. New appointments mean many new suits for the l.eir to tho throne, and the Prince's throe new service promotions—to viceAdmiral, air marshal, and lieutenant-gen-era!—mean tho taking out of tv number of other service suits and replacing them with a series of new uniforms to suit all the various occasions when the Prince will bo called on to appear in tho dress of his new ranks. CATS' EXTRAORDINARY SAGACITY. A correspondent writes to tho Morning Post:—"Tho sagacity of cats in things electrical is sometimes ' superhuman.' At a station on a tube railway the resident cats will flatten themselves out to squeeze unharmed under the live/ rail, which they distinguish from all ot hers. "When it pleases the cats to walk along tho live rail they spring upon it in such a manner that contact is made with all four paws at once, thus avoiding a fatal short circuit. The knowledge of live wires appears to be passed from cat/to kitten on the staff." WIFE SOLD FOR A SHILLING. Tho Austrian police recently brought to light, in the heart of Europe, an instance of the custom, common among primitive people, of selling wives. Joliann Holzleitner, a shoemaker in Bied, a village in the Inn Valley, finding tho bonds of marriage irksome after some years, sold his wife to a friend for a shilling, and agreed to pay part of her living expenses. Anna Holzleitner, the wife, did not approve of this way of solving the problem, and started a lively discussion which ended in the gendarmerie being summoned. LOBSTER AS SAILOR'S PET. When a seaman from an American ship dived over tho dock wall at lilbury, London, two men pushed out a rowing boat, intending to rescue him; but the seaman, who was fully clad and wore boots, swam to the other side with a swift overarm stroke, well ahead of the boat. He then clambered up the steel rungs of the dock wall. Asked by a member of the would-be rescue party for an explanation, the seaman calmly answered, " I was just giving my lobster a drink." He then opened his reefer jacket and displayed a live lobster nestling against his shirt. VEILED MEN OF SAHARA. Among the tribesmen who journeyed to 'Algiers recently to celebrate 100 years of French rule in Northern Africa, the veiled men of the Touaregs, from Hoggar, in the Southern Sahara, attracted great attention. Contrary to tho custom prevailing among millions of other Mahometans, tho women of this tribe go unveiled; also they rule the, borne, and it is they, rather than the men, who do the divorcing. Tho men veil the lower part of the face because they think tho mouth ugly. The covering is kept in place even at meal times, for they hold that to bo seen chewing food puts them on a level with the beasts. RELICS OF THE GOTHS. Excavations of uncommon historical and Archaeological interest have been undertaken in Eski-Kermen, an old Gothic cifv in tho Crimea, near Bakchisarai, tho former Tartar capital of the Crimea. Tho work which has thus far been carried out reveals a wall and city gates of tho fifth century and the remains of a large church of the iconoclastic period. 'I his buried city is ono of very few memorials left by (he Goths in tho Crimea. The city was destroyed by the 'lurks in J476. The descendants of tho Goths remained iti tho Crimea until the, eighteenth century, when (hev moved away from the Crimea, across (he Azov Sea, (o (ho neighbourhood of Mariupol. GIRL AVIATOR'S FEATS. ' A remar kablo record is that of Laura liigalls, a modern American girl, dancer sud flier. She finished flying lessons last April, and i;i May established a woman's record for looping the loop with 340 loops. Jn Juno she increased, it to 980 loops. Halo Jackson, who recently mado a reenrd endurance flight over St. Louis, dared the girl lo break his record of 411 barrel rolls—whatever they may be. Laura went up abovo them, and " stole the play " by doing 644 barrel rolls. Miss Ingalls says:—" Any girl that can daneo can fly; that is, if slio really can fiance. And any girl can fly as w : cll as «i man." THE CROSS OF ST. PAUL'S. Twenty-five thousand leaves of twentyfour carat gold have been used in tho process of regilding tho cross at tho top of St. Paul's Cathedral. It may seem extravagant to employ pure gold for such n purpose, but nothing elso will withstand tho London atmosphere, and it is estimated that with an occasional washing its new golden coat will wear for almost half a century. It was not an easy task lo apply tho flimsy metal leaves at such a height—it takes literally hundreds of thousands of them to mako an inch in thickness —and to protect both tho men and the gold frorp tho guilty weather a special scaffolding with heavy sheeting had to be fixed like a cage round the top. Two men working twelve hours a day took a fortpight for the job. i

CAPTAIN COOK'S OLD SCHOOL. The schoolhouse at Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, which Captain James Cook, the celebrated circumnavigator, attended from eight years of age lo about 13, is still well preserved, although over 226 years old, and looks good for another century or more. Ihe school is now used as a museum for Captain Look relics. The originfil wooden form and desk used in Captain looks day and the old hoi n lantern are still there. RARE MAURITIUS STAMPS. '1 he original plate from which was printed the famous penny and twopenny " Post-oflice " Mauritius stamps of 1847 went by air recently from Croydon lo Germany. It was to be exhibited at (he Intelnational Philatelic Exhibition at Berlin, and was insured for £SOOO. Tn 1847 a Mauritius watchmaker was given an order (o make a plale and print 1000 twopenny and penny stamps, 500 of each value. He is said to have made a mistake in the plate and used the words " Post Paid " instead of " Post Oflice." The former issue, the more rare of the two. is now known as tho " Post Oflice " Mauritius. BRITAIN'S NEW AIR TAXI. A new air taxi with revolving wings, which will bo able to rise and descend almost vertically like a helicopter and will thus be capable of using (he flat roof of any moderately sized building as an aerodrome, is now being constructed in Britain. The machine will carry four passengers and its 400 h.p. Armstrong-Siddeley engine will drive it at a spoil of 130 in.p.li. Instead of the usual fixed wings it will have four revolving planes, like a huge propeller, which will pull it tip into tho air and allow it to descend almost vertically without forward motion. LONDON'S NEW AIR THRILL. Midnight thrills in the air are tho next sensation for London. The first aerodrome in- England to introduce night flying for private aviators is the Heston Air Park, Hounslow, where ordinary private aeroplanes are flown by private people, while- lamps of thousands of candle-power illuminate the flying ground. It is tho first time that private aircraft pilots in England have had the opportunity of tasting the thrills of flying in the dark. Betweim 9 o'clock and midnight aeroplanes, with their tiny red, green and white navigation lights, land and take off from the aerodrome, while a comprehensive system of Verey lights and a radio aeroplane work to ensure safety. LIONS' MANES TOR BUSBIES. The manes of 13 lions recently arrived at a London tailor's to be made into headdresses for Bas Tafari, Emperor of Abyssinia, and his courtiers for the recent great coronation festivities. The Emperor himself shot all 13 lions, and commanded that their manes should be made into headgear similar in design to busbies worn by the British Guards. But the craftsmen of Abyssinia had never seen a busby. They could fashion manes into marvellous robes and dresses, carpets, and cushions. But busbies! The Addis Ababa equivalent to Savile Rowhad to admit itself beaten. LIGHTS FOR COWS' TAILS. A cow driven in a country lane or highway on a dark night should have a red danger lamp on her tail! That was the decision of an American judge, in the State of Connecticut, the other day. A farmer was leading his cow home on a very dark night, when suddenly a motor-car coming round a curve in tho road ran into the cow. The cow was killed, and the motor-car skidded into a tree. The farmer and the driver of the car almost came to blows in the darkness. The farmer demanded the price of his cow, the driver the cost of repairs to his car. The judge decided against the farmer. He should have placed a lantern on the tail of his cow if he took her along the road on dark nights. Since motor-cars and horse-drawn waggons must have rear-lights, a crtw should also, was his verdict. VALUE OF A SIGNATURE. What's one's signature worth ? Not on a cheque, but at the end of a letter, or on tho flyleaf of a book, or, for that matter, on any scrap of paper. This information, gleaned from the autograph catalogue of a Paris bookseller, may help you to arrive at the proper figure. A brief " courtesy letter " signed by Georges Clemenceau is valued at 150 francs (255), while two pages in the handwriting of Lamartine can bo had for 125 francs (20s). A letter of Victor Hugo is no more expensive than that of Clemenceau. A recent writer says:—"After all, what determines tho value of an autograph '! Its price can hardly bo taken as an index to the fame or greatness of its author. No doubt tho law of supply arid demand has something to do with these prices. If so, the personage who distributes signatures freely is himself diminishing their market value." POLICEWOMEN IN SPAIN. Following the success of the policewomen at the Barcelona Exhibition, Spain may have a permanent force of women police before long. The women's corps at the exhibition constituted fho first, force of policewomen in Spain. It was brought into being last year, and when the recruiting lists were opened there was a rush of a thousand applicants—evidence of the rapid progress toward emancipation mado by Spanish women in recent years. Tho uniform of tho Spanish policewomen ,'s much smarter arid more feminine than tliat of her English colleague. It consists of a smart hip length coat with rcvers and braided cuffs, which is worn over fi .shirt with collar and fie. 'Ill" skirt is short, reaching a little below tho knee, and smart shoes with largo buckles are worn instead of boots. A very full cap with a peak and a. white strap round tho front is worn instead of a helmet. PROGRESS AND ITS PATHS. Progress moves down unsuspert ed paths. One hundred years ago rnohs in Paris smashed into bits the first model of tho invention that the little manufacturing town of St. El ienno, .130 miles south-east of Paris, borne of the inventor, is this year joyously celebrating. For what the Parisian garment makers of 1830 thought threatened to steal their work, to-day gives employment (o thousands upon thousands tho world over. Barthelmy Thimonnier, a tailor, was inspired by tho longing to " lighten the burden of those who sewed." Although he knew nothing of the elements of mechanics, he set (o work and in years of effort managed to build a. crude forerunner of tho electrically operated, easily handled sewing machine of to day. A vast number of industries, such ns the manufacturing of shoes, gloves, hats and wearing apparel of all kinds owe their huge growth to Thimonnier's invention. Tho modern machine is capable of * speed of 3200 stitches a minute—contrasted with the twenty or thirty stitches a handworker can fnako.