General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

£jjj?TlSM WITH LIQUID AIR. ■' if he rector of the University of HeidelL' was recently asked to christen a Jrnotorless aeroplane. He poured out P®. to tho machine a few drops of liquid which, of course, evaporated instantly. is probably the first time an aerolano has been christened with its own proper element. PRINCESS' DOLL MUSEUM. - remarkable collection of dolls made • the years 1710 to 1740 by Princess Augusta" Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Arn-B Udt i s now °P eri to *' ,e P the palace Museum at Arnstadt, Germany. The collection includes 80 doll-houses d 450 dolls, which give a true picture f Court, burgher and Church life in the second half of the 18th century. The srtisanship, business and commerce of (hose days arc also represented by groups of dolls. GIRLS' MIRRORLESS EDEN. The swimming girls of Burton-on-Trent. England, are aggrieved. They assert they have been ignored in the Corporation's £14,000 bath scheme because 110 mirrors have been provided! A prominent member of the Ladies' Swimming Association said that they considered they had been grossly neglected. A-Corporation official suggested the reason for the lack of mirrors might lie in the f ac t that they had a habit of ingTHREE YEARS ON CYCLING TOUR. Two young Germans were recently cvcling across England 011 a further stago of their three years' tour of the world awheel. They plan to cover every country to further tho causo of international brotherhood. The cyclists set out from Duisburg, on fbe Rhine, on June 1 last year, and hope to return home again in 1933. The International Order of Good Templars is financing the tour. The. men are Carl Deutscher, aged 33, and Arthur Domann, aged 20. LOST HORSE OF THE GLACIER. A horse has been found at the top of the Yermunt Pass, in tho Austrian Alps. The strange thing is that the tnimal was found only when a shrinking glacier had laid it bare. Every year this glacier shrinks a few more yards, like all the other glaciers of these Eastern Alps. It has retreated 183 ft. since the last measurements were made. It must have retreated far more since this horse crossed the pass. No horse traffic has passed that way for 30 years or more. This was probably the last horse to cross these disappearing relies of the last Ice Age in Europe. NATIONS EXCHANGING IDEAS. The latest instance ol international exchanges of knowledge and experience is Afforded by- an agreement between British and Danish farmers to exchange students. The agriculture of the two countries is in some respects very dissimilar, though in others alike. A number of young Danish agriculturists are to live and work on farms in Britain, and an equal number of British students will live and work 011 Danish farm-. The matter has been arranged in England by the National Farmers Union and in Denmark by the Royal Agricultural Society. Denmark has made iimilar arrangements with other countries. RELICS OF CAPTAIN COOK. The new museum of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society was opened lately by the Earl of Harewood. It has been built in the Pannett Park, adiacent to the Art Gallery, which was a bequest to the town by the lute Alderman Pannett. Lord Harewood said be was pleased with the effort made to get a complete collection of articles associated with the life of. the town during the past 200 years, in addition to which they had relics dating from prehistoric times. More especially was he pleased at the thought they had given to the articles associated with that great navigator, Captain Cook. He emphasised the point that museums should he places of educational value. In his mind that was their chief purpose. TIME'S RUTHLESS . CHANGES. Just beyond the edge of Hampslead, toward Cricklewood, stands all that remains of perhaps the last farm still existing within five miles of Charing Cross, says a London writer. And it is doomed It used to be called " Cowhouse Farm," and now rather prosily is called " Avenue Farm." A farmstead has been there since the 14th century. Piece by piece the old place has gone. The University College Playing Fields now stietch over its acres. Tho ruthless modern roadmaking has demolished the carriage gates and drive. The tiled barns of the old farmyard and an old cottage were destroyed last year, and now all that is left of this farm which was Once part of a manor that was held "by the service of a rose " and has had its plarp in many historic documents is to pass away. ENGLAND'S PETER PAN TOWN. On the border of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire is the small town of I'oy&'on. In 10 years its population has increased by five only. Its nien have increased bv 56; its women have decreased b .v 51. 'The reason of the increase in males is that on the night of the census, m April, 90 male tramps were in the casual ward. Rovston still contains the remains of * king's palace, built by James T., so that he could hunt hares on the heath. Inside the building is the table on which Sir Walter Raleigh's death warrant was signed. 1 " In those days." said Mr. Davies, the registrar of births .and deaths, " Iloyfton was a bustling town, the streets thronged with members of the Court, and echoing with the clatter of horses and hounds. Now it is a quiet little unchanging market town." FROM ASHES TO FAIRYLAND. Every week during the summer an old miner and his wife arc taken from their Coal-grimed valley in Glamorganshire. South Wales, and, like Cinderella, are P 1 ven a treat beyond their dreams. They ® r e transported from the ashes to Fairyland, a fairyland of fields, festivities and dancing waves. The fa irv godmother is the Miners' Welfare Committee. As part of the fine work done fri the distressed areas a camp for workless miners is organised at St. •A'hans, a seaside village on the Bristol Channel. For some years the camp has been a health-giving centre for youth. Two years ago the officials gave a »«oiight t 0 the aged as well. An elderly f ' o, ip!e were invited to spend a week's holiday at. the camp. Since then every Weak during the summer months has been a Joyous adventure for some old Darby and Joan. The fortunate ones are usually chosen from those who would otherwise never ha-e a holiday. Many of them had never befoie slept outside the V; dleys of Iheir birth, and one old lady recently caught her first glimpse of tho 6c a at St. Athans.

SPECIAL PEACE STAMP. Tne head department of the Swiss Post n-es and the 1-ederal Commission for t ie l'ino Arts have arranged for special stamps to bo issued in connection with the Disarmament Conference next year. Aitists are being asked to co-operate in the designing; and the final choice is to be six ordinary stamps and three aerial stamps. Ihese stamps will bo in ordinary currency from next January. BOY SCOUTS IN INDIA.. llie boys of Bhopal State in Central India have very decided ideas of their own on what is worth doing and what is lorn C k khat there are already over LiUU scouts in this district shows their v »ews on the scout movement. Mr. C. F. Newman, the State Commissioner for Bhopal, publishes a quarterly magazine for tho scouts of this State and spends most of his limited spare time in Helping tho movement, for tho great difficulty is the lack of trained scoutmasters. ARCHDRUID OF WALES. For the next four years the Rev. J. Guill Jenkins, M.A., B.Litt., professor of New Testament history at the Baptist College, bangor, who, under the name of Gwili," is one of tho foremost Welsh bards, will bo Archdruid of Wales. Mr. Jenkins was elected to the ancient office, in succession to " Pcdrog," at the annual, meeting of the Gorsedd at the Welsh National Eisteddfod at Bangor. The new Archdruid is a native of Hendv, Pontardulais, where he was born in 1872. SWIMMING PARTIES. Swimming parties are very much the fashion in Britain just now. Sometimes they are picnic parties on the sands, but some more elaborate functions have been held at swimming pools in towns. But wherever it is held a party of this kind is sure to be popular. The water is a very comfortable place to be in during the warm weather. Some time ago a wedding reception was held in the water, the guests being in bathing costumes. That, perhaps, is not an example will bo widely followed, tut the swimming party, for its own sake, is very much the sA'ogue. DEVICE TO AID TOURISTS. A device which might profitably be adopted by New Zealand authorities has proved popular in the United States. " Which is Mount Whitney?" was a question which was frequently asked by visitors to Lone Pine, California, before an odd sign-post was erected to point out the famous peak. A notice board and an arrow indicate the general direction of Mount Whitney. Farther down the post a piece of pipe is attached. When they look through this visitors are left in no doubt concerning the identity of the famous peak, for they may easily distinguish it from other peaks of the Sierra Nevada range. Mount Whitney is the loftiest mountain in the United States. NIGHT TIGHTER OF THE AIR. Claimed to be the fastest night-fighter in the world and capable of a speed of more than 200 miles an hour at an altitude of three miles, a new aeroplane has recently passed its trials in England. The new aeroplane is armed with two machine guns, and also carries a load of bombs. Electrically-heated clothing and oxygen-breathing apparatus arc included in the equipment for use by the pilots in the cold and rarefied high air, and there is electric light and heating. A powerful supercharged ArmstrongSiddeley " Jaguar " engine enables the machine to climb to a height of four miles in less than 15 minutes, and it can climb to over six miles—or more than 31,680 ft. —above earth level. RESCUE FROM QUICKSANDS, To most people quicksands are of largely academic interest, but the subject seemed to come nearer home in England the other day. Two small boys, running along in front of their mother and nurse at the foot of the cliffs between Dover and Folkestone, suddenly began to sink in what appeared to be quicksand. They were rescued, but not. before they had sunk up to their waists. From the reports the boys had run 011 to a bed of gault—a soft, bluish clay, which is used in the manufacture of bricks and tiles. Quicksands are composed of small particles and water, and resemble a fluid rather than a solid in some respects. Some authorities think that if a human being caught in one did not struggle he would not sink completely. AUSTRIA'S MEMORIAL ORGAN. Austria, although she is almost the only ox-belligerent country not to have buried in state an " unknown soldier," now has a. unique war memorial, unveiled to her fallen heroes on May 3 last. Tho memorial consists of a huge oigan which has been built, into the rocKV hill of Kufstein, crowned by the medieval fortress of Geroldstein. Tt is clcctiically operated, has 1813 pipes, 2b registers, two manuals and one pedal. The keyboard is being placed in the courtyard of the fortress, in the open air, below the socalled Burgerturm. The organ's notes can be heard many miles awav along the valley of the Inn and the Kaiser Tal, down which they are carried as through a megaphone, and will re-echo far across tho German frontier. BEDS OF GREAT SIZE. The most famous bed in England—the Great Bed of Ware, which is to find a new home in the Victoria and Albert Museum —was housed at the Crown Inn at Ware, Hertfordshire, for many years, and afler that at the Saracen's Head, also in Ware. * Inns seem to have specialised in giant beds in the old days, for there was one at tho White Hart, Scole, Norfolk, which could accommodate 40 people! It is the biggest bed on record. 'J he reason for these large beds has mystified many people, but it is probably simple enough. Tho Bishop of Portsmouth recalled the other dav that his great-grandfather, an Irish gentleman, kept in his billiards room a bed which would hold eight men. Jhe purpose of it," said the bishop, was to provide ready sleeping accommodation for at least that number of guests who, after dinner, might prove incompetent to ride home across the Irish bogs. WHEN WINGS ARE USELESS. Numbers of seabirds have again ' ,f . pn picked up on the British coast, helpless because of the heavy oil and taron their wings. Only the other clay a big cormorant in this plight drifted on to the beach below Bcachy Head. Holklaymakers tried to remove the stuff fi om its wings, one man tying its big beak with a handkerchief while another did his best to cleanse it. But their efforts were of no avail, and in the end it just drifted out to sen again unable to mo. It would float like this till it died of solvation. , , • 1 ( „j This seaside tragedy is not an isolated case, but is being repeated all round the coast again and again. So the ag Ution to make oil burning ships alter tin lr methods of disposing of waste is being renewed. And the seabirds are not the onlv sufferers. Bathers in some places have found a film of oil on Ihe water when they entered it—and in such cases a batho is not very satisfactory.

PORCUPINE AS A PET. A woman who was seen in one of the chief shopping streets of Folkestone, in England, recently, was accompanied by a pet porcupine. Tlio porcupine was decorated with a bow of red ribbon. It disregarded all the dogs. When crossing the street the animal was carried by its owner. MILLIONAIRE'S TIPS. A United States millionaire who likes to cat well has an unusual system of tipping tlio table steward when he, crosses the Atlantic. He tears <1 ten-dollar bill in halves and gives one half to the steward before the voyage. " You look after me well," the passenger says, "and you get, the other half. If you do not, well, you don't." CHINA'S FIRST MOTOR-CAR. The first motor vehicle to be manufactured in China, was completed recently at a factory associated with the Manchurian trench mortar arsenal. Tlio occasion was celebrated in the usual Chinese manner —with fireworks, the explosions effectively silencing the exhausts of the engine. The vehicle lias been built as an experiment for facilities for largp scale productions do not exist in the BARK OF A MAD DOG. How the bark of a mad dog sounds was brought home vividly to wireless listcueis in Los Angeles, California, recently. The voice of a caged dog suffering from hydrophobia was recorded 011 a phonogiaph iccord. . The bark was then broadcast together with the bark of a normal animal, to warn the public when to keep away from a dog acting suspiciously. '.I ho experiment was conducted by officials 01 the Los Angeles Department of Health. LITTLE BUSY BEE'S TRAVELS. According to experts, a bee travels a distance equal to about one and a-half times round the world in making a pound of honev. Bees that were watched made about 10,000 round trips of two miles each to gather enough nectar to make half a pound of honey. Since this material loses about half its weight through evaporation, twice the number of journeys mentioned had to be. made betoro the bees had a. pound 0! honey.

HIGHEST PEAK BUT ONE. Mount Kamet, the second highest peak in the British Empire, has been scaled. It is in the Himalayas, approached through the Garwhal district of the United Provinces, and is 25,447 ft. high. It is not so high as Mount Everest. The difficulties of the peak were overcome by establishing successive camps at points among the snow and the glaciers, leaving a final 2000 ft. to be carried by assault from the fifth camp. It was successfully conquered by members of the party which Mr. F. Smytlie led, and which consisted of Captain Dr. K. Greene, Mr. IJ. L. Holdsworth, Mr. E. E. Shiplon, and 'Wing-Commander E. 15. Beauman. LONDON'S NEW UNIVERSITY. One of the greatest adventures in the history of British architecture, perhaps the greatest since Wren began to rebuild the city, is about, to open. London University' is to be built at last. The choice of architect has fallen on Mr. Charles Holden, a Bolton man. who worked :n Manchester and went to London about 30 years agoMr. Holden has been responsible for many buildings of great beauty and distinction in various parts of the country. London will always know him for the grand mass of oflices at St. James' Park Underground Station. The new university buildings will ex fend over a great area, from the British Museum northward to the Euslon Boad. The work, to begin next year, will take fiom 20 to 30 years and cost about £3,000.000. COUNTING THE PRUNES. Every prune or apricot that is served (o convicts in the famous Sing Sing prison in New York is now counted, and the convicts arc watched fo make sure they eat them. If not, the fruit is taken away bv the warders when Ihe meal is over. " This is not economy, but an attempt to keep the prison " dry." For the authorities recently discovered that their charges were obtaining a. powerful alcoholic liquor by fermenting prunes and apricots saved from their rations in an improvised still. Apparently, even in prison, the American must have his drinks. Yet prohibition is popular enough in some places—in the Bahamas, for instance. These islands are astonishingly prosperous just now, in spile of the fact that i.hey havo the world's worst trade balance. Last year their imports totalled £1.662.000, while their exports are only £334,000. But £720 000 of the imports bill was for assorted liquors, and most of this, though not re-exported officially, found its wav to the United States, and was sold a! a very handsome profit —certainly quite enough to right the apparent adverse balance of trade.