General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

STORY FROM OLD BABYLON. T> ar t of »1 1 tone tablet has been found . Kish bearing 50 lines qf tho Epic I filgame.sli, one of the oldest adventure in tho world. It may liavo been on this 'tablet 4000 years ago. Af nV other tablets have been found, the w being a set of 12 belonging to n King f Assvria, who lived about 650 B.C. This* epic: is one of tho most important ... rary products of Babylon, and besido j'linir with the adventure, gives an actint of the Great' Flood. The. tablet C °ill be very valuable, beilp; probably tho Jest edition of the story ever discovered. jjAN WALKING BACKWARD. A Berlin crowd was recently astonished , a man who was walking down tho famous Unter den Linden facing the way 1,0 wa3 not going. ;At first they thought 1 had turned to stare after someone, but he tramped grimly on, and then they D ; y that ho had very queer spectacles with little mirrors at the side, fashioned . t jike a motor-car mirror to show was be':iind him and prevent him L m walking into people. Some people thought the man mad, and fr osscd the road, but others cpiestioned him and found that, he came from Texas, g nd had take:a a vow to walk round the v orld backward. FIENDS IN FOURTEEN LANDS. Living in l! * little far-off place is no reason for being cut off from the world in theso days, a:s the pupils of the Ecolo do Fracca in the village of Landrcvarzec in Brittany have proved. There are nineteen children in this school, but they hold tho record for France for tho number of countries with which they correspond. Through the French Junior Red Cross they have been put in touch with schools in 14 lands- . , Each group writes in its own language, and' illustrates its letters by means of snapshots, drawings, postcards, or small samples of work, according to the subject that is being written about; and the central offices of the Red Cross see to their being translated. FUNNIEST RAILWAY IN EUROPE. Steel ropes, suspended high up above the water between steel towers three-quarters 0 f a 'mile apart, with little twelve-sided «teel carriages running along in mid-air—-such is the funny aerial railway connecting San Sebastian with Mount .Montjuich. This strange but most successful engineering feat was begun in 1930 and has now been finished. It bridges a wide stretch of water through which the biggest ships pass, and at no part of the wire railroad is it less than 200 ft. above sea-level. There are only four cars, each one attached to the endless steel wire that runs back and forth between the two end towers. Each little car takes 20 paslengers and travels at eight miles an hour, ind each car is connected by telephone, not only with the other cars but with the three stations at the top of tho towers. V CARVER'S SKILFUL WORK. Ii the little town of Dover, Ohio, is a man who lizis attracted world-wide fame by whittling from ivory, ebony, black walnut, pearl and bone moving models of famous locomotives. With only a knife and a few saws and files, Mr. Ernest farther has completed an 18-year task —the carving on exact scale from tho original drawings of the history of the locomotive in model form. Some idea of tho intricacy involved in the work may he secured from the bell cords on the models. These are not bent, as ivory cannot be bent, but are cut to t/ia curve after using a shellac-covered thread as a template. Even the strands are cut into the rope. Tho bell ord 011 the largest model is so fine that if held by either end the weight of tho free erd would cause it to break.

CONQUEROR MAKES HIS MARK. • ■ 5 It was announced a few weeks ago, as k nutter of gre;it interest, that a certain firm of booksellers had got possession of i document of William the Conqueror. It hiid been for centuries in tho hands of the B>saumont family,' who aro descended from oria of the men who signed it. The document grants the church of St. Mary at Bury St. Edmunds to St. Stephen's Church at Caen, in Normandy. It was written between 1067 and 1075 on vellum. It does not, however, bear tlie lignatnre olt Williaili the Conqueror. That great man could subdue a nation, but he could not do something every schoolboy can do: he could not write his name. William, Matilda his queen, Archbishop Lanfranc and Roger and Robert tie Beaumont made crosses on the document. A ?lerk wrote their names underneath. BIRD AND MAN RACE. A closed car carried an airman and some pigeons 70 of Norwich recently. Neither birds nor man knew in which diiection tliey were being driven. When released they were none of thcin provided with maps or compasses. " Now," said the organisers of tho contest, " see who can find his way back to Norwich first." The airman's machine was waiting for him, without compass, and up into the a;r went.birds 'and man. 'lho man had studied a map well before he started, and "iter flying east for a brief tinio saw a landmark easy to identify. As soon as ho knew where he was he wheeled and set off for Norwich. The clock and the sun between them provided tho information that * compas3 should have given, and he j wasted no time. The airman beat the first pigeon homo by 15 minutes, CORNISH TREASURE TROVE. Gold bracelets about 3000 years old found fc y a labourer under a hedge-bank at Towednack, Cornwall, arc among tho latest acquisitions accepted by tho trustees the British ; Museum, there arc six bracelets and two torques— twisted gfifl, I'robably worn as necklets. When this hoard was found a few months ago it was proclaimed treasure trove I»y the coioucr '°r the district. . The Duke of Cornwall is tho only sub.eCt in England" to have rights of treasuie trove; consequently these ornaments, liavin g passed into his possession, have been -Acquired from the Prince of Wales, who 15 also »"ko of Cormvall. Of iho bullion falue of the hoard, which is of pure gold, 'very considerable sum will bo paid to lucky labourer who made the disc°Tcrv. EARL'S GIFT TO MUSSOLINI. '.The Earl of Hosebery has offered his frula—the " Villa Hoseberv at Naples t<y 'he Government of Italy for use as ? n Italian "Chequers." The offer has «en accepted bv Signer Mussolini. Jhe j Stat e, with extensive grounds running to the shores of the Bay of Naples, *, as a favourite residence of the '. arl Rose'bery, the former Prime Minister Britain. Formerly it belonged to ° se P'i King of Naples. Later it bei the property of the Count <le 4 ,T a "ise, brother 'of King Bornba, the ,f: as t King of Naples, eventually passing 111 J a French railway magnate, from whom 'twas bought bv Lord Hosebery in 1897. .Toward the e/ul of his life the late Lord sebery presented the estate to the Bi' i ' Embassy iji Home for use a.3 a sum A' residence, tho terms of the gift P lo ' * m g that the estate should be returnJ.® if tlie Ambassador could not use i f- l changing times tlie British Am J; : found, a few vears .-\go. that he not the time to go very often |/i j? Villa Rosebery, atid it was roto> tho present peer.

r DEATH WATCH BEETLES' RAVAGES. All internal woodwork in tho Bodleian Library at Oxford in future will bo inspected periodically for signs of ravages by the death watch beetle. Tho annual report of the < waters s-.ated that there arc sigi)3 of ilir "iisects hiving attacked tho main struct:.: o in a few places, but nowhere very fcriously. Futuro ravages, it in hoped, will bo checked by improvements in ventilation, a-; tho beetle docs noj attack woodwork subject to currents of :'resh air. CHEERFUL DENTAL SURGERIES. Child patients do not dread a visit to a Los Angeles dentist, nor aro they upgot when ho reaches for one of his tools. They are kept in tho drawers of a model doll* house that serves as a cabinet. The dentist's experience with this aid has shown him <1 shrewd psychologist, for instead of causing feir ho now excites KlO curiosity of his youthful patients when he reaches for 0110 of his instruments. Similar method;. _ n:e used in a St. Louis hospital, which has an operating room designed particularly for cliildren. Tho walls have been cbcorated with brilliant scenes portraying popular fairy tales. Even tho ceilings and cabinets aro decorated with pictures, BRIDES OF FRIDAY, MAY 13. Of all. tho unlucky days of the year 011 which to make a matrimonial venture, Friday, May 13, ought, according to all superstitions, to bo tho unluckiest. Yet brides and bridegrooms on that dato in Britain this year were in rivalry to defy every onion. A young Middlebrough woman went to tho nltar at thirteen minutes past eight, wearing a vivid green gown, with a bright green hat to match. Aliss Ellen Gaunter, of South Ealing, also elected to wear green. 'She had thirteen telegrams of congratulation. Still another bride, at a register office, likewise defied portent?, with a dress of g;reei, and the weather added an extra one by raining on her as she arrived at the office. RECOGNISABLE BY A SCAR. What is tho value of a detective's nose? A Paris court when called upon to find an answer to this delicate and difficult question, decided thai £2OO was not too high a figure. The detective was a police commissary named Saresse, whoso special business is to keep a sharp look out on racecourses for " crooks " and oickpockets. A few months; ago his nose was so seriously injured "in" a taxi accident that ho will alwavs have a very bad scar. When the driver, who was hell to have been responsible, appeared in court, it was agreed that M. Sarcssa might in future experience some difficulty in tracking criminals, lor ho will bo recognised wherever ho goes. He wail therefore allowed the damages mentioned. BIBLE FOR A SHILLING. Tho Biblo still remains the world's best seller. Last year, indeed, English Bibles sold by the British and Foreign Bible Society totalled 633,0;6, the largest number ever disposed of in any one year. A considerable part of this heavy sale was probably due to the fact that a shilling edition of the Bible was placed on tho market, during the v»ar. In eight months 357,000 copies of Lliis edition were issued, 232,000 of which weie sold in tho British Isles and the balance overseas. Thanks to the work of the society, the Bible —or some part of it—is now a railable in 655 different languages. This helps not only tho missionaries, but also linguists. A trarislai ion of the Bible into any Language is a great help in learning it.

DE(JAY OF lONTAINEBLEAU. String is being used to mend some of tho masterpieces of furniture makers who worked for Napoleon Bonaparte. Many of these artistic Ireasures, whi)ch are stored in tho Palace at Fontaincbleau, are reported to be falling to pieces. Urgent repairs ci.nnot be carried out because the Ministry of Fine Arts has not sufficient funds at its disposal. It is only able to contribute a few thousand francs a year towai d tho upkeep of the furniture in museums, palaces, and chateaux throughout France. Napoleon loved Fount,ainebleau —" I'ountainebleau, the work of centuries and the true dwelling place of Kings!" he once cried. But to-day the sole inhabitants of many rooms in the palace are motli3. WINNING MONEY IN SWEEPS. There arc interesting signs in England of a 'tendency to demonstrate the possibly disastrous corisequer.ces of winning money in the Irish Sweep. Apparently it is not so much a matter cf morals as mortality, for among other examples is cited the case of a lady at Southend who died from heart failure at the age of 73, and it seems to be suggested that she was cut off in her primo as the result of shock because her son-in-law and a friend won £IO.OOO between them in the Dublin adventure. . ~ One cannot help thinking, states the Manchester Guardian, that, all things considered, the connection is rather remote; hearts that have been at it for 73 yeais might easily ce:.ise without any assistance from Dublin. Perhaps this insistence oil the connection between sudden wealth is intended as a delicate form of consolation for those who won nothing at all. TRICKS OF SMUGGLERS. American border agents aud custom patrolmen match wits daily with smugglers attempting to cross tho border m cars containing liquor, narcotics or aliens, but the clever ruse of tho contraband carrier rarely escapes detection. Iho alert eyes of ono agent noticed a white powder ori the bask of a car sea', and this clue led to tho finding of a copper tank set in plaster of paris and filled witli liquor in the upholstery of tho seat back. Another smuggler devised a recep acle for narcotics in the steering column of his car, with an open ng operated by an in-nocent-appearing button on tho dash. Liquor, narcotics and diamonds occupy little space, arid concealment in a cr J r 13 comparatively easy, but cars have lieen built to transport aliens as well. One sue!:: car had space enough for a person to bide along oik side and around the back of the cranl: case. Another was found carrying four aliens concealed in special compartments in tho back of tho front seat under tlio car. LOT OF THE POLICEMAN. A policeman's 1 fc in Umbrete, Andajusiii, must be a for from happy one. Disliking tho mayor's methods of conducting the town's business, the local magistra e order hirn to lie put under lock and key. When the police, arrived, however, the mayor was not in tho least upset. j'O and arrest the magistrate," was h' s neat reply. Completely taken aback, the unfortunate police retired to consider what they should do. After a long discussion, they were, still as perplexed as ever. There have been similar squabbles in Britain's own rough island story, states the Manchester G lardian. In 1771, one. Colonel Onslow, M.P., complained that two newspapers had referred to him as " liltle cocking George," and, later, as " a paltry, insignificant insect.His colleagues, sympathising with his anger, ordered the arrest of the printers. A messenger of tho House _ went ! o arrest the printers, but was himself arrested and held for assault by Brass Crosby, tho Lord Mayor. Thereupon Brass Crosby was committed to the Tower. On tho whole, however, the Lord Mayor had the last laugh. On the ultimate discharge ho was given a vociferous reception by the IGondon mob.

FLOWERS IN SIBERIA, When 0110 thinks of Siberia it is always connected in the mind with unhappy prisoners, snow and solitude; hut it appears that Siberia is much more than than, says the Children's Newspaper. Tt contains riiany lovely (lowers, herbs and grasses. Only a short time ago died Nikitich Krylofi, a botanist. lie left behind him a complcto account of the flora of Western Siberia, from the Urals to tlio Yenisei and from the Arctic Ocean to Central Asia. Within six years this stupendous work was accomplished. There was a pause for several years to get funds enough to publish. In ]926 it began to come cut in parts, and the publication is going on still. The energetic Ivryloff also founded a splendid school for Siberian botanists to follow after him. A REMARKABLE PICTURE. A picture weighing between two and three tons has been moved from an old homo to a new. ]t is Raphael's Transfiguration, and it now hangs in tlio new Vatican Picture Gallery. It is not the first time it has been on a journey, for it was carried in the artist's funeral procession, being the last picture on which ho worked. Tho building is going to attract the attention of alt the world, partly because of tlio magnificent and scientific way it has been arranged, and partly because of tho new beauty its treasures will attain in their new setting. It has been planned largely in the stylo Bramante introduced to Romo in tho 15th century. Bramanto was tho father of Italian Renaissance architecture. LEANING TOWER OF PISA. Although the Leaning Tower of Pisa still continues to settle down to one side, it is good for another 150 years. This is the view of a commission appointed to examine its condition. Tho work of reinforcing the foundations —which has been in progress for the past two and a-half years, under the direction of a British firm, tho Francois Cementation Company, of Doncaster—is proceeding. Owing to tho solid nature of tho building it is not in danger of collapsing. There is no suggestion of restoring the 5 tower to the perpendicular, as it would then lose its artistic and " touristic " value. Should it collapse, it would bo reelected with tho same material as was dono in tho case of tho Campanile at j Venice. I

MONKS BUY VALUABLE ESTATE. Tlio Benedictine Monks of Downside Abbey have purchased from Sir Eric Hainbro, former M.P. for Wimbledon, his Dorsetshire seat, Milton Abbey, 'lhe property has changed hands at a figure ranging between £50.000 and £7(i,OOD. It is expected that the monks will occupy tlie Abbey in the early autumn. The intention is that it should become a sister school to Downside, which is conducted as a large school for boys. Milton Abbey ennio into the possession of the Harnbro family about the middle of last century. SOLD AFTER 900 YEARS. After 900 years the Manor House of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, is for sale. Edward the Confessor, that friend of lite church, gave tlio .Manor House and 15 acres of land to tlio rectors of Welwyn for ever. For many hundreds of years tlio rectors lived there, and, of course, the old house was rebuilt many times; but in 1760 Edward Young, tlio author of " Night Thoughts," who was rector of Welwyn built a new manor house. It is rather shocking that a poet should have made Iho change, for poets are supposed lo be champions of the romantic past. The Manor House goes further back than Edward the Confessor, lioirian remains have been found in the grounds. Yet (he pool of " Melancholy and Moonlight " deserted tho historic rectory for modern comfort. ETON'S " THREEPENNY DAY." There has just, been celebrated at Eton College, England, a day which seems to have disturbing possibilities. All things considered, there may be a sigh of relief in tho bursar's office when " Threepenny Dav " has been got over without untoward incident. l'or (lie, buiw.rs have not alwavs been so fortunate. King llenry VI. provided that on the day appointed every colleger should be given threepence or half a sheep, threepence being the value of half a sheep at that time. As the price of sheep rose, or tho value of money fell, tho bursars got into the way of handing out three-penny-bits without giving boys tho option. But it is on record that a certain Brainwell, in the Victorian era, refused the proffered coin and demanded his half s heep —whereon he was hurried away and soundly flogged for his impudence.

VERY BRAVE MAN'S GALLANTRY,

A very brave man has been awarded tho Edward Medal for gallantry. It is n posthumous award, for he gave, his lifo in trying to save another. Mr. John Birks was a Manchester man of 24. lie worked in a laundry. One day ho and a lad of 18, named Harry Perkins, were changing their shoes in a messroom when a largo tank burst above them, and scalding water came dow3 in a cascade between them and the door. There was just ono chance of escape, and that was by scrambling over the top of a partition, but a man could not reach the ton without help. Quickly Mr. Birks realised this. He pulled the younger man on to a tablo and hoisted him over the partition. As lio could could not reach up to it himself he had to fight his way through tho scalding water to tho door. Both men died of their injuries. Ihero was just a chance that ono might have been saved, and that chance was renounced by as brave and quick-witted a man as ever lived.