General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

FREE RIDES IN TEAM CARS Residents of Bakersfield California, may fide their street cars as much as they want to on week days between tho hours of 9.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. without paying any fare, the State Railroad Commission has ruled. The free ride system was introduced for one month, and was suggested by the Bakorfieid Street Railway Company to make local citizens "street-car-conscious." STRANGE MISTAKE IN IDENTITY A remarkable case of mistaken identity' followed an -accident at Neath, Glamorganshire,' recently. A man who had been knocked down by a motor-car was indentified as Walter Samuel Wardlow, aged 65 vears, a mining engineer, of Port Talbot. * He was taken homo in an ambulance. The man was in the house for more than pix hours before it was found that he was not Walter Wardlow whom he closely resembled. Those misled included Mr. Wardlow's wife and daughter, and bis brother-in-law, and the family doctor. BOY'S LUXURIOUS OAR What is described as the most luxurious car ever built to order for a boy has been completed in England for the 11-year-old son of an Indian prince, tho Maharajah of Jodhpur. Beneath the hood is a four-cylinder motor that will drive the car 70 miles on a gallon of gas. The miniature seats, as well as the steering wheel and controls, are boy-size. Jn all respects save one the car might typify the fondest day dream of an average boy. The Maharajah has ordered ■pecial gears installed that will limit the speed to 15 miles an hour. TWO INGENIOUS INVENTORS A metal ball rolling on a zig-zag courSe regulates an electric clock which was latelv exhibited at the Model Engineering Exhibition in the Royal Horticultural Hall, London. The elbek \vas made by Dr. J. Bradbury Winter, who was formerly in practice at Brighton. The plate upon which the ball rolls took the doctor 400 hours to make. So far the hall has travelled along the track a distance equal to half-way round the earth. Dr. Winter has also invented a perpetual- date calendar connected to a clock. If the calendar is wrongly set a bell automatically rings. BELL WITH A HISTORY The Ashburnham bell, which hangs in the porch of old Chelsea Church, has an interesting history. One winter's night in 1679 the Hon. William Ashburnham, Cofferer to Charles 11., fell into the Thames, which was then unguarded bv embankments, and would have drowned had not the'chimes of the Old Che sea Church clock, striking nine, guided him to the bank and safety. In gratitude Mr. Ashburnham gave the bell, to be rune at nine every night from November to March, which was done regularly- for 143 years. The bell is used as a cap badge by the Ashburnham London County Council School in West Chelsea. FINE FOR NOT WEARING COLLAR There was an amusing scene at a Swiss Palais de Justice recently, when a number of persons charged with various offences came up for trial. The first was acquitted but the justices fined him heavily because he was not wearing a collar. His lawyer stated that he had to send his client to net shaved before entering the court. On hearing the fine announced a number of othoridelinquents rushed from the court to Buy collars in neighbouring shops, 'lhey all returned looking very relieved, but unfortunately they had omitted to buy neck-ties. They were admonished by tne justices, who said that in future anyone appearing in court in this fashion would be severely dealt with. BAN ON BADIO INTERFERENCE Montereau, a town near Fontainableau, France, , is likely to become known as an ideal centre for the wireless enthusiast. The Mayor has issued ?n order providing, severe penalties for persons who unnecessarily disturb the tranquillity of_ the atmosphere in such a manner as to interfere with the reception of broadcast programmes. . , , . All owners of electrical machines, whether commercial or domestic, are required to have attached to them a piece of apparatus which will prevent the diffusion of electrical radiations. Moreover, housewives who own such implements as vacuum cleaners and electrically-driven floor-polishing machines are informed that they may not use them -after midday. LONDON'S GREAT " PANTRY " " These docks are London's pantry," Writes Thomas Burke, the novelist,_ of England's famous centre of shipping. " They give to London the drugs by which the King and his subjects lecover from illness. With their wine they gladden the hearts of stockbrokers, bookmakers, permanent undersecretaries and chorus girls. By these docks the Christmas puddings of a million homes are made. " By their wool warehouses the young men of Jermyn Street and of Duke Street walk arrayed like gods. By thentea warehouses a thousand London teashops gratify their afternoon customers, and a million wives are able to gather the latest scandal about their friends from other friends. By these docks the caiman is eiven his shag, and clubman is given his Corona; the dentist is given his ivory and the dressmaker his silk.' JAZZ OUEFEW IN FRANCE^ ' Mrs. Grundy has evidently travelled to the south of France and has chosen Juan les Pins- as the centre of her activities. One of her first acts was to complain to the municipality that her beauty sleep was disturbed every night by jazz bands. This cahsed the Mayor of Antibes to issue an order that no music be played in the night clubs of Juan les Pi ns ' which is under his jurisdiction, ofter 10 p.m. Twenty or more policemen toured the establishments to enforce the decree. At 10.15 p.m. the Mayor himself appeared in Juan les Pins, and a crowd of 3000 people greeted him near the Casino with cries of: "We want music. Down with the Mayor! Throw him into the sea." He was saved from the angiy throng by policemen. The crowd continued to protest, however, and did not disperse until the Mayor promised that music would be permitted for that night at least, but not later than midnight, CRUEL TRAP FOR PIGEONS " It is a diabolical thing and we have considered sending you to prison," said Mr IV Crewe, chairman of the Birmingham Bench recently, in fining Henry Willets £5 and £6 6s costs for cruelty to pigeons. , J . Counsel for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said a man who kept pigeons near Willet s allotment found that one of his birds had tried to eat some peas which had pins put through them, the head of the pin being broken off to leave two shaip points/ A number of peas wiih pins through them were afterward found on Willet's allotment near a small brook at ■which the birds were likely to drink. Mr. H. W. Griffiths, who examined the piceonS, said in one case a pin was sticking in the gizzard. That and another bird were destroyed. "*'l have been engaged on cruelty cases in Birmingham for 10 years," Jr said, " and I consider it the most, terrible I have known. Willets fcaid lie, thought the birds would be killed •outright. He complained that they had taken more than 300 of his cauliflowers. ;

BLARNEY STONE TRAGEDY "While trying unaided to kiss the magic stone of Blarney recently, James Burke, of Charlovillc County Cork, fell 100 ft from tho battlenui.-s of Blarney Castle, and was killed. The stone is embedded in the outside wall and the top of it is a few feet below the summit of tho castle. People who kiss it in the hope of deriving the gift of words—eloquent, enchanting, and wonderful for all purposos, especially love—which it is supposed to bestow, are usually held by tho ankles head downwards. BACHELOR WHO KEPT HIS VOW , A man who was found, when a baby, on tho doorstep of. a house in London 75 years ago and who had the name of James Dawson, but never knew if that was his proper name, or whether it was piven him at an orphanage, recently died in England. Before ho was 21 Mr. Dawson had sailed three times round the world. Ho served in tho first of the Navy's warships driven by steam. A broken love affhir when ho was a young man led to a vow that ho would remain a bachelor, and he did. BLIND BEGGAR CEASES TO BEG A short' time ago a Braille bulletin on gardening was issued by the National Institute for tho Blind. Letters received in London havo told how much tho information has been appreciated by blind gardenlovers in many parts of the world. From Ethiopia came a story of a native blind beggar. On learning to read and write Braille, the man gave up begging for a living and opened a school at Addis Abbaba, where he now teaches other blind people. Among his subjects aro tho making of mats ana baskets, and now ho has aaded gardening. 20,000 MILES IN A CHAIR Mr. F. H. Jervis, of Acacia Drive, Thorpe Bay, Essex, a former sergeantmajor in the Royal Engineers, who was blown up at Passchendaele Ridge in 1917, ha< travelled 20,000 miles in nis invalid chfiir since being discharged from hospital in 1924. " Besides being partly paralysed, I have a silver plate in mv skull and I am minus a few ribs," Mr. Jervis says. Since my discharge, I have bowled my way along all over England and Scotland. I havo also taken my chair across to France and wheeled my way over tho old haunts there." ANNOYANCE OF A QUEEN Queen Victoria would certainly not have been amused by newspaper references to the gigantic equestrian statue of George 111. on the Long Walk at "Windsor, which is reported to be in need of renovation, as the " Copper Horse," though that has long been its nickname among local residents. The first time the Queen heard the term, says the Daily Telegraph, was when a very distinguished visitor at Windsor Castle took a stroll through the Great Park, and, asked by his Royal hostess where he had been, replied, " As far as the ' Copper Horse.' " " As far as what?" exclaimed the Queen, and when explanation was given remarked in her most frigid manner, " That is nob a ' copper horse.' It is a statue of my grandfather." GRETNA GREEN ROMANCE Thomas Hanbury, tho 17-year-old son of Mr. Cecil Hanbury, M.P. for North Dorset, and the hero of a recent Gretna Green romance, has gone to British Columbia, where his parents hope that he will learn to forget his youthful romance. There was*no wedding at Gretna Green. Mr. and Mrs. Hanbury, after an exciting chase in an aeroplane, express train and motor-car, intercepted the young couple and took them back to London. " No engagement will be announced either now or in the future," said Mrs. Hanbury. " The whole business was a silly escapade. Now we hope the matter will be forgotten." . Thomas Hanbury will remain in Canada for a year or two. He may visit Africa before returning home to take up a career. STORY OF WAR MEMORIAL There is a moving story behind the great Canadian War Memorial which is being shown in Hyde Park London, for three months before it is taken to Ottawa. An open competition was held, and the winning design for the memorial was sent by Vernon March. He was a Yorkshireman, the youngest of a family of seven, and country folk believe that the seventh child is always lucky. But after winning the competition and working on the memorial for four years Mr. March 1 died without seeing it finished. That was two years ago. Mr. March's five brothers have -worked on the memorial ever since, determined that his dream should come true in bronze and granite. Through a narrow granite arch come marching nineteen bronze giants, representing every unit of the Canadian forces who served in the threat War. On the top of the arch are figures of victory and Liberty. Thus it will be in Ottawa. Plaster represents granite in Hyde Park, but the figures, each weighing a ton, will be the actual figures made at FarnbOrough in Kent for Ottawa. NOVEL LAWSUIT SETTLED A novel lawsuit started seven years ago has been settled by a French Court. The shareholders in a shoot near Nogent-le-Rotrou, in the Eure-et-Loir Department, have been ordered to pay damages to farmers in the neighbourhood for failing to kill enough rabbits. The more idea of such a charge is more surprising in France than it would be in New Zealand. Frenchmen who go out with a gun, and their number is legion, are for ever complaining that doing so amounts to little more than taking a country walk. Tho chances of encountering game are infinitesimal. A suggestion that anyone could bo accused of failing to bag his fair share is incomprehensible to them. On an estate of more than 2000 acres near Nogent-le-Rotrou, which is tho property of Ger„eral Pauthonier, there are so many rabbits that it is possible to go on killing them for days at tho rate of 250 an hour without making much impression on their strength. In 1925 local farmers complained that the rabbits were ruining their crops and started on an action for £SOO damages. / OLD ROMAN MARKET RESTORED Romans have been invited to patronise a book fair in the restored booths of the Forum of Trajan, where any book published within the last few years in Italy can be bought with an autograph of the author. There was a library at the borum in the days of Augustus, where, for all one knows, the Roman could buy the latest poems of Horaco or an oration of Cicero. Part of the market of Trajan consisted of booths built in semi-circles in four or five tiers. Each booth measured about eight or nine feet in width, and was 15ft. or 18ft. deep. 'I here dealers, sold olive nil from the Sabines. fruit from the south, wine from the Alban Hills, manufactured articles kitchen utensils of copper and iron, and clothes and household goods of Greek design. _ _ By the demolition of blocks of oid houses the market, as it was originally, was restored. Most of tho 150 booths, with their brick walls and vaults, nearly 1800 years old, havo been cleared, shelves and stands have been placed in them, und now, for a day each year, they, will be devoted to the sale of the latest novels, histories, poems and plays, and all tho other literature of modern Rome.

yusic STUDENTS REBUKED Dr. Adrian Boult, musical director of the British Broadcasting Corporation iatoly criticised students at a summer course in music teaching at Oxford for tapping the rhythm with their feet. " It is as bad to beat time with your feet as to to write with your tongue as well as with your fingers," Mr. Boult said. " It is bad psychologically, and you will probably go mad if you go on with it, because it means that your limbs are not under control and that energy is being wasted." THE WORLD'S FATTEST MAN Mr. llichard Harrow, of Blackpool, England, an actor, claims to bo the fattest man in the world. He weighs 4901b, stands six feet high, and is 22 years old. He has to liavo his clothes specially made. Ho cannot attend a theatre becauso the soats aro too small, and he has a bed specially built, which he takes with him on tour. Mr. Harrow eats 21b of steak to one meal, and says—" lam as fit as the average man a quarter of my weight, although I do break the springs of motorcars and chairs have to bo strengthened before I can sit down." ELEVEN MILES FOR A PENNY A New York Underground railway company has found it impossible to make both ends meet because of cheap fares. So a receiver has been appointed. On this company's line it has been possible to travel 28 miles for twopence-halfpenny, which works out at just over 11 miles for a penny. The rate was fixed under comtracts which are now 35 years old, and has been definitely uneconomic for years. But though attempts have been made to revise the contracts, political influences havo always stood in the way. ALGERIAN CENTIPEDE IN ZOO An Algerian centipede, recently received at the London Zoo, is a horridlooking creature, nearly 6in. in length, with a narrow, worm-like body divided into about 10 or 12 rings, or portions, to each of which is attached a pair of legs of a bright orange-yellow. It has two small black horns on its head. Not only has tho centipede more than 20 legs, each one of which leaves a poisonous trail behind it as it passes over human skin, but it is also armed with fangs just as sharp as those of the scorpion, if it is attacked this hateful creature puts out an evil-smelling fluid as a protection. In the tropics centipedes grow much bigger, and aro as dangerous as certain poisonous snakes.

TRAGIC GUN-CLEANING DRAMA An accident in which a man was shot with his. own gun while his wife was cleaning it occurred recently at tho Bull public-house at Upton, near Huntingdon, England. The dead man was Mr. George Edward Mills, aged 55, who had been landlord of tin: Bull Inn since last October. The gun, which Mr. Mills had asked his wife to clean while he went to his allotment, had apparently been put away with a live cartridge in the breech. As he entered tho house on his' return, the gun accidently went off and he received the full charge in his body. He died within a few minutes. Mrs. Mills collasped when she realised that husband was dead. Her three children, aged 10, six and three, were asleep at the time. EGYPTIAN TEMPLE DISCOVERY Several interesting discoveries havo been made during excavations at the site of a pre-dynastic Egyptian settlement at Maadi, outside Cairo. What is regarded as the most important is a huge bone, probably of a hippopotamus, placed up* right in the soil and held in position | by a circle of stones. The meaning of this is not very clear, but sacrifioal rites are suggested. The season's work on the sancUiary of Sekneptyriis, tho crocodile god, which the Italian archaeological mission discovered at Trebtynis, in the Fayum district, last year, has brought to light several new and interesting parts of tho temple. One is an enclosure under tho shade of a sacred tree where tho sacred crocodile itself lived, and another is the actual sanctuary of tho temple. Tho enclosure for the crocodile is tho first found in Egypt, and is exactly like thoso existing in Central Africa and apparently for a similar cult. CLUBS AND THE DEPRESSION Several of the more exclusive London West End clubs are feeling the pinch, and many schemes are being brought forward to attract new members. Boodle's has taken off for one year the entrance fee of 30 guineas and reduced the subscription for new members to seven and a-half guineas from 15 guineas. At the St. James's, junior members between tho ages of 18 and 25 aro to be admitted without the usual entrance fee of 25 guineas, and for them the annual subscription will be seven guineas instead of 18 guineas. Candidates must be personally known and proposed by two members,.,- or by two of tho committee of one of the recognised and approved University CluLs of Oxford or Cambridge. They will remain junior members until they aro 25, when they must pay tho usual full subscription, but will havo the samo privileges as other members, except the, uso of the card room.

EASY MONEY Uncle was putting a few questions to : his young nephew. " And what, Freddie," i he asked, " are you going to do when you grow up ?" ' " I'm going to raise mint," Freddie 1 readily replied; Uncle raised his eyebrows inquiringly. " Mint?" he echoed. "Yes," said the boy; "that's where ; daddy says all our money comes from." AND THE REST i Martin gazed critically at his friend's car. " Wnat did you give for that?" he asked. Jackson shrugged his shoulders. " Nothing," he replied. " I took it for a debt—a fellow owed me two hundred pounds. Martin sniffed contemptously. " H'lji!" Be murmured. " Do you stand much 1 chance of getting, the other hundred and ninety-nihe pounds?" I RUBBING- IT IN i They were strolling aimlessly along the river-bank. Presently a man and his dog j hove in v'ew. As they came abreast of tho two friends Jones whipped off his - hat. ! A few seconds later Brown said: " Who was that you raised your hat to?" "That? Oh, ho was my barber! He , sold me a bottle of alleged hair restorer a j month ago, and whenever I meet him I i raise my hat and let him seo what a fraud he is." HIS NEXT MEAL A young man walked dejectedly into a hat-shop. " I've just lost a bet," he announced to tho shop assistant. " I want a soft hat." The assistant turned to tho shelves and took down a number of hats. He handed ono to the prospective customer. " This , is the softest wo have in stock, sir," he ' said. i The customer handled it thoughtfully. 1 " What I want," ho said, after a while, " is something more tender. I've got to eat it." i WHAT NEXT ? A conjurer was performing in a room adjoining a gunpowder factory. A sailor and his parrot were enjoying the show. The conjurer changed half a crown into a ponny. " Now that's a fine trick," said the sailor, lighting his pipe.' ' I wonder what he'll do next. The sailor thon throw away his match. A minuto later there was no sailor, no factory, no room, no conjurer, no village. On a steeple a mile away the parrot, with ono feather remaining, said,* " Now, that's a fino trick. I wonder what ho'll do next."

PROMPT ACTION " We'll leave no stone ur,turned to find your purse," said the police inspector to the young man from the country, who had just lost bis purse. " Hm-m! " exclaimed the young man as he walked down the fitreet the next morning and saw the roadmenders at work. " They haven't lost much time." THE GREAT MISTAKE The owner of a cheap watch brought it into the jeweller's shop to see what could be done to it. " The mistake I made was in dropping it," he explained. Tho jeweller shook his head sadly as he picked up the little heap of wheels and screws. Well, I don't suppose you could help that," he said, " but the mistake you made was in picking it up again."

MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR. At a meeting of an education committee, a speaker made a number of disparaging remarks regarding the universities, finally expressing gratification that ho himself had not been corrupted by contact with a college. "Do I understand that the speaker is thankful for his ignorance ? " asked a youthful member of the committee. " Yes," thundered the speaker, " if you care to put it that way, I am." " Then," said the young man, " all I have to say is that you have a great deal to bo thankful for! " And with these words he passed silently out into the night.

GETTING ACROSS Boy: " If.an express train and a motorist. both reached a level crossing together and the motorist accelerated, how would ho get across ? " Friend: "He wouldn't get across!" Boy: " But I tell you he did." Friend: " Then how did he manage to get across ? " Boy: " His widow bought him one! " ON SECOND THOUGHTS A farmer awoke in the middle of the night to find his barn on fire. "Quick!" he shouted to his wife. " Send somebody for the fire brigade." He paused, and added: "By the way, did we insure the barn ? " " Of course we did," replied his wife, coolly. " All right, then," ho replied calmly; " you might ask grandmother to go for tho fire brigade." A SLAVE TO THE HABIT Limping rather badly, a man came into tho surgery and asked the doctor to look at his ankle. " Good gracious)' man," exclaimed the doctor, " how long has it been like this?" " About four days," was the reply. " Why, man, your ankle's broken! I don't know how you got about at all. Why didn't you como to me before?" " Weil, doctor, every time I say there's anything wrong with mo, my wife declares I must stop smoking." NOT WHAT HE MEANT Markman, the famous big game hunter, had just returned from a shooting expedition in Darkest Africa, and was telling a crowd of admiring friends and relatives his thrilling experiences. After a few stories of encounters with lions and elephants, bo said: " Just before leaving I had tho good fortune to shoot a man-eating crocodile." Aunt Betty looked horrified. " But surely that was murder, and quite unnecessary. Why shouldn't the poor man oat crocodile if he wanted to ?" she said. THE SALESMAN'S ART Tho house-to-houso book canvasser knocked at the do"or of Mrs. Jones' residence. " Nothing to-day," said the woman. "But madam," he insisted, "I have something lwre that's bound to interest you. ' Tho Husband's Friend, or 500 Reasons for Staying Out Late.' " " What makes you think that book would interest me ? " asked Mrs. Jones angrily. . " Well," said the canvasser, " I sold a copy to your husband on t.bo way to the station this morning."