General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21520, 17 June 1933, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

ALL ONE'S LIFE AN ALIEN Jean Pierre Do Trey, a Swiss watch merchant/ of London, was fined CIO at Bow Street a few weeks ago for failing, as an alien, to register his change of address. The defendant pleaded that he had lived in England sinco he was six weeks old, and did not regard himself as an alien. INSPIRATION FROM MONKEYS Regina Garcia, a girl of Valtravieso, recently lost both arms in an accident. Life seemed hopeless till she saw two monkeys on a barrel organ using their feet as their hands. Thrilled with tho new hope, the girl resolved to imitate them, and, after months/ of practice, she sews, writes, tvpes, drives a car and does housework J-all'with her feet. She can pick a needle from the ground with her toe. / «< NO. 13 " HOUSES IN DEMAND Every house numbered 13 on an estate at Hendon. Middlesex, has been sold. Some of the other numbers aro in a mote advanced state of building, but prospective tenants prefer to wait tor a No. l<i. Five people named Wilson —not related to/ each other—applied for the same No. 13. " Thirteens are always the first to go," the agent says. " Two tenants took other numbers, and asked ( to transfer when the thirteens in the same streets were built. People seem to think/13 is lucky, and certainly nil the tenants in thirteens seem to bo prosperous. 1 have never heard of .11luok befalling one of the 13 tenants and none has asked to change." £IOOO MISLAID FOR YEARS The sum of £IOOO has come to light at Kettering, Northamptonshire, after being " mislaid " for 31 years. It is the **' Bridges Charity," which was originally a fund for apprenticing boys of "the town. Eventually it came into the han'ds of the School Board. In 1902 the School Board was superseded bv the Education Committee. In the change over the £IOOO was lost sight ot\ and has been lying forgotten in tho bank ever since. Recently somebod v suddenlv thought of the " Bridges ' Charity/" The Education Committee promptly took possession of the money, and decided to invest it and use the interest to provide advanced classes in domestic subjects and arts and handicrafts for girls. BLOOD OF PATRON SAINT The 'tilood of St. Januarius. preserved in a phial in the Cathedral of Naples, liquefied on April 21 within a few minutes of being exhibited to a large party of French pilgrims after Pontifical Mass, celebrated by Cardinal A scaled. The relic is normally withdrawn from the Cathedral treasury only three times a year—on feast days connected with the Patron Saint of Naples, who was thrown to wild beasts in tho amphitheatre at Pozznoli. His blood was preserved by a pious widow. This being, Holy Year, it is also shown at important pilgrimages to Naples. The time taken to liquefy varies from a few seconds to several hours, but a rapid performance of tho miracle is always taken by the people of Naples as a good oinen for the city. I ENGLAND'S FIRST POTATO CROP Situated along the Wandle, a small tributary of the River Thames, which rises in Croydon and enters the parent stream, at Wandsworth, lies Beddington, ,a/place of curious historical asso- * ciations. In the 17th century the Lord of (he Manor of Beddington was Sir Francis Carew, whose niece married Sir Walter Raleigh. The first crop of the potato, brought back from Virginia by Raleigh, was grown at Beddington, and concerning that other prize from America, tobacco, also brought by Raleigh, there seems some ground for thinking that be started a snuff mill at Beddington. Raleigh's last meeting with _ King James I. before his last expedition to South America took place at Beddington, and there is a legend that tho ghost of the adventurer sometimes " walks " by the, old yew-treo m Beddington Churchyard., SHELTER FOR MIGRANT BIRDS The I invasion of Britain by tens of thousands of birds to spend their annual visit there began several weeks ago. Special hostels built on lightbouses, on behalf of the Royal Society for. the Protection of Birds, were packed nighty'after night by migrant birds botincl for the shores of the Old Country. The resting-places, found on nearly a dozen of the greatest lighthouses of the British coast, consist of rows of perches above and below the lanterns. It costs from £6O to £IOO to equip n lighthouse with perches, and from £l*> to £2O a year to maintain them. Before these resting-places were built thousands of birds perished annually around the lighthouses and lightships. Attracted at dusk and in bad weather bv these beacon lights, tho birds iluttcred around them in a vain attempt to find a settling-place until they fell into tho sea. FEWER PEOPLE IN WALES Census figures for the county of Glamorgan show that the population has''declined by 26,764 in the ton years since the former big count. This is the first time for over a century that a fall has been registered—until now the population h;is been increasing steadily for 120 years. In the previous ten years' period, indeed, the increase was over 130,000. Still greater percentage declines have been registered in .Monmouth and eight other Welsh counties, although the population of England and Wales, considered as a whole, is five and a-half per cent higher than it was at the time of the previous census. An analysis of the figures suggests that many of the young men have been driven from their homes by the slump, and have either found—or are looking for —work outside Wales altogether. Economic depression is thus draining the Principality of some of its best blood. CONSTANTINOPLE'S PIGEONS The four days of the Bayram holiday bayo been a great treat for the Constantinople pigeons. Mosque-goers and other people, especially of the poorer classes, have been feeding the pigeons / wjiich swarm on certain points of the town, especially in front, of tho courtyards of the Eyoub and Haya/.id mosques. At both places old women sell millet for about a penny a cupful—which is a very high price indeed. ; The love the Turks show for pigeons is extraordinary. In many walls there 1 are special holes for pigeons. Last year, ' when workmen were pulling down a ' wall J they refused to touch the part ; which supported a dovecot. • Some time ago, visiting the famous Fethie or Pammacaristos mosque, which contains per- ! haps the most beautiful mosaics to be '< found at Constantinople, an Englishman < was amazed at the amount of damage 1 which the pigeons had done to the < building. The Turks know this, but i they iirefuse to interfere. i

CHURCH BELLS RING AGAIN The church bells of Bethany, Augusta, Georgia, have lately been rung for the first time in 45 years. They were silenced because the horses at the neighbouring fire station, unable to discriminate betweeiJ church and alarm bells, dashed from their stalls to the engines when they were rung. Motor fire-engines have replaced the horse-drawn machines, . and so the church bells aro being rung once more. " BOWLER " AND " BILLYCOCK " Personal names have often been given to articles of apparel or of common use. Wellingtons and Bluchers are two types of footwear, a Mackintosh is is a waterproof cloak, a Trilby is a hat and a Gladstone is a bag. Most people think that the bowler hat is so called- by reason of its bowllike shape. It comes as a surprise to learn that it is a hat originally designed by William Bowler, a hatter in the Borough. The slang name for it is " billycock," and that turns out to be just as personal as tho true name. WINE CELLAR UNDER A CHURCH Heildelberg, the famous old German university town, so rich in unique i attractions, possesses one known to few visitors. It is a wine cellar under the Catholic Church of St. Anna, containing, among other large casks, the "Jubilee Cask" of 1886, the 500 th anniversary of the university, with a 1 capacity of 4912 gallons. The cellar is leased to a wine merchant. The wine cellars of tho Bitter and Silberner Hirsch, two famous old inns, run under the Market Place, and one cellar passes under tho railway and into a 100-yard-long passage hewn out of the solid rock. FOUR THOUSAND PHOTOGRAPHS Four thousand photographs of members of all the royal families of Europe, collected by Mrs. Thomas Brocklebank, now SO years old. aro to be left to England. Despite her great age, Mrs. Brocklebank spends her time between her two homes in London and Florence, adding constantly to her collection at tho rate of between 100 and 200 a year. The collection fills scores of huge volumes. There is no other assembly of pictures like it in the world, for it includes also the family trees of its subjects. Mrs. Brocklebank began collecting 25 years ago in Florence because she was interested in tho Medici family. REMARKABLE ELECTRIC SIGN What is said to be the largest electric sign in the world, it is claimed, has been erected on two 400 ft. chimneys of the German Dye Trust works at Leverkusen, in tho Bhineland. The two chimneys, nearly 200 ft. apart, support a massive metallic circle containing, in letters 40ft. high, the name of Dye Trust's founder, Bayer, spelt vertically and horizontally to form a cross —the ; sign appearing on many of the Dye Trust's products. Some 2000 lamps are used for the enclosing circle alone. The sign is visible for many miles, and the mechanics in charge of it move about it in a travelling cage suspended hundreds of feet above the earth. AMERICAN HIGHWAY PLAN | Touring speeds by car of 90 to 100 . miles au hour will be possible on a ' proposed American highway between ' the Atlantic and Pacific, according to I Popular Mechanics. Two roads in each ■ direction, divided by a barricade, are . contained in the plans, crossings are , to be eliminated, and a fence will pre- - vent danger to pedestrians. All night [ lighting, elimination of sharp curves, i and avoidance of large cities will be • other features. Stations located every 400 miles will I embrace service stations, hotel, restaurants and camping grounds. The ; construction of the project is proposed i by the means of bonds to bo sold to • tho public, and the payment of a toll i is to provide revenue. ; _______________ NEW TREAT FOR SCHOLARS English school children have a new treat in store for them at Whitehall. At tho Royal "United Service Museum a special exhibition has just b"en arranged called Empire Voyages and Discoveries. It represents the story of Empire building, and a sot of very fine dioramas shows pictures of Drake on the Golden Hind in the Strait of Magellan, Cook landing in Australia, tho pilgrim Fathers sighting America, and pioneers of the Hudson Bay Company. Typical places in tho overseas Enipiro will henceforth mean more than a nanio to boy and girl visitors, who will now see what they aro really like. There is also a collection of portraits of great explorers and administrators who have done so much to make Empire History. SURPRISE FOR A SCULPTOR A French sculptor has experienced an harassing time in an unexpected way. A Paris police official visited tho studio and asked if a model had been engaged who was not of French nationality. On admitting that such had been tho case, the sculptor was informed that he would bo fined for having employed a foreigner not in possession of a worker's card. Certain French journals immediately ranged themselves against the decision, assorting in plain language that to apply to artists' models regulations to protect French workers would bo an outrage against the liberty of thought and the liberty of creation. It was asked if a Chinese woman was to be depicted would it be necessary to disguise a Frenchwoman for tho part? The general opinion was that an appeal should bo made to the Minister of Labour to direct that a little commonsense should bo displayed in such matters. COMPOSER AT FIVE YEARS Prince George Chavchavadze, the pianist, who has gained considerable fame both in England and the United States, is a Russian by birth, or rather a Bessarabian. Ho was original! y destined for tho Diplomatic Service, but the Bolshevik ro\olution put an end to that aspiration, and he had to seek to earn his living in another field. The Prince has a handsome sister, Princess Marina Chavchavadze, _ who has lived for some years in Switzerland. At a house party in Dorset a year or two ago, she startled the locality with her remarkable riding, sitting Cossack fashion, crouching low over the neck of her mount, and charging over the roughest country at a speed which would have meant a broken neck for a less skilful rider. The family formerly resided in a large.house in 'Holland Park, shortly after they wont as refugees to London. One of Prince George's childhood treasures is a piece of music which he composed at the ago of four or five and which was afterwards played at an imperial function for a war charity.

MEXICAN WOMEN PRISONERS The largest prison in Mexico lias inaugurated a new cell block for women prisoners. Each one is large, welllighted and ventilated, and has a "living room," kitchen and bathroom. Women prisoners who behave themselves are allowed to have the wireless and a gramophone in their cells. Those who have rolatives.arc allowed to receive them in private once a week. These prisoners aro allowed a ration of sweets for dinner every day. RENDEZVOUS TOR LOVERS A famous rendezvous for lovers is a cafe in Berlin. The benevolent proprietor noticed that couples often missed each other through one being late and finding the other gone. So he has placed on tho wall a gigantic piece of paper, ruled with 100 squares. Mou or girls who are tired of waiting may write on the squares where they have gone and what the other is to do. The paper is renewed every day, as most of the hundred squares are used by the end of the evening. CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUGS Turkey has recently ratified the League Convention of July, 1931, for limiting tho manufacture of drugs and regulating their distribution. This is a verv welcome act, for it is only lately that the factories of Turkey and their uncontrolled output were very serious obstacles in the way of checking the drug traffic. Countries in which these poisons were being poured pointed to Turkey as the offending producer. Thirteen states have now ratified the convention, but 25 are needed before it can come into force. HISTORIC ISLAND TO LET Romantic Belle Island, situated in the middle of Lake Windermere, withstood a siege by Cromwell's men during the Civil Wars. Now it is to let, complete with a furnished house, at 25 guineas a week. The house, locally referred to as the " Coffee Pot," because of its unusual shape, contains a Romney portrait of " Isabella Curwen," after whom the island was named. To-day tho island belongs to Mrs. Chance, of AVorkington Hall, daughter of the late occupier. " The land is entailed, so the island cannot bo sold," an inquirer was informed at tho auctioneer's office. "It would make a line summer playground."

PROPHECY REGARDING THE SUN A prediction that the sun will contain less heat for the next two years has been issued by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington. For the next two years, according to Dr. C. Abbot, the secretary of the institution, the heat which issues from the sun and makes life possible on earth will bo somewhat below norma!. This does not necessarily mean that the earth will have two cold years, for earthly weather is affected by many j influences beside the sun s heat. However, it is believed that the period of i less heat on the sun must have some effect on the earth, though what it will be is unpredictable. FIVE-YEAR PLAN IN 1606 The Russian Soviet Five-Year Plan is by no means • original. When King James I. granted in 1606 a, patent to " certain knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of our Cjtie ot London," to colonise Y irginia in .America, two of the regulations for tho colony stressed the communal character of the venture. . The regulations provided that lor five vears after their landing on tho Coast of Virginia, the said colonies and every person therein should trade altogether in one stock, or in two or three stocks at most, and bring all the fruits of their labours with goods, commodities. from England or elsewhere, into several magazines or storehouses; and lastly, every person for the spaco of five years shall bo furnished with necessaries out of the said magazines. COMEDY OF TELEPHONE ERROR The people of a village in Lorraine are shaking' their sides with binghtci at a mistake caused by a noisy teephone line and the bad hearing of the mayor. In tho pigeon-holes of cver> commune in Franco are kept a set of numbered sealed orders, so that the ! Government can quickly communicate ! with every part of the country. One morning an official at Mirecourt, the nearest town to Avillers, telephoned to the mayor of the village telling him to open sealed order Nuniero six. Iho mayor thought tho official said Nuniero' dix," so he hastily opened Number Ten of the set of secret instructions. He found that it contained orders tor mobilisation. The mayor called the town crier and sent him to rally the reservists. In less than an hour a crowd ot weeping wives and sweethearts, greyhaired mothers and tearful sisters were waving pocket handkerchiefs at tho cross-roads while a band ot men trudged off to Mirecourt to report for service. . . The village band, playing martial music, accompanied the soldiers, who imagined themselves off to defend Franco against hostile invasion and feared that they might never again return home. They had trudged three or four miles along the road when they were overtaken by the town crier on a bicycle. Tho mistake had been discovered and secret instruction Nuniero Six had been opened. It ordered a census of the village's horses and mules!

THE COWBOY'S BAIT Young Lady (on first visit to Western ranch): "For what purpose do you use that coil of lino on your saddle?" Cowboy: " That line, as you call it, lady, wo use for catching cattle ana horses." " Oh, indeed. Now, may I ask, what do you use for bait?" HE HAD HAD ENOUGH Following lunch tho proud proprietor of tho historical old inn offered to show his guest round the premises. After a tour of tho cellars and upper rooms tho proprietor said: " And now perhaps you'd like to see the old wing, sir?" The guest shook his head. •" No," ho replied, a little brusquely, " I fancy 1 had it for lunch." ONE OP THE INFANTS Brown was proudly exhibiting to .Jones the sole results of his day's fishing. Jones gazed at it rather vacantly. " Fish go in schools, don't they?" lie asked. " I think so,", said Brown, wondering what was coming next. " Why do you ask?" "Oh, nothing much!" said Jones. " Only 1 was thinking you may have broken up an infants' class." YOUNG MAN AND A MAID Breakfast time was often a battle of words between father and daughter. " Mary," said her father sternly, one Sunday morning, " did 1 seo that young man kiss you last night?" Mary was on guard at once. " I don't know whether you did or not," sho replied. " You are evading my question," snapped father. "Did he kiss you?" " Well," she shot back, " you don't really think Hector came to see our goldfish, do you?" BACKING A HORSE Scene: A police station in London. A phone is ringing violently and a bored sergeant picks up the receiver. Sergeant: "Hello!" Voice (excitedly): " I've's just backed a horse." Sergeant (wearily): "Wrong number. Ring off." Ho puts the receiver down. Two minutes pass. The phone rings again. Sergeant: "Hullo!" Same Voice (urgently): "I've just backed a horse and ... Sergeant (snarling slightly): "Wrong number. Ring off I" He puts the receiver down. Two minutes pass. Phono rings again. Sergeant (viciously): "Hollo!" Voice (hysterically): "Fortholoveofmike, lissen. I've just backed a horse and cart into a window at . «

DEAF MAN IN A TRAIN An olderly woman from tho provinces atokod her follow passengers in tho train at, every station it' she had arrived at Wembley. At one stop she inquired of an ancient man sitting opposite: " Is this Wembley? " "You'll have to speak up. I'm rather deal," replied the elder. " Js this Wembley? " " No. It's Thursday." WINDING UP AN ESTATE Freddie was giving his lady friend a. long discourse on his family history. " My grandfather," ho said, "was just a poor, hard-working London cloekmaker. When,he died, a few years ago. he left all Jiis estate, which consisted of two hundred clocks, to my father." The girl smiled. "How interesting!" she said. " It must have been real fun winding up his estate."

POLICE COURT INCIDENT An Englishman, a Soot and an Irishman appeared at a police court following a night out. Addressing the Englishman, the magistrate said: "Howdo you feel?" " Awful, sir." " Well, take seven days' rest." And then to the Scot: " How do you feel?" " Grand, sir." " Seven days to cool your ardour." And then to tho Irishman: "How do you feel?" " Sure, just like a piece of elashtic." " What do you mean by that?" " Well, I know I'm in for a stretch, but I don't know the lingtli yfet."

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE , A fussy woman went into a shop to choose a birthday present for her husband. Sho ransacked the department, pulling everything about. " 1 want to give him a surprise," sho said. "What would you advise?" Tho assistant, exasperated and forgetting tho religion of salesmanship, said, wearily: "If I were you I should jump out from behind the door and shout ' Boo!' " SOMETIMES RIGHT Tho two hikers wero plodding bravely along the winding country road. " I feel like tea," said one breathlesslv. " Wh at's the, time. My watch can't bo right, it's always losing." The other smiled. " Mine isn't much use," he replied. "It's always stopped." His companion groaned irritably. " Well, it's much better than mine," he replied. " It certainly is right twico a day." FLEET-FOOTED WITNESS Counsel: "You say you saw shots fired?" Witness: "Yes, sir." "How near wero you to tho scene of tho fray?" " When tho first shot was fired ten feet from tho shooter." "Ten feet? Well, now tell the Court whoro you were when the second shot was fired a few seconds later." " I didn't measure tho distance." " Speaking approximately, how far should you say?" " Well, it approximated to half-a-mile." A GHRISTENING PARTY There was to be a christening party in tho home of a farmer, and tho minister had mado a long journey to his parishioner's house. " Sir," said the minister, taking his host aside before the ceremony, " are you prepared for this solemn event?" " Oh, yes, indeed," said tho farmer. " I've got two hams, pickles, cakes —" "No, no! I mean spiritually prepared." 'Well, I think so; two gallons "of whisky, a case of gin and three cases of beer." RACECOURSE " CERTAINTY " A dear old lady from the country was attending her first race meeting and had backed her first horse. After placing her bet she returned to her grandson. "My dear," she said excitedly, " I'm so glad my horse is going to win." " But why are you so sure, grandma?" asked tho boy. " Nothing's a certainty, you know." " Oh, but this is," said the dear old thing. " The bookmaker said that my horse was starting at ten to one, and tho race isn't timed to start until twenty past one."