General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21640, 4 November 1933, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

PLAGUE OP FLIES A strange natural phenomenon is reported from Banjalnka, in Bosnia. In the evening a sudden darkness overtook the town, biiit instead of a thunderstorm 'breaking from tho clouds millions of small white flies fell on the town, obscuring tho street lights and penetrating into the houses. The restaurants and cafes were obliged to close and put out their lights, but at dawn the tlies rose again and disappeared into the air. THE WILL OF ALLAH A large haystack, the property of Beuf Beg Begovitch, was struck by lightning and caught fire at Vlasonitsa, in Bosnia, recently. A group of peasants rushed up at once to put out the fire. Rouf Beg stood by and refused 1o allow the peasants to extinguish the outbreak, saying: " It is the will of Allah; let, it burn. Had he wished it otherwise the lightning would not. have ftrhek the stack." He is now left with no hay for the winter. EXTRAORDINARY APPETITE Nearly 500 metal objects were recently taken from the stomach of a patient operated on for gastric trouble at the County Mental Hospital, Tipton, Cheshire, England. The patient, a man aged 28. complained of pains and the doctors decided to operate. The operation disclosed metal objects weighing JHlb. These included coins, teaspoons, forks, pins, needles, keys, penknives, hooks, 200 iron nails, 9 screws. 7 curtain rings, 92 unrecognisable objects, pen-nibs, a piece of chain, and a live revolver cartridge. The patient died.

SALARY OF A BULL FIGHTER Stiff income tax assessments are the basis of a lawsuit that star bull fighters of Mexican arenas have instituted against the Ministry of Finance. The matadors are fighting the Ministry's rule classifying them as professional sportsmen, instead of artists. Classified in the former category, these men are obliged to each pay about, £1250 as income tax on their earnings during last season, which lasted four months. These matadors each received as fees upward of £IO.OOO during last season. These bull fighters contend that they shoiftd be classified as artists—which would fix the 'amount*of the income tax each wc/uld be required to yay at approximately £250.

PARIS' NEW ELECTRIC CLOCK A clock with faces 60ft. in diameter has just been erected in Paris, on the Eiffel Tower. It has no hands. Instead, the dials are fitted with rows of electric lamps arranged alone radii drawn from the centre to the circumference at the position of every five minutes. Thus at five minutes past nine a row of lamps from the centro of the clock to the figure one would represent the lone hand, and another row from the centre to the figure nine would represent the hour hand, thus indicating the time. The dials are formed of enormous circles of green and red lights. With rew arrangements shortly to be introduced the seconds will be indicated as well as the hours and minutes.

ESPERANTO WORLD CONGRESS

The Esperanto World Congress, which was held in Stockholm in August, included 500 delegates, representing 16 different countries.. The enthusiasm of some of the delegates for the movement might perhaps be judged from the achievement of a Spaniard and five Parisians, who travelled all the way from their respective countries to Stockholm on bicycles. The Dutch representatives, to the number of 30, were gathered from all parts of Holland by a bus and carried to Denmark, from which they completed the trip by boat and train. Tho president of the Congress was a member of the Swedish Riksdag. In addition to the addresses in Esperanto by the delegates of different nationalities, there was an exhibition of Esperanto literature and tourist propaganda. NEW SUBWAY FOR ANTWERP A subway beneath the River Scheldt now links the business centre of Antwerp with a growing residential site on t.he opposite side of the river. The tunnel, one and a-half miles long, is for vehicular traffic; and a smaller subway some distance away hjis been constructed for pedestrian traffic. The work, undertaken by a syndicate of citizens, cost a little over £2,000,000, and was carried through so expeditiously that the contractors received a very substantial bonus. The main tunnel, which is constructed entirely of-reinforced concrete, has a carriage way twenty-two feet wide, and it is estimated that a total of 2000 vehicles, per hour can pass through from both directions. The pedestrians tunnel has two moving staircases, allowing the passage of 16,000 persons per hour. CHURCH NOT FOR HIRE The Hev. Father Potter, vicar of St. Chrysostom's, Peckham, London, estimates that he has reduced the possible number of marriages in his church by 75 per cent. He says that many young people who come to be married ' iave shown no interest in the church and he does not see that they should be allowed to make a convenience of it._ Sometime ago. Father Potter said, a self-made man wanted to hire the church for a few hours, with organ, ilowors, rod carpet, and choir. He had never been to the church and he was told plainly that it was not tor hire. What lie wanted could not be obtained for £IOO. the vicar said, but any communicant' could have had all those things without any charge. In taking the stand he did about weddings in his church,/ Father Potter remarked that lie was the only one who buffered, for he lost, the fees. INVENTOR OF MATCHES Sulphur-tipped splints of wood, called " spunks," or matches, were in common use long before the modern ignition match was invented, but were used, until about a century ago, in connection with flint and steel and box. /The lirst really practical friction ]uat"bes were made in England in 1827 by John Walker, a druggist, of Stock-toii-on-Tees and were known as '' Congrevos, after the inventor of the Congrevo rocket. A box of HI cost a shilling. The phosphorus friction match was frst introduced on a commercial fccale in/1833, and appears to have been maile simultaneously in several places. It sceii.s impossible to determine its inyentor.

Now*comics an Italian, Signor Cesare a citizen of Homo, to say that his grandfather, Samson Vnlobra, born in 17»9. was the first man to invent matches of any kind. lie studied chemistry and succeeded in producing, u match which consisted of a piece of wood, one end of which had been treated with a preparation of chloride of lime. •After being dipped in a solution of sulphuric /fecid, these matches could be lighted very quickly from the tinder. He bad a factory where he made them, and ho even sold them to Royalty. This factory he sold to a man named Entel, and the bill of transfer admits Samson .Valobra as inventor. But Entel is looked *»pon as the man who invented matches.

STUDENTS AND RED FLANNEL A judge in Boston, has decided that theological students need no longer be provided with red flannels by the Samaritan Female Society, which a century ago raised a fund, ntnv amounting to £2667, to assist students for the ministry. In view of changes in popular taste j the court holds that flaming undergarments need no longer be worn. The fund is also available for the care, nursing and medical attention of indigent theological students. HORSES AND THEIR NERVES At lniber Court, the training-school of the London Metropolitan Mounted Police horses, curious facts arc recorded about an animal's traffic nerves. Air noises are an ordeal to most animals. Horses which pass every other test veil, return again and again to master the lesson of standing still while an aeroplane propeller revolves overhead. Trams arc another net aversion. Many police horses w-Vich can be trusted ou duty in Oxford Street during the rush hour often fight shy of tramlines. " LEAFY HERTFORDSHIRE " Few countries round London have such magnificent roads as Hertfordshire. They are her pride, and Charles Lamb himself would rejoice that so many now tour through this country, which he described as " leafy Hertfordshire." Over a quarter of a million pounds is to be spent on the maintenance and repair of these roads this year, and the Ministry of Transport is giving the Highways Committee over £IOO,OOO for other works. Bridges arc being rej constructed and strengthened, and automatic traffic signals arc being freely installed.

MENACE TO THE ELMS A year ago came the alarming news that an elm disease was causing havoc j among these trees, the glory of the English countryside. The Forestry Commissioners have been watching the spread of the disease, and have recently reported that for the first time it, is on the wane. The disease has caused great ravages in England and abroad. Nearly three in four of the elms which line the square in front of the chateau of Versailles have been reduced t(i dead trunks, and in one area in Essex a third of the elms was stricken in two„ years. Little is known of the disease. Vessels in the branches become blocked so that the sap cannot circulate, and, starting from the outer ends of its branches, the tree slowly dies.

PROTECTION OF ST PAUL'S The Rev. Canon S. A. Alexander, ■who is treasurer of St. Paul's Cathedral, and who raised £400,000 for the restoration of the cathedral, recently proposed that a li sacred area " be defined in which no excavations should be permitted which would imperil the structure. Engineers who surveyed the danger area have now reported to the dean and chapter of the cathedral, favouring legislation forbidding excavations, particularly as numerous leases near the cathedral will shortly expire and larger buildings may be erected. Astonishing as it may seem, the foundations of St. Paul's are only 4§ft. in depth, and the consistency of the sand underneath them depends upon springs, which could readily be diverted. This would causo the sandbed to contract.

MAYOR'S RADIO SET The French Minister of Posts and Telegraphs recently expressed his gratification with the result of his new tax on wireless sets. Recognising that the tax is fair, people, ho said, had not hesitated to pay. There are, of course, individual instances that disprove his statement, and one especially, in which opposition was shown in a dramatic manner. A Mayor in Brittany, on hearing that the payment was due, went to the post office with his radio set under his arm and carrying a large hammer. Two witnesses accompanied him. Putting his set oft the office counter, with several blows of the hammer he reduced it to matchwood. Then with the dignity befitting his position, he turned to the witnesses and solemnly declared: "There! You see that 1 now have no wireless set." TESTATOR'S STRANGE JOKE An American who lived on a farm near Bordeaux was known during his life as a great practical joker, and in his will lie 'perpetrated a joke which causes great amusement. He bequeathed £125 to each of the servants on the farm on condition that during working hours for a whole year they wore the costumes he had provided for them. These costumes had been collected by the testator in the course of extensive travels.

A visitor to the farm described how he saw two ex-teams ploughing, the driver of one being dressed as a Hawaiian dancer with a grass skirt, while the other was in charge of an apparent Spanish bull fighter. The stables were being swept out by a Gordon Highlander in appropriate dress, the cows were being tended by an Indian, a Cossack was in charge of the sheep, and a fully-dressed mandarin was busy watering tomato plants. FASHIONS IN FOOTWEAR Startling innovations in men's footwear are explained bv Great Britain's record summer. A wide range of men's sandals to be worn without socks was an outstanding feature of the Bootmaking Trades Exhibition, recently held in London. When some of these sandals were worn in the streets they seemed to he so uncomfortable that critics*of the new fashion decided that the main result would be a great increase in the business of chiropodists. Fashions for women show that buckles and bars are being supplanted by laces, some at the sides of the shoes, and straight heels have come into their own again. The freak innovation is in slippers, each with a tiny electric bulb on the toe to guide the wearer, so it is claimed, to the bathroom. - It is suggested that the idea may be extended to the shoos of men who reach home in the early hours of the morning. LUTINE BELL AT LLOYD'S Heports of the recent salving operations in connection with the Lutine have led a correspondent in ."•» Knglisli newspaper to correct a very common error 'I here has been frequent repetition, ho says, of the mistake that the Lutine bell at Lloyd's is " rung " or tolled " when an announcement is made that a missing ship is posted as lost, or a ship regarded as lost has been reported. The bell is rarely used now, but when it was rung it was to call the attention of members to any important announcement. The need for the hell has almost disappeared, for modern methods of spreading news swiftly make it certain that members would have heard the news just as quicklv as, any of the Lloyd's staff. An official of many years' service in Lloyd's, when c|uestioned, said ho could not remember the last time or occasion of the Lutine bell being struck.

PRESIDENT'S H?/GE MAIL

About SOOO letters a clay are sent to President Roosevelt, fur eclipsing the record previously held by President Wood row Wilson. Mr. Wilson received an average of 800 letters a- day during the World War period, and Mr. Hoover, while President, received about (300 a day. Mr. TtooSevclt for many years has maintained a largo correspondence with persons all over the United States, and has continued this since ho entered thqJ Into House. DETECTIVES' THEORY DISPROVED • The Sherlock Holmcses of Buenos Ay res were much discomfited recently, when Argentina's latest murder mystery, the killing of Alberto Alzaga, a wealthy man, was solved. Tho police experts' had deduced that a tall, robust, left-handed habitual criminal had stabbed Alzaga to death. Unfortunately for the experts' theory a former porter in the Alzaga household, emaciated, oft. 4in. in height, and right-handed, confessed ho had murdered Alzaga in order to rob him. The police deductions were based on the depth and location of tho fatal knife wounds. LATEST " SELF-SERVICE " STORE The latest in " self-service " stores is reported from Los Angeles, where a grocery store parades it/stock past the eyes of its customers. Tho customers are seated on stools at a counter and tho shelves move slowly past, giving plenty of time to make a selection. Eight minutes are required for all the shelves to pass by any one customer, who cau help himself to anything lie desires.

The replenishing of the shelves is done from the rear. Except for boys to keep the shelves filled and a cashier to check purchases, the " merrv-go-round " store can be operated virtually • without man-power, it is claimed.

MAN'S TENTH MARRIAGE Clyde Kinsey, of Springfield, Minnesota, United States, went to the altar for the 10th time the other clay. His bride was formerly No. 8 in the scries which Kinsey, now 33, began when he was a boy of 17. Wife No. 9 obtained a divorce recently, so Mr. Kinsey, who does not like the state of single blessedness, fell back again on his last wife but one. When Mr. Kinsey is not getting married, he spends much of his time travelling. Onco he walked across America backwards, and once he carried a cup of water from the Pacific and dumped it in the Atlantic.

TRAGEDY IN GYPSY GAMP The usual gaiety of the annual fair held at Varvarin, in Serbia, recently was broken by an appalling event. The news spread among the crowd that a peasant had recognised in a blind, white-skinned child in the charge of some gypsies at the fair, the missing child of a relative; and it was assumed that the child had been deliberately blinded by the gypsies to add to her earning power as a beggar. , Masses of peasants rushed wildly at the gypsy encampment, and three gypsies, including a woman whom the child persistently affirmed to be the only mother she had ever known, wero lynched. Many others on both sides wero injured in the fighting, which ended in the peasants setting firo to all the gypsy caravans. MAOORIMMONS OF SKYE A famous family of pipers was honoured on August 2, when a memorial was unveiled to the MacCrinimons ot Skye. The MacCrinimons were hereditary pipers to the Clan MacLeod, and " Ma<Crimmon's Lament " is perhaps the best-known piece of bagpipe music 111 the world. According to tradition, it was Composed by Donald Bar MacCrimmon before he embarked, with the MacLeod*, to join Donnie Prince Charlie. MacC/rimmon had a presentiment that lie would never return to Skye, hence the words: " I shall never return; although McLeod returns, yet MacCriminon shall never return." The presentiment was justified; lie died fighting. Perhaps becauso of this association the " Lament " was almost invariably played when emigrants from the Western Highlands and Islands left their native shore for the new world. "We return 110 more," wailed the pipers—and for most of those, who departed it was a true word. But they helped to build the Empire. MEMORY OF FAMOUS TRIAL The recent lengthy fire trial in Loudon has been responsible for recalling an incident of the famous Tichborne prosecution that, at the time, caused a. sensation. Before the prosecution for forgery there was a very long trial of Orion's claim for a writ of ejectment before Chief .Justice Bovill. The case dragged 011 for weeks, and a letter was received by the Chief Justice purporting to be signed by Algernon West, the Prime Minister's Privato Secretary.

The letter stated that Mr. Gladstone, who wiis then in power for the first time, had directed him to draw the attention of the presiding Judge to the " protracted trial " The administration of justice, it stated, was a matter of great and common concern, and the process of obtaining justice ought to be cheap, easy and effectual. In the case in question, the very reverse had prevailed, it said, so that thorp was a great danger of a public scandal and the certainty of British justice becoming a bvword among all civilised nations. I'ho letter was a forgery, but it succeeded for a time in leading the Chief Justice to consider it as genuine, and caused him a great deal of anxiety.

SHE KNEW WHAT IT MEANT " Well, it's happened," Jane told F rcda. " What has, my dear?" asked Freda, puzzled. " Jim and I have parted," said Jane, with little concern. " Parted for ever." " Gracious, dear," said Freda, "what does that mean now?" " A three-pound box of chocolates in about an hour's time," said Jane. BIT OF A SHOCK * Jack was rather keen on Mabel, and hoped one day to ask her the big question. Meanwhile, he took every conceivable opportunity of paying her compliments. One day they met in the park. " Jov6," ho exclaimed with unconcealed delight, " that's a pretty frock you have on, Mabel!" " Really, do you like it?" sho replied happily. " I only wear it to teas." Jacked gulped. " Who?" he asked wondcringly. AN EARLY BIRD " Why, Pat," said the foreman builder to one of the labourers, " you must be an early riser! 1 always find you at work the first in the morning long before the other men are. here."

" Indade Oi am- that," said tho Irishman. " It's ii family trait, Oi'm thinkiu'." " Then your father was an early riser?'' asked tho foreman. •

Pat returned a superior smile. " Me father it is," lie replied. " He rises that early that if he went to bed a little later he'd .meet himself going to work in the morning." A MOTHER'S THANKS The proud mother was parading her first-born up and down the ship's deck when she was approached by a junior officer. " Pardon me, madam," ho said, saluting smartly, " but the captain advises you to take tho child bolow for soino sleep as tho ship is about to rock." Thanking him, she disappeared bolow. About an hour later she came on dock again and wont up to tho young officer. " Oh, officer," she cried, " please give the captain-my sincere thanks and tell him he can stop tho boat rocking—my little Eric is sleeping perfectly. MADE THINGS DIFFICULT Dr. Bottles met the wifo of a patient he had ordered to bed for a few days, " Well," ho asked, " how is your husband getting on?" " Oh, doctor, I do wish you'd change his medicine!" she pleaded. "Isn't it doing him any good, N then?" asked tho doctor.

" I don't know," replied tho woman; " but we have such a job getting him in and out of tho bath." Bath? " echoed the medical man. " Yes, sir," she replied. "It says on tho bottle of medicine you sent, ' one tablespoonful to bo taken three times a day in, water.' "

PEACE AT LAST Briggs saw his neighbour walking up the garden path with a trombone tucked under his arm. "Hallo! Been buying a trombone!''" ho asked. " No; borrowed it from Robinson next door," said the othor. Briggs looked mystified. " But surely you can't play, can you?" he asked! "No," said his neighbour, with a smile of satisfaction; " neither can Robinson —while I've got it."

THEIR DILEMMA A kindly housewife gavo one of her homc-mado puddings to a tramp who called at tho house for food. An hour or so later ho returned. " Excuse mo calling again, lady." he commenced, " but would you kindly let me havo the recipe for that pudding?" Tho housewife looked puzzled. " But why do you want it?" she asked.

" To settle an argument," replied the tramp. "My mate says there's two cnpfuls of cement in it and I say there's three."

GETTING HIS DUES A tourist, visiting a country fair, stopped by a merry-go-round." Presently ho noticed a miserable-looking little man seated on one of the wooden horses. But what struck him as strango was that every time tho machine stopped the little man made no attempt to get off. At length curiosity ovorcame tho tourist, and when next tho man on the horse stopped opposite him ho said: "Pardon me, sir, but do you enjoy going round and round like this?" The unhappy one grimaced. " Not a bit," ho replied. " Then why do you do it?" asked the tourist.

" The man who owns this affair owes mo ten bob, and this is tho only way I can 'get it out of him," came the reply.

TOMMY'S CORRECTION Correct this sentence, Tommy Brown," the teacher said. Turning to the blackboard, she wrote: " It was me that spilt the ink." Tommy came forward, picked up the chalk, and wrote: " It wasn't me that spilt the ink." HE DID NOT MIND Brown entered the restaurant and looked searching!}* in the umbrellarack. " Did I leave an umbrella hero yesterday: - '" he asked a passing waiter. The waiter looked round thoughtfully. " What kind of umbrella was it;-'" ho asked. Brown shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, any kind!" he replied. " I'm not fussy."

QUICK RETURNS The two friends of boyhood days met for the first time for many years. " And what are you doing for a living these days?" asked White. " I'm in quite a prosperous lino." said Gould, " 1 sell carrier pigeons." " Prosperous? " echoed White. " Yes," Gould assured him. "Every pigeon 1 sell in the morning is home by lunch-time." MORE PUSH NEEDED

" Here, boy," suid tho wealthy motorist. " I want sonic petrol, and please get a move on! You'll never get anywhere in tho world unless you push. Push is essential.When I was young i pushed and that got me where a am." " Well, guv'nor," replied the boy, "wo ain't got a drop of petrol in the place, so 1 reckon you'll have to push again!"

QUITE SAFE A motorist was held up in a country lane by a farm waggon loaded with a fine lot of cabbages. After hooting in yain, he loaned over the side of the car and shouted: " I say there, driver, pull into the side of the cpad and let me pass." " I dunno that I'm in a hurry," said the farmer. " But you seemed to bo in a hurry to let that horse and trap go by just now," said the motorist angrily. " That's because his horse was eating my cabbages," replied tho farmer; " there ain't no danger of you eating them, I'm thinking." QUITE A RELIEF His host showed him into his bedroom. "I hope you're not nervous, old chap," he said, " but this room is supposed to bo haunted." "Haunted!" exclaimed the guest. " What by?" " A wraith—a spectre!" replied the host. » " A w-w-what?" cried the other. " A wraith—a spectre," repeated his host. •' Tho guest gave a deep sigh of relief, and the colour returned to his checks. " Oh, that's all right!" he said at last. "At first I thought you said a rate collector."