Random Readings

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7871, 5 August 1911, Page 19

Random Readings

The Japanese are exercised over advertising methods. Wo read that among other Western customs which nave reached the land 'of the chrysanthemum is advertising. From the roofs of the buildings in the great towns are to be seen the electric signs with which wo are familiar, and above the windows twinkle the names of the traders. Visitors to Japan, it appears, who do not mind the advertisements at home, object to see the countryside of tho Nippon kingdom thus decorated, and the complaints in the first instance came from tourists. Tho Marquis Tokugawa has taken up tho matter, which has been brought before the House Peers, whore a law has been passed which will protect picturesque parts of tho kingdom. The measure will enable the authorities not only to exercise a censorship over new advertisements, but to re move those existing, on cause being shown. Contumacy on the part of offenders will be followed by fine or imprisonment.

An inkstand which was use throe thousand four hundred odd years is now exhibited in a Berlin museum, it is of Egyptian make, and is supposed to belong to tho eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, or somewhere about 15C0 33. C., although its real age can bo judged only approximately. It is made, of wood, and has two compartments, an upper one provided with two holes, one foi black and one for red ink, and a lower one for holding reed, pens. Tho black and tho red ink aro certainties; for some still remains, in a dry condition, within tho receptacles. Another ancient inkstand is supposed to have been intended for tho use of a schoolboy. It would certainly hold ink enough for a schoolboy's needs; for it has no fewer than four ink holes. Both inkstands were found at Thebes.

Paris, like London, is exercised , over the rag-picking nuisance in'the streets, and an attempt is being made to oopo with the evil. It seems that it will be a somewhat difficult matter to deal with the Paris chiffonniers, for, unfortunately, from a hygienic standpoint, they have votes. High crimes and misdomeanourk are alleged against the ohiffonnier, with justice, to say nothing of his unprepossessing appearance, his malodorous and tattered garments, in short, he is an undesirable, who with dust and microbes from his rags poisons the air which the small shopkeeper on deavours to obtain during a short walk in- the early hours, before the labours of the day begin.

■ The inhabitants of Monaco, who ’arc clamouring for a revolution, are better off than they were sixty years ago under the rule of Hon ore V. In those days nearly every necessity of life was a Royal monopoly. All the slaughterhouses were run by the Prince and every loaf of bread consumed brought him a profit. If families were thought to consume too little bread, thus laying themselves open to the suspicion of buying it elsewhere, they were liable to constant 1 domiciliary visits; and the importation of leaves was penalised by a fine of ,£25 for each loaf. Even exercise was taxed, a fee of throe francs being exacted every time a person crossed the frontier, so most peonlo found it necessary to limit the extent of their walks. In this way Honore extracted from a population of 6500 a revenue of .£13.000 a year, most of which was spent in Franco. St. John’s (Lady Margaret’s) College, Cambridge, which lately celebrated the ■looth anniversary of the granting of its charter .by Henry VIII., was once the occasion of a brilliant pnu by Lord Byron, of Trinity. Byron met the Master of the College riding. _ "Hullo!” ho exclaimed to his companion, "Hera comes John’s head on a charger."

Barnstaple was, in tho old days, one of the most corrupt boroughs in the kingdom. A commission which inquired into the matter in 1852 reported that of tho 383 supporters of tho successful candidate no fewer than , 251 had received bribes for their votes. The amount distributed among them was .£1,700, so that they did pretty well. It was not of the candidate chosen on that occasion, but of another member for Barnstaple, that a political opponent once stated publicly that "his wicked white heqd ha-- been for fifty years the oriflamme of - bribery and corruption.” Another candidate, though an unsuccessful one, for the borough was the late Lord Brampton; and he said that the experience which ho then gained left him nothing to learn from any future work in connection with election petitions. Some fifteen years ago Germany had to face the problem of rural depopulation. While the population of towns of over 2,000 inhabitants increased by 20,000,000 between 1871 and 1305, the population of tho small country towns had fallen from 26,200,000 to 25,800,000. The people were not leaving Germany as ours are leaving the United Kingdom, but they were deserting tho country for tho towns. . To counteract this (says “Tho Globe”) tho Government set to work to extend peasant proprietary, particularly in Eastern Germany, where large ©states were most numerous. As a result tho population of those districts increased. Tho following figures illustrate the process: Inhabitants Inhabitants before after settlement, settlement. Nessin ... ... 182 ... 381 Pnrnow 287 ... 557 Korkenhagen ... 129 ... 287 Mesekonhagen 132 ... 285