As the World Wags.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 10019, 9 December 1908, Page 4

As the World Wags.

From Our Uw.v Gop.l'.ksfo.vden't.) London. -October 50. Yet another notable manufacture is to be <-arried on here in order to conform with the Patents Act. Everyone has seen the numerous penny-in-the-slot machines which supply one with anything from a piece of chocolate to ones correct weight. The idea originated in America, where so ninny ideas come from, and the new factory will be the British branch of the Mills Xovcltv Company of Chicago, of which Mr II." S. Mills, the "l'emiy-in-the-Slot-Iving." js the head. -Mr .Mills is here just. now on this business, and he intends to erect- a factory near the metropolis. Twenty-five inventors and several thou&and .-killed mechanics, said -Mr Mills to an interviewer the other day. are con>tantly working in his company's Chicago buildings upon the evolution of the novel coin-operated machines. Five, and even seven years are sometimes spent upon perfecting one device. A happy idea—an ingenious machine which draws a ready stream of small coins from the public's pockets will make its inventor's fortune. A clever fortune-telling' device, for- instant e. happened to hit the public taste so well recently that over '50.000 of the machines were sold. The evolution of the idea, with three brains at work, was done in half an hour: the ultimate profit represented a siun of well over £SO0 3 000. An attractive penny-in-the-slot- machine situated in a busy locality will sometimes take as many as 2000 coins in one day. But people are strangely tickle when they have nennies to spend. That is the difficulty. Often they ignore a beautifully constructed machine which an inventor has sjKnit vvars in perfecting and a manufacturer may have sunk thousands in huiitUnir. to ]x>ur coins into a simple dev:ie which has been the inspiration of amoment. Machines with a humorous idea are usuallv a ureat- draw. An automatic representation of a popular game is often an immense snccc.-s. l'eople seem never to tire of testing their weight-lifting, and striking powers. Fortunes, indeed, have biiett made out of machines operating pnnchinir bat-'s-. dumb-bells, and bar-bells. In America tliev are experimenting with ;i machine by which tramway-car passengers dropping coins into a slot- will purchase their tickets, thus obviating the eniplovment of a conductor. Many shopkeepers are now having special automatic machines built to dispense some cheap and uniform line of goods. Automatic machines are. as a matter of iact. still in their infancy.

I am often surprised, in. wandering around, to find what- supreme ignorance exists, especially among the middle and lower middle classes, of the various parts of the British Empire. Many folks, even, who are proud to talk of their "Empii'e on ■which the sun never sets/' have delightfully vague ideas of its -whereabouts. The general secretary of the New South Wales ; Aliia.nce( "who has just returned from an eight-months' trip to England. Fays the ignorance here as to Australia and the Australians is appalling. One lady to whom he was introduced "was "frankly surprised when she had looked him up and down. "Why you do look civilised, she exi laimed. On a train journey he was asked if he were an "Xo, M he replied. "I am an Australian.' 'T _knew you were a foreigner of some kind, was the comment. But the toughest nut of the lot was the man who, at the conclusion of an address given by the visitor from Australia, came round to the back of the stage to see the lecturer. 'Excuse me, mister.*' he said, "but did y ever meet a long, dark man, name of Jones, out there':''

1 Which reminds me. Some time back 1 was very much amused in discovering the following in a Melbourne journal. It should be read with interest by members of Parliament, over here: —"It will take time and the expenditure of a considerable amount of money to advertise Australia properly. It costs Canada £IOO,OOO a year, and if Australia is to become ns well known as the Dominion, the same amount of money will be required, lint ignorance of Australian matters is not only confined to the masses, but prevails amongst educated people holding publicpositions, the following incident should prove convincing. The Hon. William Morris Hughes, M.P., who was in London as one of the delegates to the maritime -conference, was talking to three prominent men coming up by train from the great naval review at Portsmouth. Mr Husries* travelling companions were Messrs J. H. Lewis, M.P., the Junior Government- Whip, Owen Phillips, M.P., Chairman of the Royal Steam Packet Company, and Sydnev Low, a member of the London County Council. These three public men were quite sure that the .Commonwealth Government endeavored Jo keep people out of Australia, and that* no one could land unless possessed of Mr Hughes said that it- was not a fact. They then brought down the amount to £lO. and whenagain contradicted they stared in astonishment. They had. of course, in their mind the regulations of the several Australian States which are to the effect that before an assisted passage is given, the emigrant must be of a certain type. Which would seem to show that 1 should alter my opening remark, and include the hinhest in the land among those who are indifferent to the laws, and customs, and territories of their brothers and sisters across the seas.

Apropos of my note last- week of tHe experience of -Mr J. Tudor Walters. M.l'., in' crossing l'alace Yard, I just notice from tlie American press that the public men of the States are not- exempt from similar privileges. Justice Jannetty of Atlantic City once gave a judgment- which was part-iciilarlv pleasing to the young ladies of that "city. So overjoyed were they that they all "crowded round him in court and covered him with kisses. Atintervals, it is said, there emerged ill strangled accents front the middle of the welter, the words. "This court is not a jiujitsu salon/' Tile learned judge has by this time discovered that there is such a thing as being killed by kindness.

Recent, legal proceedings have revealed the fact thai the Old Country is not the only place where quack "religions flourish, and provide lucrative employment for their originators. In Boston. Massachusetts. the existence of an extraordinary American sect called the Mazdaznana, or sun worshippers, has come to light. lhis denomination does not appear in the official list of religions practised in the United States, but- the omission means nothing. because "strange creeds." to quote a recent periodical published by the Church party, "flourish in this enterprising land. Xliey spring tip like a mushroom in the night, and they disappear like a falsehood before the truth." Mrs Dutton. of Dorchester, had petitioned the Court for the appointment of a receiver for the estate of her aunt-, Mrs Ellen Shaw, of Lowell, and the object- admittedly was to prevent- Mrs Shaw from giving her property, valued at £20,000, to the Mazda/nans" A man named Hammish; formerly a compositor in Chicago, was described by witnesses as the leader of the Mazdaznans. HammisTt had peculiar notions about- hygiene, such as taking dew baths, and wearing as little clothing as practicable. He talked volubly about physical culture and spiritual strength, and he founded the "Sun Worshippers" several years ago in Chicago, and to promote his ideals he built a temple. Mrs Ditman. formerly a member of the Hammish household, gave evidence on behalf of Mrs Dutton. from which it appeared that as a trade concern the Mazdaznans was a little gold mine. "I bought- olive oil in bulk," deposed Mrs Ditman, "which was put up in bottles and labelled "Sunshine Oil." Hammish represented this oil as coming from Assyria, and he 6aid it possessed great curative properties. It was sold in 'his store for ten times as much as it cost- Witness said that- charcoal was put- tip as Mazdaznan incense, its purpose being to cloud the brains of those who were taking exercise in the temple. Hammish drank and ate everything. He ate meat, and drank beer and coffee, although all these things were prohibited by him in his teachings. He asserted that Christ's birthday was May 23rd, and that his own was December 19th. On these two days each person attending the ser- [ vices contributed 25 cents as a thanksgiving offering. Mrs Ditman testified that there were different- classes in the "cult-," each having different times for exercise. People in the advanced class never wore corsets, and the treatment- consisted of fasting, massaging, bathing in the sun, and studying. It stated that Hammish, without scandalising the sun worshippers, embraced and kissed his lieutenant, Mrs Hilton, in the middle of the service in the Mazdaznan temple at Lowell. " A little Mazdaznanian influence was brought into court-, for some excitement was caused by Mrs Ditman, who complained that Mrs" Hilton, who was in the court, was trying to hypnotise her by the "left eye line of vision." Truly, the English-speaking race is a marvellous people.