NOTES BY JACK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 37

NOTES BY JACK.

Little did I imagine a few shoit month? ago when meeting John Davidson, an old member of the Caledonian Club, on his asking me if I had written the obituwy notice of the late Mr Cooper (also a ratmbsr of that clu!>), who it will ba'rtmombered died very suddenly, and who, oa my, replying in the affirmative, s..id ia bis broad Scotch toDgue, " Miin, what ye've suid aboofc him is ja&t aboofc as near the truth as yo could weel have written "—little, I say, did either o£ us imagine then that he, poor old man. would ba tbe next "to cross the stream" from the C B C'; but, alas ! so it is, for on December 23 last he played his last shot also. John was a very old membsr of tbe C*ledonian Club and a much-respecb'Sd one. Tie was a good player in any position, and in important m etches he was generally selected as leader on account of his consistently steady plivy, but he was al-o very often chosen as third p!*yer and skip. He was a rnosfc enthusiastic bowler, and on holidays aad Saturday afternoons was to be found oa the green often till darkness pet in. He had a certain dry, quaint humour sboufc him which was very amusing, bwfc he never used ifc at any time so as to hurt; anyone's feelings. The membera of the clnb were all exceedingly sorry when they heard that he was aboub to undergo au operation for bhafc seemingly incurable disease, cancer, and melancholy were fche forebodings fchafc at bis time of life — close on 70— he would not get over ifc. The operation was performed, one of hid jawbones being removed. Three days afterwards he succumbed ; and thab is *U. He was buried on Christmas afternooD, bio funeral beiDg very largely attended, the members of his club inusfceriag very strongly, whilst the flag on the green was lowered fco half-masfc. I regret much I was unable fco be present, as la gripfe had me in its clutches, and I could not go oub. Amongst fche elder members of fche club he will be much missed. MaDy joung members perhaps were not personaHy acquainted with him ; a few, however, will keep his memory green in their recollections. Farewell, old friend ; a loag and last farewell.

The Cish takings at the lavereargill Ca'edoni»n sporba amounted to £260.

One in 12 of the population of Paris is a foreigner.

Suow statues are the latest form of artistic fceak, and their creator is M. Pierre, a. French sculptor of repute. Thestatueis naadeof copper 5 and in the base is a reservoir of liquefied carbonic acid ured to generate the cold, and the moisture which is abstracted from the atmosphere forms on the surface of the metal as a costing of snow in the course of a few moments, and is prevented from thawing by the freezing mixture.

Speed Against Speed. — A statistician who has beeu devoting his time to the comparative speed of different methods of locomotion h»s arrived ab the following results. "Suppose," says he, "ib were possible to coastrueb a series of tracks one inside the other, of such relative proportions thab at the end of three minutes each of the competitors should have traversed as nearly as possible one circuit, and that each of the contestants should be the fa-stest known at his particular form of locomotion. la that c*se the smallest track would be allotted to the swirumer, who might be expected to cover 251 yards in the tims. Next would c me an oarsmau, with aboub 834 yards ; while a very slightly longer course would be needed for & racing walker, whose distance in the time would be about 852 yards. After this the tracks would again become far larger. TThuss s a runner would need a circuit of 1270 yards, while that for a trobtiDg horse would be as nearly as possible twice as long, or 2520 yards. The cyclist would come nexb on » course measuring about 2840 yards, whilo a galloping horse would cover no fewer than 3080 yards in the time. Bufc all those would be far eclipsed by the loco* motive, since, to judge from a time trial recently made, the track would have to be just 5 miles in length. Since, however, this trial to»k place on a straight course, and such a rate of speed could not be otherwise maintained, it is probable that in this case tbs fastest competitor would come iv behind mostj it not all, of. tlw others*