NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3823, 21 June 1927, Page 32

NEWS IN BRIEF.

“No American poet ever mentions the spring, because in his country there isnl any,” said Dr Tillyard during his lecture on a evening recently (states the Nelsofc Evening Mail). The speaker had just been describing his tram journey across the United States, when after crossing Arizona, where the temperature was 97 to 100 degrees all day, the train chmbed tlie “Rockies” to Denver, where there waS two feet of snow on the ground. Apart from differences in altitude the United States’ spring was noted for alteration from sunuv to snowy weather. “What Pitman did with shorthand can be done with arithmetic.” said Mr E-. Butler in an address on “Ihe Possibilities of Sight Calculation” to the Auckland Rotary Club the other day. 'Tlie position of the characters in shorthand declares their value, and by a shorthand method it is possible to determine the value of figures on sight.” He demonstrated his method by which he said, “any child who is able to count up to 10, can make calculations without thought. Dr Tilly?.rd, speaking at the School of Music the other night, remarked on thd obvious pride taken throughout the United States in their flag (reports the Nelson Evening Mail). The “Stars and Stripes flew from the school flagpoles every day, and each morning the children assembled and did honour to it. Perhaps the Americans overdid patriotism, but he thought that we in New Zealand might follow their example to some extent instead of bein£ apparently ashamed of our flag.