NEWS AND NOTES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3841, 2 December 1936, Page 7

NEWS AND NOTES

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Amongst the many congresses whch were held in September in Vienna was that of the stamp dealers, writes the Vienna correspondent of the London Observer. In the festive room of the Hotel Continental five hundred stamp dealers from twenty two countries assembled, bringing with them their valuable collections, discussing measures about developments in their trade and especially about protecting themselves against various forgers and forgeries. There were 120 tables in the room, on each of which various collections were exhibited. Busy traders examined, with the aid of magnifying glasses, the various exhibits. Immense values were represented in 'these collections, and many rare stamps, valued at hun dreds of pounds, changed hands. ***** The twenty-five years’ collecting of an archaeologist and his wife has resulted in one of the most delightful and interesting exhibitions to be seen in London for a very long time, writes the London correspondent of the Weekly Scotsman. This is the Egyptian collection on show in Manchester Square which is drawing Egyptologists and cat lovers alike, as ■ the exhibits are hundreds of cat figures from Ancient Egypt, ranging from the large cat goddesses, with which most people are familiar, to cdd little carvings in lapis lazuli. Dominating the collection is a superbly sculptured head with a gold ring in one ear from the Nile Valley, every line of which seems to be alive, and so beautiful are all the cats that the statue of a man keeling in homage before a particularly leonine little cat seems only natural. In silver, gold, bronze, cornelian and lapis lazuli, they stretch and prowl and mother families of kittens. A beautiful box with a row of kittens on the lid was used as a case for the mummy of a real kitten; while tiny ancient rings for babies had their own little coloured cats with shining eyes. In Ancient Europe the cat was looked upon as actively kind to man, and was sacred

to the goddess Bastet, who represented the power of the sun, opposed to the scorching rays of the desert. * * * * Stalin is now in his fifty-eighth year, and even Bolshevists admit that if anything happened to him, Voroshiloff would be his successor, says the London diarist of the EveningStandard. This is an interesting symptom of the changes which have taken place in Russia during the last year. Twelve months ago few people would have favoured Voroshiloff’s chances. To-day, however, the army has become increasingly popular with the masses. It is regarded as the centre of progress. Voroshiloff, who began work in the mines at the age of seven and was afterwards a shepherd, has benefited greatly from this popularity. To-day lie is the one commissar in Moscow who drives his own car through the streets without the embarrassing attentions on an Ogpu guard. * * * * “We have an Astronomer Royal,” says Mr C. E. M. Joad, “but no Biologist Royal, and still less a Phycholo gist Royal. Is this a survival from the days when we thought the stars controlled our destinies?” It looks a plausible suggestion, writes Observator in the Observer, for Belshazzar had his astrologers (whom he consulted in the matter of the writing on the wall), and Isaiah denounces not only the astrologers but the “monthly prognosticators of our meteorological department. But there was no official Astronomer Royal before Flamsteed was appointed 'by Charles 11. in 1675, at a salary of £lOO, with the condition that he supplied his own instruments. The public is better acquainted with the name of his successor, Halley; for him the stars fought in their courses. ***** It will be good news to many that a movement is on foot at Bath to provide a hospital for the investigation and treatment of rheumatic troubles, says the Scotsman. Many of our more deadly diseases have bean seriously grappled with, but it is questionable whether any disorder is more widely spread and gives rise to a greater amount of suffering than rheumatism in its varied forms. Sir

Kingsley Wood, of the British Minis- I try of Health, declared that it was one of the diseases that was costing the nation the largest sums of money —apart from any other consideration —and the Deputy Chief Officer of the Ministry amplified that assertion with the information that about one-sixth of the money paid in insurance is in respect of rheumatism. If people could be restored to working condition in three or four instead of eight weeks the financial gain would be enormous, and no one can compute the gain it would mean in human comfort and happiness, but this end will not. be reached until the medical profession concentrate on finding a remedy. Mrs Nagy, an old lady living inSopron, adds a. new reminiscence of Liszt to the many stories of the composer, which the Liszt celebrations have called forth, writes the Budapest correspondent of the London Observer. In tiie early eighties a concert by. Liszt was announced to take place in Pozsony (or Pressburg). As it was ' known that Liszt played only on Bosendorfer or Streicher pianos, the officials were faced witli a dilemma, and searched in vain for a piano by | these makers among the musical pub- j lie of the town. Shortly before the i concert, however, it was discovered that an orphan child living with her guardian was the owner of a Streicher | grand piano. The little girl (now | Mrs Nagy) was approached by the | officials, and agreed to lend the piatio , for the occasion. As a recompense \ for this favour she received a free ■ ticket for the concert, and occupied a large plush chair in the front row. I After the concert Liszt thanked the little girl with a kiss on the fore- ; Lead; but the following day came anti-climax with the discovery of the extensive damage which had been done to the instrument. “The very last game of cricket I ever played was in a field at Birchington with a Cabinet Minister, Mr John Burns, and my friend, H. W. Massingham, then editor of the Daily Chronicle,” writes Sir Max Pemberton in his delightful book of reminseences, “Sixty Years Ago and After.” “John Burns had been in the habit of playing cricket in Battersea Park with youths who evidently were tough and

who taught the politician manners that were violent. I had neither pads nor gloves, and the ball seemed to me to be shot' out of a camion rather than to be delivered by a human being. So I told Massingham that I had a review to write for him, and the subsequent proceedings interested me no more.”