The Electrograph.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8014, 28 December 1905, Page 4

The Electrograph.

The clectrograph is an instrument which will receive a telephone message and write it down on a record to be used in the phonograph. This will get rid of all danger of misunderstandings, and, if your telephone clerk is busy, the electrograph will take the message for him. There is no mistake with this instrument, and, when you return to your office, you can reel off all the message* that arrived while your office was closed. The Pterodactyl., The pterodactyl, whose fossil remains have been found in the chalk at Cambridge, and elsewhere, with a very varied spread of wings —which in the largest specimens must have reached twenty-five feet—is almost identical with the drngon Of fable. A bat-like creature, with an elevated body and long neck, ending in an absurdly small head with a portentous beak, it could run very swiftly, was a fish eater, and could swim ; or it flew by means of huge membranous wings, which connected its long fore-quarters with its hind legs. The nearest representative now of the ancient dragon is the tree lizard of the East Indies, which resembles its fossil ancestor in form, but is infinitely smaller in size. The pterodactyl itself, however, evidently existed down to a comparatively recent geological period, and it is not at all improbable that the traditional dragon is described from the last living specimens, as met with by primitive man. Cedars of Lebanon. " There are only about 400 of the Cedars of Lebanon left," says a writer in " Scribrer's." " High up on the rocky slopes Hadrian sculptured his imperial anathema against all who should cut these sacred trees. The Maronite peasants almost worship them and call them the ' Cedars of the Lord,' and a recent governor of Lebanon has surrounded them by a great wall, so that the young shoots may not be injured by roving animals. Yet, century by century, their number grows less. But, if the cedars are few in number, these few are of royal blood. They are noi the largest of trees, though some of the trunks measure over 40 feet roll ltd. Their beauty lies in the wide-spreading limbs, which often cover a circle 200 or 300 feet in circuny "r>Mice. Some are tall and symmetrical, wjh .beautiful horizontal branches ; others arc gnarled and knotted, with inviting teata in the great forks, and charming beds on she thick foliage of the swinging boughs. The wood has a sweet odor, is very hard, and seldom decays. The vitality of the cedar is remarkable. A dead tree is never seen, except where lightning or the axe has been at work. Often a great bough of one tree has grown into a neighbour, and the two are so b fcind together that it is impossible to say •Juich is the parent trunk. Perhaps the unasual strength and vitality of the cedars are due to their slow growth. When a little iprout, hardly waist high, is said to be ten »r fifteen or twenty years old, one cannot kelp asking, ' What must be the age of the great patriarchs of the grove ?' It is hard io te% exactly. By the aid of a microscope I have counted more than 700 rings on a bough only 30 inches in diameter. Those who have itudied the matter more deeply think that lome of these trees must be more than 1,000 years old. Indeed, there is nothing wildly Improbable in the thought that ferhaps the Guardian, for instance, may have been a voung trer when Hiram began cutting for (he temple at Jerusalem."

Taranaki Annual Regatta (Rowed under the rules of the New Zealand Amateur Kowing Association.) TO 'SK HELD ON THE WAITARA IUVER, on JANUARY 1, 1906^ PROGRAMME : I.—MAIDEN WHALEBOAT RACE.—No member of crew to have won any race (youths' race excepted), 1£ miles 0 1 ..-BOYS' WHALEBOAT RACE.—For boys under 18 years. About £ mile 3 1 ..—S ENI 0 R CLINKER FOURS,—About i milo ... 12 S 4.—GIRLS' WHALEBOAT RACE.—For girls under 18 years. About t mile. ... 3 1 S.—CHAMPION WHALEBOAT RACE. About 3 miles. 15 6 MAI DE N CLINKER FOURS.—About f mile ... 6 1 7.—YOUTHS: WHALEBOAT RACE.—Fcr youths under 21 years. About 1J miles 8 1 ~-100 YARDS' AMATEUR SWIMMING RACE.,—First prize, ; trophjr , value 455; second prize, trophy value 15s 45s 15s 9.—S ENI 0 K CLINKER FOURS (Local).—About ■} mile e j O.—LADIES WHALEBOAT RACE.—About mile ... 4 1' 'I.—FLYING WHALEBOAT RACE.—About f mile , ... 6 2 2.-75 YARDS, AMATEUR SWIMMING RACE—First prize, trophy value £2 ; second prize, ; trophy value 10s a loa 3.-J UN| IO R CLINKER FOUtlS.—About f milo ... 8 2 4.—PAIR . OAR WHALEBOAT RACE.-i About i mile 2 1 15.—GREASY. BOOM.—Post entry 30 s 15 g 6.—HIGH -DIVE (Amateur) —First prize, trophy value £1 ; second i prize, trophy value 10s ; pest entry ... 1 10s 7.—WATER I'OLO MATCH.

CONDITIONS. Entries close with the Secretary at Waitara on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21st, at 8.30 p.m. Nominaions for the Amateur Swimming Events close at the samo time, entrance Is. All swimming events to be conducted under the rales of the N.Zi.A.S.A. Band in attendance. Special and delayed trains. For complete programme see posters. IJ. SI'URDLE, Hon. Secretary. Waitara, P.O. Box 23.