BILLY BOYS WORKSHOP.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

BILLY BOYS WORKSHOP.

FERN TUB FOR HOUSE OR GARDEN. A strong fem tub, like the one shown in the diagram, can be made from planed packing-case wood about halfinch thick. . , For the sides, cut two pieces to the dimensions given in diagram A, and two more pieces thet same height but only nine inches widie.' Plane the edges, mark tire shape on the lower edge of each part, as at B, and cut away the parts not required with saw and chisel. At a distance of one and a half inches from the lower edges of the two wider side pieces, screw on supporting strips C, which are nine-inch lengths of oneinch by three-quarters-inch wood. Fasten the four sides together with one and a quarter inch screws, fitting the narrow sides between the wider ones, as shown in diagram D, to form a tub ten inches square. The outside strips are one and a half inches wide by three-eighths-inch thick, and these must be nailed .or screwed to the tub in the positions indicated at E, E. The strips on two of the sides should .be cut so that the ends overlap the strips on the other sides, as shown in the first diagram. , . . There are two ways of making the bottom of the tub. If it is to be .used for holding a flower pot, make it of three slats cut from battens one and a half inches wide by three-quarters of an inch thick, the ends screwed to. the crosspieces C, C. If the tub itself is to be filled with mould, the bottom can be

.The fem tub for house or garden. It. is quite easily ■ made, as Carpenter explains.

made from one piece of wood nine inches square, or two pieces nine inches long and four and a half inches wide. A number holes must be made for drainage purposes, as shown at F. / Give the finished tub two coats of paint, inside and out. The Hut Carpenter. LONELY TRISTAN. SEEING THE MAILS PASS BY. In a little village in Suffolk there was but one post a day, and this was considered so very much behind the times that an appeal was made to the Post-master-General to institute a second delivery of letters in the day. This has now been done. But when we realise these benefits and what the daily post means, we can imagine the disappointment of the loneliest island in the world when the post fails to arrive. This has just happened in Tristan da 'Cunha, when the yearly mails and supplies were unable to land; and although the Cunard liner Carinthia waited outside the harbour for 16 hours in the hope that the weather would improve, she could wait no longer, and the mails were carried on to Uruguay. It is hoped, however, that a Japanese ship will take over the stores and letters for Tristan da Cunha, and call with them at the island this month. In what a strict school of patience the islanders have been educated! JOHN THE GREAT. HEROISM IN SPITE OF ALL. John McCracken had a great honour paid to him a few days ago. He was decorated with the much-coveted Cornwell badge, which is named after Jack Cornwell, the courageous ship’s boy of H.M.S. Chester. It> was not by risking his life to save a friend that he earned this decoration, but by doing something equally noble and more difficult. When John was only three he became an invalid, and since then he ..has spent most of his life in hospital, having been moved from one infirmary to another. His courage in enduring pain amazed doctors,- nurses, and all who knew him. He was not only brave once, but day after day and year after year. His pluck was so much talked about that- it was decided to award him this badge, which is given not for feats of gallantry but for “carrying on” under conditions of grave physical disability. In spite of his infirmities the indomitable John managed to become a firstclass Scout, and he is now a Troop Leader. In one of his infirmaries he joined the hospital troop of Scouts, and as time went on he began to instruct the other boys. Since then hundreds have learned Scouting from him during their stay in hospital. It is - good to know that John is now able to live at. home although he is still under treatment. THE BLIND ASTRONOMER. Professor Frost, who is retiring from the Yerkes Observatory in America after 25 years, is blind. Unable to see the heavens, he has yet given the world the latest news of the stars, all’worked out by mathematics. Professor Frost is a companion of honour to Beethoven, who became deaf in middle life yet continued to create immortal music. He never heard his own Fifth Symphony.