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Star (Christchurch), Issue 12647, 3 June 1919, Page 5

Through an inadvertence the remarks • of the Mayor of Riccarton (Mr A. D. > Ford) at the Boundaries Commission ’ yesterday were credited to Councillor i George, another representative from ' the the same borough. Shortly after ten o’clock this morning a cyclist was knocked down by a 1 motor-car at the corner of Colombo Street North and Gloucester. Street. ! The man escaped injury, hut the bicycle was considerably damaged. . . To-day, being a public holiday, the ! R.M. Court sat an hour earlier than ' the usual time. Two statutory first; offenders, who came up before Mr J, H. Seager, J.P., were each fined 10s. , in default forty-eight hours’ imprisonment. The vital statistics for the Christ* church district for' the month of May are as follows, the figures for the same month last year being given in pareri-* tl]csesßirths 181 (170), deaths, 90 (73). marriage notices 74 (60), marriages in office 17 (14). The vital statistics _ for Ashburton for May wore:—Births 30, deaths 11, marriages 7. The figures for May 1918 were:—Births 23, deaths 13, marriages nil. The Swiss control of greases has organised the gatherings of beechnuts. The gatnering of the nuts will be made ■. by the school children under tho direction of forest authorities. Thus the preparation of at least 1,100,0001b of edible oil Is £-,:pected- Tho long and white almond contained in the' beechnut has a taste very much like that of hazel nuts. It furnishes a flour which may ; bo converted into bread, and a soft oil) which Ims the advantage of not becoming rancid. Most people think the Bible was first .. written exactly as it appears to-day. But such is not the case- It. waitoriginally one continuous piece of test, , with no divisions of any kind, no sec- , tions, no chapters, no verses, no divis- • ions of words, even, or punctuation.’ Its division into lines to suit the sense; was done by Eutbalius, of Alexandria,in the last half of the fifth centurwv ~ its division into chapters is ascribed . two archbishops, Lanfranc in tU-' elerentn century and Langton in til. ■ thirteenth, and a cardinal, Hugo dcT, ■ Sancto Caro, about 1250. Rabbi Nathan began the division of the Bible into sections about 1445, and another Hebrew, Athrns, completed the work in 16(31. An English printer, Robert Stephens, introduced the present divis ion into verses in 1551. It will be news to many people to learn that St Paul’s Cathedral has a dummy dome. When you stand in the centre ot this mighty building and glance upward it is not the under cor- ' ! oring of the real dome that you see, i but a separate structure altogether/ 'Neither this false dome nor the loadcovered one above it seen from the, ‘ i road outside plays any part whatever . 'in holding up the structure. The graceful stono lantern, _ which weighs over : 700 tons, in addition to the ball and ; cross that adorn its summit, are en- , tirely held in place_ by an ingeniously 1 concealed cone. _ This cone is built of bricks, 18in thick, strengthened by iron bars that run through, them and bind the mass together. The cone is carried on four piers. 40ft square, that run down to the foundations. The . dummy domes also rest upon these [piers, but carry no weight. It is the j cone alone that has to bear the weight lof the. lantern, ball and cross above it. Whereas the inner dome is of brick. , the outer one is of wood and coated 'with lead. This dummy dome has a. diameter of 145 ft, a circumference of 420 ft, the inner one being some 200 ft ,■ { above the pavement of ihe ,