HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19807, 26 November 1919, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

■ The employees of a Macclesfield fitm who manufacture silk ties were re- ■ ceiitly given an outing to Stockport. Knowing the ties were sold to retailers at 4s 6d each, they were indignant when they saw some of’them on sale in a local shop at half-n-guinea eaoJj, They gavo the shopkeeper at vn> pleasant ten minutes, but next day demanded an increase in wages. A player on Girvan golf course, Ayrshire, made a. drive at his ball, and turning round i/> remark about tlio stroke to another player—Mr Ilobcrt Tait, aged eighteen, a mining engineer —was surprised to find him lying unconscious at Ids feet. Mr Tait, who died wit limit regaining consciousness, had been injured in the neck by a blow ' from tlio golf club in its swing.

Strikes of school children occurred at Groifswald (north of Stettin.) as 4 protest against the removal of the ITo. heiizollerp portraits from the school, rooms It was reported from Stettin that school children of both sexes held a meeting before the town theatre there to make a similar protest. They afterwards sent a telegram to the Minister of Public "Worship requesting than tin; portraits be replaced. Fifteen hundred children then marched in pro* cession to the Hohenzollcm monuments in the Konigs-Platz, where they raised cheers for the Hohcnzollems. The “ river.hog ” is still very much on evidence despite tlio extortionate charges of boatmen. In the majority oi “crushes” the delinquents are invariably lound to be utterly ignorant of the laws of the river. ‘As an old. lock-keeper pub it, “They don’t know that a pnut should always bo given the msido of tho hank. They don’t know that doing a, sort of ' nought, and cross’ gambol from one side of the river to the other is not the. thing on the water. In fact they know nothin" of the river.” He suggested a list of rules in each boat—and not a bad idea, either.

The sentence of 100 years’ imprisonment mentioned in the British report on the prisons of Stamboul is a tvpicnl instance of Oriental frightfuliiess. In all civilised countries oven a life sentence may he shortened by good conduct. but the Turks’, view is that there ' shall be no escape from such a sentence except by death. That comes, at the latest, after a few years in the plague spots which servo as Turkish prisons. * riio\ only cheap thing in Turkey is human life, and a conscientious prison governor considers it his duty to kill, oil his charges as quickly as possible so as to make room for more.

A remarkable instance of a horse’s endurance and devotion to duty is contained _ in the official records" of tho operations carried out by Ist Brigade of New Zealand Artillery during tho Battle of the Somme in 1916. On October 3 “ Finnegan,” a veteran among the R.N.Z.A. horses W'hich went with the Alain Body from New Zealand, trod on a bomb which was left on tho road near Flers. The bomb exploded and tho horse was mortally wounded, but he gamely took his load'some three miles to the waggon lines, on which ho fell dead.

The plague of locusts (says a recent ‘‘ China Weekly ”) is now' busy at full strength along tho line of the Shantung railway between Alin Slim and Tsao Yuen Chang, and for about six miles inland- All vegetation is being destroyed, and tho people are frantically waving flags and beating gongs to frighten away tho poets. Each individual looks after himself and makes no attempt to assist his neighbour, and ail cheerfully cut down trees' and destroy the birds, evidently in order to encourage locusts to attack the other fellow's field next year. Tho Chinese methods of trying to combat tho locust pest aro similar to those they used when faced with plague, epidemic or other things of that nature. Instead of combining together and using organised effort, they all work on their own, with the result that practically nothing is accomplished. Two hydroplanes have been released by the Canadian Dominion Department of Naval Affairs for forest protection patrol in Quebec. The project of an aerial patrol of forest has been advocated for some time, and tho Dominion Government was strongly urged to undertake the first experiments. To render the enterprise possible, the Quebec Government and St Maurice Forest Protective Association volun- | tecred to pay the maintenance of maschinos and pilots. Tho undertaking j has possibilities of vast public importt anco, and will give to Canada tho credit for initiating the first aerial forest patrol in the world. AVliilo engaged in watching tho incipient forest fires from above, tbc operators will bo in wireless communication with the rangers on the grouryi, and will be able instantly to report fires and have lire lighters dispatched to- the scene without loss of time.

The celebration days in America im« pressed Mr Dustin, who recently visited that country, by the whole-hearted maimer in which the people enter into them. The people are more demonstrative than we arc. They go in lor decorative effects to a tremendous extent, and make a great show with massed Hags and hunting. Mr Dustin saw DODO police paraded in New York on one of these celebration days, and thought it a great sight. l< One of the nicest customs,” said Mr Dustin, “was Mothers' Bay, on which everybody is expected to remember their mother and send her a, .present, so them is a business side to that, too.” Mothers’ Day was a custom which spread to the British Army when the Americans entered the war, and many New Zealanders will remember celebrating it.

Curious family anomalies are being caused by the housing shortage (says a London paper of a recent date). The case of tho Uxbridge man whose children arc living in four different districts and scarcely know their father is by no means an isolated case. A woman in Kentish Town bus not seen her husband for three months, lie is living iu lodgings at Sutton, where he was unable to got a house, and she lives in Ids homo in KenlishcTown. The extra expense entailed by the.ir living apart absorbs all their income and the husband cannot afford the railway faro to London. Another ease almost resulted in family disunion. The husband was working iu the .Midlands, am! his wife lived in London. Despite his protestations that he was unable to find a, house for her in his district, the ivifo concluded that ho had reasons for desiring her absence. She sought a separation on the ground that ho refused to live with her. Tho disagreement was finally settled by the husband, who Jeff his work and, after some trouble, secured another job in London.

A. boldly conceived daylight jewellery robbery, in which n new element of surprise was introduced by the thieves, was carried out at Mr diaries G. Ifrankbind’s premises, High Meibom, London. The thieves eboso one o’clock, when tho assistants were at luncheon and Mr Franklaiid was alone in tho shop. A well-dressed young maa, who showed signs of nerroiißneait, asked to see a diamond ring which was on r tray with other ria>s In tho window. Air Franklaiid took the kray from the window and placed it on the counter. Hie young man picked up a. 10-guinea, nug, and as it did not tit Mr Jl'rankbuul put the tray on a shelf behind the counter and went to tho window tor another tray. As his back was turned the thlet reached over the connr i pi c ked up the tray of rings, worth £IOOO, and hurried to the door. He W’as met by n, confederate in khaki, who chained the handles of tho swing doors together and padlocked them. Air llrankland’s son panic into ihe shop from the basement and pursued tfic men through another door. AVlieu he got to the street f.hoy hud •lir,»npci>i'«.,l in Ui« ciineetioa of the city.