HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19811, 1 December 1919, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

In calm weather a carrier pigeon can' fly at the rate of 1200 yards a minute; 1 with the help of a moderate wind it : will attain a speed of 1540 yards; amk before a straight wind 2000 yards. There are over 18,000 multiple' shops In tho country. Six British fiz-nis hold between them 3461 shops; seventy grocery firms control over 6000 shops; one firm has 889 brandies, another has 799; one private firm alone controls 986 "brandies, and the Cooperative Society has over 6000. Tho U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, in an estimate based on July I crop conditions, announces that the domestic sugar crop will reach nearly two and a quarter billion pounds, which is far above the average of the preceding six ydars. Tho collapse of the general strike, which has paralysed all industry in Winnipeg, Canada, since May 15, and was at one time on the verge of succeeding as a Soviet revolution, waa practically a complete surrender, no terms being given the strikers other 1 -than the promise of a Government Commission to settle the disputes underlying the strike. The United States Attorney-General announces that suit is to bo filed against tho "Big Five” packers under tho anti-trust laws as a first step in tho Government’s fight against the high cost of living. United States attorneys were ordered to drop all other business and begin a nation-wide campaign to bring an end to profiteering and hoarding of foodstuffs. A steam shovel was used in one of New York’s cemeteries to dig a trench in winch to inter temporarily bodies of victims of Spanish influenza. This extraordinary procedure was made necessary by a shortage of grave-diggers, coupled with tho largo number of deaths. At another cemetery thero were four hundred nnburied bodies, and city labourers had to be drafted to prepare graves. . _Tt is usual to represent the late Lord Kitchener as a grave man with no sense of humour; but ho had a grim idea of fun, and this story shows it. A young friend induced tho great soldier to give him his autograph, and on doing so Lord Kitchener said: “ You can put my autograph next to George Robey’s, if you like, but don’t put it near tho Kaiser’s, or his signature will run.” Twisting plays a great part in the manufacture of silk. The more it is twisted, the less brilliant, but the stronger it becomes. In the making of some silks that are semi-transparent and dull (such ns crepe), there are about 3000 twists to every yard. ]n : satin there are 900 twists to every yard, but the average, “twistnge” tc the yard is 650. Tho Queen of Rumania proved herself an admirable ambassador while iu England. The various interviews which she gave to representatives of tho Press may set an interesting precedent. If onr own _ Royal peoplo 1 start the special interview habit thero will be fun at the Palace—and fun in tho newspapers. Queen Mary on “My View of Modern Dances,” and the Prince of Wales on "My Favourite Actress,” would surely make priceless copy—for Horae folk. That one should find pretty blossoms in the ice-bound dreary wastes of tlio North Pole seems incredible. It is nevertheless a fact that there the explorer has found many thousands of acres of buttercups, heather, bluebells, dandelions and rhododendrons. A botanist has collected 125 species of plants and flowers on the roof of the world. Even large, delicious mushrooms are there, while orange-coloured lichens are in abundance. And, strange to say, all with but a single exception are perfectly odourless. Thousands and thousands of acres of flowery and yet no perfume I The little hoy who thought his father had gone to heaven because he had gone to Skyo is to bo matched by an aged cottage body with whom the writer was lodging in a remote Midland village a month or two since. One morning sho asked him if it was far to Russia. He said that some of it was much further away than other parts, but why did she want to know? She said that they had sent her son—a fisherman who had joined the Navy —thero, and that she would never see him again, and fell o-sobbing. Her lodger did his best to console her, assuring her that people came hack from Russia as from other foreign parts. “Not from where they’ve sent him,” she said " I shall never see him again, not on earth.” "But why?” “ They’ve sent liim,” said she, " to the Archangels.” Discussing the experiences of. tho New Zealanders in tho Holy Land at Auckland on Sunday, Major-General Sir Edward Chnytor expressed deep admiration for tho achievements of tho military medical department in protecting the troops from tho ravages of the diseases which have attended alt previous wars. The system of inoculation against enteric fever and cholera proved tborougly effective, but tho medical triumph that struck him mose forcibly was the conquest of malaria. In Palestine, as elsewhere, this result was attained by incessant operations upon the breeding places of tho mosquite. These operations' were under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Kerens, of the New Zealand Medical Corps, and Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey Sutton, of the Australian Medical Corps. In the Jordan Valley the mosquitoes swarmed at the time of the arrival of tlio British military forces, and wherever found they wore attacked. Tho bod of the river was channelled out iu such a, way as to contract the rtream within moderate limits, and prevent the accumulation of stagnant water. Then, whatever pools wore formed tbev were either filled in or attacked with oil—generally there waa a combination of the two processes—and the places were inspected every clay. Even, where the footprints of the horses made deep impressions in dump soil they were filled up with sand and sprinkled with oil, and all such indents were kept under regular inspection. Tlio result was that all the camping places of the Anzac corps were kept free from the. post, and malaria was practically non-existent in the force. Tho York Archteological Society celebrated its 77th anniversary by an excursion to Newburgh Priory, Coxwold. aml By land Abbey. A visit was paid to Slniniiy Hall, whore tho vicar, tho Rev F,. A. Hedger, gave a short talk <m his famous predecessor, Laurence Irtonu). Ho said it seemod very strange iliat one wire occupied so prominent u position in the eighteenth century litem lure us the author of “Tristram Shandy ” should have loft, 'so little mark on Coxwold. Ho was, however, curate for only eight years, and as ho Afield, in addition, the livings of Sut-tou-on-Forest and Stilliugton, and at least one, if not two, prebends in York Minster, tie would not have very much time in Coxwold. in viow of the periods ho was visiting London, tho Continent and Baris, The first two volumes ot “Tristram ” were not. written at Coswold, though tho later ones were, and “Tho Sentimental Journey” also, There was very little local tradition about vSlcrno. Gray’s description that as yon road bis sermons you felt “Sterne was tottering on the verge of laughter, readv to throw his periwig in the faro of tho congregation,” was vivid, and Mr Hedger did not. think Yorkshire folk in the main approved of that kind of sermon. Thougn many admired him, there were many who did not approve. The only tradition Mr Hedger found was that of an old man whose grandfather remembered him as u rapid walker, with a habit of striding down the village street, stopping suddenly ns ;i thought struck him, and (hen rapidly striding back to umk« » note of iv a