HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20056, 20 September 1920, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

, gathering of those interested ifl i the French languagci held, iu Sydney .' ( .\ n August 30, Monsieur Franc gave in trench an amusing caused© on the argot of the war. ’ Mia.ny curiousl > phrases and _ nicknames came into circulation during the war. Each army seemed ie have it? impressionists who, coined weturesque words which were' at once adopted. 'Hie genesis of the sobriquet “Digger” of the Australians nas occn thocause of much argnmcßi. tine explanation given is that a French ' general, when _ addressing a body of Australian soldiers, highly praised their Mid resourcefulness, and oon•diided his eulogy with tho words, \ ous etes vraiment braves hommes do guerre..” His listeners understood vaguely that ho was saying something nice, and imagined that his last Words do guerre” contained the cream of tire (compliment. , “.'Says we’re ri© guerre!’ they told each other, grinning appreciatively, and. of course, it was not long before this was turned into plain “ Digger.” toy manufacturers realist* tliat they will have to nicet keen competition from the Continent much' sooner than other of our trades. Gcrmany, although out of the running fur tne tijno being m connection with certain nidus tries, is exporting largo quantities of toys, the bulk of which come to the Inn tod Kingdom, Sine© vvar ended, a considerable, to 1 ;-making lr U i S^ r - y * m ficn creil tcd in England’ Machinery that once turned out munitions now supplies model engines and •other mechanical toys on a large scale. Manv establishments are finding work ror disabled soldiers. On. tho whole, rile British toy manufacturing industry has made a. promising start, and fleeing likely to develop, on n largo scale if given a fair chance. So that it oiajMie. assured of this, the leaders of the industry are asking for protection against ‘dumping ” from abroad. They assert that in this respect the Govern-, menb is mil canying out its promises. ' A . Canadian engineer gives a.simpiu method or checking the consistency of concrete so as to keen the water cinilont of the mixture fairly constant. The question of correct consistency is, in most instances, treated with iho proportioning of aggregates, as tin's comlunation results iu the best concrete. Most engineers prefer dealing with the', question of consistency first and alkrv>ug the question of proportion to ho dealt with afterwards. A sch,cine that nas used on certain work proved to he of great value in keeping tho consistency constant. Tho method wan to place a. shovelful of green concrete lit one end of an inclined hoard and note whether ft'would flow when the hoard was at the angle at which eon- ■ crete of the test consistency should flowos predetermined by laboratory investigation. After heavv rains, stock piles absorb a considerable quianlltv of water. Jut with the scheme mentioned above it is quite easy to keep tho Kiipe consistency throughout the work. It requires very little time to deterright angle and the method has the advantage of keening the water content of the mixture fairly constant, and assists in placing and finishing. A new Marconi calling system enables a station equipped with an automatic transmitter key to call up stations,, within range which arci flitted with the corresponding seleictdve receiver tejay, even if no operator or watcher is on duty at these stations. The calling up operation is effected by a powerful boll, which starts ringing at the called stations a few seconds' after the key at the calling station has been pressed. It fs intended that ' this bell be regarded as the'alarm for such emergency calls as the " 8.0.8.” and the “ T.T.T.” by ships. The signal is sent out by means of an automatic transmitter and relay key, which; , latter doses and t (opens the ordinary transmitting circuits at exactly the required rates. It is well to bear in mind that the German Telefunken wireless system developed a calling system fully ten years ago, which answered about the same puipo.se, A performing seal, awakening an'attendant, was the first to give the alarm when a fire broke out at the Falace Ballroom, Douglas. The building was gutted, and' the dancing’ hall, which, has held (5000 people and was considered to he tho largest in tho world, was destroyed. The damage is estimated at £60,000, but the vents and profits are covered by insurance. Speaking at a Royal Colonial Institute gathering in London recently, Sir Thomas Mackenzie referred to the high postal rates from England to places abroad. If he wanted to send a newspaper away ho tore out the advertisements, for by that means ho was able to send it for a penny instead of 2id. (Laughter.) The Americans would keep their postage at a minimum, and their literature and their advertisements would flood tho world. The circulation of British literature should bo encouraged, so that people abroad might know what this country required and what they had to give it. If they were going to use the postal service for revenue purposes they were making a great mistake. If revenue were needed it was for the Board of • Trade to make Up tho difference, for it was essential that the advertisements in newspapers should go abroad as well as the reading matter. Searchers after dye novelties may bo commended to a study of a recent L.S.A. Consular Agent’s report from Costa itica. It appears that some of the older natives on the Pacific Coast there have for long extracted a rich purple dye from a species of shellfish which abounds especially about Cocos Bay, Their methods have been primi- . live, and their ambitions limited to dyeing thread, but there must be possibilities in the discovery. The native habit is to pick the mollusc from a, boulder and blow upon it, whereupon a tew drops of greenish liquor ooze: out. This is the staining substance, and threads passed through it and then exposed to sunlight assume a brilliant purple colour, which is absolutely fast. It is assumed the dye develops and turns “fast” only on. exposure to the air, and the suggestion is made that by keeping air away from the liquor it may bo preserved and accumulated in sufficient quantities to bo of high commercial value.