HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20076, 12 October 1920, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

THOSE PHILATELISTS.

rec ® n % been issued no* It 0 L f nV5 fo1 : tI,D Cook Islands, vi/ , Raratonga, Aitutaki, Penrityn, and JW The values are id, Id, lid, nffLr am vM .The designs Mr* voc* effective, and include island scenes fa appiopnate decorative settings., One ?Lr- m ® ol >i«ins a cameo portrait of Rtn™ nil r fU°° k ‘ ?- v . tbe wa J r . a ourioua story of the speculative value of stamps in going round. In the printing of J nJ°v HaraWa'- over the on. i ary Lew Zealand id stamps a corner or one of the sheets was turned over and two of the stamps had tho word obliterated from them, being printed on tho overturned corner at tie back The purchaser of soma sheets of thteso stamps noticed the emission, and a block of the four stamps, including the two which had missed printing, was torn from the sheet, and sold to a dealer for £5. Ho sold it for £ls, and it is said tho second purchaser obtained £l6O for it from tho Prince of Wales, who bought f° r the King, oho of the keenest philatelists in tho world and possessor of probably one of the finest collections of stamps in existence. V spiritualistic photographs. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in the course of an interview after his arrival at Fremantle on September 17, produced a photograph of himself, in which,, over one shoulder, could bo scon the blurred, but still distinct, face of a young man. " Now. there is ao fraud about that,” ho said. “I took the photograph myself, developed 'it myself, and took particular care that the negative was not interfered with. IVhcn 1 had completed development I ‘ held the negative up to tho light, and saw what you can now see on the print. It i s my dead eon. My feelings, although indescribable, were nothing to what I felt when I met my dear boy later at a seance, when 1 e placed his hands upon my head, caressed it,. and spoke in his own familiar voice- I need not say that I expect, and am prepared for every form of opposition, but I only ask for a fair hearing and impartial judgment.” V . GOMEDIES OF A MIXED JURY. The first mixed jury ever summoned in Bristol had its comedies. ’When the panel was told the hour of assembling on tho next day, one of the women rose and said, “It will be impossible for me to come. I have three little children alone at home, and I must attend to them.” The Recorder: 1 quito understand. You are excused., Another jurywoman: I am a widow, and I had to close my shop to attend here to-day. The Recorder: You are : excused, ‘‘l faced the ordeal with great trepidation, and would gladly 'Wa> evaded service had I been able, but row I am glad to have had a most interesting experience,” said one of tho womm jurors. ‘ l l, have never been in a criminal court before, bub I found ro difficulty in following the procedure. ■ I am satisfied that women will be usp/iri on juries, especially in cases in wkica their own sex is concerned.” . One of the women excused expressed tho view that jury work was a man’s, job and woman’s work was at home. , V GOLDEN NOTFH. I l ' Who is the world’s richest singer!*. The question is prompted by tho anannouncement that £24,000 has been of-: feted to Caruso for twelve perform- : ancos in Havana. Caruso probably : commands higher fees than any other ; singer in tho world. A further offer of ! £60,000 has been made to him tor thirty performances, while as tho result of a season’s engagement at tho , New York Metropolitan Theatre Caruso lias pocketed a salary of somethin)! . like £25,000. Before the war ho toured i tho English provinces on a contract j said to lie worth , £2OOO a week. In | 1918 his income from gramophone re- | cords alone was £2OOO a month. V CONSTABLE OP THE TOWER. The installation! off Lord Methuen as Constable of the Tower of London recalls the • fact that there have ■ been Constables of the Tower for nearly-900 years, Lord Methuen is tho last of u. lino which hem ns with Geoffrey do Mandoville, William the' Conqueror’s man. Tho great Archbishop Stephen Langton. who won Magna Cnarta from King John held the office, and after him Hubert de Burgh, whom the world knows best in Shakespeare’s version of binii as Prince Arthur’s gaoler, but who was .a better and far greater man than the play could conveniently allow. Fairfax, the Puritan general, was Constable in his day, nnd two hundred years later came a more famous soldier, the Iron Duke. V TRIBAL SURGER.Y. Despite their backward civilisation, the Berber tribes, known ns the Shawia, representatives of an ancient whitq race who inhabit, the wild hills between Biskra) and the frontier of Tunis,_ are very skilful in surgery. Captain M. .W. Hilton-Simpaon and his wife, who have just returned from tlus region, found that the native surgeons are capable of performing some really remarkable operations (of several of which. Captain Hilton-Simpson was all eye-witness), including trepan-' ning and the grafting of bone in limbs, all of which arc carried out without the aid of any anesthetic, the patient being merely held down by assistants. Tho locally-made instruments employed are -of a. very early typo, and of the roughest manufacture. The medicine of the Berbers appears to lie that of the great Arab physicians of the thirteenth century; indeed, some practitioners were found in possession of a form of ‘‘ still ” for preparing medicines, which seems to ho identical with till© very form of dlistilljing ' apparatus recorded, one originating from an early Syrian manuscript. Among other quaint survivals of bygone ages noted were. two prehistoric systems of making olive oil, and a method of measuring lime by means of a bowl which sinks in water. Home of the older men cautioned tho captain against taking meals with Mrs Hilton-Simpson, a practice which, they considered, must . tend towards n. relaxation of the discipline under which wives should always he kept! * • * FUTURE OP 11 THE GREYS.” Unofficial information has reached Aldershot (writes a correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph”) that (hero is a possibility of one of tho three regiments of Hussars . forming the First Cavalry Brigade being placed under orders at very short notice to proceed to Palestine for service in place of tho Royal Scots Greys, in consequence, of the agitation to retain "the Greys” permanently in. Edinburgh. ■ It is also stated That a petition is being -prepared for presentation to the King asking his sanction that the Royal. Scots Greys be admitted to tho Brigade of Household Cavalry under' tho title of the King’s Household Regimeul of Cavalry in Scotland. Inquiries made in Edinburgh reveal that there is no intention on the pan ot the military authorities to countermand the orders which have been given, and that arrangements are proceeding for. the embarkation of the regiment. Tho proposal to appoint the re? imont to the Brigade of Household Cavalry' has been mooted before with out result. The regiment hae not been abroad in peace during the past sixteen years, and this long immunity from lorcign service .is regarded by the authorities as being responsible for ore atmg the impression that it is not liable * for such service. There is nothing hi - the terms of enlistment to prevent the regiment being scut abroad in tii, lc# 0 f peaca. , 1.,; ~, ■ - * : *■•**-' *