HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16260, 29 October 1920, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

THE IDEAL WIFE. At last, says an English writer, a test has been established for the ideal l lte ; .ft )ydl be expressed by the Ormbol B.So. (household and Social science). Loudon University has made the plunge by deciding to awaiM , 8 degree to women who qualify in household and social science. Hithor-i-o it has only been possible to secure a diploma m the science of housewifery. Laundry work, account keeping, cooking, and tho problems of capital and . labour as they affect the householder, are among tho subjects in which the ideal wife of the future will have td prove herself proficient. The bachelor of four years hence is indeed lucky. He will not have to worry about doubtful qualifications. All that will bo necessary will be to choose the damsel who has the right to add “B Sc (household and social science)” to her name and therefore to his name. Some forty young ladies have already embarked upon the three years’ Course, so it may bo assumed that at least as many far-seeing young men are in a fair way towards matrimonial bliss. *** RUSSIAN ARISTO’S NEW ROLE. A large number of the Russian aristocracy who have been ruined by Bolshevism have taken to farming and dairy keeping in Franco, writes tho fans correspondent of tho “Daily Express. Countess Ignatieff, nee Princess Mestchersky, with her son, keens thirty cows m a Paris suburb. They have former officers of the Russian Impenal Guard Working for them, as well as Prince Lyszezynski. Another prince, borls, earns his living by painting pori ait-s. In another Paris suburb thero is a Uussian count making money by growing muahi mis, and the salads raided by an ex-colonel are far-famed, rnilco Goudacheff, tho Russian ex-Am-bassador to Spain, possesses a' form in the centre of France; another colonel, with some brother officers, runs a small garage; while General Nicolaieff drives a motor lorry m Paris, and a number of Russian ex-nobles are said to bo taxi cab drivers. V BELGIAN GLASS INDUSTRY. , Tho'Belgiau window and plate glass industries have about ‘regained their pre-war position. Particular difficulty lias been experienced in obtaining sodium carbonate and sodium sulphate. Compared with the metallurgical and textile'industries the Belgian glass manufacturers have not suffered any great damage to their plants and machinery. The eighteen window glass factories remain practically intact, being despoiled, however, of their belting and copper work. Of the eight plate glass plants none •was seriov -lv damaged except American-owned mill at Courcelles which was completely destroyed. The window glass industry has been less affected by labour shortage 'than the plate glass plants, owing to tho fact that in making window glass, hand-blowing methods are used in Belgium. Glass blowers are highly skilled workers and consequently do not find it as easy to shift to other lines of employment as do tho mechanical workers in plate glass. Formerly Belgian window glass manufacturers were able to compete with mechanically equipped plants in the United States and elsewhere by reason of the great efficiency and comparatively low wages of the Belgian workers. Now. however, it is an open question as to whether or not Belgian window glass factories will bo ablo to retain their present markets when the demand for their product is reduced to normal, it docri not seem probable, however, that the Belgian market for plato glass will ho affected. V THE EYESIGHT OP PISHES; Wc know that most fishes have very well-developed eyes—practically lidless, to be sure, so that they cannot be shut, but none the less very fine eyes. Soma of the skate tribe are able to draw a flap of skin over their deeply in-sunk eyes, so that foreign particles are. kept off, but ordinary fishes cannot even wink. It is interesting, from tho point of view of evolution theory, to find that all ordinary fishes have six ejo muscles just as we have, and that ho true fish with normal eyes shows any moro primitive arrangement. From the way in which the eyes are situated in the groat majority, of fishes—namely on each side of the head, and looking in opposite directions—it seems that tho vision must be monocular. In some quaint open-sea fishes with so-called telescopic eyes, directed upward of forward on stalks, the vision is probably binocular. Another peculiarity concerns tho focusing apparatus, for tho accommodation to different distances is not effected in the usual way by altering the curvature of tho lens, but by altering tho position of the lens in relation to tho retina. on which tho imago is formed. There are numerous special adaptations in fishes’ eyes which show, at any rate, that vision plays an important part in. daily life. V THE INTELLIGENT MAORI. New Zealand pioneers had all tha fundamental facts of experience be-' hind, or rather before, their conclusions that tho Maori is an intelligent species of biped. A certain Maori convert, whose fame is rising high as a preacher of tho Christian doctrine, was ono day faced with n rather embarrassing position, but with the aid of his ready nativjp wit ho wriggled out of it rather neatly. Ho was talking to a congregation of prospective active converts upon the old story of Daniel in the lion's den. With the full power of his impussinned oratory he described tho lions They were tho kings of beasts, fierce to the last degree, strong with an amazing strength, utterly without mercy They uttered low, throaty growls, thov roared with powerful voice that Ehopic tlie earth. . .Their mighty muscles quivered as they prowled about the narrow cavern wherein Daniel was cast. But. Henare at the hack did not believe, and he had tho courage of his convictions "By korry,” he said. ;• I tink yea ttfiong. iVle 1 see tho lioa come round in tho circus. Ho nob a fierce follow at all. Ho fame ho quiet, he not big and strong at all. The preacher gasped the audience looked with approval upon the interrupter, for who had not seen the spiritless beasts of the travelling ViT y ° U ** &*«> twnl lionsx' asked the preacher. “In jL circus. “ You (all wrong, the lions I Vi Circuses.”. And at last Henaro behoved V DISAPPEARING ISLAND. Volcanoes nt sea are even more erratic than those on land. In tho midst of the waters they come and go, and assumes shapes, as they cannot do ashore. It was owing ki this peculi'anty that a British ship once cleared for action to fight a volcano. Tho incident occurred in 1810, when the Sabnna, sloop of war, was cruising off bt Michael's, in tho Azores. Her crew hoard cannonading, and saw white smoko spurting far off towards the horizon. They cleared for battle and ran down, to take a hand in tho fight only to discover that what they saw was a submarine eruption. li/ DII ns they drew near they saw the volcano grow until it constituted an island ally a mile round, upon which thov landed, and of which they took no*. “*®°n ' by hoisting the British fog But the freakish t fofces tundeffceatli chose to lower the island Almost as rapidly a* it had risen, so that it went down with the colours flying from lu highest peak, and what might have become a valuable coaling station on the broad waters of the North Atlantic svas. .thus lost t« posterity, •;