HERE AND THERE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16739, 22 May 1922, Page 6

HERE AND THERE

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING, THE RAREST ANIMAL. Australia lias no specimen of tb® plesiosaurus, which has of late been sought in vain in Patagonia, but she has something nearly as rare, (says the Sydney “ Sun. ’). This is the Wyulda Squaraacaudatus, of which only one is known to exist. This unique specimen was caught some years ago at Violet Valley, in the Kimberley region of West Australia. It was sen* j to the Perth Zoo, and reached there alive, but died soon afterwards. The stuffed skin is now in the Perth Museum. So far no second Wyulda has turned up. but it seems bo clearly a | species and not a mere freak that no ■ doubt others will be found when the | remote regions of north-western Australia are more closely examined. The ' Wyulda is about the size of a ’possum, j which it somewhat resembles in appear- | ance, though it is more heavily built, i But the tail is hairless except at the very butt, and covered ’with small scales. It is from this that the animal takes it« second or Latin title, while Wyulda is an aboriginal word for a ’possum. PRINCESS’S COSTLY DIVORCE. A claim for a fee of half-a-million pounds is being made by a lawyer against Olga Humphrey, the actress, eays a New York correspondent. After administrative and tax expenses in England and France t-o the amount of £400,000 had been deducted from her I share of the estate of her late husband, the Turkish Prince Ibrahim Hassan, she had left a fortune understood to amount to £1.000,000. Of this, Mr j Herman L. Roth, member of a New York law firm, now claims £300.000 I for legal services rendered. 31 r Roth j says that in 1914 he entered into art | agreement with the Princess by which he was to endeavour to obtain a divorce for her. Any sums realised from actions to be started in any part of the world were to be divided equally between them, and he has gone to California to try to collect the £300.000 he says is due to him. Olga Humphr« * was well-known on the London stage. ; having starred in the “Prisoner of J Zendn ’’ and other productions. She was divorced from her first husband, and then married Prince Hasean. whe died in Paris in 1914, while divorct proceedings were pending- Her thirc. husband was a Captain Broad wood, o r the British Army. SENT TO REIN BY WIVES. “ America is full of shiftless, extravagant wives, who are steering their husbands into gaol,” declared Judge Gibbs, a well-known New York county court justice, in ordering the discharge of a frail-looking, shabby little man charged with receiving stolen goods. Prisoner told the court that a constant struggle to make ends meet caused hint to succumb to temptation. The judge's homily was addressed to the man’s wife, who attended the court expensively dressed in a fur coat and wearing a quantity of jewels. “ Women like you,” lie told her, “ don’t stop to ask where the dollars come from that buy your furs and diamonds. It makes no difference to you. in fact. Your idea of your husband’s job is that it is to bring you money to adorn yourselves. Thus modern man is driven into a hysteria of money-making to satisfy the demands of ,his wife. If he cannot do that her interest in him ends. • The old traditions of simplicity have gone and been replaced by an orgy of frenzied spending. Husbands allow their wives to run through monev they can supply by honest means until they are obliged to resort to dishonesty to make up the deficit between what get and what their wires want.” PIANOS IN COED WEATHER. Piauos axe more sensative to climatia conditions than most people imagine, and tiie winter is a reason that tests uiein severely. No piano should be kept during the winter in a room which is seldom used and in which the tire is consequently seldom lighted. To avoid the cuanco of damp walls, it must never be placed against an outside wall, nor must it stand between tho window and the door, in lino with draughts. A cloth cover ehould be kept over the top of the case, and the keyboard cover closed after use. Great heat is as bad for the sensative strings, which are the soul of the piano, as excessive cold. So it must not be pushed right up against the fireplace, as sometimes happens in a small room, it is generally best to chooee the corner ! furthest from tho window, door, and j fire, provided tho lighting can be ari ranged satisfactorily. Electric piano candles, preferably with yellow shades, will solve this difficulty. They are much more satisfactory than a light that is thrown at a confusing angle from a source behind and above the player. Tuning is needed more frequently in winter owing to the greater variation between the daytime artificially warmed temperature and the night cold. It is always well to employ a highly skilled tuner. j A SINGULAR EXPERIMENT. I A tropical island will serve as tho theatre of a singular experiment, of which the originator and organiser is the German author Rudolph Requadt. j Six baby boys and girls of some highly j civilised race aro to be exposed on an • uninhabited island, which, however, ! is to be rich in fruits and small game, |so as to provide the children with favourable food and afford propitious | climatic conditions. Systematic observations of the growth and mental as well as physical development of the children will take place from a concealed vantage that will not be noticeable to them. Notes about their life will be taken every day, and a kinomatograpli will figure as an important aid in the systematic observation. Tho children are to remain on the island without any direct contact with anybody from babyhood until the age of maturity. The experiment is designed to contribute highly important material to the physical as well as the biological study of man. The strictly scientific results of the observations on me island will be put at the disposal of universities, w.hiio the features that will appeal to the popular taste will be published in book form and in connection with the films. which will be brought before the American and European public. Herr JUPt now is on a tour of study in the tropical zouo with the aim of finding an island suitable to the promulgation of his experiment.