HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16920, 20 December 1922, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. CAMEROON'S UNDER THE HAMMER. A sale unique in history was opened by Messrs Hampton and Sons in London on October 11. It was no less than the sale of the Cameroons of West Africa, the colony having been owned by the Germans from 1884 to. 1914. The area is 250,000 acres, with valuable plantations of cocoa, rubber and palm, together with beds of oil. Lots 1 to 30 were offered, the first consisting of 9848 acres. Bidding started as £IO,OOO, and the property was knocked down f o r £16,500. Nicoll Island, formerly owned by Count von Sclietwin, was sold for £l”lo. LITERARY MEN'S MEALS. Claude Berton, the French publicist, says that brilliant geniuses are usually the possesors of brilliant appetites. Balzac was a big eater, so was Hugo, so was Flaubert, so was Zola. In England there has been a motley array in modern times—Fielding, Thackeray. Dickens, Macaulay, for example -. in Germany—Bismarck, Goethe, JLessing. 1 1 there be any doubt remaining as to Balzac’s capacity for gargantuan voraciousness, Berton disposes of it when he informs us of some of the great psychologist’s sessions at- the Cafe Very m Paris. Here was the menu, entire]v accounted for by Balzac : Hors d’oeuvre eight dozen ß of oysters, twelve cutlets, a duckling, a pair of partridges, a sole, and the usual balance of etceteras. Yet Balzac’s capacity for toil was on'v equalled by Napoleon’s, and his daily dinner was hardly ever smaller than the one mentioned. Napoleon ate but sparingly. As to the particular diet ary intellectual men should follow, Bertou declares, in effect, that it should follow tile particular kind of literary attempt made. For instance, a light ciiet is good for the mau who writes light- literature, and when it is a question of deep study of human nature, nr of a philosophical treatise, or of an historical work, the brain looks for plenty of blood drawn from lieavv meats. STILL HOPEFUL. A contractor borrowed a small and badly-worn car from a friend for an emergency trip. The owner apologised for the machine’s rather bad condition tr Oh. that’s all right,” said the cor.- ; tractor. “I can drive anything that J has four wheels.” And, calling to an j employee to accompany him, he was , cff. A little way down the road the i contractor noticed the absence of a i the ignition switch. Later he discovered that the emergency brake did not work. After another mile he iound himself rolling down a smooth level road towards a bridge, anu h second glance showed a six-foot gap between the bridge and the bank. Viciously he jammed on the foot-brake, only to find that it would not work. , Fifty yards from the bridge he stepped hard on the reverse, but the pedal was stuck hard and would not budge. Turning to his companion, he remarked cheerfully, “Well, here's hoping the petrol gives out.” LIMITING WEDDING GUESTS. The walls of Scutari and other Albanian towns are covered with Testers, signed bv the Police Ministers. announcing the. following regulation: Nobody may invite more than twelve persons to his wedding. Should tlrnumber of relatives of the bridal couple exceed this figure, then they may not all he invited. The wedding festivities must not be continued for longer than twenty-four hours. Anv person acting contrary to this order will be fined.”’ SILENCE *DTVOROE. A Chicago judge granted a divorce to Mr Willin m Walter Raleigh on the ground of Ills wife’s silence. Air Ral - eigh informed the Court that although his wife lived in his house she had not spoken to him for eighteen years. “ Tt lias been like living with a ghost,” he said. “ Her silence had the effect of thunder. He consulted physicians in an effort to get her to talk, but it was impossible even to surprse her into uttering a word.” AUTOMATIC DETECTIVES. Some months ago the gates of the New York underground railway were j equipped with slot machines into which • passengers drop five cent pieces in order to reach the platform. Tt was then discovered that various low-grade for eign coins, and even discs of metal would work the machine, and ns a result of this the company has sustained heavy losses Half the collections, in some cases have consisted of worthless metal. In order to checkmate the swindlers, automatic detectors are he ing installed. When anything hut a five cent piece is put in the slot a beam light will shoot from a lens, magnify- ; ing on the wall of the station a picture jof the article just deposited. Large | audiences are expected in every station ! when offenders are discovered. A fore.* of detectives will be employed to watch the boxes and make arrests. MONKEYS FOR SCIENCE. Science is now making so much use of monkeys that the demand threatens to exceed the supply. The prices have already risen so high t-hat the Pasteur institute has had. to pay five or six thousand francs (about £100) each for chimpanzees, states the Parisian correspondent of the “ Daily Telegraph.” Ir is found, too, That the African native?, in order to capture young chimpanzees, kill the parent animals, and in this v/ay threaten to exterminate them if the demand for monkeys continues to be made by the present method. The Pasteur Institute lias therefore charged J)r Wilbert, a young bacteriologist, to establish a monkey farm in West Africa. Dr Wilbert will buy animals from the natives, and keep them on a Large estate in conditions which will be sufficiently natural to encourage them to hieed. Laboratories will he built in connection with this farm, and a good deal of scientific work with monkeys which is now being done here will be carried out in future on the African station. The Pasteur Institute believes that it will be possible when the farm i- properly organised to obtain all the chimpanzees it needs at reasonable cost* rnd without any danger of exterminating the animals. FLY BRINGS LUCK. A Aronte Carlo paper tells that a, fly alighted on No. 13 on the roulette treble the other day at a time when •he players had. suffered a persistent run of bad luck. The superstitious gamblers exchanged covert glances and ! searched their pockets for money witl* | which to stake. In a few moments th* c middle dozen.” that is to say, the numbers 13 to 24. was liberally covered with stakes Then an elderly gambler aiose and piled napoleons round the 6cuare on which the fly had alighted, thu3 backing the numbers from 10 to 17. The ivory marble was sent spinning round the roulette wheel, there was a moment of suspense, and then the cioupier announced the winning number. 13. But. what is far more extraordinary. the same number came up three times iu succession. That fly cost the Casino £SOOOI