HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16986, 9 March 1923, Page 6

HERE AND THERE .

♦ AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. A WONDERFUL WOMAN. Lady Cook, who has just died ia London, was during her lifetime doctor, stockbroker, politician, journalist, spiritualist and millionairess. GAe wa*. formerly Miss Tennessee Glafliu, and was the widow' of Sir Francis Cook, who died in 1901. Lady Cook leaves no children, and her large estate, approaching £2,000,000, will be divided among lier sisters, nieces and fiephews. Years ago no woman could go to a restaurant in New York unless accom-

panied by a man. This rule seemed so ridiculous that, one day on being refused admission with her sister to Delmonico’s, a leading restaurant, she proved the absurdity of the rule bv walking to the nearest cab rank and bringing back a cabman, in whose company she and her sister entered the restaurant and ate their meals. A similar rule obtained in theatres, so on one occasion she witnessed a performance from the front row of the stalls accompanied by one of her negro menservants. BURIAL SERVICE BY WIRELESS. While the creW of the storm-tossed little freighter Hat-teras stood with bared heads about the body of their dead captain, the steamship" President Adams, 240 miles away, transmitted for the first time by radio the solemn words of the Episcopalian burial service. says the New Y'ork correspondent the “ Sunday Express.” They had no Bible or book of prayer aboard the Hat-teras, and none knew the ritual, so the service was dictated at the height of a furious gale, and word by word the radio operator of the Hatteras relayed it to the chief officer, who performed the ceremony. IT’S BEST TO BE BIG. As a rule, large animals live long» est (.says an English paper). The ol an elephant is fourteen times that of a rabbit, wbilethat of a goose is eight to ten times that of a sparrow. The whale is perhaps the longest lived of all warm-blooded creatures. To some extent this rule applies also to tlie human race. The big races include English, Scotch, Scandinavians, Bulgarians and the Northern or Tartar Chinese. The average weight of an adult man of these races is about 100 pounds. Next- come French, Italians, Spaniards, Arabs. Turks and Southern Chinese. Their average weight is between 135 and 140 pounds. The small ■races are Eskimo, Mongol, Burmese, Bengalese* Malays, Javanese and Hottentote, whose average weight when full grown is between 120 nd 130 pounds. An Eskimo is very old at forty, and few Malays live beyond fifty-five. English and Scottish men live on an average ten years longer than Italians or Turks. Climate and food modify length of life in various parts of the world, but the averages mentioned hold good.

WORLD’S OLDEST TREE? A novel way of bringing home to visitors the great age of a tree felled in Yosemite Park has been adopted by the American authorities. A tree makes one ring of wod for each year’ 3 growth. When this giant came to be examined after the woodman’s axe had laid it low it was found to have 896 rings, so that it must have sprouted a-s a, tiny seedling in 1626, or forty years before William the Conqueror fought the battle of Hastings. It was decided to mount a section of the trunk, and to colour with paint the rings that corresponded with great events in the world’s history, placing a label on each to show the year it represented and fli© important happening that took place. Near the middle is a line marking the Norman Conquest of England. The tree was a. big fellow when Joan of Arc was buried, while when Columbus first set foot in America it had reached the age of 600 rears. THE FUNNY WONDER. The practical joker recently visited Nottingham a.nd perpetrated a colossal joke on hundreds of tradespeople, whom he terrified with exorbitant in-come-tax demands by the us© of official paper and fra-nked envelopes. One of the victims, a chimney sweep, was darkly informed that he had failed to include in his returns an enormous revenue made by selling soot. Another unfortunate, an ice-cream vendor, was thoroughly chilled by a missive announcing that it bad been ascertained

that his income was not less than £4O weekly. Suspecting, in reflection, some “ hokey-pokey ” in this demand, he made complaints to headquarters, when the joke was discovered. Interesting to note is the fact that the perpetrator signed the demands with the suggestive name of H. OAKS.” “A LTTTLE KNOWLEDGE.” The question of the administration of chloroform by medical students was raised at an inquest at Paddington on Mrs Letitia Amelia Wilson, aged forty, of Paddington. A doctor said lie gave the anaesthetic himself in the first instance, and the student who accompanied him had to continue to administer it while an operation was in progress. The patient died suddenly after she had been under the influence' of chloroform for twenty minutes. Tb<> student said he had had no previous experience with chloroform. ’Hie deputy coroner said the doctor acted for the best when faced by a grave emergency, but. the hospital authorities might consider the advisability of not sending out students who bad no experience in the use of anaesthetics. Death by misadventure was the verdict, but the point at issue still need.s to be investigated. OUR ENTENTE. Tn presenting his credentials as British Ambassador in Paris to President Millerand, Lord Crewe said: His Majesty has specially enjoined me to assure you of his absolute confidence in the close union of France and Great Britain, a union which allows us to look forward with a good hope to a policy established on moral, equitable, and pacific bases. The whole British

nation feels these sentiments. Tn ini' structing you as you have informed me, replied M. Milk-rand. King George has furnished a fresh proof of the sentiments which are held in regard to our country, and we are grateful to him. Peace owed the victors at least a minimum of satisfaction below which it was impossible to gcK -and cm th» subject England avid France wouJc come to hu agreement. A GALLANT -AOT. The Woolwich magistrate paid;» high tribute to a veteran who, at the age of seventy-three, plunged into the Thames to save a child. 41 Tfc was a very gallant act. A man of eementy-t-hree might well have been excused doing it " Such was the remark of Mr Fleming to Mr John Blanqy. aged seventy-three, cf Woolwich, who in June last plunged fully dressed into the Thames and saved a five-year-old boy from drowning. Mr BLaney was presented with the Carnegie Hero Fluid certificate and the Royal Humane Society’s testimonial. The Carnegie Trust had also placed bis name on the Roll of TTeroee. and had awarded him 10s a week for a-year*