HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16987, 10 March 1923, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING, THE PICTURES. Lieut.-Colonel Bromhead, C.8.E., joint managing director oi the Gauniont Film Company, has returned from a two months’ study of the film business in America. Among his many observations, cue c* the most striking that “ American programme pictures are dead in their own country,” and that the .American picture-going public can now only be satisfied with really first-rate entertainment. It woul 1 seem, therefore, that we may expect some much better film entertainment from America in the near luture. Colonel Bromhead’s primary interest in the American him world, of cour&ey was the development of a market for Britisii films in the United states, and it seems that he Las effected arrangements as a result of whion the Gaumont programme of British production will be on a much more ambitious scale than hitherto. An ambitious production of “Bonnie Prince Charlie ’ has alreadv been announced, and important developments are expected in the New Year. THOSE LUCKY' M.P.’S. Many of Labour’s leading lights In Britain made a great outcry against the fully paid six weeks’ holiday of members of Parliament, and in a recent manifesto the points raised are; Thousantis oi working-cias3 homes have been reduced to a state of destitution. The cottages of the workers have been stripped of domestic comforts, and even the elementary requirements of a de- • cent existence have been sold to proJ vide the necessary food to stave off starvation. The unemployed army has been utilised as bargaining power by unscrupulous employers, who have taken the opportunity to secure unreasonable reductions in wages. During II the period of chronic unemployment, the wage bill of the country has been reduced by £13,000.000 per week, or £57(5,00-O.OfX) per year. Children are i underfed, and the famine lines • are deepening in the faces of manv ! men. women and children- “ This na tion,” the manifesto urges. “is still rich enough to provide food for all its members. In certain places even now a state of luxury exists side by side with poverty.” CHEAPER TRAVELLING. Cheaper fares on the great railways have now come into operation in Britain, and they mean a saving of oneseventh on the existing third-class fares. First-class tickets will be re- ; dueed to 2£d a mile and third-class to j lid. The railway companies deny tbit ) proposals are to be submitted to the 1 Railway Rates Tribunal for abolishing | the free allowance of passenger lugi gage. Under the new scale of chargv- ! for parcels, the present minimum of 9d | for lib will be reduced to 7d up to fifteen miles and to 8d for any distance over fifteen miles. A cut of 25 per cenr. will be made in the charges for “perishables ” by passenger train. On London’s underground system long-distance fares will be reduced. Penny fares an the omnibuses and tramways will cover two stages (about a mile)- Where the ordinary fare is reduced, there will bo a corresponding reduction in return workmen’s tickets. ELECTRIC POWER MADE EASY. A very smart contrivance has been made by a man of ideas, who wa-s struck by the fact that each morning I over half a dozen bathfuls of water j were consigned to waste in his house. I He was a handy man. full of ideas, and so he set to work to get something out |of the waste-pipe. The result of cogi- ! tations was the construction of what jhe calls the “ generating station.” It- [ is merely a cupboard fixed on the wall I at the back of the house. Inside the j cupboard is a paddle-wheel, which, ! when the water descends from the | bath, rapidly revolves and turns a ! small dynamo to which it is geared. Tho electricity thus manufactured ! each morning is stored in accumulat- ! ors, whence wires conduct it to various parts of the house, where a small ! light for a short period is often very i handy. Thus he has it affixed to sevI oral cupboard-doors, at the side door, i and at the front door. Of course, there i is not sufficient power to maintain a prolonged illumination, hut for short j periods of a minute or so the “ genera - i ting station” is well able to provide I light. j EARLIEST telegraphy. i An ancient general named Aeneas, j who lived in Aristotle’s time, invented i a novel system of telgraphy. For his j experiment two earthen vessels were filled with water, and each was pro- | vided with a top that would discharge j an equal quantity of water at a given time, so that the whole or any part- | of the contents would take exactly tb*' j fcime time to escape from either vessel On the surface of each floated a piece of cork supporting an upright marked off into divisions, each of which had a certain sentence inscribed upon it. This svstem of communication was intended for use in the army. One vessel was placed at each station, and when anyone wanted to send a message he light«*l a torch. Soon the man in charge at the other station did the same, to show that he was all attention. The sender then extinguished his torch, and each party immediately opened the cock of his vessel. When the sender 1 relighted his torch, the cock was i closed, and so the message was read. SECOND FINGERS. Many doctors say our toes are of not much use, and with the advance of the human race toes are un ! doubtedly “ going out of fashion.” ! Originally intended to be used as a sort j of second set of fingers, the toes still ‘ play a prominent part in the lives of J many natives. Indian craftsmen, for ■ instance, hold a tool between their toes with an ease almost equal to handling it. Amongst the more ad vanced peoples, however, this use of the toes is completely obsolete, and in another hundred years our toes may be out of date. On our toes, however, we largely depend for the balance of our bodies, the spring of our walk. Ie we were toe less, every step would be a jar. For cycling, football, dancing, to name but three instances, tees are practically essential. In we carry about with us a sliding scale lever more delicate than any science could devise, -«*--Juch helps us to keep our balance. In spite of the doctors, in practical politics we must decide to retain our toes. EDUCATING THE CANADIAN FARMER. On its six weeks’ tour of the Province of Quebec curing the past summer over IQO.UOO people rijjted Better Farming Special Train, which was organised by the Provincial Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Pacific Railway with the co-opera-tion of the Federal Department of Agriculture and the Oka ami St Anne do la Pocatiere agricultural The train was formed of 14 railwnv cars, which were allocated to the different- phases of agriculture -such as live Btock. field crops, farm engineering, horticulture, poultry, bee keeping and sugar making, and home industries. Great interest was shown by. inspected—the train-.