HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17028, 30 April 1923, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. LIVES OF LOCOMOTIVES. It is said that the record for long lile amongst railway locomotives is probably held by some of those running in Spain, where engines built in 1849 may still be seen at work. A locomotive has a life from sixteen to eighteen 3-ears in Britain, but of course there are many older than this still running. During its lifetime the average engine covers between a million and a million and a half miles. The record for British passenger engines was held by the North British Railway’s No. 224, which was built in 1871 and ran until 1919. In 1870 it was hauling the train which, on December 2S, crashed from tho broken Tay Bridge into the waters below. For months it lay completely’ submerged, but when hauled out, it was found to have suffered little damage. After a short visit to the works it was soon running again as well as ever. THE AMPHIBIOUS FROG. The frog is an independent person, for when Nature designed him she made him specially for swimming. Some frogs took a dislike to water and adopted a land life. The tree-frog lives almost entirely amongst lofty branches. “ Want to be a bird, do you?” said Nature. “ Very well, we’ll sec what we can do.” The result is a weird creature with a small body and long, skinny legs armed with bird-like claws. The barking frog possesses enormous air pouches which he inflates when he is annoyed. Suddenly he opens his mouth and yaps like an angry dog. Surinam, toads are covered with deep pits, whose use was not discovered for some time. Each one is a nursery. The male takes the eggs as they are laid and deposits them one by one in the pits on his wife’s back. Here they hatch out and actually go through the tadpole stage, obtaining the moisture that otherwise they 7 would lack. *•* WATER THAT BEATS STEEL. One can hardly imagine a strong * man armed with an iron crowbar being unable to drive it through a thin jet of water, yet several such jets exist at the new turbine station at Fully, Switzerland. The nozzles from which they issue are about one and a half inches in diameter, and the water, the pressure of which is nearly two ton* to the square inch, is so rigid that if you strike it with a steel bar, the latter simply bounces off! The water is brought from a lake more than 5,000 feet above the station, through great pipes drawn from tempered steel. They are two feet in diameter when they the lake ; on their way down they become narrower, and have thicker walls in order to withstand the terrific pressure. HOW TO CLEAN YOUR PIPE. A neat little invention has been placed upon the market which will enable smokers to clean their pipes in a few moments. The contrivance consists of a piece of rubber tubing about four inches long, at the end of which is a small glass bulb. It is used thus : —Th e glass bulb is first filled with cold water, and the tubing is connected to the stem of the pipe. A candle is then lit and the bulb held over the flame. As the water becomes hot, steam is formed inside the bulb. Forcing its way through the pipe chamber the steam quickly removes the clinging mixture of nicotine and tobacco that is found inside every pipe. In this way the pip© is thoroughly cleaned.

FATHER OF TWINS CONTENTION. “My contention is that there axe legal decisions that the words ‘ children living’ at a particular date include children then unborn, but. who were subsequently born alive,” the father explained to a Press representative. “ 1 am advised by several counsel friends that my argument is quite sound. One great point is that it ha*, been held by the House of Lords that the words in the Income Tax Act are drawn up in English technical language, and anybody who knows anything about law will tell you that the words ‘ children living ’ ar e obviously technical words in the English languageThere are many cases in law where the words i children living ’ have been interpreted to mean, children yet unborn. 1 Living ’ is a continuous period of existence, * born is a physical condition. I suggest that the phrase should be altered in the Income Tax Act to ‘ children living and born.” DEAN SWIFT’S SATIRE. A pane of glass upon which Dean Swift scratched a couplet with his diamond ring in 1730 has been sold by auction at Rugby for £l3. The glass was on finally taken from the lour Ola Crosses Inn, Willoughby, near Rugby, and it is ielated that on one occasion when staying at the inn, then known *s the Three Crosses, he was not satisfied with the attention paid to him by the landlady. He thereupon scratched upon the window : There are three crosses at your door, Pang up your wife and you'll count four. FATAL FOURTEENTH HOLE. On Monday morning tho thankle* task is always awaiting the- < ef rsdme on many golf links of collecting the fragments of torn-up score caids. silent witnesses of tragedies during week-end medal rounds. Quite by chance the existence of this task was revealed to a golfer on a London course on a recent Saturdav. He was playing a medal round and for a time all went well. Troubles eventually overtook him, and at the 14th hole he tore up his card. \\ alking to the side of the green to scatter the fragments, he was arrested bv a cry from his caddie : “No sir. don’t do that.” “Why?” the golfer asked. “Well. 1 shall have to pick it all up on Monday morning.” The caddie went on to describe this Monday morning task of walking round erery hole on the course armed with x bag in which to collect the remains of lacerated scorecards. Asked where he found most cards, the caddie said : *‘A good many at the 9th. but most at the 14th.” So it is the 14th hole that is the grave of so many a golfer’s hopes. A MILE OF KIDS. Captain Bairnsfather’s (of “ Bystander ” fame) philosophy of “ a blow half-met is but half-felt ’’—was recently inflected by an American lady whose case, when you come to think of it, deserves far greater sympathy. Her name is Mrs Arthur Furlong, and she recently walked into the office of an estate agent in Brooklyn. L.S.A.. asking the agent whether he could find .t home for her “ mile of kids. ’ Tho agent looked polite and puzzled. “ Mile o‘ what?” lie asked. “ Kids,” repeated the lady. “My name’s Furlong, and 1 have eight children. Don’t eight furlongs make a mile?” The agent smiled and did his best for her. A we 1 man who could smile with eight chilI dren commanded his profound respect. 1 And so will say all!