HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17080, 29 June 1923, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. NO SUPERMEN. According to reports there are no . supermen. ! “ Evolution i-. not workmg m the- direction of super-men with - swollen heads and small faces,” said _ bir Arthur Keith in a lecture at tho L Royal Institution. “In some countries , Jkere is positive evidence that the bram is growing smaller.' 1 Sir Arthur •vaid ho did not think that one person hi fifty of the present poimlation used his brain to half its capacity- “In | 1 would say that most of us have more ' brains than we know what to do with.” i A ere we growing taller or shorter m stature? During the war it was found i the average stature* for a man ! was sft Gin—the same as in the nc©i lithic period. FOUR COURTSHIPS. ; The Labour ALP. for Rochdale, .Air ’ j Stanley Burgess, tells this amusing ; story. Recently,' after addressing the House oi Commons on the doi servant problem, a. Tory AI.P. cam© up to him, and the following conversation J took place: The Tory AI.P. : ••Vcu Burgess, you don’t know as mu is about this servant business ns I do. I happen to employ four of them.” Air Burgess: “No, but 1 courted four ot them.” The Tory AI.P. : “Is that sol”* Air Burgess; “ Yes, I courted four and ended up by marrying one of them.” ABSENT-AI IN DELL Masters' of absent-mindedness aredisclosed in the following stories. Lord , Beaverbrook started bis career by selling papers in tho streets of New Brunswick, Canada, and later became tho proprietor of the London “ Express.” So absent-minded was he tfcup .he originally missed liis vocation. Then again, the Bishop of Exeter is extra ordinarily absent-minded. Once, it :s said, after paying a visit to a large country house, he “ tipped” his host I and shook hands with the butler. S*r JL Rider Haggard, the famous novelist, lost £SO on liis first book, and in disgust he abandoned writing and became a lawyer. It was only as a spar© time hobby that he wrote liis great success, “ King Solomon’s Alines.” THE “ GLAAIIS AIYSTERY.” j The famous “ Glamis Mystery ” !» j one of the best kept secrets in the j world (says a London paper). Endless | fantastic stories have been put forj ward, but tho one solid fact among all | tlio rubbish talked is that the castle ■ contains a secret chamber, the entrance ! to which is known only to th© carl, l * heir, and the factor. Those who say that tlio mystery is a never-dying monj ster forget that the secret room is walled up and is visited only once in a generation. Even monsters must | have food anti air. The other story, I that the wicked. Sabbath-breaking Earl j Patio still plays cards there with th© ; devil, to whom lie staked his soul, is, j on the face of it, mere local legend. I There is something eerie and unusual I about Glamis; but tbe three who know probably smile at all sugg -- : - ij Lions. SPOILT CHILD TRAGEDY A tragedy which has overwhelmed j a Berlin family, caused by the *• spot’ ting” of a child, was reveal* 1 - | Berlin courts, when George Stcmaeker ! was charged with burglary with vio- | ’©nee. .His younger brother Richard. ) had induced him to help to steal <h< ! jewels of a rich woman. Together ! they went to her flat, where Richard j knocked clown the servant who opened ; the door and clioloroiorme-d her. Ihe | pair, wearing masks, entered the bed- ! room of the mistress, who was ill, and ! said they would shoot- her if she moved. | They collected her jewels and departed. | The sick woman struggled to the win- ■ dow and raised the alarm. As it was mid-day a crowd was soon in full fry i after the ihieves. Richard, seeing th. t escape- was impossible, shot himself, j AVit nesses testified that Richai i been a delicate child and was always spoilt, so that finally f - bccan tyrant in the family and ruled his parents and his brother by threats. The court accepted the view that George, whose nerves were seriously affected during tlie war. had been terrorised by Richard. an:l gave him tho mild sentence of eighteen months’ imprisonment. AYOAIEN SN r FI -TAK EB S According to one source of information, women are worse (even than printers) in the matter of snuff-taking. •‘ The snuff-taking habit is becoming more and more prevalent among vumen. In fact, from inquiries we have 1 made .we have ascertained that at least 70 per cent of modern snuff-takers are women.” This statement was made by i director of the Robert Sinclair L», bacco Company, who arc snuff- specialists and have a snuff exhibit at the Tobacco Exhibition now running at Olympia. There are all sorts of snuff to suit the feminine nose. There is liigblyscented snuff which blends the ordinary pungent aroma with that- of th® choicest Parisian perfumes, and there is snuff which is flavoured with mint and other lierbs. At elevenpence an ounce a woman can get enough snuff to last- her a week or ten days. Women snuff-takers abound in the north. In j Lancashire and Yorkshire the habit is ( more popular than cigarette smoking. ! ‘ TURKISH ” TOBACCO FROM HAMPSHIRE. Among the exhibits at the London | Olympia are “ Turkish ” cigarettes, ; the tobacco for which lias been grown in Hampshire. Cigars, costing from a few- shillings for a small box to something like £IOOO for an elaborate cabinet. containing 20,000. are shown. In this connection it is interesting to not® ; that tho 6d Havana, from Cuba, which w as a prime pre-war favourite, is again S possible. Demonstrations are given of fort\ year-old inei hod oi cutting a • i ; preparing tobacco leaf, and, as a cou- ! trast, there is exhibited an almost ; human machine which turns out 600 cigarettes a minute. DESCEND AN T OF JON A US AY H AL E. ! The latest saltwater yarn is not- about I the sea-serpent—it. will have to look to its laurels now. All alive-oli, there has been harpooned off Knight’s Cay. Florida, ;• fish whi< h makes t old and particularly orthodox in the States rejuice, for that it goes far to substantiate Jonah’s claim as to his submarine experiences. According the Smithsonian Institute—and Smithsonian is as devoid of imagination as the binomial theorem- the <-reatur© is large enough to accommodate a man m its belly At thickest it i? 33 9 inches round, in length 45 feet, and in weight rs 15 tons, with a month 4f l 1 2ins wide and 3ft 7ins deep. This fish j which is an infant of its species, be--I longs to the whale-sharks, whose hunt.i mg waters some 20C0 feet from the surface. Some volcanic or other disturbance had damaged its diving L M " s -