HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17170, 13 October 1923, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. ’BUS OVER FORTY FLET C LIFF. Passengers on a motor-bus running between Ilfracombe and Combe Afartin (Devon) experienced the thrill of being suspended over a cliff. Near Watermouth Castle, where the road, run* along the top of the cliff, something went wrong with the steering gear and the ’bus crashed through a fence, the fore part projecting ever the cliff edge. Luckily, the kind wheels being caught by the fence, prevented the ’bus falling into Watermouth Bay. some forty icet below. No one was injured. A TYPHOON. A terrific typhoon recently visited ! Hong Kong, the velocity of the wind I being 150 miles per hour. The British . submarine T>9. which had been driftj ing helplessly in the mountainous seas, j with its conning tower smashed, sank j off to Hong Kong club. The Admir- ' alty state that all the crew of the subj marine were saved. Eye-witnesses ar* ! loud in their praise of the gallant efi forts of the crew of the Ginvo Maru, I who succeeded in rescuing two British | bluejackets from the submarine, one of whom had managed to cling to a yacht'? buoy. Eventually the two men were hauled up on to the deck of the Japanese steamer. The Sekino Maru. which was in great danger, was saved by a clever piece of seamanship on the pari or the Japanese skipper, who succeeded in bringing his vessel undamaged alongside the Statue Pier. The French mail steamer Andre Lebon. which was anchored in mid-stream and which dragged both anchors, drifted a considerable distance, ami came perilously near t-o fouling the Empress of Australia, w hich was anchored near by. but a collision was averted by splendid seamanship. Many of the Chinese who lived in sampans lost their lives. PAINTING UNDER WATER. Sometimes. even round British coasts, the sea is so calm and its water so clear that we can look over the side of a boat and see something of the strange scenery that lies beneath its surface. In many parts of the world the water is always like crystal, so that fish of weird shape and gay hues can be seen darting in and out of the brightly-coloured weeds that cover the rocks. An artist. Air Zalir, was so struck with what he had seen from above that be put on a diving dress and spent many days walking about amidst the wonderful scenes of the sea floor. Then an idea came to him. Ho had painted pictures from memory after getting back to the sur face; but why should he not take his materials with him and actually make liis paintings under water? He had to evolve a satisfactory outfit for the purpose. A heavy metal easel was needed, and he had to clamp his canvas to it to prevent it from floating; up. But the main difficulty lay in finding paints that- would not run when worked under water. At- length he found that if the canvas was thoroughly dressed with oil it would take special thick, heavy paints perfectly. At last all was ready for the first painting to be made. He slipped over the side of the boat in a diving costume and walked about until he had found a scene that would make a really beautiful picture. Then lie signalled to th* boat- which was following him for hi* easel, palette, brushes- and paints t« bo lowered. With a rock as his seat ho painted away until the picture was finished. Then with his materials he was hauled to the suriace, ifhere the picture was found to be a great sucWEDDING BY PROXY. On the occasion of the recent royal wedding, the bride and bridegroom, met at the great altar in Westminster Abbey, as is the custom of modern times. But this was not nlwaj# the case. Jn the past many princesses have been married by proxy. Anne of Denmark married Janies* VI. of Scotland. but the bridegroom was represented at the altar by iiis earl marshal. The marriage took place in Denmark, and some time elapsed before the bride was able to join her husband. She embarked for Scotland after the ceremony, but a tempest drove the vessel, on board of which were the bride and proxy husband, on the coast or Denmark, and there they had to remain for some months. Then the bride returned home, and James VI. set out from Scotland and took with him a clergyman, by whom he and the shipwrecked princess were married without proxy. Charles 1. of England was the son of this union, and he, too- was married by proxy to Henrietta Maria of France, the proxy husband on this occasion being the Due do Chevreuse. When Henry VI. became the husband of Alargaret of Anjou. the roval husband was represented by William de la Pole. Duke of Suffolk. When Napoleon married his second wife, the Archduchess Marie Louise, immediately after he bad divorced Josephine, he was represented by two * proxies, his personal friend, Berthier. and the Archduke Charles. THE HELICOPTER AND ITS USES. It is rather remarkable that alter several centuries of fruitless effort and after mechanical flight has been successfully achieved by other means, the helicopter should, sav- ** Engineering.’* continue to fascinate the inventor We can only imagine that the problems in volved are so numerous and difficult that to many men the attraction really lies in the possibility of surmounting them. Of the main difficulties, the least is that of obtaining the necessary vertical lifting force, and several machines capable of lifting off the ground have, in fact, already oeen produced. Even this particular problem cannot, however, he regarded as solved, since the necessary lift, has onlv been obtained by the consumption of an inordinate amount of fuel. The remaining difficulties of providing for horizontal motion, of ensuring stability and control in flight, and of securing a safs landing in the event of engine failure are much further from solution Mhil-? it. cannot he denied that the ability of the helicopter to rise from, and alight in. a confined space would he a valuable feature in connection with aerial transport, since it wouTd enable air routes to commence and terminate in the hearts of large cities and would also lessen toe danger of landing in fogs, ifc must he remembered that when landing in a high wind, the direct lift machine would be at a disadvantage in comparison wtb the aeroplane. Tin* onlv otl*er special characteristic of the helicopter, viz., that it tan. or should be able to. hover over any particular snot, has no particular interest from the point of view of air transport, th» object of which is to convey passengers or goods through the air from on© place to another as rapidlv as possible, and not to remain station* rv. The possibilitv of the ideal helicopter being able to hover has a somewhat greater attraction from the military standpoint. and it is Tvresnmably for this rea son that the Governments of several countries, including Britain, have been endeavouring for some time to produce . a machine of this type*