HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17190, 6 November 1923, Page 8 (Supplement)

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. TO ABOLISH SEASICKNESS. Experiments are being made at Chatham with a gyroscopic instrument designed to abolisti the rolling of war ships. Tt has been fitted to a ship in the dockyard, and for the preliminary tests parties of men have been made to run on and off the ship to supply the rolling impetus as she lies moored in the basm-

STATIONMASTERS IN THE MAKING. Station masters iu England are chosen. from among the smartest men on the line—such as guards and inspectors, or from eierks-iu-eharge, who are usually chief booking and parcel clerks. Stationmasters—whose salaries average from 2oh to 40s, with house, coals, lights, and. of course, uniform free, on thirdclass or small -stations ; from 40s to 50s on medium-sized stations : and from £l5O to £3OO a year on first-class stations—rise step bv step until they roach the top of the ladder. Here they blossom out into district superintendents, superintendents. or managersBut the toil during the probationary period is very hard, as a station master is virtually kept at his post at all WHAT IS A BILLION What is a billion? We and the Germans say that it is the figure 1 with twelve noughts (a million millions), but. the Americans and the French bold that there are onlv nine noughts (1000 millions, or a milliard). Just to give you an idea of a billion, English and German style:—Take out your watch, and you will find that it ticks five times in two seconds. That means 150 times every minute, 0000 times an hour. 216.000 a day. It ticks a million times in 4 days lohr 6min 40sec. At that rate it would take roughly 12.600 year* to tick a billion times. A watch which began to tick at the very beginning of the Christian era would now have, in round figures. 150,000,000.000 Ticks behind it, and to accomplish it* billion ticks it would still have steadv work for something like 10.750 years in front of it. So now you know-

A GREAT SPORTING CENTRE. Newmarket first came into prominence in the reign of James 1., who loved its wild surroundings for the sake of the sport obtainable there. But it was for hunting the hare and the bustard, and for hawking, rather than for horse-racing, that Newmarket first won fame. It was not long, however, befor sportsmen discovered the superiority of the turf of Newmarket Heath to that of the several other places where races had been instituted, and horse-racing presently came to occupy the foremost place in the programme of Newmarket attractions. Newmarket had no charms for Coke o' Norfolk. He visited the Heath once, lost his money, and fought shy of Newmarket ever afterwards. He went further. He determined never to look on the Heath again. Whenever he had occasion to cross it be always drew down the blinds of his chariot and instructed x*ts son to do the same. “ Tom.” he would say, “ whenever you pass over Newmarket, don't omit to draw down the blinds; never look at the place.”

THE LIFE OF A CRAB. Anyone can see from his legs and claws, and from his armour-plated suit, that the crab is related to the lobster. But what has happened to his tail? It is there all right, but he wears it tucked up underneath him. Turn him on his back and you will see it. In his young days the crab is like a tadpole, except that he has on his head what looks like a little round helmet provided with a long sharp

spike. At this time of his life he swims about actively. Presently lie emerges a totally different creature. The spiked cap has gone : the eyes that formerly were flush with his head are now mounted on stalks. The tail has grown longer, and it is armed with a row of swimming paddles. At th<’ next change of skin the body is shorter, and broader and the tail is smaller. Successive “ moult? ” bring him gradually nearer and nearer to his final shape, and eventually he tucks his tail under him. adopts at sideways gait, and becomes the crab as wo know him.

C-OLOURED TABLE GLASS Colour is becoming more and more a part of our daily iife. and the days are gone when table glass was invariably white. Blue, amber, green, and ruby are finding their place on even the most formal dinner tables ("the “Westminster Gazette ” tells us). That they must be of high quality and good desigu goes without saying, for immediately they 6trike a decorative note they cease to be merely drinking vessels and become part of the scheme of decoration, and there is nothing less attractive than badly designed glassware, especially if it directs attention to itself by being coloured. Old Bristol glass of a warm amber colour looks particularly well on the dining table. Most good china shops show beautiful designs in Venetian and cut- glass. Another dinner table innovation is the use of quaint Japanese lacquer Bouillon bowls. These little wooden bowls, measuring about o£ inches across, aro of black lacquer lined with brilliant red. They are charming for use at. luncheon or an informal dinner, and introduce a gay and unusual note. At first one believes that painted wood is hardly a suitable material for soup bowls, but they are. nevertheless, impervious to heat, and food eaten from them will ho quite untainted.

OONV ICT PEON AGE. The *• New York World ” lias given a good illustration of how a great newspaper can be useful by the resounding publicity it has given to the case of Martin Tabert. a farm boy of North Dakota, found travelling without a ticket on a railroad train in Florida, sent to a convict camp, kept there though money for hie release was sent to the sheriff, and finally flogged virtually to death by the resident executioner of the Putnam Lumber Company. Reports of Tabert’s death from fever were sent to hie family from Florida with explanations that at first we*e accepted, but months after the boy’s death the famiK got word that the real cause of liis death was extremely cruel treatment and illegal flogging. Then something began to bo done. The story was put out, the. county officers interested themselves, and the upshot of it all was that the Legislature of North Dakota passed a resolution demanding, in courteous language, an accounting from the Governor Florida for the death of the North Dakota boy. Thataction with the publicity that was nor responded and bestirred hi nisei f. The story was investigated, the sheriff wlio had made it his business to sup ply abled-bodied prisoners to the lum her camps was shown up. the- flogging boss of the lumber camp was indicted a suit for heavy damages was started against the lumber company, and there is a prospect that the Florida Legislature, punched up by public indignation. will abolish the whole abominable system of. convict peonage.