HERE AND THERE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17525, 30 April 1925, Page 6

HERE AND THERE

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. SUFFERING FROM THE WAR. TJie youth of the British nation has not yet recovered from the effects oi war conditions. So says the annual report of the Army Council for 1924. Almost 50,000 men were rejected as recruits for the army last year because physically or mentally they showed some defect. Thus the tale of tli* war's injuries is not yet fully told. TWO CHURCHES IN ONE. Co-operation and religious toleration are receiving a thorough test in a little church at Keystone. Nebraska, where both Catholics and Protestants worship. The Catholic altar is at ono end of the building and opposite is the pulpit for Protestant services. Se&is are arranged so that they face eitlier end of the building. Reversal of the benches thus changes the church from one denomination to the other as desired. ONE CHIMNEY INSTEAD OF 800. Many things have been done in recent years to make life easier for the miner, whose daily work is full of hardship and danger. Some 800 houses for miners, now being built at Conisbrough, arc to have central heating. Two big boilers are being installed, with a water tower and pumps, and there will be twelve miles of piping to supply the houses with hot water. Not only will fuel be saved, but Conisbrough will be spared the smoke of 800 cottage chimneys. BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. Was Sir John Moore “buried darkly at dead of night' 5 ? A correspondent of an English paper calls attention to the case which bolds the souvenirs o| too general at the United Service ! Museum in Whitehall, where there ’s a letter from the chaplain who buried him stating that the burial was on the afternoon of the day after the battle. The poem was written in Ireland, it is believed, by a clergyman who was not at, Corunna, and who evidently i used his poetical imagination freely. MONEY AND BACTERIA. The talk about the return to the goM .standard in the British currency makes a recent test by a German bacteriologist of considerable interest. He declared. as a result of his experiments, that coins are iar more sanitarv than

—** “uiv- uuti, iuceu in circulation for some time, and was subjected to frequent handling, as many as 143,000 bacteria were discovered, i Metallic coins show a far smaller bacJ teria count. Their smooth surface does not encourage the accumulation of these minute organisms. WHEN SPECTACLES WERE NEW. i t’ le days when spectacles vere introduced, not all the world was wise. Whether their eyesight was bad or good those who would be stylish wore spectacles. Tn Spain they formed part of tne costume of every well-dressed person. The wearer’s object was to increase the gravity of his appearance. A young monk who had, by the assistance of his family, caused the order to which he belonged to succeed m an im-

portant lawsuit, felt himself liberally rewarded when the prior, having embraced him, testified his gratitude bv saying, “ Brother, put on spectacles.” Glasses were usually proportioned in size, not to the eyes, but to the rank of the wearer. WHAT IS A SNAIL S PACE. “ He moves at a snail's pa;e ” is a remark frequently heard, especially when the subject is a. youngster going to school or an office boy who has been sent on an errand. But even of the , slowest of the younger generation, the statement is, to say the least, slightly exaggerated. A recent experiment proved that a snail progresses at the rate of one mile in a fortnight. If one places a snail on a sheet of glass and watches the under side, he will see i series of ripples along the animal’s foot. This foot is a network of mu. cier, and the rippling is produced by these muscles lengthening the foot m front and shortening it behind, which is the snails mode of progression. THE OLD INCAS OF PERL. The old Incas for rulers' of Pert, were great road builders. Like the Romans, they made their roads to last and thrust them out in all directions for hundreds of miles, to the very limits o’ the empire. The Inca roads can be traced in Peru to-day. Under Inca rule everyone, whether old or young, ha*, liis work appointed for him by the State, and no one was given more than he was able to do. No one coulc live where he liked, and no one coulc hold any land for more than a year az a time. Laziness was punished b r death. In this way the Incas develop cd their empire to a surprising condr tion of prosperity, vast stretches o: country being made to blossom by c network of irrigation canals. The Span; aids let these fall into decay, nut it is realised now that the development of Peru rests on the. repeating of the Inca works. FROM DOCK TO JUDGES BENCH, ! William Cowper. the poet who wrote [ the famous story of John Gilpin’s rid*-, j and who was born in the ' ear 1741. ! had a connection with the law worth j recalling. 11 is grandfather was Spenj cer Cowper, who, although t.-’od at i Hertford Assizes fur murder, became * one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. The alleged murder was that of a Hertford woman, who. there stems no doubt, committed suicide bv drowning herself. But suspicion fell upon Spencer Cowper, who, as a barrister attending the Assizes, nad some business dealings with her, and was the last person seen in her company. The consequence was that at the next Assizes Cowper found himself in the dock, with three supposed accomplices. Fortunately for Spencer Cowper, he had in his defence the assistance of his brother, William Cowper, who was afterwards Lord Chancellor, and all the prisoners were triumphantly acquitted. j HISTORIC KING’S HOPS*?. When Richard of Gloucester plotted I in Crosby Hall the murder of the littie ! princes in the Tower lie would have j been surprised to know that four cen- | turics and a holt’ later his house would ‘ be bought to make a club and hostel iur women of the world’s universities He v ould have been still more surprised to know that in the interval his house would have moved five miles irom Bishopsgate Street to Chelsea. Tef these things have happened, or are happening. Crosby Hall, built by Si r John Crosby in 11*56. and occupied after Richard by Sir Thomas More, was pulled down in 1908 and rebuilt near Battersea Bridge. And now over £30,000 lias been raised—£lß.ooo of it by the British Federation of University Women—to buy and equip the house tor visiting women students. Tt is a tine house saved for a fine cause in which the. Dominions as well as the I Home Country arc taking an active 1 interest.