HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17710, 3 December 1925, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. THE FAMOUS DERBY WINNER. Egerton House. at Newmarket, where Princess Mary and her husband are now in residence for the first time, has been associated witfi the Royai Family for thirty-two years. It wa# in 1593 that Lord Marcus BeresforcJ, who managed King Edward’s racing business, persuaded the then Prince of Wales to transfer his horses in training from the famous Kingsclere stables of John Porter to Richard Marsh, at Egerton House. Three years later Persimmon gave the Prince his first Derbywinner. “‘HIKING.” Possibly a place in the English language will be found sooner or later :or the American word “hiking.’ “To hike ” is to “ tramp ” in the respectable or tourist sense, and we seem not quite to have a word in current use wfci h differentiates the tourist tramp frent the sturdy rogue. In America and Canada (where, certainly, there is space between the centres of population'. “ hiking ” is an institution. There are short week-end “hikes” of “hiking clubs,” and longer tramp? in such places as the Rockies or the Yellowstone. facilitated by the bungalow camps established and run either by the Government in these national park* or by the railway companies. DOG WHICH CANNOT FORGET. The story of an aged black Pomeranian dog which refuses to leave the cemetery where his master is buried comes from Wortley. near Sheffield. He will let few caress him, and steadfastly refuses to be enticed away, no matter how bad the weather may - be. It is said that about six years ago he followed a funeral—probably that of his master—into the cemetery and lay there for days, moaning piteously. No one has claimed him, and his days and nights have since been spent among the tombstones. Apart from taking occasional meals offered him. he refuses to leave his mysterious vigil. Even in the depth of winter he will not shelter in a dwelling. « A VETERAN MOTOR-CAR. A motor-car, built in 1909. which is said to have travelled 500.000 miles, figures among the assets of a motor mechanic in the bankruptcy court in the United States. It still runs, but not on the original tyres. It is calculated that the machine has travelled an average of 85 miles a day for the sixteen years of its life, or. allowing rest on Sundays, about 100 miles a day. The car has run the equivalent of twenty trips round the world at the Equator. The relic, which will be sold to satisfy creditors, has been appraised for £5. NIZAM’S lO.U. n

The Nizam of Hyderabad, the premier native prifice of India, is claiming from the British Government the province of Berar. The dominions of the Nizam in the South of India cover nearly 53.000 square miles —more tnan the whole of Belgium. Bulgaria. Denmark and Switzerland put together. The number of people he rules over is about 14,000.000. or more than twothirds the population of Spain, writes Nabob Rizz in the “ Daily Graphic.” In size Berar is a little larger t ! un Switzerland, and in population about the same. It is a very rich province The territory, in the words of the Nizam’s advocate, was “ lent.” by way f security against a big debt to the British Government in 1861. To regain the province the present Nizam is credited with having amassed a fabulous amount of wealth, and this has been done in a curious way. The old custom in his State is that every It ?ge subject, according to his rank, has a presentation fee fixed for him When he appears before the Nizam he bows low and places his right hand on to open palm of his left, with the presentation fee exposed on the palm of the right. Until the reign of the present ruler the Prince would just touch the money and leave it in the hand of his liege-man. but the present Nizam wns anxious to recover the lost province of Berar. and, to get together xnonev enough to pay off the old debt to the British, he introduced the system -'if picking up the presentation fee and putting it into his own pocket. Evervbodv who is anvbodv in a population of over 13.000.000 finds himself before the Nizam about five or six times in the year. Reckon this up, and y» ti will realise what a source of revenue this must be. REBUILDING BRITISH CITIES An important development of the British Government’s housing police was announced by ?»fr Stanley Baldwin when he visited Glasgow to secrive the honorary freedom of the city. Emphasising the shortage of labour in the building trades, and the extent of unemployment in the engineering industries, he appealed to the local authorities of Scotland to undertake large housing schemes by such temporary measures as are provided by the adoption of steel construction, and offered to increase the subsidy from £l6O :o £2OO for each new house of this type up to a total of 4000 houses. “ Quite apart from the essential wrong of such conditions cf housing as still exist today. there is no doubt that those conditions are the most fertile source of social discontent,” said Mr Baldwin. “ Grievous as it may be to see social discontent, it is yet a better thing t.v.n cynical indifference or lazy acquiescence in conditions. The task of improving the worst quarters in our great cities is hard enough to demand the co-operation of the best men and women of all classes, and those vr»o withstand such an aim, whether from a selfish regard of their wealth or property, or from a desire to monopolise their skill and exploit the city—these people, in whatever ranks of life »hev are found, are the worst enemies rf the communal life. I am convinced myself that the day will come when we shall have to eviscerate our great cities, a tremendous task, but on 2 to which the imagination and the visa in and the wisdom of the best of us .nav well be devoted. The task is enormous. therefore it is al! the better worth doing. I like to think that even at a time like this, when we are preoccupied with unemployment and the hardship arising out of it. we are yet giving our minds to try to raise uo in this kingdom better, healthier, more beautiful communities than exist to da v.”