HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17837, 4 May 1926, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING.

A DOG S BANKING ACCOUNT. Yelverstone, a famous Airedale in London, is probably the first dog in the world to have a banking account. His account was opened at a Bond Street bank with a deposit of £5, the first instalment of £IOO he is to collect for the people’s dispensaries for sick animals of the poor. Going from door to door. Kelverstone rings the bell and presents his box. He is a friend of all animals. Commander Davenport, his owner, relates that he once brought home a wounded bird he had found in a field. On another occasion he held up traffic because a toad, which had been run over, was trying to reach safety. FACTORT-MADE BEAUTIES. According to Professor Huebner. of the Manchester College of Technology, girls who work in artificial silk factories seem to be immune from influenza. In the process of manufacture, copper ammoniate is used, and ammonia is good for colds. A less definitely established tradition is that operatives in European artificial silk factories are the most comely and well-formed in the world. Professor Huebner agrees that girls engaged in delicate work undoubtedly tend to become refined. So delicate is the work that manicurists are likely to form a part of the staff of the great artificial silk factories as the industry develops.

THE INDIAN RICE TRICK.

Indian conjuring is always an intriguing subject. In the fourth volume (Hurst and Blackett) of “Memoirs of William Hickey,” the author mentions an example which seems little known. Hickey, who was living in India, had been consistently robbed for some time, and taxed his favourite servant, a lad named Chaund, with the theft. Chaund denied it stoutly, so Hickey sent for a •conjurer “for the purpose of making every servant in the house go through the ordeal practised by these people.” The ordeal is thus described. The conjurer makes all those suspected put a certain quantity of dry rice into their mouths and chew it. While they do this he “makes a variety of grimaces, and utters with great quickness a jargon of uncoyth sounds, by which it generally happens that the real culprit becomes go terrified that he cannot produce the least saliva to moisten the rice and actually discharges it from his mouth ground to a fine powder by his •teeth, but perfectly dry, whereupon he is directly pronounced the guilt\' person by the conjurer.” Hickey adds, however, that the ordeal is not infallible. for he himself had seen perfectly innocent persons, moved simply by terror, produce this “proof” of guilt. In the case of Chaund, the latter was so frightened by the mere threat of sending for the conjurer that he confessed without waiting for the ordeal.

MACHINE WITH A BRAIN. Machines for automatically filling, sealing and labelling bottles and jars which work with an almost uncanny gpeed and accuracy have recently been developed in America. One machine which has just been placed on the market has a capacity of 120 filled and sealed bottles per minute. It not only; fills each container exactly to a predetermined height, but also automatiskips and refuses to fill bottles that are badly cracked or otherwise damaged. This machine will fill bottles with any liquid or semi-liquid, such as syrups, ketchups, chilli-sauce, salad-dressing, horse-radish, and even olives. Filled bottles are passed to a mechanism which seals them hermetically with a new type of cap which can easily be removed by hand, without the use of troublesome corkscrews, openers, or tools of any kind. The most fascinating part of this nimble-fingered machine is the labelling mechanism, which picks up a label from a holder, moistens it, places it accuratelv around the bottle or jar. and then wipes it clean and dry. The whole operatic.* of filling, sealing and labelling is continuous and carried out at an amazing; speed