HERE AND THERE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18045, 4 January 1927, Page 8

HERE AND THERE

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. “Fire! Fire! Fire!” This year, for the first time, the insurance profession was represented :n the Lord Mayor s Show. Various offices combined to present a pageant contrasting ancient and modern firefighting appliances. In their early days fire companies maintained fire brigades of their own. Each fireman wore on his left arm a brass badge signifying the office he served. A similar badge, or "office mark" as it was called, was used to denote the houses that were insured by the several companies. The .rival offices never co-operated. Jf the firemen of the X Office were summoned by mistake to put out a fire on premises insured with the V Office, th y would remain passive spectators of the conflagration. In 1825 four companies combined to provide a single brigade for mutual service. Seven years later the brigades of all the important offices were banded under one direction ,and were known as "The London Fire Engine Establishment*’—fore-runner of the present London Fire Brigade In a few towns in England the local fire brigade is still controlled by an insurance company. Only in compa.rativelv recent years has protection of life and property from fire been organised on efficient lines. Tn very early days it was the duty of an alderman to see that each parish in his ward had available for use leathern buckets. “ in readiness for casualty of fire." All London citizens who dwelt in “great houses" were ordered to keep ladders available in case of need, and. in summer, to ha-\e before their doors barrels of water for quenching fire. A serious fire at Pump Court was extinguished with beer. "The Thames being frozen," we read, "there was a great scarcity of water, it being so bitter a frost the water hung in icicles at the eves of the houses. The engines plaid away many barrels of beer to stop the fire." A Woman Among Sharks. The popular idea of the shark as an ever-hungry man-eater is discredited by Mr William Beebe, director of tropical research to the New York Zoological Society, who—like Miss Ruth Rose, a member of his party—wandered among sharks in the Pacific, clad only in bathing-dress and protected only by a diving helmett. Mr Beebe's experiments were made at Cocos and the Galapagos islands, south-west of Panama, and he describes them in "The Arcturus Adventure,” an account of an oceanographic expedition. Mr Zan* Grey, the novelist, had previously gone to the islands for fishing, and was convinced that the sharks were man-eatc s. "Less than a month." writes Mr Beebe, "after he (Mr Zane Grey) left this wonderful bay the Arcturus anchored in it, and a few days thereafter Dr Gregory, Ruth Rose, myself, and all the rest, of my staff were diving in helmets and walking about the bottom, with these selfsame ‘man-eating' sharks swimming by and around and over us. dashing at and taking our hooked fish, but. except fora mild curiosity, paying no attention to ourselves. . Two came slowly towards me. They turned, first one, then too other, yellow, cat-like eye towards me, and after a good iook veered off. As regards tiger-sharks, which attain a length of thirty feet." he adds, "I reserve judgment. I have had medium-sized ones swim up to within Six feet and show signs of nothing more alarming than curiosity.” The Wicked Bachelor. Those who are happily married - and despite the humorists, the number of happy marriages is vastly in excess of the unhappy may say that the bachelor is sufficiently punished without being specially taxed. Signor Mussolini, however, thinks, otherwise. Wc do not know whether Mussolini is first in the field to-day with a direct and heavy tax on bachelors, but in the past there have been many such penalties. In ancient Greece and Rome penalties were imposed on celibates, and premiums offered for fruitfulness. There are numerous instances in English history of additional taxation being imposed on bachelors and widowers. but the main object seems to have been financial. In the seventeenth century every unmarried male above the age of twenty-five had to pay from one shilling to £l2 10s. according to his status, "for carrying on the war against France with vigour.” Pitt imposed a higher charge on the servants of bachelors- "Auckland Star." Popular Sayings. In olden days punishment was more severe for criminals than it is at present. Tt was a usual occurrence for ait offender to be ordered so many strokes with the "cat o' nine tails.” This punishment called for a clear space in which to swing the “cat”. The expression "Not room to swing a cat" docs not refer to an unfortunate feline held by the tail, but to the implement used in carrying out the law. "As Wise as an Owl."—Although th« owl has given no evidence to that effect. it has earned a false reputation for wisdom. This has come about, owing, doubtless, to the solemn expression which it wears. Feathers surrounding the eyes give the appearance, of spectacles, and this enhances the illusion. The bird also "chuckles’’ occasionally as if enjoying the eontemp! i tion of the mysteries of the world around it. "Telling .a Yarn.”—This expression, in general use. began from the sailor’s habit of telling marvellous and unbelievable tales while spinning > aru ior ropes.—" Popular Science.”