HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18641, 19 December 1928, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. Rail Crash Epidemic. Mr J. H,. Thomas, M.P., referred to recent railway smashes in a speech ai Norwich, England, on November 1. It was true, he said, that there had been this year an unprecedented number o accidents; that was serious, but h< thought public uneasiness had been ex aggerated out of proportion. British railways were still freer from accident than any other railways in the work’. In roaii accidents twelve people were killed every day. Despite recent act dents, railways were still pre-eminently the safest form of travel. a it

A Hint to Litterers. Affixed to a seat outside Haves Church, Kent, are the following lines: All friends who to this seat Repair, Rest and be thankful, but forbear With sordid scraps the ground to strew, Others rest here as w’ell as you. The paper that once held the sticky sweet. The sandwiches, and the other things we eat. The packets from which the cigarettes are fled. Banana skins, tram tickets, white and red. These scattered, spoil the beauty all would share. The basket waits, please tliink and place them there. A Famous Streot. Park Lane, the most noted street in London, is to be converted from a residential thoroughfare into a street of shops. It is, so far as its present aspect goes, of comparatively modern growth. In Queen Anne's reign it was a nameless by-road, generally referred to as "the lane leading from Piccadilly to Tybourn”; and in a map.of the district, published forty years or so later, it is not indicated by name, though most of the streets adjacent to it are mentioned. It was known unofficially as Tyburn Lane; but this was changed for its present title when houses began to be built a few years later. 1C X * Origin of Polo. Polo is one of the most ancient of sports. It is supposed to have originated with the Persians, who were great devotees of the sport. In fact, many of the Persian nobles were selected because of their ability at polo. One Persian queen is said to have captained her own team of seventy women polo players. From Persia the sport is said to have spread to the interior of India, and thence over the frontier to Tibet. The Turks adopted the game as a national sport, as did also the Byzantine emperors. At first it was played by any number of players on each side, instead of four, as at present. The word "polo” comes from the Persian for willow root, of which the ball was then made, and still is, although the ancients sometimes used leathern balls. The game was also played a thousand year* ago in Japan, but the Greeks and Romans failed to take up the sport because they weren’t good enough horsemen. Officers of the 10th Hussars formerly stationed in India are credited with introducing the sport into England, and to have reintroduced it as a scientific sport into India, where it hacl degenerated after flourishing for cei)» turies.