People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 233, 1 October 1931, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

How did We get the Term Sterling? : The Heavy Cost of Being a Sheriff of London : Smithy Carries a Mascot Photograph of Nellie Stewart.

QN lIIS sensational dash to London. Kingsford Smith is taking nothing that is not absolutely essential to the trip. Clipped into the cockpit, which is equipped with a baffling array or altimeters, compasses, speedometers, oil gauges and climbing meters, are two thermos flasks—blue like the machine. He is carrying a collapsible rubber boat—an uncomfortable but effective affair—and a wireless transmitting set, no larger than half a kerosene tin. “ I can’t receive on it,” he said, before leaving. “ But anyway, if I have to use it I won’t want to receive messages—only send ’em as fast as I can.” At the same time, “ Smithy,” like most flyers, has a superstition. In a pocket of his jacket is a photograph of the late Nellie Stewart, slipped into a black cloth envelope He displayed it to an interviewer—a faded, smudged, stained picture, that has accompanied Kingsford Smith on all his big flights. “ I wouldn’t go anywhere without it,” he said. “ I’ve carried it with me since I was 18. It was right through the war with me. And it’s a luck-bringer ! ” m ® 9 ACCUSED of having alienated the affections of Herr Josef von Sternberg, £IOO,OOO was demanded of Germany’s most famous screen star, Marlene Dietrich, in a suit brought against her in New York courts by Frau Riza Marks von Sternberg. Another action for £20,000 damages for alleged libel in a German-Austrian newspaper has also been instituted against the actress by Frau Sternberg. This became known in the Los Angeles court when von Sternberg appeared to answer a citation for failure to pay alimony of £240 to his former wife, he having been divorced a year ago. Frau von Sternberg, who also plays in pictures, is known in filmland as Ritz Royce. Her former husband is Marlene Dietrich’s manager, and he is said to have taken her to England and started her on her successful career. Marlene Dietrich is the wife of Herr Rudolf Sieber, the German movie chief. He evinced no perturbation when told about the suit. “ I am not a bit jealous,” he said.

r JMIE CABLEGRAM announcing the election of Mr Maurice Jenks as Lord Mayor of London made no reference to the swearing in of the two new sheriffs, but this ceremony always takes place on September 28, or the day before the new Lord Mayor is elected. The duties of the sheriffs, like those of the Lord Mayor, are numerous. Among them are that they must wait on the Sovereign, attended by the City Remembrancer, to ascertain the Royal will and pleasure as to the reception of addresses from the Corporation. They have to present petitions to Parliament on behalf of the Corporation at the Bar of the House, and they have to attend every session of the Central Criminal Court. For the performance of their duties the Sheriffs are each granted an allowance of £750 by the Corporation, but it need hardly be said that the duties of the office demand the expenditure of many times that sum. Indeed, the average cost to each gentleman serving the office is set down at from £4OOO to £6OOO, his contribution to the Lord Mayor’s banquet alone being £IOOO. In return for his services, the Sheriff usually receives a knighthood, and in due course, if he has been elected an alderman, and becomes a Lord Mayor, that honour is exchanged for a baronetcy. 3? W ® pORTY-FIVE YEARS after he left a Bible in a Wesleyan chapel at St Just, near Penzance, Cornwall, Mr W. C. Angwin returned from Australia to find the book in the same pew. It is now a much-treasured possession in the home of this former Cornish youth, who is now Agent-General for Western Australia in London. St Just asked Mr W. C. Angwin to unveil its war memorial clock tower on August 30. He had this prized Bible with him during the service. “ When I was a small boy,” Mr Angwin said recently, “ the Wesleyan Sunday School at St Just, where my father was a grocer, presented me with a Bible. In ISS6 I migrated to Melbourne. When I returned to St Just on a visit I was surprised to find my Bible in the family pew at the chapel. Naturally, it is much worn, but still service-

'WHAT does the term sterling mean?” was a question asked at the Economic Society meeting last night. To appreciate the term fully one needs to understand its origin. The word is supposed generally to be derived from the name of “ Easterlings ” given to the North German merchants— Eastphalian traders, who came to Engl?nd in the reign of Edward I. They formed a guild in London and, according to Max Muller, “ Their money being of the purest quality, easterling, in Latin easterlingus. shortened to sterling, became the general name of pure or sterling money.” The word was borrowed by all European languages and applied to the English coin and to coins in general of standard quality. The modern dictionary definition is:— “ Having a standard of value or fineness established by the British Government: said of British money of account and of gold and silver; as, pounds sterling; sterling plate.” © W ® CIXTY YEARS AGO. (From the “Star” of October 1, 1871.) Canterbury Jockey Club. —A meeting of the club was held at Tattersalls, at 2 p.m., on Saturday. Present: Messrs Wynn Williams (in the chair), S. Walker, Beaufort, Courage, M. Studholme, A. Ilawdon, F. W. Delamain, J. 11. Bennett and E. G. Griffith The following entries were received:—Canterbury Cup. Mr Hunter's ch f Gossip, 3 yrs, by Traducer, dam Gitana. Mr M. Studholme’s ch f Flying Fish, 3yrs, by Malton, dam Spray. Mr M. Studholme’s ch h Knottinglev, aged, by Scud, dam Termagant. The Executive.—ln a Provincial Gazette issued pn Saturday, it is notified that Mr Joseph Beswick has been appointed a member of the Executive Council, also Provincial Treasurer, in the place of Mr John Marshman, whose resignation is accepted. Mr W. P. Cowlishaw is appointed Provincial Solicitor in the place of Mr Wynn Williams, whose resignation is accepted. Opening of the rowing season.—The crews presented a somewhat motley appearance from the variety of costumes in which they were clad. If, on these occasions, those pulling cannot all appear in the uniforms of their respective clubs, it would look much better if they wore the uniform cap; billy-cocks and wide-a-wakes do not at all match with the authorised