ITEMS OF INTEREST

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3269, 7 March 1931, Page 6

ITEMS OF INTEREST

IN THE PAPERS. Mr Sydney Ellison, who became famous as the producer of " Floradora," but towards the end of his life had to accept a walking-on part in lan Hay's pay, "The Sport of Kings," at 'the Savoy Theatre, London, died in St. Mary's Hospital, Padington, London. At the Gaiety and Daly's Theatres Mr ELison had a long record of success as producer for Mr George Edwardes. He made the repuation of the Winter Garden Thatre for George Grossmith. Later he joined the army, and after the war his troubles began. He suffered a stroke, was injured in a taxi-cab accident, and was reduced to living in a single room off Regent Park. Burlington Arcade, the historic shopping centre of Piccadilly, London, is being made modern at a cost of £IO,OOO. Thirty years ago Burlington Arcade was 'the meeting-place of the dandies. Young men in frock coats and top hats, carrying lavender' gloves and gold and silver mounted walking sticks, met in the arcade every afternoon. By a process- that reduces the spiny thorns of the cactus to a semi-liquid condition ensilage equal to corn fodder in value has been produced. At the end of 1930 there were 867,825 registered boy scouts in the United States. During the year 286,482 new scouts were recruited.

A speed of 80 miles an hour is now legal on Italian roads known as autostradas, which connect the larger cities, and go either over or under all intersecting roads.

Forest conservation is being held in Mississippi (U.S.A.) by 20,000 boys and girls belonging to the 4-H clubs, who are putting up posters throughout the State which contain a warning against the danger of forest fires. Mr Lloyd George is very abstemious, but "when obliged" he is perfectly willing to have a glass of red wine. His favourite meal when alone is curious. He likes potatoes baked in their jackets, then skinned, and dipped in a bowl of 'cold buttermilk. This he calls peasants', food. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is greatly interested in some photographs, said to be the first of the kind which demonstrate the curvature of the earth's surface. The pictures were taken in South America from an aeroplane by an officer of the United States Army, and they show 300 miles of pampas territory in the foreground and mountains in the background, rising to the peak of the volcano of Acocagua. When the photograph was taken the mountains were invisible to the operator, but the camera was able to " see " them by means of the supersensitive plate. The point is that the pampas, which is considered to be perfectly flat, appears to be curved in the photograph.

Approximately 1,325,000 copies were sold of the so-called "best seller" among the new books of 1930. More than 30,000,000 copies of the Bible were sold in 1930. The death has occurred at Ballater, in Scotland, of Miss Elizabeth Michie, aged 84 years, who was Queen Victoria's personal attendant at Balmoral Castle, and was later housekeeper at Osborne. Miss Michie was well known to members of the Royal family. , The final decision of a case wnicH has been in the Rumanian Law Courts for 350 years may console those who are disturbed by delay in the administration of justice in Australia. The judge took a Solomon-like course He advised two communes to divide 1000 hectares of land, the cause of the long dispute. This was done, and everybody was happy. The Bolshevik authorities at Uralsk, Siberia, announced that women there must be made modern, and they ordered them to cut off their hair. The women refused, and they were therefore, assembled and their hair was forcibly cut off. The Bolshevik review, "Soviet Justice," states that the hair has been " nationalised." It will be exported. The Vatican City will be the first State in the world to possess a fleet of helicopters, aeroplanes which rise vertically. It is understood that an order for three helicopters has been given, and. that they are being built under the supervision of 1 engineers of the Vatican. The Pope originally intended to ,have a flying field inside the territory of the Vatican City, but the project was abandoned because the space intended for that purpose was employed for a wireless station. The helicopters will require only a very small space. Those who pity the miner because he works underground may change their opinion after they have read the following statement by Mr Turner, the director of the United States Bureau of Mines: —"I have often heard miners joke about the poor fellow who had to stay ' on top,' and could not get ' down below,' where there is no wind, and no snow, where the temperature is unchanging, and where a man can arrange his own working place with little interference

from meddlers and with no automobiles to dodge." Choirboys of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, still receive a small payment every month for praying for the soul of Henry VIII.