NOTES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3392, 24 December 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Im these days of 30,000 and 40,000 fojbec constituencies, it is something to look back upon the modest beginnings o£ Parliamentary representation. The earliest election of which the figures are preserved was of Lincoln, m IS4T. They were:— Voices Geo. St. Paul (record) 29 Thos. Grantham, gent. ab John Broxolme, Esq. 15 William Yates (alderman) 4 Tfce "Pesti Hirlap," of Budapest, reports, says the London Observer, that unknown letters from Beethoven and Liszt hare been found by a merchant of Dombovar, called Miksa Sterner. The letters were found among the ccirrespondenoe of his wife's greatgrandfather, Jacob Degen, a Viennese merchant, who was the then president of the Philharmonic Society. The letter from Beethoven is dated 1819, and thanks Degen, as president of the Philharmonic Society, for electing the writer as a member of the society. The Liszt letter, which is written in French, is addressed to Mrs Pleyseij a Viennese pianist, and asks her to play his newest composition as often as possible at her concerts. As the letter is not dated it is not known to which of his compositions Liszt was referring.

A correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, who read one of its contributors' recent stories about Sir Landon Ronald, sends' another anecdote which, he says, the composer has told against himself. Sir Landon Ronald was at one time attracted by the lyrics of W. E. Henley, and set a selected half dozen to music, labelling 'the lot, "Six Henley Songs." He duly called upon a music publisher with the manuscript. The publisher liked the music, but objected to the title. "Too locals" he declared. "Why not call them "Six Regatta Songs?"

•''", Along with other reversions to older and "staider: customs—noticeable in re- .- cent months—-is a revival of interest in ;the delicate ctiift 6f-the needle, one of the very refining, influences in life. A new modern skill has become grafted upon'the older traditions, which have always, some! %ay or other, been kept alive. In October a": special exhibition of work done by contemporary Englishwomen (and Englishmen, too) V'-.'was'''held"in London; and was one of -the most important exhibitionstof the ■'"" kind. Goinimittees. all over the.jcouhtry ■<■■ selected the exhibits, which'included 5 work both from the Queen-and from the most humble and retiring women.

The-sensationalj recovery at Saigon on 9th; September; of a homing pigeon > ; j liberated ih : France.in. August; '"has ! .been attracting :' 'in the British press, says "Nature," and the episode is certainly, a remarkable one, because' the bird was a yearling on: its.'.first;: trial" flighty and : yearlings "are notexpected even to take part in any long distance races, : ;to say nothing'of crossing a couple , of continents. There ,is ' no doubt • about the identity of thebird, the wing of which, says the "Paris correspondent of the Daily Mail, in the issue ■ ••-.'•■■ of i 28th September-, was. stamped with the name and town of its owner, M. Louis Rasson, Dottignies. The bird must, of course, have gone hopelessly *stray at the start, and may have got out to sea, and been kept, or domiciled itself upon, an past bound steamer; an Indian house crow (Gbryus; splen> ■ dens)" has been known to board a homeward bound.steamer at Colombo and remain with it until captured near Snez. . But even if the passage were not assisted, the bird might fwork .its. way overland by consorting from time to time with other-dbmesip pipeons and with the ancestral roci doves, and thus learning how to ftki 'food and rest. : In connection With the long.;'flights/performed; '.by these 'homing^'^pigeon.s.\m'race^v : iirto;;a..curi : ous fact that the breed, which is, as opposed to the old black.-carunculated earner,' a composite one: evolved; in the J*st'century^:should show a <;de- ' tendency to 'have'"; sherter wings than the sedentary dove-cot pigeon .', ; , The wood pigeon, however, thougl ' largely migratory, has wings ver3 much shorter than the rock dove, z -%::-'' : ;xerT- sedentary: bird: : y■,•/,';>" ; V \-;.' ■...-,■-■ tvv-: .-.-■•■' ■■-\r t - \ •■■ i ■ ■ '"'■'.': ' ■ ■"' ' -'-, --■■•:•■ ■ • !■■•' ' Not without courage, two' of the great English railway companies are to spend £7,000,000 this win • •■.- the London Times. Widening the bne: is one of the improvements they are ' railwaj UtJZ «?ar filaces * as;' Broms; . 'y y and Am ; L.N.E^.">f ar Shenfield

York and Inverkeilor. Electrification between Barking and Upminster; the strengthening of bridges; improving loading facilities at certain docks; and the construction of a large new fish dock at Grimsby are other items in this excellent piece of enterprise.

(According to a message from New York "the discriminating woman today goes in for perfume to suit the hour, the occasion and the mood, as well as her personality. The result is that on her dressing- table is an array of bottles, sometimes as many as forty. In the morning the smart fashion is for single flower odorslilac, rose, sweet pea, lily of the valley—according to the wearer's fancy. For luncheon and afternoon the vogue is for boquet fragrances. The late evening hours and the moonlight call forth "the Oriental, the indefinite, the challenging perfume.") Oh, think of the lady surrounded By such an extensive array Of essences duly compounded To serve through the arduous day! In the morning she deftly discloses The simpler resources at hand, And an odor of lilac or roses Is all that her mood will demand.

But then when the morning is ended A floral bouquet is correct; By various bottles well blended She aims at a cocktail effect. But, oh, she deserves a diploma, For dinner's effect is unique— A "challenging," Eastern aroma, All Asia wrapped up in one reek.

And yet, though they're made in a J iffy ' . i +« These changes must leave, so to speak, The patient decidedly niffy, At the end of a strenuous, week. ; It might be remarkably telling To add to this perfumed routine, A bath—and emerge from it smelling, For once in a way merely clean.

"A benevolent policeman," says the Aberdeen Press, "was moving on a ferocious Communist, aged perhaps 17, who said bloodthirstily, 'Wot we want 'ere is a couple of machine guns. 'No, no,' replied the Law, kindly, 'what you want is a couple of aspirins. Now then, 'op it, my lad.'"

SIR JOHN SIMON'S TIP FOR SPEAKERS.

> "I have kept my voice very well—at least, Lady Simon has," said Sir John Simon after speaking for 45 in * the Market Place at tOleckheaton. M You/squeeze the juice of a lemon Ml;d : :. a. glass and take a spoonful of hdhejv; and a rlittle boiling water; then •■stir; slowly until the water gets a bit cool. It is the finest thing in the | world, and it is nay wife's recipe."