HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18443, 29 March 1922, Page 9

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE

MAN FOR SALE. “Ex-sailor, young, physically fit, willing to obey every command for the rest of my life, of the person who will pay the stipulated price. No offer less than $3O 00 accepted." Such was an advertisement which recently appeared in the New York Tribune and which appears to be entirely genuine. The sailor in question, J. Hardy, requires the money in order to repay his debt to the woman who brought him up after his mother’s death, and who is left in poor circumstances. Prices have gone up since the war, for an Englishman who offered himself torsale a few years ago asked only £2OO. But he was not quite so reckless as Sailor Hardy, lor he offered himself only for a limited space of time. “Man for sale," his advertisement ran. “A cheerful English business man having serious need for £2OO before December 15th is prepared to place his entire services at the complete disposal of any person or company. For the space of twelve months he will do anything and everything desired to further the interests or comfort of hi’, employer. Anyone securing him will never regret his bargain.” Still another advertisement of a similar order was from a poet and dramatist aged twenty-four, who offered himself “as an investment on these terms: That in’ consideration of receiving £3OO a year, he shall for nine years yield seventy-five per cent, of all profits earned by his art.” Some might be inclined to say that thijs was rather a case - of purchasing a pig in a poke, for even the great Tennyson received only $55 for his first volume of poems.

ELECTRIC MATCHES NOW. When the movie actor lights his cigarette, the glow of the match lights up his features, showing even the expression of the eyes. Anyone used to a camera marvels at the fact that the tiny flame of a match could show so well on the sensitive movie film. If you "snap” a man striking a match at night you get a very smudy picture. As a matter of fact, if a movie actor struck an ordinary match it would scarcely show on the screen. Therefore various ingenious devices are used to increase the feeble illumination. Similarly, cinema lamps and candles are lights very much more powerful than we use in our bedrooms. The chief electrician of a large fllm'studio has invented a wonderful movie actor’s “match.” It is a tiny electric arc lamp, the smallest ever used in a studio—but it has one thousand can-dle-power. This baby'arc took five years to perfect, and it is made .in five varieties, of which the “match” is the smallest. It is four and ahalf Inches long and seven-eighths of an inch wide. The actor conceals it in the palm of his hand while the connecting wires extend up his sleeve. When a burglar enters to rob the safe, the “torch” he uses is a baby arc lamp, powerful enough to serve as a beam for a small lighthouse.

TRESPASSING ON THE AIR. All aviators, when flying, are trespassers, according to the law. Their aeroplanes pass through the landlord’s preserves. Therefore, as the

law stands, if an airman passed, however high, over your back yard, you could have him haled into court to show “just cause.” So far back as the English common law can be traced, the law of the land has been that a man owns his land from the centre of the earth to the uppermost regions of the sky. When anyone passes the boundaries that define another person’s property, that ntay be made a cause of action. Because an owner’s dominion extends deep into the earth, the passing of this boundary is also a trespass. Hence you may not tunnel, divert subterranean streams or take minerals from your neighbour’s confines without his authority. As to the air above, telegraph companies cannot put a telegraph pole on each side of a man’s field and haul a wire across it without the owners consent, for they enter his air estate.

FISHING WITH POISON. Certain tribes of head-hunters in Borneo have a weird and unique method of fishing. They make a poison from the root of a vine and this they throw Into the river and stupefy the fish. The fish are then caught in rudely constructed traps built built across the river. In a few hours as many as a thousand fish will be caught by this means, the larger ones, on which the poison presumably does not have much effect, being speared as they rise to the surface. Before each ftsh.ng expedition an augury is taken. In the presence of the whole tribe, a chief makes fire by pulling a piece of rattan (palm) around a bamboo stick to the ground. Should the rattan break before smoke ensues, the undertaking is postponed for an hour or two. If the rattan breaks into two two parts of equal length fish will not be caught. But if the righthand piece is longer than the left, all is well.

CHARM OF OLD SEALS. The possession of seals was confined to the king and the highest ranks of the nobles and the clergy before the Norman Conquest, but by the end of the eleventh century their use had become more general until by the thirteenth century almost everyone possessed one, even down to the humble peasant artificer and tradesman. for by then sealing was practically the only method used in England for authenticating documents. Persons who did not possess seals or had not them to hand when needed used used those of people of importance or well-known official seals. The attestation clause always mentions such uses. Sometimes for the greater authentication of a document a public and official seal is used in addition to the grantor’s private one. So William of Durham, sheriff and aiderman of London uses in addition to his own seal, that of the mayoralty of London for its greater security and witness. ANOTHER PUPPY!

A handsome and neatly-dressed young lady was walking down the street the other day, followed by her favourite little ;-up.

It was market day, and the pavements being somewhat crowded caused the dog to fall some distance behind his mistress.

Fearing it would lose sight of her, she called. “Come along, sir." A wold-he wit who was near, stepped up to her and. with great politeness said, “Certainly, miss.” “Ah!” she exclaimed, as her pet came running irp, “you have made a mistake. This is the puppy I called.”