General

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 279, 24 November 1937, Page 6

General

Inventor of High Heels. Women-folk partial to high heel may be interested in their origin. According to Dr. G. J. Hucker, thd American authority on mammitis, they are an invention of his country, and what it had achieved. One invention that Americans had always claimed credit for, he said, was that of the high heels. They had the feeling that high heels were invented by ' an American girl who was kissed con--1 stantly on the forehead! . Robert Burns’ First Poem. ! Some of the lesser-known incidents i in the life of Robrt Burns, the Scots ■ poet, were related by Mrs. G. Dyson at a meeting of the People’s University, Auckland, on Sunday. Burns' father was a well-educated farmer, , who saw to the inclusion of French, ■ Latin and geometry as compulsory : subjects in the education of his son, . whose first poem was written at the age of 16, while he was haymaking. . Ten years later he published his first , book. He died at the age of 37. Another New Zealand Author. L James M. Bertram, ex-Rhowu* Scholar from the Waitaki Boys’ High School, has achieved literary success in a recent publication, "The Crisis in China.” Mr. Bertram, who was holding a Rhodes Trust Fellowship al Peking University when the wai broke out, has been acting as war correspondent for a London newspaper. Mr. Bertram was dux of the Waitaki Boys’ High School, and had a brilliant career in the New Zealand University and at Oxford, where he took first class honours in English. His book has been favourably reviewed by the London Times. New Zealand on the Screen. Ra liquid, Dunedin’s youthful contribution to the screen, has had another change of name. Advice received some time ago stated that his name had been changed to Ronnie St. Clair, but apparently this did not meet with the approval of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives, who have changed it to Ronnie Sinclair (reports a Dunedin correspondent). Latt-sl news received from Hollywood states that as Ronnie Sinclair Ra Mould has been given his first star billin» in i "Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry” in the-/ role vacated by Freddie Bartholonie-.i ’ at the time of his difference with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Sea Erosion Danger. Several properties on Woolcombe Terrace, New Plymouth, were the subject of valuation objections before the Assessment Court at New Plymouth last week, the argument for reductions being the danger of sea erosion. It was stated in one case that the width of road left was 11 yards and a question that would have to be taken into consideration was the possible future dedication of land to make the road the regulation width. Counsel for two objectors stated that no properties had recently been sold U, .. e locality and there was no possibility of getting a buyer under the present conditions. Year-old Accident Aftermath. A three-quarter-inch puriri splinter was extracted from the heel of -,n 11-year-old girl, Shirley Mackwood, of Anzac Bay, Waiheke, last Saturday morning, after the splinter had lodged m her foot while she was walking up a hillside about a year ago, says the New Zealand Herald, t Several fruitless attempts bad been made in the meantime to find the cause of the pain which fcrced her to walk on her toes, and visits to the Auckland Hospital had tailed to locate the trouble. It was not until Saturday, when the child complained of a pain in her heel, that her mother probed with a needle and withdrew the splinter, which apparently had travelled four inches along her foot. To Fight in China.

Two of six Chinese who are being t . ralned as pilots by the Hawke’s Bay Aero Club will proceed to China when they qualify, to fight in the air force of their country against the Japanese (states an exchange). The intentions tU l° ur are not * et known. Phe Chinese have not the same apUtude for some aspects of training as Westerners, but they have the faculty of exact retention of instructions and advice given them, and one has already flown solo. The two who are definitely going to China to serve their country will, between them probably have spent fIOO before they qualify. The training is being giver by the club’s instructor, Mr E Harvie, formerly of New Plymouth.

Air Pilot Comes to Earth. To have flown for 4500 hours and W have trained 52 pilots has been the experience of Flight-Lieutenant XV H Lett instructor to the Waikato Aeio' Club, Hamilton, who is giving up flying to go into business. Mr. Lett was responsible for inaugurating the WaiunCh ° f the Auckland Aero Club He served with the 90th. Punjab Regiment in the Indian Army belore transferring to the Royal Air Force in 1917. When he came to New Zealand in 1924 he resumed active flvSL an ? se fved with the GoodwinChichester Aviation Company. Later he «uis instructor to the Hawke’s Bav Aer ° Club ’ and a P i,ot 101 the Gisborne Air Transport Company. 1 x Mutton Bird Season.

Over 100 Maoris from all th- C e--tral Bay of Plenty districts, to-’etn-r Um wi, I ’ ur °P eans - assembled at the Whakatane Wharf F r qi A „ "•a'ting to be taken to Whale Lffind hi their annual campaign against ; ie .voung mutton birds, states aloes) co ! the P M»m" L i Un m er fiood condi! ions the Maous should make their catches rn ab° ut three days and leave the weather that i^h* 1 ' ‘ h ° chan 8 ea ble "eaimr that i ; -. being experienced m ” t o heir n S,ay may to a "eek. One boatload was taken over and landed from the Harbour Board’s aU ! lcb ° n Friday morning and the remainder of the hunters waited for the high tide at 8 o’clock in the evening but a rough sea had been caused by home consumption, and are P no “ potted in tins instead of gourds or seaweed containers as in the X.