LIFE’S LITTLE WANTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 29 December 1927, Page 4

LIFE’S LITTLE WANTS.

Army and Navy Definitions! What is the military definition of a kiss?—A report at headquarters. The naval definition? —A pleasure smack, * * * * AjiF A Full Stop! Bobby returned from school wheeling his bicycle. His mother, busy preparing tea, paused for a moment. “What lias happened to your bicycle ’ ’ she enquired. “Oh,” said Bobby, “’the tyre is punctuated.” “A'ou mean punctured, my boy,” said his mother. “Well, at any rate,” said Robert with conviction, "I came to a full stop.” • • • • For the Defence! A man asked a solicitor to defend him on a charge of stealing some silver spoons, a gold ring and a watch. The solicitor agreed to take the case, and added: “I should like some security for my fee, as you say you have no money. Have you any goods and chattels?” The man replied: “Oh, yes; 1 have some silver spoons, a gold ring and a watch.” * * * * Safe Railways. The last published report British Aiinistry of Transport on railway accidents, which refers to the year .1925, states that only one passenger died as tlie result of an accident, though the number of passenger journeys in the year, apart from seasonticket holders, was 1,232,600,000. Moreover, the average number of passengers killed in the six years ending with 1925. was between nine and ten. British railways are a much safer means of transport than British roads or London streets, and it is au accepted fact that their standard of traekma in ton a nee, the quality of their rolling stock, the care that is taken, to protect tlie lives and limbs of those who use them, and tlie devotion and efficiency of the guards, engine-drivers, porters pointsmen, signalmen, and all the other members of the vast railwav organisation are second to none in the world.

Colour in Nature. -Much that we see as colour,, say scientists, is not "really colour. The sky is not blue: the sense of blueness caused by light reflected from the articles of dust suspended in the atmosphere. The glowing tints of sunset and sunrise are the effects of varying degrees of light. But although no colouring matter can be extracted from the sky. Nature does tise pigments for painting her grasses and Sowers. The green of trees and fields is due to chlorophyll—a pigment which can be extracted by chemists for use in colouring salves, soaps, scents and like preparations. The plargonium and the delphinium owe their hues, and incidentally, their names, to two colouring substances known to chemists as pelargenidin and dilphinidin, and the varied coloured effects in plants, flowers, fruits and leaves can be traced to definite pigments, which can be extracted and can, to a limited extent, be made to serve as dyes. The pigments known a« the anthrooyan are responsible for the red, blue and violet colours of flowers.