BREEZES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 21 January 1932, Page 4

BREEZES

The Acid Test. A good business man is one who can buy goods from a Scotsman and sell them to a Jew—at a profit. . * * * * The Insult.

Judge: You struck him because he called you a rhinoceros? Moses: Tes, he called me dat three years ago. Judge: Then why did you wait till to-day to get even with him? Moses: Well, jedge, de fact am dat I never seed a rhinoceros till dis maunin ’. * * * * Fromcticn! The second officer was upbraiding a seaman for his bibulous habits. “Just think, Tappin,” he said, ‘‘if it wasn’t for your weakness for rum you might have been a second officer like me, instead of just a sailor befoie the mast.” “Stow that stuff!” answered Tappin, gruffly. “ When I’m drunk I’m an admiral.” * * * * Colour Photographs. Women wiU enjoy having their photographs taken even more than they do ut present. Whether they are platinum blondes or black-haired beauties they can have their delicate colouring reproduced perfectly. During the last year enormous strides have been made in the art of coloured photography, and the latest achievements were seen at the third exhibition of colour photography held by the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in London. A woman with honey-coloured hair, a pale complexion and grey eyes had the soft tones of her colouring emphasised by an orange background. An original exhibit was a striking study of a red-headed girl, with her hair coiled like flames of a fire, which betrayed the work of a photographer with imagination.

The vogue of the coloured portrait photograph promises to keep fashionable photographers busy. The price varies from five to ten guineas.

Non-iSplinterable Glass. It was a Frenchman, Edouard Benedictus, who was responsible for the invention of the three-ply type of nonshatterablc glass, which is now used for the windscreens and windows of many motor cars. The extra cost of m anufa cturin Gg the glass-celluloid-glass sandwich, has precluded its adoption as a standard fitment in all automobiles. It is now reported that France has produced another really remarkable non-splinterable glass, of a totally different character from that now on the market. It is said to offer all the visibility of ordinary glass without any of its disadvantages. The new glass has remarkable qualities of resistance, flexibility and cohesion, as will be realised from the details of the following tests: A windscreen pane oft. x loin, was placed on two blocks of wood, and two men, of a total weight of 18 stone, stood on it. The glass bent, but immediately the men stepped off, it returned to its normal position. Then a steel ball was dropped 10ft. on to the pane, the ball bouncing off without damage to glass. When the glass is broken up by a violent shock, it crumbles into granular particles, without sharp edges, and is incapable of cutting, even if squeezed tightly in the hand.

Quaint Origin of Name.

Many places in New Zealand are queerly named, exotics in a setting mainly Maori, and the origin of some of them makes an interesting story. In the mining area of the west coast of the South Island, a few miles south of Charleston, there is a little place called Candelight; and this, according'to Mr. J. F. Burke, of Arch Hill, who is one of the few remaining “beachcombers” of the early days in those regions, is the way in which the little settlement received its name: Some of the mining folk, having tired of washing for fine gold on the beaches, left for the mountainous hinterland. On the spot under discussion they formed a camp—for few settlement sites were permanent in those days of the lust after gold—where they decided to stay for a few days. One night, very calm and still, some of that little community had occasion to go outside; and the only illumination they' had was candles. One of the “torch” bearers happened to look down to the ground at his feet. There, glistening in the moss, like so many glow-worms, were a thousand points of gleaming fire. His other mission forgotten, he bent to look; and at his shout, all the community rush eel, seized bags, and in a minute the place was denuded of moss. Those points of fire proved to be gold. In the morning, after the moss had been burned away, it was found that the gold embedded therein was comparatively plentiful. When the news filtered through to the outer world—there was an outer world even in New Zealand in those days—men rushed to that little place the discoverers, for reasons which must be obvious, called Candlelight.