BREEZES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 22 December 1932, Page 4

BREEZES

Qualified. Pat: D’ye see Calligan’s been elected to the Ways and Means Committee? Mike: That’s the roight job for him, surely. That feller knows more ways of being mean than any man Oi ever met, * * * * The Endless Chain. A visitor to an out-of-the-way ranch in America became more and more puzzled as to- how the little ranch paid its W ay. At last he ventured the question: ‘‘llow in the world do you make a go of things on this place?” Indicating the hired man, who was sitting at the far end of the supper table, the host replied: “You see that fellow there? Well, lie works for me, and I can’t pay him. In two years he gits the ranch. Then I work for him till I git it back.” * * > # Chilled Meat. Mr Robert Saunders, of Auckland, who has just returned! from a visit to South America, says the chilling of beef, although universally adopted in the Argentine, left plenty of room for improvement. Beef so prepared would only last nine days. It could not be re-frozen, and in the event of the British market being glutted, the meat had to be disposed of at any price the buyers liked to name. Great rivalry prevailed in connection with research, which was proceeding with the object of extending the period that chilled meat would! keep, and delegates attending the Refrigeration Congress kept a good deal of secret information up their sleeves. * * * * The First Cigarette.

In a few weeks the cigarette industry will be celebrating—how it has not yet disclosed—the hundredth anniversary of the cigarette, which, like many another invention, came to birth as the result of an unfortunate accident (says the London “Observer” of 23rd October). There have been many legendary accounts of how the cigarette came to* be invented, but probably the most likely is that which gives the credit for it to an Egyptian soldier, who, in the campaign against the Turks of 1832, was confronted by the distressing spectacle of a caravan load of choice tobacco alongside a caravan load of pipes that had been shattered beyond repair. The ingenious Egyptian, not wishing to see so much good tobacco going to waste, experimented by stuffing some of it into an India-paper cartridge case, applying a light, and taking a deep breath. The result was the first, if somewhat elementary, cigarette. * * » »

Protest by Women. Dr. Albert Einstein, the distinguished German physicist, who recently accepted an appointment as visiting professor to an institute that is beingformed in New York, endured a rigorous cross-examination before he was granted a visa, says- the Berlin correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. Representatives of American women’s ■organisations asked the Government to refuse permission for him to land. When the American Consul asked him if he would welcome an attempt to overthrow the American Constitution, Einstein threatened to remain in Germany. Referring to the women’s protest, he said that never before had lie received such an energetic rebuff from the fair sex. Perhaps women were right in seeking to ban one who devoured capitalists like the Minotaur devoured luscious maidens. He said that he opposed every war except the inevitable one with his own wife. The dear and wise patriotic ladies rightly remembered that the Capitol of Rome was saved by the cackling of its faithful geese. n * * * The Leonid Meteors. Like cricket, astronomy seems to have a few glorious uncertainties about it. The South Australian Government Astronomer (Mr Dodwell) lias concluded that experts -have been astray in their reckoning over the Leonid meteors and that they are not due until next year, says the Sydney Sun. At the same time Mr Dodwell admits having seen ten Leonids streak across the sky in the early morning on ]Gth November.

Mr Nangle, tlio New South Wales Government Astronomer, while not disputing' Mr Dodwell's theory, inclines to the belief that the Leonids will never be seen again in such numbers as on previous occasions. Mr Walter Gale, godfather of a couple of comets, takes a different view, and is not disheartened by this year's lack of display. He likens the Leonid spectacle to a procession which takes three yeaa's to pass a- given point—in astronomy, called a node. “The 50 meteors seen at Murrurundi by Joyce Seivl seem to have been the* greatest, number but they could hardly be termed a shower, ’ 1 he said. “According to calculations, the Leonids should have occurred in 1832, but better spectacles were witnessed in 1833-4. Pen-Imps the experience of 100 years ago will be repeated, and next venr will be better. M