HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5516, 24 October 1919, Page 4 (Supplement)

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE.

FIJI FASHIONS. Mr. R. W. Dalton, in his report of the trade of the Fiji Islands, says: “Shirts are gradually gaining in popularity among the Fijians- All kinds of soft tennis shirts with collar and pocket or collar and two pockets sell freely. These shirts are usually worn for dressy occasions, when the natives are generally clothed in white or cream. There is an increasing demand for khaki shorts and trousers. The shorts are either plain or with buckle knees and are being worn by Fiji men beneath or instead of a loin cloth. There is also a large sale for umbrellas.

THE RIVER. WILL CLEANSE ITSELF. From this summer onward the Mississippi river will keep its own mouth clean of mud and silt and sand, so that ships can pass in and out and 100 miles up the river to New Orleans. This has been achieved by merely narrowing the channel inside the jetties by means of timber breakwaters to 1,000 feet, with a mean depth of thirty-five feet, and then directing the main current of the Mississippi through this narrowed channel. Only one dredge will be required now, for soundings and records, whereas three or four dredges were employed before to keep the channel clear. Now the current of the Mississippi scours its own bed. PROFITABLE SLEEP-WRITING. “Among medical reports of abnormal mental conditions and in the proceedings of the Physical Research Society hundreds, if not thousands, of well-authenticated cases of most extraordinary activities of sleeping persons have been recorded,” says Dr. Edwin Bowers in “Pearson’s Magazine.” In some instances the mental feats accomplished far transcended the normal capabilities of the individual. “Such a case is the intuition —or perhaps it was the clear subsconscious grasp of business detail —of a Russian banker who was addicted to the habit of getting up at night and looking over his papers while asleep. The banker had been examining the prospectus of an oil company about to be formed, in which he had planned to buy an interest. But after mature deliberation, while his objective mind (the mind we use while awake) he decided not to ‘take a chance.’

“However, a few days later his agents told ‘him they had followed his instructions and had bought heavily for his account in the proposition, at the same time showing him a letter, written in his haifd-writing. authorising this purchase. This letter he had written while asleep, and he had not the slightest recollection of it. Within two years the banker had added two and a half million dollars to his already overswollen account —which puts him in the championship class of sleep-walking money-makers.”

MARITIME OMELETTES. The “Pele Mele” (Paris) states in a recent issue that the eggs of the dog-fish possess all the nutritive qualities of ordinary farm eggs. Until lately, the dog-fish was quite neglected by fishermen and flung back into the sea as worthless, but to-day the fish is being actively sought by ships specially fitted for this class of fishing. The eggs of the dog-fish are frequently found as large as hens’ eggs.

Tortoise eggs are considered a great delicacy,' andm ake excellent omelettes. They are, however, understood to be not adapted for boiling; the white of the egg does not harden as in the ordinary breakfasttable egg.

BATTLE SITES TO BE PRESERVED. While reconstruction is proceeding along the 380 miles of the French front, a special Commission has selected a number of famous sites to be preserved in their present state as monuments of the war.

These sites, numbering about 140, will be found all the way from La Bassee to Upper Alsace. It was impossible to preserve every point of interest exactly as it was left on Armistice Day, but care has been taken to select a large variety of points of interest, such as dug-outs, long underground galleries, ruins, pill-boxes, observation points, etc. Seevral of the forts of Verdun will be kept in their present state. The extensive shelters carved in the rock on the wooded heights of the Vosages will be preserved, as well as famous entrenchments on both sides of the Meuse, in the Champagne and in the Soissons and Noyon area. In what used to be the British sector the following sites will remain: The Butte de Warlencourt. The ruins of Bapaume. Some of the destroyed monuments of Peronne. Seevral castles and estates in a complete state of devastation, such as the Chateau of Thiepval. The underground maze of Combles. The “Tanks’ churchyard” at Pozieres. The “King’s observation point” on Hill 80, near Givenchy. The Givenchy battlefield. The famous slag-heap and Tower Bridge” at Loos, etc. As soon as the present restrictions on travelling are removed it will be possible for the general public to visit these places, hallowed by the heroism and sacrifice of the Allied armies. A PRINCESS WHO BECAME A LADY.

Lady Patricia Ramsay and her husband are very notable persons and when out motoring, a crowd of small boys usually cluster round the car, when it stops. One of these one day remarked, “Don't you know who she is? She’s the princess who became a lady.” Busy Man (irritably): “I really cannot see you.” Fair Caller: “Then it's lucky I called- I represent a firm of opticians.”