NEWS OF THE DAY.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 288, 19 November 1928, Page 7

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Substitutes for Lifeboats. The usual lifeboats on ocean liners may soon be replaced by mattresses of kapok, a floating floss resembling cotton, obtained from tropical trees. Rafts made of four or more of these mattresses will'be easier to handle than lifeboats because they will not be swamped by huge waves. Two Million Frogs a Year. Such big catches have been made by bullfrog hunters in the marshes of Louisiana, United States, that there are more frogs now than there are people who enjoy the delicacy of their fried hindquarters. Louisiana supplies the rest of the world with some two million frogs a year. A Wonderful Wire Cloth. A wire cloth having 160,000 square openings to the square, inch has been made at Newark, New Jersey. It is the finest ever made. The cloth is a “400-niesh” wire cloth with 400 parallel wires an inch of width running each way, atright angles. A piece only 24in square has one million square microscopic openings. Scent Shower-Baths. To advertise his wares, a German perfumery and toilet water merchant sprays with perfume all passers-by, and even scents the air in front of his shop. From the, top window of his store a hose shoots forth a shower of different brands of perfumery, and the prospective customer, can sniff the air and make his choice from the samples before he goes in. Still Working at Ninety-Five. Britain’s oldest chemist, Mr Thomas Brown, of Grimsby, recently celebrated his 95th birthday by walking to business and doing some dispensing. He . attends personally to his business during part of every day. When Mr Brown was born the doctor told his parents he could not possibly live, but he has reached this ripe old age without a single day’s illness. Great Roman Fortress. Recent excavations- upon the Roman Caerleon have, revealed. that it might well rank among the greatest of Roman fortresses. They show that the primary defences were ditches and clay bands, constructed) about 75 A.D. which were strengthened by a great stone rampart a quarter of a century later.

The building was erected between the year 150 and 200 and was occupied until the early three .hundreds. Coins of Constantine the Cheat (307-337) weie found upon the floors of the building. along with iron javelins, bronze swords, trappings, glass and pottery. Animals Made to Order. No longer is the sight of Line- monkeys, yellow rats and chinchilla-furred rabbits merely the result of having imbibed too freely, for one may now see them in real life; that is, if one happens to live near the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Science at Mcunchenberg, not far from Berlin. The Director of the Laboratory, Professor Erwin. Beaur, has succeeded in. crossing various species and has bred these curious creatures among over a thousand combinations. That, however, is nothing compared with his plant-life marvels, for he has grown '40,000 varieties of dandelion. When A Man Falls. The American Army authorities have been very anxious to find out just exactly what does happen when a man falls from a great height. They have decided that he is conscious till he hits, and also that his pace is about the same as that of a racing motor. Using a dummy of a 1801 b man, it was found, that it fell 1200ftm the first eleven seconds, and then developed a steady velocity of 118 miles per hour. England’s * ‘ Glad-Hander.” Mr James Parton, the 70-year-old passenger manager of the- White Star Line, is retiring after 55 years of shipping service. When he entered the shipping business in 1873, 3000 tons was the average size of an Atlantic liner. He has made 46 double crossings of the Atlantic and never had an adventure. Mr Parton is known to Americans as li England’s glad-hander,” for it is part of his work to make- them feel at home when they cross the Atlantic. Where History-Makers Rapped. The residence of the Prime Minister of England, 10, Downing Street, has been having a general renovation, and

the famous knocker with the- lion’s head upon it, was temporarily removed. AVell might one pause and think of the people who have knocked upon it, with schemes which are now history, for the past century, and might hear its rapping during 1914-1919, when the fate of nations hung upon the decision, which was made on the other .side of the door. Notes and Legal Tender. In a. lecture, in England, upon Commercial Law, a speaker declared that a£s note was not legal tender tor sales of that sum and below, but that it w T as perfectly legal for sales above £5. The lecturer said that if a man went into a jeweller’s shop, and bought a brooch which cost £5, the man behind the counter might refuse to accept a note, if he felt so inclined, but if the pin were tightened, which cost another penny, he- would not be able to refuse the note and the penny, since the piece of paper was then legal tender. Second Thoughts the Best. A train was passing over the river Seine. A figure jumped from the engine into the water. But still the train sped on. When it reached Paris, the driver reported that his fireman had committed suicide. The widow paid a visit to the police station, and had just returned, when he appeared, flesh and blood. When in the river the fireman became homesick, or so he said, and swam to the bank. He then went into a wood and fell asleep. The sun came out and woke- and warmed him, and dried his clothes.