INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2707, 29 February 1916, Page 6

AUCKLAND SCHOOLS TO BE CLOSED By Tolegraph—Press Association. Auckland, February 28. As the rcsuit of a conference between the Health authorities and the Board of Hklucation in regard to steps to check infantile paralysis, it lias been decided to close the public schools of the city and suburbs and a number of tha larger schools in the > country for the next fortnight- as an experiment. Eleven cases were reported to-day, making tha total 2S I J. LATEST REPORTS. THIRTEEN NEW CASES IN AUCKLAND. Auckland, Fefnuary 28. Thirteen infantile paralysis cases were reported to-day—four in the city and nine in the country—making a total of 291 to date. IN THE WELLINGTON DISTRICT. It ivas reported yesterday that there aro two new cases at Gisborne, and oitf in the Taranaki district. RUSSIANS AND RIDDLES • HOW THEY PASS THE WINTER EVENINGS.. Tli'e Russians are famous for inventing clever riddles, with which they help to pass the time during the long winter evening which prevail in the land of tha snows. These conundrums, unlike the English variety, are not put in the form of questions, but consist of simple statements. Here aro some typical instances :— "I want down the street and came to two forked roads, and I walked along them both at the same time." This apparent impossibility is ' solved every morning by the possessor of a pair of trous.ers. "I am blind, but show others the way; deaf and dumb, yet know r how to count." Here a milestone is implied. A similar conundrum runs, "It has neither eyes nor ears, yet it leads the blind," and the solution is a walking-stick. "It neither barks nor bites,' yet .it keeps you out of the house" is another Imzzling assertion, and the answer is a ock. "What walks on its head and on foot and with boots on, yet barefoot all at the same time?" is a conundrum the answer to whiok is "the hobnail in your I boot."

Common objects of the huosehold and farm yard are thus introduced into riddles by the Russians: "I have four legs and feathers, yet am neither beast nor bird"—a tad. "There are four brothers under one hat"—the legs of a table. If I eat grass my teeth grow blunt, chewing stone they grow sharp again" —a scythc. "Four brothers run side by side, but never catch, one another up"—the wheels of a cart. "Who are the_ two brothers who live on the opposite side of the road, yet never see each other?"—your eyes. "What can't bo caught though you see it close?"—your shadow.

The Russians have also invented many ingenious riddles of the arithmetical type, such as the following: "A pack of wolves ran by; one was shot, how many remained?" —One. "A peasant bought four scythes for a sovereign. What will each come to?"— The ground. "There sat three cats, and each had two others opposite to her: how many were there altogether ?"—Three cats. "There was a party made up of a. brother and sister, a man and his wife, and two brothers-in-law; how many were there in all?" —Three.