Out of the Way

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 81, 29 December 1934, Page 6

Out of the Way

CURIOSITIES IN THE NEWS A gardener, trimming trees near the Bremen branch of the Reichsbank, was struck by the bright colour of a blackbird’s nest. He discovered that the nest had been built with thousand mark (£5O) bank notes. They were valueless, having been cancelled as out ot date. Susie is a kitten with more than the cat’s proverbial nine lives. She amazed carpenters working on a house at Oklahoma City by walking out of a wall which they opened up. The wall had been sealed five weeks previously, and how Susie managed to live during that period is a mystery.

In 1870 John Watt, of Auburndale, Mass., bought a ticket in Chicago for the journey between Detroit and Boston on the Grand Trunk Railway. The ticket, he was told, was good ‘’until used.” Now, 64 years afterward, Mr. Watt has decided that he does not wish to use the ticket. So he has forwarded the ticket to the general offices of the Canadian National Grand Trunk Railway in Montreal asking for his money back. He has refrained from asking for interest, on the loan of his money.

Forty white-haired men and women, some blind, some deaf —all of them between 80 and 90 years old—limped on to the platform at the Welsh National Eisteddfod at Neath and sang. They were the survivors of Caradog’s famous choir of 500. Sixty-three years ago they swept all before them. They took .London by storm and established the musical reputation of Wales. Now. their voices weak and trembling, they carried away an audience of 10,000, By request the “Ghost Choir” sang the old Welsh hymn, “Crugybar,” and the vast gathering took up the refrain. Men held their breath. Women wept as they watched and heard the veterans entering again into the spirit of the Eisteddfod. Caradog, who formed the choir, was a blacksmith, and became a brewer. He travelled all over South Wales training his choir in sections and welding them together after their rehearsals under local conductors. He succeeded so well that his choir won the gold cup two years in succession at the Crystal Palace. More than any one they made Welsh singing famous.

Experiments designed to extract fuel from grapes are to be undertaken by the Spanish Government, according to an order published in the “Madrid Gazette.” A low grade alcohol can be extracted from vintners’ wine residues, it is believed, and will constitute a new national fuel. The State Oil Monopoly is purchasing thousands of gallons of wine residue monthly as a basis for the experiments. The liquid will remain for the time being in the hands of the vintners, since the State has no storage tanks for it. The Government is proceeding with the experiments as a means of raising funds to subsidise the sorely stricken Spanish wine industry, despite adverse-criticism of the scheme as uneconomic and likely to cost the Exchequer some 60,000,000 pesetas (about £1,670,000). Spaniards have deserted their far-famed sherry for beer. The wine merchants beg for State help to continue production. In 1933 the beer consumed in Spain was 18,600,000 gallons, against' 8,700,000 gallons in 1921. Madrid alone consumes 46,000 gallons of beer daily in summer. France’s ban on Spanish in favour of Algerian wines has also badly hit the sherry vintners.

The Punjab Government on September 14 issued a notification naming a donkey. The donkey—a stallion—wtis bought at Gurgaon for the veterinary department under a scheme for the improvement of stock and placed in the charge of a Sikh official. Moslems heard that' it was called Ahmad, and protested against one of the Prophet’s names being given to a donkey. Inflammatory articles appeared in the newspapers and questions were asked in the Assembly. In consequence, official inquiries were made, and it was found that the donkey's real name was Asmak, meaning fool, and that the final letter had been mlferead (says the Simla correspondent of “The Times”). The commissioner at Gurgaon published the facts, and to avoid further trouble announced that the donkey had been renamed Bahadur. Moslem agitators were still not satisfied, and an unbalanced youth, who was arrested in possession of an unlicensed weapon, said that he intended to attack the donkey’s' guardian. The Provincial Government has accordingly issued a statement confirming the donkey in the title of Bahadur. It also expresses the hope that the changed name will preclude error arising from assonance. Bahadur, meaning “brave” or "warrior,” is a title used by both Hindus and Mohammedans.