RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 109, 1 February 1935, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) Sir Malcolm declares that “theoretically there is no limit to the speed an automobile might attain.” Our roadliogs seem to think so too. * * It is hoped to find a long-term solution for tlie meat problem. But will tlie meat keep till then? ♦* « ~ Herr Hitler says that in two years he has completed two-thirds of his four-years’ plan. AViil the third third be like the other two? “AVith reference to the .Melbourne Scout Jamboree, it has been mentioned An the papers that it is the first Jamboree to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. Is this correct? AVhat about the one held in Dunedin 1925-26?” says “AVhite Fang.” [The Dunedin Jamboree was not international in its scope, the Melbourne one is the first international Jamboree in the Southern Hemisphere.] * <c \ ♦ It was recorded the other day that an escaped prisoner in America was killed by . a posse. This .word “posse” is one peculiar to the police. A collection of policemen is always a • posse,” but a collection of policemen off duty, if such a thing ever happens, is not a posse. One must just accept police in a posse with the wonderment with which we ought to accept a “boost” of men or'a “felyshyppynge” of women, or a “bevy” of ladies. Ladies always bevy, but deers' and cows merely herd. When the ladies are married they cease, strictly speaking, to comprise a bevy and become a “nonpatience.” If policemen “posse” why do we not continue with the idea and talk about a ‘-‘state” of princes, as we should, a “blush” of boys, “a “skulk” of friars, or a “superfiuyte” of news? Incidentally friars must share their skulk with thieves who also skulk until, of course, a posse of police disturbs them. One might indeed spend a lifetime with these nouns of multitude. A “mob”.of horses is all wrong; we should refer to a ‘ barras” of horses, a “sounder” of boars, and a “cete” of badgers.

It is probable that if any of us made a determined effort to utilise tlie unlimited supplies of nouns provided for multitude scarcely a soul would understand us. “A desert of plovers in a deserted field were chasing a wisp of snipe, tlie latter was followed by a plump of wildfowl, and a fall of woodcock fell to a right and left. A skein of geese complicated matters, but owing to baren of mules in one paddock and a pace of asses in the next it was impossible to get a shot at them although they were only 100 paces off. Possibly a clowder of cats with a kindle of kittens was responsible for the fact that not. a single labour of moles was seen. However, several exaltations of larks filled the air with music and the howls of a cowardice of curs caused us to miss a badelynge of ducks.” Perhaps there is some reasofi for these nouns of multitude, but why should we refer to a “shrewdness” of apes, and “doylt” of swine. Ferrets on tlie other hand when they congregate are a “fesnyng.” Schoolgirls on these lines might well be called a, “giggle” and bicycles . . . what should we call them? —well, a “wobble” of cyclists seems to meet the case. Readers may care to improve on this.

Prince George's wedding cake, although it weighed SOOlb. and towered to a height of nine feet, broke no records. This little cake, indeed, sinks into insignificance compared with the ten-ton cake baked for tlie Melbourne centenary. The recipe for this cake ineluded 36,000 eggs, 41 tons of fruit. 11 tons of butter, li tons of flour, and 100 golden sovereigns. In the matter of royal cakes, however, one might point out that Queen Victoria’s jubilee cake was nearly 11 feet high. Queen Victoria’s wedding cake, although large, was only a record because it was the first wedding cake to be made in England. The books of Messrs. Gunter show that no order was filled for a wedding cake until the year 1840. on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s marriage.- Since those days no wedding is complete without its cake. Although not the largest, possibly tlie most beautiful cake made was the one presented to Princess Alary by the Master Bakers on her wedding. It took the form of a Grecian temple. It was, however, conmaratiyely small, standing a e mere seven feet high and weighing * only 4001 b.

Cakes, of course, are not the only food items which have been permitted to run riot as regards their size. The first record for the largest plum pudding ever made takes us back to the year 1718, when mine host of Red Lion. Southwark, produced a plum pudding that weighed 10001 b. It took a fortnight to cook and about five months to mix. It has now been beaten by the 10-ton Empire plum pudding of the Prince of Wales. A plum pudding that made its appearance in a London restaurant on Christmas Day a year or two ago most also have come close to beating the effort of 1718. It was so heavy that it took four men to carry it in. and stood four feet high. In the mince nie line the record is still claimed by the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Leicestershire. It weighed one ton and it was. shall we say, assembled in the cattle market on th? occasion of a shopping festival inaugurated at the town. Portions were sold at sixpence a slice and the pie returned a handsome profit to the town. Perhaps when the City iff Wellington stages its own centenary we shall be able to enjoy a chip off an even bigger pie—those old rams mav come in useful vet. * * « Regarding remarkable Biblical prophecies, ‘’Student” says:—"May I add a few of the prophecies I have noticed, fulfilled and being fulfilled at the present day. Tn Isaiah 31 :5. ’As birds Hying, so will the Lords of Hosts defend Jerusalem, defending also he will deliver it. and passing over he will preserve it-’ This undoubtedly refers to aeroplanes, and it is a fact. In the Great War our aeroplanes flew over Jerusalem and so terrified the Turks, that they evacuated the city, and not a shot was fired against it. Then Daniel, in the 7th chapter, speaks of thrones being cast down, which has happened to nearly every kingdom since 1918. ami only one kingdom was to remain. Two oilier prophecies. not Biblical, came true in 1917. when Jerusalem was delivered by Allenby. His name in Arable means ‘Prophet of God.' He thus fulfilled an Arab prophecy, which predicted it should be delivered by a Pro phot of God Also, the Turks said when the waters of the Nile should reach Palestine, they would nave t< leave it- Allenby’s armies carried the water from the Nile there in pipes, and the prophecy was fulfilled.”