NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1923, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

For the year 1921-22 the export of frozen meat from New Zealand fell in value by £2.100,000, compared with the previous year, and for the year ended .March, last there was a further fall in value to the extent of £BOO,OOO.

An itinerant hawker is at present selling in Oaniaru a patent conti ivanco for securing clothes to the clothes-line. The lady at one house at which he called told linn that she had used clothospegs for the last forty years, and was quite satisfied (relates the. ‘’North Otago Times”). ‘That’s alright, missus,” said the hawker, “but women went for hundreds of years without painting their laces ami riding in motor-cars.” The door slammed viclcclv.

“Gypsy” pilots, young, inexperienced men who buy obsolete Government planes, and take flights with passengers, are responsible for 122 accidents and the death of 100 persons in the United States during the past year. To the 1200 civilian airplanes operated by established companies, with inspection systems and experienced pilots, only twelve accidents and seven injuries are credited.

German divorce cases do not interest Press or public as a rule, but a man who sought a divorce from his wife got a good attendance by issuing invitations on gold-bordered cards as follow:

“1 have the honour to invite yon to attend my divorce before the civil court and to listen to the failings of my wife.” Tile judge was not pleased with the result, and cleared ihe court at the request of counsel for the wife. Five minutes later lie divorced “these twain.” The oldest town of Britain is Colelies(er, in Essex, 7)2 miles from London. That, at least, is the claim of its inhabitants. As it has relies dating hack t,, palaeolithic and neolithic times, the dainl has some standing, and may not he lightly disputed. Romance makes it the home, of “Old King Cole, of happy memory; and history, with a greater regard for the eternal verities, tolls us that, during the Roman occupation of the tight little island, it was the site of a most important and prosporous city rejoicing in the name of Camulodumtm. Important excavations that have been made in the Castle grounds of Colchester have brought Roman remains to the light ol day, to tho joy of the arcliaelogist.

It is whispered that a woman, dros-od in widow’s weeds, was travelling in a. railway compartment with an elderly spinster. T’ve just been to my husband's cremation” said the widow. “Oil, you poor thing!” cried the spinster. “I’m so sorry for you.” ‘Tie was my fourth husband,” confided the widow: ‘‘l’ve cremated them all.” At this the old maid burst into tears. “Have I said anything to upset yott,” asked the widow anxiously. “Oh, no,” answered the old maid, still sobbing; “hut 1 was thinking how unjust the world is. I've never had one husband, and von have had husbands to burn 1”

Denmark is supplying a large amount (,]' the. bacon for .John Bull’s breakfast. It is reported that during the first quarter of (be current year a million pigs were slaughtered, a largely increased outimt which is readily absorbed by the English market. The supply received from Ireland has been less by one-third this year than in the corresponding period of the two pre-

vious years, and now represents an annual slaughter of a Utile- over a million. The number of pigs killed in Britain is estimated at four millions a year. Denmark and Ireland together kill about as.many pigs as Britain. The price of bacon is high, and fat i«gs fetch some 70 per cent above pre-war prices.

Two old people at Kochi, in Japan have hit on a novel way of celebrating their longevity. They have attended their own “funeral,” and as a. result they believe they have been given a new lease of life. The man is the 70-yo&r-ohl proprietor of a fashionable, restaurant, and the wife is of the same age. It was their desire that their funeral should take place before their death. A long cortege of “mourneis” left the Kochi Park, and all the procedure of the funeral service, according to Buddhist rites, was carried out in regular order at the Hongwan Temple. A display of fireworks heralded the ceremony, and a large number of Geisha gills participated. The old couple, attired in white, marched in the procession. After the service the couple entertained many of their ‘mourners” at a dinner.

During an interview with a N.Z. "Times” reporter on Saturday, Captain Campbell, of •‘Spud Tamson” fame, said: ‘'During my tour of New Zealand 1 have made n point of staying us often as possible at the Y.M.C.A. in Wellington. Christchurch, and Dunedin. The officials have treated me with great courtesy, and I have enjoyed meeting those young Now Zealanders "ho frequent these institutions. Much is said in tiie.-e days about the “wowser” element, but 1 have found in these Y.M.C.A.’s men who, if called on to play their part in the Rugby field, cricket, hockey, tennis, or in the gym., give a display that would silence forever those superliuial people who regard members of the Y.M.C.A. as mollycoddles or milksops. In my opinion. New Zealand business men should make it a point to support these institutions as they do in America and Canada. and for this reason that efficiency and character spring front .self-restraint and health ideals.”

“From time immemorial, the Chinese woman lias been considered an inferior being ill her own country. Not only was she forbidden to act for herself, but she might not even think for herself, and to this end she was enjoined t« remember the three obediences: In youth she must obey her father: when married, her husband; when old and widowed, her son.” This statement was made by a lady lecturer before the China Society in London. But there are some signs of change, although the great-majority of Chinese women are not yet cognisant of them, and, especially in the country districts, still lead the hard and monotonous lives which were the lot of their forbears. The process of woman’s emancipation is slow. but. under .the Republic, it is surelv gaining. The ancient system of marriage by arrangement to a man chosen for her is-yeceiving discouragement nowadays, especially since the spread of education among young women. Chinese women are expert at sewing and embroidery, and in many eases make everything for the family wardrobe, even to the footwear.