NEWS BY MAIL

Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1924, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL

YOUTHFUL OXFORD. LONDON, Jan. 28. More than two-thirds of the male population, and nearly a third of the female population, ot On lord, according to figures now available I roil) the 192! Census, were under 111 years of The largest group of inhabitants is that at the age of 21, and more than one-sixth of the whole population falls within the ages of IS and 25. This is due to the large number of undergraduates in residnece. Three classes..-

young people, prolessioual, and poisons of leisure—constitute more than 37 per cent of the entire male population.

In spile of tile groat excess of men at the university over the girl students —2,388 against 52]—women in the city exceed the marriageable men by about 4,500 in.a population ol 57,000. In tbs county, including the City of Oxford, there are nearly 40,000 more women than men.

AXTT-WIFISI':ER .C’ltUS ADE. LONDON, Feb. G

A new crusade is to be launched in Europe, beginning in this country. It is a campaign which is to be carried out by six fervent Americans who want to .-cure humanity of the dreadltil vice of wearing whiskers. The crusaders, whose leader is Mr J. J. Hickey, journeyed from New York in the United States liner President Harding. They are to spend several months in Europe spreading the vsopel of the clean shave. Their headquarters will he in London. but. they are not going to he content with converting Britain. They will divide the Continent into areas, and to each area a missionary "ill he appointed. Thus, no doubt, one will go to Paris to reason with the wearers of the terrible beards which startle tlnj visitor >o frequently. Another, without doubt, "ill have a few words to say in Prague to the dandy officers of the C/.echo-Slevakiau Army "hose little “sideboards” are (in their opinion), so fascinating.

Ii is said that the crusaders liavn considerable funds at their disposal. And when ones comes to think ot it. there are quite a number of manufacturers who would lose nothing whateiet by a spread of the shaving habit.

BAKED CLAY RECEIPTS. LONDON, Jan. 28

Over 100 Babylonian baked and unbaked clay tablets, belonging to Mrs Randolph Borens, of 14, Prince’s-gar-dons. SLAY., will lie sold by auction at Sotheby’s rooms. New Bond-street, AY., on Thursday, Feb. 28. among Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman antiquities from various collections. Tlie tablets, mostly business documents, deal with such subjects as the receipt for an ass, deliveries of materials, sheep accounts, workmen’s wages, aud the sale of a female slave. Among them are six oblong beadshaped pieces, pointed at each end, and pierced for a cord. Their inscriptions are uncertain, but it has been suggested that tliev were labels attached to the property* of "The Lord of the Garrison.” They are of the age of Urn-Tv aGina (about 2.600 me), whose name they hear. lIANDLESS BUILDER. LONDON, Feb. 0. On the outskirts of the village of Storrington, near Pulborough. Sussex, lives a man who, though lie has no hands and is crippled in both legs, is building a bungalow. He is AH Frank Knight. Despite the fact that he was born—3l years ago—with all his present disabilities, he has been ill turn artist, nurseryman, grocer’s delivery-man, and builder. Although lie has lost the use of the lower part of his legs, he hustles about on his knees with remarkable agility. Driving a pony is nothing to him. Yesterday, writes a Daily Mail reporter, I saw him.'climb into his trap as quickly as though he had full. use of all his limbs. '

“I do all kinds of joinery work,” he remarkod casually while with his handless, withered arms he dexterously wielded a large saw. “I make most of my building material out of that,” he added, indicating a cliff of red sand which overshadows his cottage. “With the help of a man and a boy J am able to produce all the blocks 1 require.” Mr Knight’s great ambition is to cover 30 acres of land near by with bungalows and small houses. He draws his own plans, which a local architect puts to scale.