NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1932, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES.

IN ALBANIA. .In response to a suggestion by an English journal that people in the Old Country should arrange international contacts by means of correspondence, one reader, who accepted the idea, , sequently gave an interest'ng account of his correspondent in Albania. The Albanian admitted he was a business man, but unlike an English busiue.i man, he enjoyed art, music, fittml literature: An Austrian by birth, his education, he said, had beer, begun in Vienna and_ continued in the world. But most interesting was his description of Albania, which he described as the only country in Europe without a railway, with a Mohammed:, ruler, where the cocks crow all night, wlhere the women are veiled and polygamy' exists; where, also, wooden plough-shares are still used, and where primitive tribal life obeys laws and customs a thousand years old. H*' summed up the position in the statement that Albania is a country wher everything is different from all oth f 'r countries in Europe.

A CENTENARIAN. The' oldest inhabitant of, Paris, who is 102 years of age, recently an.nonr,. his intention of living until he ,reach - • the age of 110. His friends declare tl’iat ther e is no reason why lie should nut, for he, has all the spirit of youth and keeps fit physically. He has a friend who is only eighty-Aeven years of age, and whenever the weather is favu"“'’ ' the centenarian takes a walk with his “young friend.” Mr Paul Joyeaux gays he has reached his 102 years because h e has followed the rule to oat, drink and smoke what he liked, but observed moderation in ,al.l things. He is f •• " of good wine and black coffe and w’ people attempt to give h : m good erl- : about his diet h e simply replies <’ they will not have proved fihemse' • better able to judge than he i- himself until they have reached his as - Contrary td his advice on he smokes nearly an ounce of tobaeo" a day.

OVERTIRED METAL. At a recent. inquest at the London Docks on the death of a man cau.-ed by the collapse .of a crane, it was stated by an expert that the crane had been tested to its limit on the previous day and had not been given sufficient time to-recover from the extra strain. The cohesion of the molecires of the metal had been so upset that the parts of the:crane were really overtired and unable: to bear even its normal load. The abnormal test for .safety was said to be really the cause of the collapse, .for it is generally accent d that machines, like men, have peculiar - ties and idiosyncrasies and require ppriodic rest. Again like human beings, they require it before undergoing a tf> t of endurance and after such a test before returning to work. The jury, with the exception of one man, accepted the explanation that the accident had been caused by overtired metal in the crane.