INTERESTING ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 370, 17 June 1911, Page 2

INTERESTING ITEMS.

A recent patent that should be of particular interest to electricians and plumbers covers a machine for boring holes through overhead beams which does not require the operator to climb a ladder, but may be operated and directed from the floor, the- machine is operated by means of a hand crank. The device is arranged to bore a double line of holes. It is not generally known that the light of the sun and moon exercise a deleterious effect on edge tools. Knives, drills, scythes, and sickles assume a blue colour if they are exposed for some time to the light and heat of the sun ; the sharp edge disappears and the tool is rendered absolutely useless until it is reterapered. Brazilians train a snake, called the giboia, as a ratcatcher. It is 15ft. long, is harmless to the human being, becomes quite a household pet, is lazy in the daytime, but at night roams about the house in quest ol its prey, the rats. These animals it promptly kills by twisting their nocks. When Brazilians have to pass from room to room in the dark, they put on their slippers. It would not be pleasant to plant one's foot on a cold, slimy snake of that size. Superstition assumes some very peculiar forms in Hawaii. For instance, some of the natives believe that if they cross the threshold of the royal palace with the left foot first, a train of bad luck will follow them in some way, either in health or business. The average Hawaiian would as soon welcome the sight of an ocean of hot lava pouring over the country from Mauna Loa as to see a foreign warship anchor in the great harbour. The natives believe a warship brings bad luck. In Halmstad, Sweden, fcontas Holstrom is about to start a spinning mill for making yarn out of paper. Such mills already exist in Germany and France. So far, the manufacture of rugs and carpets seems to be the best practical use for this new paper yarn. It is stated that people in Sweden, especially in the provinces of Ostergotland, are already making carpets with paper weft. Narrow rolls of paper tape are used, but this, of course, is not spun.

In Switzerland the chimney-sweep is an official personage. He is the employee of the commune, receiving a fixed salary. He is also, as many tourists have probably noticed, one of the few sons of the Helvetian Republic who on Sundays and weekdays sport a tall silk hat. On his official tour he takes it off blandly, and informs the householder that he is "empowered by the State to inspect his flues." In the canton of Grisons recently the post and title of "communal chimney-sweep" was opened to competition. The salary was £32 a year, and the candidates were numerous. But the strange thing was that they were mostly schoolmasters from Italy, a painful sign of the times in that unrestfuj land. Scotland has 146 parishes without paupers, poor rates, or public-houses.