NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2786, 18 September 1924, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Motor vehicles caused 15,7000 deaths in the United States last, year; 5000 of the victims were children.

It is said that over 90 per cent, of London business people now live within ten miles of Charing Cross. . Out of every 200 of the British population it is estimated that there is one person mentally defective. „ A portrait of a Chinese lady of the 12th century by an unblown artist has been added to the British Museum.

A single speck of light, as seen in the night sky by the naked eye may really be a group of thousands of stars.

All factory windows and skylights must, be kept clean and free from obstructions, if a proposed English bill becomes law.

A c-afe to seat 800 was recently built and opened ready for business at the British Empire Exhibition in twenty-two days. Over 2,500,000 postal notes were issued in New Zealand last year and approximately the same number were paid; the commission thereon produced a revenue of £18,190 11/11. Thei;c was an increase in British postal notes. During the year 115,198 orders were sold of a value of £00,037.

The sudden appearance of the head of a sea lion breaking the surface of the water in the wake of a crayfish pot, which a party of Ma-t-ris were hauling into their boat at Mat aura Bay on Sunday, so scared I he Maoris that they let their crate of crayfish go (says the Waihi Telegraph)- A fisherman who accompanied the party states that one of Iho nat ives became panic sirieken by the sudden appearance of what appeared to be a strange and formidable monster.

American letters now coming to hand bear the pqst mark of the new aerial mail service (states the r J i,uam Post). Over the stamp is prinicd ofttline,s of a large aeroplane, with the words: “Air mail saves time.” That this is true is evident

from the fact that a Timaru resi!ent received a letter by the Ameriim mail—about August 14—stntthat a hook had been posted to ,im with the letter. The letter went icross the States by ’plane and the book followed by rail, thereby mising the mail steamer. It did not uvive in Timaru until the other •lav.

A well-known Wanganui Rugby ootball representative who atteudd the races had the proverbial luck • f a Chinaman, says the Chronicle. Seing out of employment, he stepped somewhat diffidently on to the ourse, but gained confidence after ie had “backed on the blind” the .vinner of the opening event. He nissed the second race, but punted ; g;,in on the third. The horse he !nd placed his money on romped home and paid a handsome price. Vfter oollectingvthe dividend, the young man, fearing that his luck world" turn, discreetly “set sail for I own, and there purchased a new uiit and a Stetson hat on the strength of his win.

The two or three Soccer officials who endeavoured last week to coni;itiji” with a collection box the poc-ket-buttoning proclivities of the hundreds who clustered on Dunedin’s Heights of Arab am—the hill above Carisbrook Park —and from, there obtained a cheap view of the Chinese matches had a dispiriting experience (says the Dunedin Star). It was reported to the O.F.A. that ■it both Wednesday and Saturday of last week two or three officials armed with boxes edenvoured to conquer the thrifty instinct of the big crowds on the hill. The gross result of the manoeuvre is set down at £1 18/-. There would seem to lie some basis for the idea that Dunedin is the most thrifty town in New Zealand.

Some English journalists appnrently know ns much about New Zealand and its people ns the average man does about Einstein’s iheot'Y of relativity. .Judging by an illustration in a veeenl issue of a London daily bis knVivvledge of ways and means “down under” is not of the best even in the metropolis. Every-thing-native is taken by him to be re'ative to the Maori, and it is this surprising ignorance which is doing such a great deal to make the Dominion in the eyes of the Britisher. a cannibal land or at least a verv inconspicuous spot on the globe. The picture in question shows workmen at Wembley amusing themselves in the lunch hour wUh huge clubs, peculiar spears and queer painted shields; evidenth part of the African exhibit. Yet the scene is headed, “A Maori Battle.”

A good story was going the rounds in Wanganui annul- a flag-living incident at one of the local soft-goods warehouses. The bunting was (lying ficclv in the breeze in honour of the Governor-GeneraTs visit, when a

member of: tlje staff, arriving somewhat later than the others, entered the establishment, with his face suffused with blushes. With unaccustomed nervousness be accosted a fellow-employee with the query: “How, how did you follows get to know,” “Get to know what?” was the m.vstitied rejoinder. “Why —er —what you- ve put the flags up for. Ii beats me how you got to know about it.” Subsequent- explanations revealed that the blushing employee was under the impression that the Hag had been flown in honour of the fact that his wife had just blessed him with (twins ! In the circumstances one oi' the opportune arrivals should- certainly be endowed with the name of Jellieoe.- —Chronicle.

Why do all ancient Maori carvings show but three lingers in either hand ? The answer writ ten upon a post card by Elsdou Best is this —and it conveys in so briet a j snace a volume of information m , the true poetic style of the Maori, whilst it connects him unmistakably with the most ancient civilisations of the world; “As old as the orey hills. Right across the wide world the three-tinge red hand appears in ancient works. On Etruseinn tombs, Japanese sculptures, in Pern, etc. It is a Chinese ideograph for ‘Man,’ on ancient carvings of Greece and India. Fatima’s hand placed over Mohammedan doors to ward off evil has three fingers. On ancient scriptures of Nineveh are lliree haohno seen on Maori grotesque figures —Too old. Origin lost. No man knoweth it, for who shall get behind Nineveh?”

“Oh, they eat one blow-ily a month each and I have difficulty somelimes in getting them to eat that/ said Mr. C. Burton, who is in charge ~{ the pair of tun tarn lizards which have a home in a small pen at the

Christchurch Hospital.. The lizards are of a large size and appear to on- j joy n'lifc of ease with regular meals —one a month —and plenty oj wat - er to bathe in. On Wednesday a "Star” reporter visited the lizards and found one awake. All that could he seen of the other was a foot sticking out of a piece <>t drainpipe, the tntnras favourite sleeping place. The animals an cold-blooded and 'are kept for observation purposes by the meda-a staff Most of the. time the lizards lie still and appear to be lifeless, but when handled they soon show sinus of animation by opening then months and giving their tails a wangle. A peculiar point coneerninoUhese creatures is the length of lime they can liV« without air. A few davs ago Mr Burton kept one of the pair under observation and found that it lay with its head under water for two hours am. then calmly took a breath as nothing had happened.