NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3711, 1 November 1927, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

Summer slumps and winter slackness are the chances for the live advertiser. i The oldest book in the world is that of Ptah Hotep, the Egyptian compiled 3366 8.C., and preserved in Paris.

However small his craft may be, every British yachtsman is entitled to fly the Red Ensign, the Hag of his country. Aliens living in Great Britain arc still prohibited from changing their names for either personal or business fmi’poses.

Wrigley’s chewing gum advertising runs into £3500 a day. Wrigley has said that he is afraid to stop advertising, because people might choose other chews. —Exchange.

The heavy traffic of “bobby” calves to Taranaki has now ceased. Some 60,000 calves were handled by the railways this season, and approximately two thirds were for the works at Waitara and Patea handled the remainder.

The Hastings Borough Council on Thursday night carried a resolution protesting against the Government’s interference with the local private motor service to a seaside resort on the ground that the Railway Department should not comju'te with private enterprise on a route which is not contiguous to a railway, and therefore not in competition with the railways. .

The claim of Lochee a suburb of Dundee, Scotland, to world distinction as being the only place which can boast the attainment of their majority by triplet sisters, is questioned by Morrinsvillc. Until a few months ago there were triplet sisters living in New Zealand who could lay claim to the greater distinction of not only having attained their majority, but of reaching the age of 35 years. Death removed one of this unique trio last May. An original excuse offered by a man caught “on the premises” after hours was given to a constable at Petone recently. Constable Scarry, having occasion to enter a

hotel, noticed a man in the dining room. Finding his presence known, the man immediately dived under a table. “What are you doing in here?” aslced the constable. “Collecting scraps for my fowls,” came the reply, which was repeated at the Petonc Court later. A noticeable feature of Central Otago to-day is the fact that settlers have given up farming rabbits in favour of,sheep and cattle. Three years ago I spent three weeks in Central Otago, during which time I shot (100 rabbits (and I am not a good shot), remarks “Rusticus,” in the Otago Daily Times). Recently I spent a week in the district and saw only 17 rabbits during the whole period. The comjbined efforts of rabbiterk, Magistrates, and stock inspectors have worked wonders. Some advice to Justices in arriving at decisions on questions of fact was given by Mr. S. E. M‘Carthy, a former Stipendiary Magistrate, at a. social held by the Canterbury Justices of Peace Association on Monday night, states the “Lyttelton Times.” “Observe well the demeanour of the various witnesses and place no credence on the testimony of those whose conduct in the witness box inspires you with distrust,” said Mr. M'Carthy. “Do not trust too much to the number of witnesses. Truth docs not always lie in numbers. One solid, unhesitating, clear, convincing, and candid witness is worth a host of prevaricators. Mere verbal discrepancies do not always indicate untruthfulness. It may be important to consider whether the statement ofl a reliable witness has. been sufficiently corroborated to have credence given to it. On the other hand, if the main story as told by the principal witness is unbelieveable, no amount of corroborative testimony, however honest, can give it a reasonable basis. Falsehood cannot be converted into truth merely because in certain details the evidence of an unsatisfactory witness is borne out by that of truthful witnesses.”

In Sydney, Australia, there lives a family with tails. The father, a son 10 years old, and daughters 'aged 3 and 6, have appendages which are exciting the curiosity of medical circles. Apart from their tails the members of the remarkable family are perfectly normal. Doctors have suggested that tficy should be removed, but they prefer to keep them. The father, who is '4O year old, was born with his tail, which was about two inches long when he was an infant. His father was normal, but one of his paternal ancestors had a tail. The tai s of the children are now four inches long. A Sydney medical specialist states that he has known men and women possess an extra spina joint, but he can recall no case or people with such well-defined tails

as this family. “It is an extraordinary case of atavism,” he said. “The tailed father and his children arc undoubtedly throwbacks. It is intermittent heredity, due to the reassertion of ancestral peculiarities which have lain latent or dormant for several generations. This tailed family is, anthropologically, very important. They arc noteworthy links in the chain of man’s evolution.”

Walking along Springfield road one evening, a resident of St. Albans, ’Christchurch, heard a voice behind him. He turned round, but noboby was in sight. To his great surprise, however, he heard distinctly from the telephone line running above the side of the road the voice of the announcer at 3YA announcing a band selection. This came floating through the air clear-

ly, although weakly, emanating apparently from the telephone line, it was more mystifying because there was no house in the immediate vicinity.

A Milton farmer has had an interesting experience in the growing of lucerne. When he took over his farm a few years ago he began to experiment with lucerne and the neighbours were frankly sceptical; but be persevered, and this year, on a 20-acre patch of lucerne, he wintered four sheep to the acre, and wintered them well. On another

patch, sown in February of this year, the lucerne is now IBin. high and will very soon be ready for euttng. In the form of bay both sheep and cattle eat it greedily. The Milton farmer informed a Daily Times reporter that lie is quite convinced that this wondqrful fodder plant can be grown quite successfully on the Toko Plain, especially where there is a good depth of soil. In the early past-war days, when German paper currency commenced its meteoric decline jin exchange value thousands of people throughout the world were tempted to buy Gerffian “paper” in anticipation of a restoration of its earlier vhluc. In the majority of cases paper marks were purchased, but these soon lost all value except as curios or rnoinentoes of a foolish speculation. One Auckland resident invested a modest £SO in this financial gamble, but be subscribed towards German Government bonds, and in return received enough paper to cover a room. He retained the bulky and apparently valueless package till tins year, when he contemplated destroying all but a few of the specimens in it. On the advice of a banker, however, these bonds were sent to,Germany, and last week the Aucklander received in exchange a number of. most artistically printed securities of various; denominations, these being convertible locally into English money totalling £l2B.