OBSERVATORY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 234, 26 April 1928, Page 5

OBSERVATORY.

Women to Govern. The manner in which Englishmen give of their best in all forms of local Government has long been the admiration of the rest of the world. Now, however, it is being said that they are losing some of that keen interest they used to display, and that candidates for town councils are not coming forward so readily as in days gone by. Be this as it may, the fact remains that if there is any breach, women are readily coming forward to fill it. There are no fewer than 60 women candidates for seats on the London County Council at the coming elections. Of these the Conservatives suply 24, the Socialists 21, and the Liberals 15. Municipal work seems to have a singular attraction for women doctors, and Dr. Adeline Roberts (Marylebone), Dr. Sophia Jevons (W. Bermondsey), and Dr. Barrie Lambert (Brixton) are Conservative candidates, and Dr. Stella Churchill (Southwark) a Socialist. Among women members seeking reelection are Miss Thelma Vajalet, who was only 21 when elected in 1925, Mrs. Emmet, eldest daughter of Sir Rennell Rodd, late British Ambassador at Rome, and Mrs. Priscilla Wortshome, granddaughter of the Earl of Abingdon, who has had the singular distinction of acting for the past year as the first woman cl airman of the L.C.C. committee responsible for theatres and musichalls. There are signs, fairly prominent in Auckland, that New Zealand women seek to emulate the example of their Old Country sisters.

Electrified Farms. There is a general belief in New Zealand that England lags behind in matters electrical but this is far from being the case, and it may come as a surprise to many that there are nearly 800 electrified farms in England. Despite the cheapness of coal and kerosene in Britain, the saving per year by the use of electricity on a 70-acre farm is stated to be as follows: House lighting, £l ss; milking machine, £ll 13s; separating milk (basis 7500 gallons), £5 16s; pumping, £6 8s 4d; chaff-cutting, £1 Us 6d. A scheme is now being prepared for the electrification of all the farms in Lincolnshire, and rates as. low as id per unit are being offered. When will New Zealand farmers even approximate such a price ? Tom Mix’s Daughter.

A suit to decide how much money the 16-year-old daughter of Tom Mix, the film actor, should receive, recently came before Judge Bowron in an American court. Mrs. Olive Mix, former wife of Tom, the “ cowboy,” thought that £3600 per year was essential for the girl, who, she claimed, required £BOO for clothes, £2OO for dancing lessons, and £4OO for singing and music lessons. Mix, who came into court in full cowboy costume, admitted that he earned £ISOO weekly. The judge said he was unwilling to spoil the girl with too much luxury, and reserved his judgment.

Cook’s Tours. One of the most romantic business mergers, the effects of which will be felt throughout the world, has just taken place between the world-wide-known firm of Thomas Cook and Son, Ltd., and the International Sleeping Car Company. 1 It is estimated that the merger will save at least £50,000 a year by the elimination of duplicated services. In New York alone £40,000 a year will be saved in rentals. The International Sleeping Car Company is incorporated in Belgium, but its president was the late Lord Dalziel, of Wooler, formerly Sir David Dalziel, M.P. This company has a nominal share capital of £24,000,000. Mr. F. H. Cook will be chairman of the new concern. Brass Band Advertising. It was in June, 1941, that what is now the firm of Thomas Cook and Son ran its first tour. It was a Sunday school trip from Leicester to Loughborough, a distance of 12 miles. That was the occasion on which Mr. Thomas Cook, of Leicester, persuaded the Midland Railway Company to provide a cheap fare for his Sunday school children on their annual outing. From that beginning Mr. Cook developed the gigantic tourist business which to-day employs between 4000 to 5000 people, and has agencies in all parts of the world. While it was Thomas Cook who conceived the idea of cheap trips and conducted tours, it was John Mason Cook who really developed the business. At the age of 17 he was helping to convey 165,000 Midland people to the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. He would go with an empty excursion train to some Midland [ town, and there parade the lilace I with a brass band capturing the mill-

hands as they came from work on pay-day. He thus urged them into his train and took them to London and back.

Next, Please! The latest absurdity from American dance halls is the “ Heebie Jeebies,” and an effort is now being made to introduce this dance into London drawing-rooms. It is described as a “ cocktail ” of all the dances that have recently become popular. There are four main steps, having the following picturesque names:— “ The Channel Roll,” “ The Drop Back,” “ The Quick Change ” and “ The Twirl.” In it are traces of the slow tango, the quick one-step, the Charleston, the swaying Black Bottom, and the ordinary fox-trot. The music varies from fast to slow and from slow to fast.