NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 39, 8 October 1931, Page 2

NEAR AND FAR

"Wizard" Smith's Timing Apparatus; So sensitive is the light beam timing apparatus that will De used when "Wizard" Smith attempts to break the motor speed record on the Ninety Mile Beach in December, that it will register even the passing of a bird witbin the focus of the machine. The .device is so set that a beam of light passes from a projector to a receiver and the interruption of the beam.by a passing object is automatically recorded on a strip of tape. Such atparatus is part of the equipment regarded as essential before the new racing records are recognised by the International Automobile Association of Recognised Automobile Clubs. Novel Floor Polisher. Preparing a hall floor for dancing is not a very popular job these days, and .often many societies find it somewhat difficult to get anyone to undertake the work. Walton residents, however, appear to have solv-^

ed this problem in a novel manner, which may appeal to motor cyclists !in other, districts. .. The.method -is to secure a sack of wheat, or similar grain, and to tie the same to the rear of a motor cycle. The cyclist then careers around the hall, perf orming .figure eights and other tortuous evolutions, and in the process he puts a glass-like polish on the floor. It is said that the Walton enthusiast has become so expert that it is quite an entertainment to watch his manoeuvre his ccyle. Autobread. The Autobread is the name of a machine invented by Mentore Teodri, of Ferrara, in Italy. He elaims that if corn is fed into the machine at one end, it will deliver a .crisp loaf ' of bread at the other in twenty minutes without human • inter^eption. The machine, he says, automatically mills the corn, sifts the flour, mixes it with other ingredients, kneads, rdlls, and bakes the dough, and delivers hot loaves on to a tray. The machine is worked by a petrol engine. Skeleton of Rare Whale. The skeleton of a rare whale will be transferred to the Wanganui Museum as soon as it can be conveyed from the beach near Waverley, where it was found recently. The whale was found by Mr. R. J. Johnston, who informed Mr. Shepherd, curator of the Wanganui Museum, that the whale was peculiar, Together with Mr. J. Patterson, Mr. Shepherd went to the beach and identified the mammal as a southern-beaked whale or mesoplodon grayi. It was some 17 feet long and with a girth of 18ft 8in. Man's Greatest Asset. Looking back on the early period of his life when he was earning 6d a day, Sir Thomas Lipton once deelared that the dominant feature of his character was his own conceit. "A man can have no better asset than a supreme self-eonfidence," he said last year. His supreme self-eonfid-ence took the form of promising his mother a earriage and pair before she died.

Unusually Large Skate. What is considered to be the largest skate ever landed off these shores was caught by Mr. Hatfield, of Port Chalmers, at the Otago Heads the other day. From tip to tip the fish measured 5 feet, it was 4ft lOin in width, and it weighed approximately 801b. The body has been removed, but the flaps of the skate now hang. in the window of a South Dunedin fishmonger. Remains of Cannibal Feast. The areas about Culverden have always been a rich field for the discovery of Maori remains (says the Christchurch Press). The ploughing of an old river bed recently revealed a round Maori oven with almost a complete set of human bones scattered about it, apparently the remains of a cannibal feast. Many ornaments have been found on the Maori ground nearby. Speaking for the Rat. Some boys who are scholars at St. Joseph's School, reports the StratI ford Post, were returning from school ! one afternoon, when they noticed | some little excitement going on at a nearby rubbish dump, which, on investigation, proved that a "man" had a rat tied by a long piece of cord to a tree stump, and he was evidently giving a terrier dog a little exercise in "ratting." One of the boys saw the unfairness of the scheme, and suggested to the man that he should l'et the rat go, at which the man asked him what he was butting in for and who was he speaking for. "I'm speaking for the rat," was the boy's ready answer, "and you should let it loose and give it a fair go, if your dog's any good." The man threatened to kick the boy out of the dump, but he thought better of it, and evidently felt the justice of the juvenile rebuke of his conduct. Cure for Influenza. The Tanarnaki Herald reports a cure for the prevailing influenza. Take an ordinary-sized grape fruit, wash the outside skin clean, then eut the whole fruit into small pieces and

pour over a quart of boiling water. Allow to cool, and drink at regular periods during- the day. The patient, too, should go to bed and rest for two or three days. It was explained that in the grape fruit skin there is a natural quinine not contained in any other citrus fruit, so that while either the lemon or orange might be beneficial, they will not effect the cure the grape fruit does. Turuturu-Mokai Discovery. 1 Unemployed , relief worlcers engaged at Turuturu-Mokai reserve, in Taranaki, on.the reconstruction of the ancient Maori fortifieations stumbled across a subterranean passage, which, it is believed, has some important bearing on the original construction of the pa, The passage gives access to the plateau from the •top trench or last line of defence, and proves beyond doubt the location of the main entrance. On the plateau is a series of pits, and it is believed that when whares were erected over them they were connected by underground passages which emerged into one main arterial right-of-way to the top trench. The discovery has been sealed -until such time as it can be propertly explored. ' '