NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 79, 24 November 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Record High-Jumper. A truly remarkable young highjumper is ' Sergeant-Boy V. A. Land, of the Royal Eng^iaeers, ' - who is scarcely 17 years of age'. Recently he woh the Afmy high jumpt championship, setting a neW Army record of 6ft. • Then he was' choSen as a member of the British team against Italy, and in his first international contest he won at 6ft lin. His next appearance in international sport was in* the athletic contest between Great Britain and Germany, at Cologne. Then he jumped 6ft 3in. Belated Award. Mr.'Fraiik Yerbury, of Bath, in England, 'received recently a war medal 47 years after the act for which it was awarded. The medal, which is accomp'anied by a pension of £100 a year, was for gallantry in the battle of E1 Teh in Egypt in 1884, when he saved the life of- a young officer. There were two hattles at E1 Teh in 1884. In the first an Egyptian force under Boker Pasha was destroyed hy Sudanese tribesmen, and shortly alterwards a British force under General Graham partially-aven-ged the disaster. : Through American Eyes. A great ma,ny Americans are saying nice things ahout 'us"'just"now — things that should he known and recorded, states the Daily/Express; Here is Mr. Will Rogers: * "You caix't heat dld England! She don't look good till she gets in a ";hble— theri' whtcH°her.^ And here is the New York Evening Rost: — "The Englishftian is still master in his own house, 'and He iritends to put that house in order. He'is fighting fnow. He has ceased slipping down, down into the hopeless ahyss offered by Socialism that neither worke'd itself nor allowed capitalism tb do so. ^His head is iip. * 'He sees his way. He wills it that mankind shall understand that,,* as he always has done so He will do now — pay his debts and live within his income. He will demonstrate anew 'the money value of character.' It is upon this that the greatness of England has been built." Boy's Narrow Escape. When a young Stratford boy became seriously ill recently with a sudden attack, he was remoVed to hospital, where it was ascertained that he Was suffering from the effects of poisoning; and suhsequently the"'disquieting discovery was made hy his parents that in error he had been given a dose of liniment- instead of medicine. Happfiy, the hoy respond4ed to the hospital treatment, and is now almost quite recovered. Unnecessary Camouflage. With a crafty grin, Senator Dunn tried to outwit the Speaker of the Fdderal House, at Canberra, rec'eUtly, says a Sydney exchange. He was feading apparently ffoih a little fedcovered hook, when the President (Senator Kingsmill) pulled him up. "Are you quoting from Hansard?" asked the President. ' " Yes/' ' •sald" Senator Dunn, "but I put the extract i'nside a Canberra telephone directory in order to trick yo'u in case; I was not allowed to quote from -Haniar d.""There is no need for the'- camouflage," answered the President cdldly. " Art Union Refused in School. "I don't think we should allow the introduction of art uhio'n* ' tick'et selling into our sehool,'?- said Mri- W. B. Cameron at a meeting of the Terrace Ehd School comrpittee when the Wanganui Education Boarfi wrote re** questing assistane'e ' in this 'direction in aid of a children's health' "cahip. The chairman's opinion was supported. Man's Phenomenal Memory. A man claiming to have the best memory in the world has recently been undergoing tests -to substantiate his elaini, at the 'Univef sity of Sofia, under Professor Kazandjieff. The professor read to him a, hundred differ^nt words, and he Was able to fep$at them babk in the order read to him. When the Bulgarian alphabet, ' jumhled was read to him, he was also successful. Other of his feats were 'with 70 mixed figures, and the nam.es of 400 difj ferent persons. j Gold Uncovered by Fowls. ; A mah'livihg'in Coventry, England, has a garden that* isv part' of a- new estate and 'hoas'ts'a fine old oak. As his fowls were/ scratching a'bout' hearhy they dug up a hoard of gold and silver. The lucky man found that the coins belonged to the reign of George ; III, and that -there Were eighteefi pieces of gold and five of silver. The treasure had' been buried- exactly 100 yafds ftom tlie fbot of the oak treh and in a direct line with the cathedral spire. Goldfish Vogue. How quietly some hobby habits change. Without any blanging of timbrls, Austrdlia ha's caught1 the goldfish vogue. In some eity streets every other shop sports little aquariums for sale or for show — with all the curious accom'pahiments of wee3 foqds, fish brDhd/ hlid water-chhngiiig gadgets. Though a , check has heen put upon the liye goldfish hdwked in the highway s hy shore-leave sailors from visiting Orientah eraft, myri'ads of these tinted wrigglers enter> Aus^ tralia weekly. More interesting ax*e the woriderfiil an'd' weird 'types hrqd hy local amateurs, and the exhibitiQns staged by, ,the Sevei-al • aquqrium societies. - : ? • '* Where Plumb Lines aro Untrue. India *is * a land of wbri'ders,' It has the tallest mountain in the world, the biggest avalanches, the rainiest spot; and so many snakes that 20,000 people and 4000 cattle are killed h'y them every. year. But ther e.is.a s till greater wonder. You know that if a boy holds up a plumh' line in England— that is, a string with a weight on it — it hangs straight down;'- but in Noi'therti India if a hoy holds up a plumh line it does not' hank Straight; ' it leans -towards the south". -WhV fs this? One would thifik' that'if it leaned at all it would slant toWard ihe might Himalaya mount'ains, attfacted hy their great mass. -But; as* a matter of fact, these mountains are; made of light rocks,- while the great Deccan Plain to the south consists of very 'dense; and jheat^y Sdil. THe plain, therefore, attracl;s the pltimh' line a 'little out of tlie straight. '