NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 88, 4 December 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Grant For Sports. A graht of £15 towards the expenses of a sports meetings to He held -on Boxing Day in connection with Carnival "Week, was made by the Rotorua Borough Couneil last evening. An applieation for the grant was made by the Rotorua ^Amateilr Athletic Club, which is conducting the meeting. and which pointed out that the' sum of £15 had been ear-marked in 1928,' for the purpose of assisting sports meetings in the direction suggested. This sum was a surplus from a sports meeting conducted hy- the Publicity and Amusements Committee of that year in conjunetioh with various sports organi'sations in the town. Service and Efficiency. - As a recbgnition of service and efficiency, warrant officers, non-commis-sioned officers, and men of the New Zeaiahd- Territorial Force are to be awarded stars to be worn on the right forearm of the uniform. For four years' service a khaki star will be awarded, fOr eight ears' a silver star, and for 12 years' a gilt star. Qualifying service will commence from the date of enlistment for voluntary service, but- in the case of n.c.o's who continued to serve in the force after! the suspension of compulsory service the qualifying period will date from lst June, 1980. "A* Soldier' will be deemed to have been efficient in any year if he has attended the- annual camp or bivouac (if held), qualified *in the annual small-arms course, where practicable, and §ttended the prescribed number of drilfe. - Not Quite So Bad. "Counsel « for' the plaintiff has drawn a rather lurid pictUre for you," ohserved His Honouiv Mr. Justice Blair in summing up -at the Supreme CoUrt, Blenheim, in a. case claiming damages arising out of a motor accident. "He has suggested to you that this man lay in the hospital for three months and was racked • by. pain day after day, but it may not have been quite so bad as that, for we all know that some- of t|i6se nurses do come along and soothe your fevered brow!" Unusual Condition. Certain legacies to his wife, on condition that she would never eat foie gras, Crab, crayfish, lobster prawn, shrimp, eel, or "any shell or other animal or creature" without absolute proof of its' humane' death or killing before cooking with the least possible pain, are provided in the will of Mr. Charles A. T. Predeaux, a barrister, of London. Another condition imposed on his wife, who, however. nrddeceased him, was that she

should never wear as an ornament or trimming any feathers, skin,- or part of any bird or animal. Melbourne's Centenary. Melbourne will be 100 years old in 1935, - and already celebrations are being prepared'for the centenary. Designs have been submxtted by several city architects for an exhibition that bids fair to rival the recent > , embley Exhibition in magnificence. Gardens, palaces, artificial lakes and pavilions of art, music, forestry, architecture and agriculture are con- i templated. An exhibition of all the famous displays'-of the past will be constructed, including the Crystal Palace in 1851, the Wembley, the Persian Art, the Buenos Aires display last year, and the hundreds of | Russian, German and Euglish "wakes" that are performed regularly hy country folk., Many personages will at- j tend, and the aim of the • promoters

is to attract 1,000,000 visitors. Clumsy Joke. And old Maori woman from Rangiotu says the jumble of seven -Maori words used to fo'rm the name* of a locality -in the Otaki electorate is a clumsy joke ort the part of an official. It forms the sentence "Whaka hoki mai to Maiora i Rangitane" (return to the palisades of the Rangitane people). . . ** s' Painful Experience. A painful experience befel Mr. K. Moore, a farmer, of Skeels Road, Te I Aroha West, recently, when he was | dragged about half a mile hy a bolt- ; ing horse, says " an exchange. . Mr. 1 Moore was engaged with others in j ensilage making, and was holding a j horse with a rOpe round its neck, preiparatory to putting on a bridle. The animal was startled and bolted. The rope hecame twisted= about Mr. Moore's ! right hand, and he was dragged over j rongh paddocks and through a gateway before the horse* finally stopped ! in a yard. Mr. Moore suffered severe | bruises and lacerations aiid Shock, and i his clothing was almost torn off . Isaby Seized as "Taxes." A baby aged 10 months has been "seized" , and held for taxes due by a resid-ent in the tovn of Patrulea, near Chisinef, - the capital of Bessarahia. The tax eollector called at the home of Ion Savila to eolleet payments long overdue to the. State, and finding nothing else which- he considered to he of value in the house, walked away with th*6 bahy. ' Strange Preventive for Colds. Palawan pigmies in the Philippine Islands smoke cigars with the lighted end in their mouths. The- pigmies, who inhabit the southern' part of the island of Palawan, dread a cold in the head. Their curio.us manner of smoking is supposed to be & method o'f counteracting- the affliction. • • Dunces to Geniuses. Charles Darwin. never could learn a languagev "Napoleon was No. 42 in his class; yet we do not know the name of even one of the 41 who were ahead of him. Sir - Isaac Newton was next to lowes't in, his" form. He failed in his geometry hecatise he did not do his problems the way the 'hook Said they should be done. Alexander von Humboldt's teachers were douht- , f ul whether he possessed even ordinary powers of intelligence. George Eliot learned to read with very; great difficulty, -- "She " gave no promise of brilliance in youth. Sir Walter. Scott was never brilliant in his school wOi'k. ' James Russell Lowell was suspend'ed from Harvard for COfiiplete indolence. Oliver Goldsmith was at the very bottom of his class. Emerson-was & . helpless dunce M mathematics. James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was the butt of his playmates at Mr. McAdam's school. G. BemOnt, c6-dis-cqverer of radium, was so stupid in school that his parents took hirq away. . ; v