NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 100, 18 December 1931, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

EnglisTl'-WorkmansIup * An. English, lever' wdtch. found with the remains of Mr.' G. T. Watsoh in th'e hush at Wakatapu when wound up . ticked e off immqdiately (states the Colac cprresporident of the Southland News). As Mr. Watson disappeared on December 26, -1914, the watch has be.en there for 17 years exposed to .the, elements. This is a striking tribute. to the thoroughness of English workmariship. PusH Button Traffec Signals ! A press-the-button traffic signal — to be operated by pedestriaris — is being tested in 1 England. A| certain points the pedestriari 'who; warits 'to cross a road "piil Be aBle to chrilige ha lights bn a "signal post from green to yellow and. then to recL He will have a specified number of seconds — probably 12 — in which to cross a 60ft. road before the signal automatieally shows clear for traffic again: The idea -originated in Manchester. The push buttons are placed beyond the reaeh of children. Sir. Henry- Dickens Flies Sir Hferiry D'lckeris; sori^oLCjhafles Dickens, tlie riovelist, pnd ' CbmmonSergeant, who is 82, recently made his first flight, and was thrilled by the fact it was o'vef the Pariama Carial, from the Atlantic to" the Pacific. , He has returned to England from a( trip to the West Indibs, in the ebni'Se of which he touched at Cfistob'al, at the Atlantic e.nd of "thfe J' Panama Canal. "I had never seen tiie Pacihc," he said, "and had a very great desire to do so, I found that we had rio time to get. to the other sidq of the Panama Canal unless we flew,

and as a seaplane was available I decidec( to go. We flew over the canal, the flight taking about 20 minutes. We had luncheon on the shores of the Pacific, and after a short stay flew back again. It was a wonderful experience and the view from the air was splendid. I dq not know, that I shall go up again iri an_ airplane. You are not keen about such things when you reach the age of 82." Magnet Miracle . One of the most remarkable operations on record has been performed in Nottingham General Hospital, England, on a six-year-old hoy, whb swallowed a bkll-beat'ing wriich became embedded in his lung. Pneumonia followed the mishap, and owing to the lad's weakness an anaesthetic could-not be employed to permit of an operatioii through tracheotomy. Dr. H. Bell Tawse., throat, nose and ear specialist, then decided that the only chance of removing the ball-bearing was by means of a powerful magnet. The eye infirmafy was asked to leijd a huge appkrhtus which is used to draw particles of metal from eyes. This was taken to the operating theatre, ahd the boy's body was placed in proximity

to the magnet, so that when the eurrent was switched 0n rid jwas iri, the middle of a powe'rfhl riiagn.etic field. A tuhe with a small electric hulb at the end was then passed dowu the lad's throat. After great difficulty the small metal ball was located; arid HU iron rod, made specially for the operatioii, was iriserteil , doririi the tuhe. In a seeoUd the ball clicked on ilie magnetised bar and then the surgeon successfully withdrew the obstrtiction from the boy's body on the' erid of the iron rod. The lad is now rqcovering, ignorant of the fact that he had been the subject of a remarkable surgical feat. So far as is known, no other case is on record of an electric magnet havirig beeri einployed in the removal of a metal body from a human "being. Vacuum-Cleaning Cathedral f ,For the first time iri history a vacuum clearier has' beeri usrid on a cdthedral. Five tons of mfedieval diist have just been removed from isiotre Dame Cathedral, Rouen, by tljis process. Every nook and cranny rias been carefully penetrated and cleaned, and special scaffolding and rolling platforms had to be constructed to reach otherwise inaccessible parts. In the vacuum-cleaning process four valuahle . paintings of Bib|ical subjects, lost for centuties, were d|skovered in the tower, and much of the white-washing, done by a group of1 Italian house-painters in 1789, and w^ich, it is agreed by art connoissettrs, considerably harmed the cathqdral, was removed. Rats In Trees Los Angeles has carried its war on rats into the tree-tops. Recently health officials discovered that legions of the f'ats had deserted their homes ori the ground and had taken to nesting in tall palms. To reach them a special ladder with three extensions was devised, the top section making a . horizontal platform to reach .the nests without damaging the foliage of the tree. Then poison was^pqured by the bucketful into the nests, arid after it had taken effect city trappers ijnade a riaul of thousands of rats. Pony Ride Please Much excitement and general interest was aroused at Oamaru receritly by a number of smkll ponies, which had been walked to trie water af Friendly Bay. One in partieular, Was singled ont as the favourite and on the back of this no fewer than three enthusiastic boys paftook of a ride at once. Later :0ne yourig iriteljectual hit upon the plan of rid;in^ the poriy fapirig.its tail arid Havirig a little buck-jumping by mearis of tickling its flanks: This proved most popular with the boys clusterecl round, whb eagerly awaited their turn. Making Silk s ? i 1 ? After 25 years an inveritor has diibovered that by mixing cgstor oil; ethylene, glucol, carbon, hydrpgen and oxygen he can make siik fibre alrijost as good and three times as dekr ,as the . pn^ thqs worn^ has b.een makiiig feiridb Adkrii WSS E b8^: