NEAR AND FAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 119, 12 January 1932, Page 4

NEAR AND FAR

Qaint Customs. I . . . The first wedding on Hoty.' Island, off Northumberland, for three- years has taken place, says the Daily .Mail. It was accompanied by many quaint customs, including the passage of.the bride and hridegroom undet an archway of twenty double-baiTelled sporting guns, which fired volleys as they walked through' . The bride was Miss Anabelle Allison, and the hridegroom Mr. George Douglas. When the bride left the church- she was called, . upon to jump the "petting-stone," an old Saxon cross about 2ft 6in high. The churchyard gates were locked, and Mr. Douglas had to pay tribute m money to several old fisherfolk before he and his bride could pass. At the door of the bride's home a-por-tion of her wedding cake on a plate was thr own over her. head. The plate broke, and thus ensured her good luck. On their return from the honeymoon in Edinburgh the couple will have to give 5s to the-., first person who sees them after they set foot on the island. * Queer Game. "It is a queer game and I do, not ithink that our people would stand.fox it," was the opinion expressed. to a reporter recently by Mr. Frank Thompson, who recently saw ,a game of American football. \ 'While. the game was certainly fast at times, it was slowed up on i occasions, while either side got together in what. wa^ termed a "huddle," but what struck him as being in the Inature of a committee meeting, to discuss a new line of tactics if those which had been followed were found ineffective. Another feature of the game which amused him was, the right of the captains of the teams in action .to send off any men who were not 'delivering the goods" and replacing them with others from the side-line. In New Zealand, of course, replacements are allowed only in the case of men being injured r ■ Flax-Stripping Machine . When the Rangitane arrived the other day a new flax-stripping machine was landed for use in this country. It is a modification of a kind used in Kenya, and in the West Indies, for stripping sisal. When the Prime Minister was in England, he saw the machine in action, and was struck by its possibilities. The machine, which came out.in pieces, will he assembled and worked hy Mr. C. M. Plane, technical engineer for Richard Garrett and Sons, Ltd., of England, who came out with it. Experiments with the machine will be undertaken by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and it will probably be used first in Foxton.

N.Z. Bread Praised. A resident of Hamilton recently sent a loaf of bread to an exhibition at Sydney in order to obtain the opinion of the best Australian judges upon his New Zealand-rmanufactured article. The Master Baker of Ausr tralia, the trade journal, reports that the judges were unanimously of opinion that it was, without exception, the most perfect loaf seen in an Australian exhibition. The excellence of this loaf gave rise to the opinion that such results could be obtained with Australian flour. Oil-Burning, Stove. From an interesting test carried out at the Waitaki Boys' ; High School during the session of the Workers' Education Association Summer School it would appear that coal, gas and electrica! stoves will have a strong rival in the latest adaptation of fuel oil to cooking stoves. It had been claimed that 150 meals could be cooked ,at a cost of fuel of lld, and this appears to have been substantiated by*Mr. S. Dick in cooking for the students of the Workers' Educational Association Summer School, for the whole of the work over eight days was carried out with 30 gallons of fuel oil, costing 5!d per gallon. The oil is fed by gravitation feed, and sprayed in the burner by an electric motor on a , similar principle to that used in oil-burning ships. The oilburning cooking stove has been strongly recommended, as being economical, labour-saving, efficient, easily regulated, giving an even heat, and, being free from ashes, much cheaper than the coal stove. A big saving will be effected by the use of ' the oil-burning stove at Waitaki ' School, as from the success attending : the trial hy Mr. Dick it has been de- - cided to retain it at the school. Lucky Discovery. An oil man sinking a well for petro- ( leum near Delta, Colorado (U.S.A.), . received a surprise when th;e drill tapped a great underground store of > carbon dioxide gas instead. The unexpected discovery was lucky. With the installation of compfessing machinery, the gas is now solidified by

pressure and chilling. into the "dry ice" of commerce, and the output of the well is about sixty tons daily. So nearly pure is the "dry ice" from this shaft that a chunk of the snowy substance may be dropped into a glass of water to produce a bubbling, carbonated beverage at home without the addition of any other ingredient except that of the desired flavouring. Communists No Chance. Now that ther.e are indications of improved economic conditions in Australia, Sir Mark Sheldon, of Sydney, , iwho is visiting Christchurch at present, does not think that the Comjmunists have the slightest chance.. iEven without a good season, he told • a reporter, he did not think that they ! would have any chance; the farming icommunity would not have .paid any iheed to their doctrines. They were ! i undoubtedly subsidised from some ■foreign souree — what it was most i people could guess. They always had plenty of money, and they could Ipublish newspapers without relying I on revenue from advertisements. | They had been protected hy the police. Although they abused the police, they would have been out of • New-.- South • i Wales months ago hut for police protection,