A LOOK BACK IN TIME: Three diverse snippets

Three very diverse snippets caught our eye in the Isle of Wight Observer of 11th June 1910. We hope that you enjoy them too.

DANGEROUS FEATHER BOAS
Scares are so frequent now-a-days that it is scarcely surprising we should have ceased to pay as much attention to them as in the days gone by. We are familiar – very familiar – with the dangers of long skirts that touched the ground, cracked glass and china, the money we handle etc. and now threats are out against the feather boa. Authorities in germs assure us that in the forest of tips, seldom brushed, dust clogged, smoke begrimed colonies of harmful bacteria multiply. Germs, however, apparently lurk in everything and a few millions more or less would not seem to matter very much. So the great majority of us will study appearances first and think about microbes afterwards.

THE KING AND NEW MONEY
Just now when we are hearing so much about the new coinage it is interesting to recall the fact that the King seldom uses money save that straight from the Mint. If by any means new coins cannot be obtained, the gold and silver is carefully cleaned before being handled by His Majesty. Copper money is never used by the King, who is probably the only Englishman who can say he has never had a penny in his pocket.

LINERS AND THE SOLENT
The possibilities of the Isle of Wight says the Scotsman as the location of call for transatlantic steamers are being seriously discussed, and representatives of the leading British and German lines have lately made a survey of Keyhaven, the port just inside Hurst Castle. The idea is to save the run up to Southampton Water, so that the liners would hardly have to deflect at all from their straight course. Keyhaven is at present only a name, and enormous sums would have to be spent before it could be used as a port of call for transatlantic liners. This would need the co-operation of the South-Western Railway, which, having already spent enormous sums in the development of the Southampton docks, is not in the least likely to embark in expenditure to create a rival port. On the whole, the indications at present are that Southampton will become the premier port in the South of England.