News From All Quarters

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 15

News From All Quarters

Tbe copper parts of bath stores in bow .beinx requisitioned in Austria. ■ in 1915 the Prussian ratio o< births was 100 girls to 105 boys. Sugar tickets are to come Into general see In France. They are already need lv eereral towns. The "Monlteur Vinicole" estimates this year's vintage at 820,000,000 gallons for France alone, as against 448,800,000 gallons Iβ 1915. Reports from Cologne state that the Chilean Government is negotiating with Kruppe for the building of a number of submarines immediately after tbc war. The ancient ceremony of electing a mayor In a. ibetfry took place last month in the tower of Brlghtlingeea Parish Church. Although It was icily cold, the proceedings lasted over an hour. 1L Herrlot, the French Minister tor Public Works, announces that 6000 prisoners are to be employed to assist the French coalminers. Moroccan miners will also be employed. Fnrs have fantastically high prices in Vienna. Sliver fox, which formerly cost from £80 to £125, now realises anything from £330 to £500. Skunk skins are selling at £5 instead of 15/. Beaver has advanced In price fourfold. High gambling has not been killed in Vienna. In a recent prosecution it was stated that nearly £13.000 was risked on one turn of a card. The accused was sentenced to ten days' imprisonment and a fine of £40. At a meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society in .E din bursa, Lieutenant C. Douglas, of the Royal Flying Corps, stated that the field of view from an aeroplane was so extensive that the distant thunderstorms -were easily discernible. He himself had seen clouds 100 miles off from a heijlij of 8,000 feet. 'Lieutenant Kijil Nygaard, a Norwegian, and Captain Hugo Sundstedt, formerly of the Swedish Xavy, have arrived in New York and are making plans for an aeroplane flight across the Atlantic early in c j the spring. They propose to go first from 1 N«w York to St. John's. Newfoundland, - and thence to some point on the west coast of Ireland, s

DIDN'T LIKE THE COUNTRY. <

'Mary 'Smith', a poor Chicago girl who was adopted by James Pankhurst, a rich farmer. , and his wife, on August 13, 1915, with, the tindcrstandltis that she was to remain single and act as companion to the aged couple and receive 10,000dol upon their death, has grown tired of the bargain and will return to Chicago. "Money isn't everything in this world," ' she said. ," I want tae right to live as 1 ' choose. I simply find that I do not like to live in the country."

BABY "HORNED IN."

William Lawrence and Vernon Powers, two young men in a New York prison, owe their arrest to the fact that the baby "horned in." , Lawrence, according to the police, was picking the pockets of a man carrying a [ small boy in a downtown store. The babyhad a horn. He rapped lLawrence over ■the head with, it, and Lawrence, thinking he was discovered, fled. ■Powers, supposed to be a partner of ■ Lawrence, fled also, but they were not quick enough for the policemen.

STEIKE AGAINST TROUSERS.

Pour attractive-looking munition girls who refused to wear male attire at their work were appellants at the Glasgow Munitions Tribunal. They sought a week's wages from a Clyde shipyard firm in lieu of notice on being dismissed. Certain girls employed by the firm wear male attire, and it was decided that all should don trousers and tunic or leave the firm's employment. The four girts alleged that there was no danger from machinery through wearing skirts. The sheriff refused compensation, obseirlng that due notice was given.

THE CLAIRVOYANT CRAZE.

lOtie effect of the war has been to breed clairvoyants in every quarter of the I country. Crystal gazers, palmists, and those who profess to be able to fathom the future by means of a mysterious knowledge of the sun, stars, coloured globes, and packs of playing cards are prospering jas never they have done before, mainly at ' the expense of the wives and sweethearts of soldiers. "I and that some women are . consulting clairvoyants as regularly as they might go to a doctor," writes one correspondent of the London "Mail." One woman prosecuted recently at Westminster <wae stated to have been booked five weeks in advance to peep into the future with the' aid ot crystals and gollywogs.

YOUTH*'UIi CRIMINALS AND | CIGAItETTES.

Three-fourths of our youthful criminals, we may safely say, are slaves of the cigarette, and they are such because of poor heredity (says l>. H. Kress, M.D., In "Good ■Health"). The cigarette and smoke inhalation In America date back about forty years. The use or cigarettes lias increased 700 per cent in the States during the past thirteen years. Already we are beginning to reap the results of onr fathers' transgressions. What the next generation win foe can scarcely be imagined. Had we the privilege of choosing our ancestors, ■wMch ■unfortunately -we ihave not, not one ■wtwfld chooae those "who are victims of the cigarette habit. If this evil is permitted to be perpetuated, conditions will coon be Irreparable*

GERMAN SCHOOLBOY'S QUEER FRANK.

At Selden, In Saxony, a wealthy farmer, celebrating bis birthday, bad baked a large quantity of cakes. The party was interrupted by the appearance of a taxi, .from which a uniformed and bearded officer and a policeman emerged, while two civilians remained inside. The officer and policeman presented themselves as envoys from the General Command to arrest the farmer for illegal cake-baking and to seize all eatables in the house, including pastry, butter, ham, eggs, cheese, etc. All these ■were immediately forthcoming to fill the taxi. The farmer then offered the officer a large sum in cash, which the officeaccepted, promising to abstain from reporting the matter. As the officer and policeman were re-entering the cab their false beards dropped off. The farmer took the number of the taxi, and secured the arrest of the perpetrators, -who were schooit>o7B, aged 13 and 14,

THE "BED WIDOW" AT WORK A Belgian named Jean Boose, who with two accomplices, murdered and robbed one of his countrymen, was executed In Paris. Thle is the first time since -the war began that the guillotine has been used in Paris.

GALLED HER "BIG FEET."

■Leah Elizabeth Emery told a New York judge that her hnsband called her "Big Feet" when she asked him to teach her to dance. Bhe said he often declared he was too good for her. The judge granted her a divorce and 15 dollars a month for the support of her two children.

EXCESS PROFITS £73,5£3,000.

(Mr. Bonar Law recently stated that up to r'ecem'ber 16 the amount of excess profits duty, including munitions levy, paid into the Exchequer was £73,090,000. This was a much larger amount than had been officially estimated. The Chancellor's estimate for the full financial year was £86,----000,000.

STECL HAPPY.

Miss Uutli Avera, of Alameda, left recently for Honolulu to marry MoAlptae Rid-dell, manager of a sugar plantation, graduate of the State University. Sac cabled: "Arrived at 2 p.m. Married «t 2.50. At 4.30 still happy."

INSANE 7—CERTAINLY I

The last will of Thomas W. Moore, landowner, executed in San Francisco In November, 19OS, bas been declared invalid, and a former will, dated January 13, 1896, will be admitted to probate. A jury, after hearing-, that iMoore ate eoftboiled eggs with 3i!s lingers, paid a «irl sis dollars for n kiss, a-nd swore at another girl who refused to marry him, flecided that tie was mentally unsound wnen •lie made the last testament. illoore left.an estate of about oO.OOOdoI

KIDNAPPED HIS WIFE. '

Whether a man can foe prosecuted for kidnapping his own wife is a question to be put up to the Los Angeles authorities, following the jescue of Mrs Ira O. Wells, known as Miss Edwina Caldwell, from a cabin in the mountains near San Bernardino, where she -was held by her husband after a sensational abdnction in front ol a local high school. The kidnapping reveals the girl's secret marriage to Welle, a stenographer, two years ago. Immediately after the ceremony th e girl repented her action and left her husband, thereby earning the title of "nnkissed bride." Wells has sought repeatedly to get her to lire with him, but in vain.

" LADUES, WOMEN, AND FEMAI.ES."

At the London Education Committee, Canon Swallow said, that quite recently lie •went to a parish, to take preaching duties in connection ■with the National "Mission, and lie expressed a wish to be able to give a speciaJ sermon or address to the women of the parish. The local clergyman said that if the invitation was addressed to "women," it would not secure a response from "ladies" living In certain streets. Before Canon 'Swallow ascended the pulpit, the notices were read toy Ihis local colleague, and In the course of them foe issued an invitation to "the ladies, tie women,' , ana then was a pause, after witch he added, "and otter females."

NEVER HEARD Or THE WAR.

Lena Kebl, a German servant giro, came to Baltimore from Indianapolis and aeked a policeman to direct her to the office of the -Xorth German Lloyd Steamship Company. She said she wanted to return to Germany to live on her savings. She was taken back when told that there were no steamers sailing to Germany, and asked th e reason. •On account of the war," she was told. "What war?" she asked. Miss Kebl e2 plained that for the seventeen yeans she has been in America she had lived -with a family In Indianapolis who paid her two dollars a month and kept all reading matter from her. She saved 402 dollars.

*2O FINE TOR A NAME..

A stylishly-dressed girl, Annabel Theion, •was charged at Blackpool with a breach of the Aliens Order, and Arthur Jsiige* iHempstead, described as a well known South African racehorse trainer, waa cnarged with abetting. 'Evidence wus given, that the defendants were arrested at tile Imperial Hotel, Blackpool, by detectives, who found the -woman registered as Hempstead's wife. The defence was that the woman was 'the daughter of a Boer, and 'had followed Hempstead to England untf lived with him as his wife, registering as iHempstead, in order to live comfortably* They were fined £20 each. i

PAWNED HIS WOODEN AXIL

A man who gave ibis name as Henry Walte entered a Chicago ipawnshop and cneerewed his false arm at the shoulder. "I'm broke and. need money rigOit away,** lie said as he laid the member on the glaaa showcase. "What'll you 'give mc on tihat arm?" The -clerk fairly choked in his amazement. "Winy, we don't—now—deal in sncb 'things here," ihe said. "This ain't a dime museum, you know. Suppose you don't come back—how could I get my money back on that arm? Nobody would buy it, would they?"_ "■On the other hand," said Waite, "how d'ye suppose I could get along without it? Tt's a cinch I'll come 'back and redeem it." The clerk couldn't see the force of the argument, however, and refused to make the loan.

FORTY-FIVE DATS' SPEECH.

A remarksWe law case concluded recently In England. It was between two rich companies, and the dispute -was over a goldmine. In the action judgment was given for the Globe and Phoenix Company against a f200,000 claim by the Amalgamated Properties of Rhodesia (19131, Ltd., to part of a reef which is contiguous to ■both of tlie Rhodesian properties. Some of the points of Interest in this extraordinary cnse are as follows:—It lasted 144 days and cost £150,000. Two people concerned in the case died duriDg the twelve months it was going ou. One witness bad to submit to examination for 16 days. Mr Upjohn, K.C., for the winners or the action, delivered an address lasting forty-five days,, broken by a month's rest after a break-. down. He got 1200 guineas on his brief and 100 guineas refresher every day. Net remuneration, fIS.GOO. He had two counsel with him, and counsel for the losing s:de included two K.C.'s. They also cost money. In one part alone of the case there were 50 000 Interrogatories duly answered. One of'the exhibits in c-ourt was a core 2000 ft long, a hollow drill having been forced. down to thie depth thrown the quartz reef.