News From All Quarters

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 245, 13 October 1917, Page 15

News From All Quarters

In the three prairie provinces of Mani- < toba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, 12,004,550 aci.s have been sown with wheat. It is estimated that in all Canada 502,400 acres have been planted with potatoes. In his parish magazine the vicar of Wlllesden (London) Invites adult members of his congregation to the vicarage garden after Sunday evening service, "to chat and smoke, and see how the vicar's onions are doing." i In order to avoid premature burial, Count Manoel Joaquin] Alves Machado, of the Hotel Frankfort, Oporto, who left property in the United Kingdom valued at £131,_8_. directed that his body should not leave the house in which he might die for fort>elght hours after. Should he die in the hotel, £6 was to be paid for every hour his body lay in the place as compensation to the owner. A distinguished company assembled at Chnwton, near Alton (Hampshire), when Sir Frederick Pollock, in memory of the centenary of Jane Austen, nnvelled a tablet placed upon Chawton Cottage by her admirers In this country and in America, recording that the authoress lived there from 1809 to 1817, and that it was from this house that all her works were sent out into the world. HORSELESS BERLIN. In Berlin motor-omnibuses disappeared nt an early stage of the war, being spirited off to the front. The horse omnibus suddenly came into its own again. But its days, too, seem to be numbered, for one after another, owing to lack of horses, the various omnibus lines are being "temporarily closed down." THE FRUITFUL VINE. Twenty-seven children have been born to Mrs Paul Agullara, of Chlno, California, in a wedded life of thirty-eight years, and on July 18 she was the mother of her twenty-eighth, a boy. Mr' Agullar is 53. She was married at 15. In the family there have been three sets of twins, and all of the children are living save two. Agullar supports fourteen of his children on a wage of 2 dollars 50 cents a day. INTRODUCING BUTTER AND EGGS. "Yon two young men make a pretty good combination as to names." said Judge E. P. Morgau. of San Francisco, as he granted final citizenship papers to William Butter and Heinrlch Eggs. The "Bullet" explains that Butter is an Austrian and Eggs a Swiss. The two men, strangers to one another, smilingly left the court room together, after the judge had suggested that they shake hands. THE TEA JAG. "Has it been uoticed that since the antitreattng epoch and since alcoholic liquor came to vanishing point, men invite one another to cups of tea and get quite feverish over their potations," asks the "Daily Express." "Yesterday afternoon an actor who is 'resting' confessed that he had consumed nine cups of tea since breakfast time. They had certainly changed his condition. He was terribly restless. Glittering eyes, rapid, nonsensical, voluminous talk, high temperature, an uncertain temper, a fluctuating pulse, hands nervously clenched—all these are the signs and tokens of tea drunkenness." A FOUR WORD WILL. On a table In the kitchen, where his body was found with a bullet through his brnin, David Hawk, of Franklin County, Pennslyvanla, left a will written on the back of an envelope taken from a letter he had been carrying In his coat pocket. On the letter wns written, "Maggie, everything Is yours." Mt.ggle is his young wife. He did not sign the paper, but it will be accepted as his will, says the Chicago "Tribune." This Is the shortest will ever filed for record in Franklin County. It disposes of a goodly estate, farm, home, and some valuable personal property. LINK WITH GRACE DARLING. There has passed away at his residence In South Shields, Durham, James| Darling, j a nephew of Grace Darling, the lifeboat i heroine. For nearly half a century James I Darling, who was a son of William Darling, ! one of Grace's live brothers, had lived in i the Tyne port, and for thirty years of that j period was employed at the North Shields j creosote works. He- leaves a daughter— of course, named Grace Darling. The 1 oldest member of the Darling family still living Is William Darling, aged eighty, who resides at Gateshead: while Robert Darling, who Is seventy, still lives on the Fame Isles, the scene of his famous aunt's heroic rescue of the crew of the Forfarshire. 1 GEORGE IV. AND HIS CLOTHES. i George IV.'s nightshirt could not be found when due to be sold at Klngston-on-I Thames, in aid of the War Market Fund. j-But for those whose tastes run In that ] singular direction there is comfort in the j reflection that articles of this monarch's j wearing apparel must lie fairly common. His old clothes, sold after his death, were so numerous that they realised £15,000. Five hundred pocket-books -n-ero found by his executors In these clothes. They contained sums amounting to £10,000, which the owner had entirely forgotten; as well as locks of hair and love-letters. The locks nnd the love-letters were destroyed— though their value at a charity bazaar would probably have been much greater than the cast-off royal clothes. RUSSIA'S ROYAL FAMILY. The former Czar of all the Russias is not a man of resource (says the London "Mall"), and he is feeling horribly bored with nothing to do but water his flowers and talk to the wife of his bosom on the telephone—lv the presence of a guard. He is allowed to see his children, but only under supervision. One of his girls also became so unhappy at his plight—it Is the Grand Duchess Marie, who dotes on him— that she had n nervous breakdown. The other girls, with the Czarevitch, try to I keep up their spirits with tennis and lessons and liivsir. Tatiano, the second girl, has quite a lovely voice, and is as musical ns her brother. Had her lines been cast in other places she might have made her fortune as a prima donna. As It is singing means good fun to her. Those who have come in contact with the Czarevitch feel very sorry for the poor little chap for the change in his life. He was patriotic ahove all things, and it wns a passion with him to stay with his father at headquarters. Although he had been rather a terror as boys go before the war, his keenness to serve made him behave well, and the officers of the chief staff, instead of finding him a nuisance, say that he was as willing to do his bit as any common or garden scout boy.

Air plane manufacturers all over the United States are employing -women, and thousand, of airplanes that wi-li carry the ■Star, and Stripes over the 'battlefields o_ Europe will represent the work of the wonren. Women have been found to excel in making wings and wing surfaces o_ airplanes. AIDING THE FOOD SUPPLY. \ aeant allotment and home garden crops will yield £70,nn0.000 worth of food this summer, according to the report of tha U.S. National Emergency Food Garden Committee. There are more than three times as many gardens in the United States this summer as there were last. "LICK THE KAISER." "Lick the plate and lick the __al_er."* Already adopted as the official "yell" ot the food conservation workers, this slogan Is spreading among the ranks of Chicago conservators, says the "San Francisco Bulletin." It was invented by "Buddy" Coulson, a school boy after repeated admonitions froas his mother against the waste of food. UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES. The rortuer German cruiser Geier, which was seized by the U.S. Government on tha declaration of war, will enter the war against the Germans as a unit of the American navy. The Geler, In which the engines were partly destroyed by her crew Immediately after internment, was commissioned last month under the name "Carl Schurz." OLD SALOP CUSTOM AT A FUNERAL. The Hon. Henrietta L,yttelton, of Eaton Terrace, S.W., -widow of the Hon. Spencer Lyttelton. and daughter and co-heir of the late F. H. Cornewall, of Salop, who diet' on May 20, has left unsettled property of the value o_ £6,599. She expressed the wish to be burled at Burford, Salop, "and I direct that when my coffin enters the churchyard there the church bells shall ring In a joyful peal according to an oM Salop custom." A NEW MACHINE GUN. Announcement has been made of th» development of an American machine grni capable of continuous firing. Ammunition Is carried to its feed block hy an endless •belt kept filled iby an automatic reloading mechanism. Supply hoppers contain from 2300 to 10,000 cartridges, and are replenished or replaced without Interfering with, operation. Most machine guns flre about 500 shots a minute and are supplied "with ammunition by belts holding approximately 200 cartridges. Thus they are able to firs" uninterruptedly for only thirty seconds, while the new Instrument spits thousands o_ missiles without pausing, and thereby does the work of two ordinary pieces. HIS OWN UNDERTAKER. A man staggered into an undertaker's rooms in Butte, Montana, says a Chicago paper. "Get my wooden overcoat ready, I'm already embalmed," he orderedHe was J. H. Xeages, and when asked whether he was drunk or crazy, ha denied both charges, saying, "Neither, I'm dead." The undertakers realised that Neagea was in the proximity of truth when he fell, and rushed him to the emergency hospital, where _. pint of embalming fluid -was extracted with a stomach pump. I The man who undertook to undertake himself regained strength quickly after treatment and returned home. IS SATAN DEAD ? Satan is dead, says a Chicago paper. His petrified remains have been unearthed and are now at Elm Grove, W. Va. Later the curious find, which has puzzled local scientists viewing the gruesome object, will be shown noted scientists of the country.. With horns projecting from the forehead, spiked tail and cloven hoofs, the stone form is attracting great attention and creating a sensation. Hunters dug up tha petrified object along Big Wheeling Creek, near West Alexander. ' "While investigating what was apparently a groundhog hole, one hunter unearthed the head, and rushing to his companions he excitedly told them of his find. The entire party then continued the search and uncovered the whole form of his Satanic majesty. WORLD'S GREAT OPIUM GROWER. Since the occupation of the Bulgarian provinces of Macedonia, Bulgaria has become one of the principal opium-growing countries. Before the Balkan wars Turkey was the leading opium country in the Levant, and Smyrna the principal market for that article. But Bulgaria has now become a formidable competitor of Asia Minor, both as regards quality and quantity. Germany chiefly draws on Bulgaria for the opium her chemical industry requires for the preparation of morphine, codeine, etc., and Bulgarian opium thus Is distributed over the entire world by Germany's agency. About 242,000 pounds ofi opium was harvested last year in the provinces under Bulgarian administration, but this quantity can easily be doubled. Much more land is still devoted to tha poppy than the expected opium demand requires, however, this being on account of the poppy seed. Under present circumstances the oil to be won from this seed has mada it of great importance, such oil being extremely useful not only for industrial purposes but also for human food. Last year 500 railroad freight car loads of poppy seed were exported to the central European countries. ROMANOFF RUBIES STOLEN. Silver statues and antiques to the valua of £150,000 were stolen from tne Senata building In Tetrograd recently by six armed" robbers, who declared that the statue 3of the Romanoff family offended the'r revolutionary sentiments. The robbers, three of whom were disguised as soldiers, arrived at the Senata building, in which a vast collection of historic valuables is kept, in an automobile. The porter at the door was knocked down and tied with ropes and a sack placed over his head. Another employee, who attempted-to summon aid by telephone, was. forced to desist when a revolver was held at his head. Entering the famous Catherine Hall, tha robbers took from its pedestal a silver statue of the Empress Catherine 11-, valued at £50,000. It was carried to the antomoblle and then a second statue representing Russia at prayer, was taken out tha same way. The famous statue of Minerva, presented to the Senate by Empress Catherine, and many big candlesticks and equestrian statuettes completed the loot of the thieves. The automobile carrying the robbers and their booty got away from the building ft half hour before the guards arrived,