News From All Quarters

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 71, 23 March 1918, Page 15

News From All Quarters

According to a message from Stockholm, • t is announced that the Swedish Govern- at nent will introduce a bill to enfranchise s women. ai Mr Mitchell, the recently defeated canlidate for Mayor of New York, has been m ippointed a major in the Aviation Corps jjj )f the American Army. h( tl Mrs. Ann Scott, the last surviving direct „ lescendant of John Ridd, the original of he hero in Blackmore's novel "iLorna Doone," died at Barnstaple recently, aged !8. Her husband was cousin of Captain Scott, the Antarctic explorer. w si The German Crown Prince in a New Tear X irmy order celebrates the deeds of his ™ troops in 1917, and says: "With unstained shield and sharp sworn* we stand at the °- threshold of a new year around our Im- " perial War Lord, ready to strike and to hl tvin. God with us!" EX-CZARINA REPORTED 1 INSANE. r According to the German papers, the exwZarina has become insane, and Is now in a the city sanatorium at Tobolsk. Her condl- °- tion is hopeless. •* Pi MUNICIPAL BLOUSES. s « Textiles for clothing for women and w girls are now so scarce in Germany that w the Berlin authorities have bought a large E quantity of blouses from the Imperial Clothing Commission for sale, through the retail shops, at a maximum profit of 18 per cent over the wholesale price. Requisitions for municipal mouses have to be filed with the authorities. SORRY FOR A BIGAMIST. * When, at the Old Bailey, London, Jamis j Edward McGllligan, a New Zealand soldier, t was sentenced to six months in the second j division for marrying Florence Amada n Cnrsley, the woman, who was in tears, g said that no man could possibly have been t kinder to her. ~ { "God be with you, mate; I'm sorry for you!" was her parting cry. WOMAN BANK EMBEZZLER. Women have taken the places of men bank clerks in Germany on a large scale, is in England. The first case of an embezzling woman bank clerk Is that of a girl named Bosa Neumann, who stole c £1,250 in Russian securities from the Dresdner Bank In Berlin and was sentenced s to eight months' imprisonment. She pleaded that she had spent the money for - theatre tickets and in making food-forag- J tng trips to neighbouring towns. WHAT ANIMAL PROTECTION MEANS. Beating a horse with a barbed wire whip; throwing a cat into a blazing furnace; dragging a cow behind a wagon; starving by neglect a nerd of forty-five . cattle and a hundred hogs: wilfully burn- J ing horses to death in a stable —these are among the many atrocities discovered during 1917 by one or another of the 527 anti-cruelty societies in the United , States interested in animal, protection. , LIFE GIVEN FOR A BOTTLE OF WHISKY. An elderly woman named Catherine Carr, who hawked picture post cards at Westminster for a living, purchased a bottle of whisky for 15/. She was last seen going to her room, singing merrily, with the bottle under her arm. Next morning she was found dead. She had drunk the whisky neat, fallen on her face and suffocated herself. A coroner's Jury decided that her death was "accidental." SIR F. BRIDGE'S BIG "B." Sir Frederick Bridge, organist at Westminster Abbey, speaking at the Royal Society of Arts, said tnat he hoped everyone in the musical profession will say, "No damned German shall come near mc after the war!" "I for one won't play -sn a German piano. Sou would hardly expect such language from an ecclesiastical men," added Sir Frederick. "I did not mean to say 'damned,' but having said it, I'll stick to it" (Laughter.) PLUMS OF THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. The three Embassies, Petrograd, Paris and Washington, constitute the plums of the British diplomatic service. The salary paid our ambassador in Paris, £15,000 per annum, is the largest for any diplomatic position in the world, and the Washington Embassy comes next with fIO.OOO per annum. The Petrograd Embassy carries a salary of fS.OOO, and a similar sum used to be paid our representatives in Berlin and Vienna. SOLDIER BIGAMIST SET FREE. "Our rulers left us without an army and we were defenceless- In face of one of the most formidable foes in the world— those men who voluntarily joined np with Lord Kitchener's Army I think a band of heroes. They Immortalised themselves In the history of the country, and I shall always treat them as such in dealing with cases of this kind when they come before mc." The remark was made by the Recorder at the Old Bailey In releasing a wounded soldier who had pleaded guilty to bigamy. AN INCANDESCENT PIG. Otto Wntzek. a Berlin publican, has been fined £25 for violating the electric light laws under amusing circumstances. Watzek was fattening a pig in his cellar in order to provide his own customers with ham sandwiches and pork chops. He noticed that the pig squealed unceasingly when in the dark. As the peace of the establishment was perpetually disturbed, the publican turned on a of incandescent electric lamps installed near the pig's sty. This quieted the sehweln but attracted the attention of the police. The publican was found guilty of Illicit use of electricity, and sentenced to two months' arrest He appealed and eacaped with a fine. DWARF ELEPHANTS IN THE CONGO. Even in the midst of a world war it is impossible not to feel a thrill of excite ment over the discovery of dwarf elephants in the Congo fsays a writer in the "Dally Chronicle.") Their existence has again and again been reported by natives, but the I evidence was disbelieved. Seven years ago the Paris Mnseum of Natural History sent out an expedition to seek" the fabled aquatic elephants. A herd was encountered, but the animals vanished at once In Lake Leopold 11., and the story was scouted. Now. remains of two of the little marvels are to be seen in London. Clearly then we j have at last got the "water elephants," ! native stories of which have been incorI porated in so many travellers* tales. With 1 Its pigmy elephants and Its pigmy men and ! women, what aa Incredible wonderland the 1 mysterious continent remains.

A Swedish ship's carpenter was fined £90 t Newcastle for attempting to export to weden 31b of coffee, 51b of cocoa, and » mall quantity of pepper and soap. "The greatest curse of the modern ■other was that she would have her baby i bed with her." Within the past week c had held thirteen Inquests on children has taken Into bed with their mother* nd strangled.—Barking Coroner. STOLE FOR HER BABT. A young woman named Grace Foster, ,-ho was charged at Marylebone with tealing 2/6 belonging to her mistress, aid she took the money to support her aby. The father, a sailor, was dead, and oat f 11/ she earned she had to pay 5/ a wee* j a woman to look after her baby, 3/ for er room, and 2/6 for the baby's milk. The magistrate placed ber on probation. WHEH WIVES WERE BOUGHT. Wives in England were bought from. be fifth to tbe eleventh century, and as tte as the seventeenth century husbands f decent station were not ashamed to eat their wives. Gentlemen arranged artles of pleasure for the purpose of eeing wretched women whipped at BridereU. It was not till 1817 that the public shipping of women was abolished in In gland. A HEW FLAG FOR ICELAND. Iceland (says a writer In tbe "Observer") ►roposes to design a new flag as a symbol f the Independence which it has not yet -ot. The Danish ensign which it wishes to bandon is one of tbe oldest national flags n. existence. It dates from 1219. when iing Waldemar. leading his troops against he pagan Livonlans, saw a white cross In he sky, which he accepted as a sign from leaven, and embodied it In his flag- It Is till there—white on a red ground; and the las has the distinction of being swallowrailed. m UNPATRIOTIC BARONET FDCErs. Sir Ralph Blois, a Suffolk baronet, wa» ummoned before the Saxmundham magrhv rates for falling to cultivate land. Formal notice, It was said, was given tft lo the work on one farm last August, and >nly five acres had been ploughed. When :he keeping of sheep on the farm wis uggested, the bailiff said «ir Balph wonld lot nave them as they disturbed the game. It was in a shocking state when the War Agricultural Committee took it over. rhere was no stock of any kind on the farm md only one man. The Bench fined defendant £10 and costs on one count, and £50 and costs on the second. A NEAT ANSWER. General Pershing is fond of telling this story. It happened when he was on the Mexican border. A regiment was marching by when it met a small, towheaded ragged Irish boy clinging to a moth-eaten, dilapidated donkey he had been riding, and which had become restless owing to the noise of the band. It was all the boy could do to hold the beast. A joker in the ranks called out to the boy as he swung past: "Say, kid, what are you holding your little brother so tight for?" cause," came the reply from the Irish kid, "he sees yon guys and I'm afraid he m'"b* enlist," THE AMERICAN WAT. A curious incident occurred at Brest recently. American Admiral Wilson, learning that a certain important hotel was charging exorbitant prices to American officers staying there, lodged a complaint with the Mayor, who, however, expressed bis Inability to interfere. The Admiral thereupon placed sentries around tbe hotel, ordered hie officers to remove from it at once, and declared tbe hotel out of bounds. The proprietor protested against this drastic action, but the Admiral, refused to alter his decision. A DANGEROUS SOUVENIR. - A shell which had stood in the hearth of the. house of Sergeant Morgan, of that X.0.5.8., at Tweedmcuth, for sixteen years, exploded with tremendous violence last month, blowing out the windows of th» house and injuring three of the aergeaafn eight -children. The shell was brought back from Booth Africa by a comrade In his regiment and given to tbe sergeant as a souvenir. It was naturally supposed that the charge had been drawn. The children were alone In the hone* when the explosion occurred. Willie, aged twelre, who was nearest the fire, waa severely Injured and taken -tasthe infirmary. The father is serving in France, and their mother had left them a few minutes prerlously to do her week's mangling. It Is supposed that some burning soot, falling from the fire, penetrated the fuse opening at the nose of the sbelL THE KAISER'S BOT BURGLAR. Karl Wilke, the 17-year-old Cassel schoolboy who robbed the Kai3er's castle at* Wilhelmshohe In October and NoTember, 1317, has Just been sentenced to nine months* Imprisonment. Amusing testimony was given at his triaL His defence was. that he needed money to pay a £9 10/ restaurant bill Incurred at a celebration of his seventeenth birthday. He thereupon committed seven different burglaries at the Imperial castle, obtaining altogether art objects, pictures, and other valuables worth between f4,000 and £5,000, which. he stole from the private apartments ot the Kaiser, the Kalseruv. the Duchess ot Brunswick (their daughter), and Prlnoo Joachim of Prussia. His booty was sold to an antique dealer named Hermann Xadel, who gave the boy £13 for it. There was a strong suspicion that Nadel was the real culririt and he was sentenced to one and a-half years' imprisonment. DYING HAMBURG. One of the most mournful decnmenta published in Germany for a long time if the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce's report for the year 1917. It begins with a sad explanation that for the fourth year in succession the Chamber is unable tor deal with any "activities" In the once mighty Elbe port, except tie efforts of its hard-pressed 'community to combat the rigours of wax. Hamburg's trade,' the report makes plain, is utterly ruined. The entry of the United States and of South American countries Into the war. with the consequent seizure of ships representing roundly one-quarter of the entire German mercantile marine, is described as a 1317 event which fillet. Hamburg's cop of grief to overflowing. But Hamburg does not regret having favoured "unrestricted" U-boat warfare. because It still believes that "it will force our enemies, especially our arch-foe, England, to conclude a peaoa I favourable to Germany-"