News From All Quarters

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 52, 1 March 1919, Page 19

News From All Quarters

The U.S. Shipping Board has decided to cancel all outstanding contracts for wooden ships where the builders have not spent more than £40,000 on a ship, says Reuter. We _beUeve in taking every possible precaution in flu time like this, and in obeying the doctor's orders explicitly, and as long as the slightest danger of contagion exists, which may be for several years, we shall kiss no wife's relatives, the younger generation being all boys anyway. DIVORCED AFTER 30 YEARS. A decree nisi was g _inted in the Divorce Court, London, last month, to Mrs Cecilia Henrietta Augusta Singer against her busband, Mr. Paris E. Singer. There was no defence. The marriage took place at Hobart, Tasmania, in 18S7, and in 1910, when they were living in England. Mr. Singer left his wife. lie wrote later say- : ing be had an affection for a Miss Bates, with whom he was now believed to be ' living in New York. SUGAR SAVED IN THE U.S. During the months of July, August, September, October, and November of last year the American people saved seven hundred and seventy-five thousand tons or sugar. This amount includes that saved as a result of the restrictions placed on con- ' fectlonery and soft-drink products. The Federal Food Board, in making this ' announcement, stated that the object in 1 asking for economy in the use of sugar was to lnsnre a supply that would be adequate to meet the needs of the Allies. i . i _30-A-WEEK FISHERMEN. ' Great sums have been earned during East Coast herring Ashing by Lowestoft drifters recently. Generally speaking, tbe controlled price of £6 0/ per cran has Ibeen given ter the herrings, as against an average of •_/ per ' cran In pre-war days. One drifter secured ' tbe record earnings of £10,240, another : _aSOO, and several averaged £8000.' Some fishermen for three months' work ' took from £_0 to £400, whilst it was a common thing for a lad to take over £100 for a three months' voyage. THE HELP DIFFICULTY. A State Investigation of the domestic help problem in Pennsylvania does not hold out any hope of its solution by the release of women workers from war work. The war is over, but there has been no stampede of girls back to the kitchens and nurseries. The question now is, have we not passed into a new era of home service In which there will be no return to the conditions known before the war? In other words, will the general houseworker ever be plentiful again? The report points the moral that man who wants but little here below, and his wife and children, must arrange their scheme of living so that they will want less of anything that necessitates beH). FORTUNES TO SQUANDER. Tlie "robber" Republic of 'Brunswick oujrht to be well provMed with funds, seeing that it has confiscated the fortune of its ex-Duke, the ex-Knlser's son-in-law. Tbe estates of the ruler of Brunswick under the old regime were worth over two millions sterling, the whole of which is now at the disposal of the tailor President and his comic opera Government- The fallen monarch, however, Is not exactly penniless, for as the <_n of the Duke of Cumherland he is heir to .. fortune estimated to be worth 2r>,000.000 -marks. What, by the way, has become of the .Prince of Thurn and Taxis* Xext to the •Kaiser, he was reputed to he the richest man in Germany, with an Income estimated at £SOO.OOO per annum. A few Incomes like that will be very useful to the German Government which has the responsibility of paying tbe Allies' ibill when it is presented. —London "Dally Chronicle.' SHIPS TO RETURN TO TRADE ROUTES'. United States ships, with an aggregate carrying capacity of eight hundred thousand tons have been designated for return to the trade rontes, after having been under tbe jurisdiction of tbe Army Quartermaster Department during the war. This announcement is viewed In shipping circles ns one of the most important in the way of readjustment since the signing of the armistice. The understanding is that tbe eight hundred thousand tons now designated will shortly be increased to one million tons, and that the ships will be allocated to various trades, principal among which will be Soutb and Central American commerce. WOMEN MOTOR THIEVES. Women motor car thieves and women burglars have been a source of considerable trouble to the police during the past I few. weeks, says a London daily of December 12. Many thousands ot women learned to drive motor cars during the war, and among tbem were wives and sweethearts of professional thieves, who saw an opportunity of increasing facilities for carrying out daring robberies. Motor cars stolen while left unattended In the street have been used extensively to carry large quantities of cloth, costumes, furs, cigars, and cigarettes taken from warehouses and private bouses. It is now known that in some instances the motor cars have been stolen by women drivers. In one case three hairpins were found in a roadway in the West End on the spot whence a car had been stolen, and I the evidence showed that a woman had ; been seen to turn the starting handle. In doing this the hairpins had dropped from her hair. DUDLEY MATRIMONIAL DIFFERENCES. A settlement of the action brought *b.v the Countess of Dudley against the Ear], a former Governor-General of Australia, which was tried a few weeks ago by Mr. Justice •AstJbm. In the Chancery Division, was announced In Court recently. The Countess claimed rectification of a deed of separation made between her and Lord Dudley In October. 1912, so as to make it clear that she was entitled to an annual sum of 0000 free of income-tax as an allowance from Mie Earl. yir. Justice Astbury reserved his judgment, and suggested that meanwhile a settlement might yet be arrived at, attempts in that direction having 'been made while the trial proceeded. "Mr. 'Fran 1 -- Russell, K.C., on behalf of the Countess, now said that after tbe Judge's suggestion negotiations were I opened between counsel and he was glad to say that a settlement had fteen arrived at. i There was no necessity to trouble his lordship with the terms of settlement, but they would be embodied In an order which they would ask bis lordship to make. This order will stay all further proceedings in thea ction, with liberty to apply to the Court if necessary to enforce them. 1

It is reported from Vienna that the exEmperor Karl intends to be a candidate for election to the Austrian National Assembly in March. He intends to gather all the partisans of the monarchy around his person. SENSATIONAL INVENTION. 'Mr. Vail, the president of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, announces a new multiplex installation which enables one wire to do the work of ten used heretofore. A pair of wires carries Aye conversations simultaneously, or forty telegraph messages. £122 FER MAN FOR NINE DAYS* FISHING. For nine days' work at sea, each of tbe four men comprising the crew of the Canadian fishing vessel Kennel, has received £122. The Rennel was on the halibut fishing banks nine days, and the catch amounted to 25,0001t_. To-day the Kennel enjoys the distinction of being the "treasure ship" of Prince Rupert. AMERICA'S BACHELOR CLUB. In Evanston, Illinois, there is. or was, an "apartment house" for wealthy bachelors, and during the last .three years no woman has been seen in the lobby, the billiard room, or on the roof-garden. But the war has changed these conditions, and the owner of the cltfb—a ladyhas now determined that it shall no longer be a retreat for men who are shirking their responsibilities in life. She has just announced that married couples will be given the preference, and if the others don't like it they must join the ranks o f - Eenedicts—or move on. THE SECOND RICHEST GERMAN. August Thyssen, who is reported to have been arrested on a charge of high treason by the Soldiers' Council of Berlin, is next to Baroness yon Krupp, the greatest ironmaster in Germany, and before the war his business had ramifications In almost every country of the woild. He started half a century ago with a capital of £1200, with which he opened a rolling mill employing 50 workmen. In August. 1914, his employees numbered 00,000. and his fortune was estimated at 20 millions sterling. Unless he has been unlike all other Hun magnates, that figure has been enormously increased during the past four years. BEAR'S HONEY INSTINCT. Bears have a great liking for honey. A. report from Pennsylvania tells how while ' a man was engaged in removing some rich wild honey from the trunk of a fallen tree, a big bear made his appearance. The man, dumbfounded, watched the bear until it was within a distance of about "0 feet of him. Then he decided to get away. About tbe j same time Bruin scented the honey and started on the run for the tree which contained it. On the following day the man found that Ihe bear had not only eaten the honey that he had placed in two pails, but had torn the trunk of the tree to splinters. and secured the honey remaining in the tree. GERMANY SEEKS TO CONTROL THE AIR. Shaw De_nond, the "Express" correspondent at. Copenhagen, writes: ' "I have received private information from . an authoritative source that Germany is making enormous secret preparations to secure the mastery of the air. German insurance conrpnnies are seeking- to cover in neutral countries, especially in (Denmark,' for insurance relating to a _reat chain of airplane factories nnd to aerial experiments. (Factories throughout Germany are now being converted from war activities to the building of airplanes and air engines. "Staffs, "including engineers, designers, and pilots, are ibeing trained. Gigantic hangars and flying stations are to be laid down in all the principal towns. First steps will be to link up the chief German centres with Berlin, and then Berlin will he linked with the outside world, including Paris. London, and even New York. "Although lighter than air machines are not regarded as of serious practical value, a Zeppelin will be used to make a transAtlantic flight in the spring." COUPLE MARRIED TWICE. In tbe Divorce Conrt, London, in December, before Mr Justice Coleridge, a somewhat unusual story of matrimonial life was told. Mrs Elizabeth Louisa Busby, living at Wimbledon, petitioned for a divorce from her husband, Mr Edward David Kent Busby, a solicitor, of Queen Victoria Street, on the ground of his cruelty and misconduct. There was no defence. Mr Tyndale. for the petitioner, stated that during the latter part of the first i marriage the respondent treated his wife with great unkindness and neglect. In June, 1915, she obtained a decree of restitution of conjugal rights, and on May 31, 1916, Mr Justice Shearman granted her a decree nisi, on the ground of the respondent's misconduct and statutory desertion, the decree nisi, being made absolute on November ", 1916. Owing to t_e persuasion of her father and of her son. tbe petitioner remarried the respondent on December 22. 1917. The respondent, said counsel, was a man of tbe most extraordinary irritability, and when he became passionate he would strike his wife or anyone else who was near. A decree nisi was granted, nnd his lordship remarked: "I hope they won't remarry" (laughter). . Counsel: "I shall not advise them to do so, my lord." MAKING AMERICANS " WHILE YOTT WAIT." Tailors who press and mend suits, cobblers who repair boots, milliners who trim hats "while you wait" have long been ~ a feature of city life in the United States," but it has remained for the International Institute of the Young Women's Christian ■ Association to apply the same intensive principle to the Amerioauisation of foreign, girls. At a boarding home for foreign born girls which it maintains in New York, and at which sometimes twenty-one nationalities are represented among the twenty-six inmates whom it accommodates, English and the "American" way of doing things are learned with lightning-like speed. At the dinner hour at the home the girls are required to speak only English, and they are urged to apeak it at all times. A working knowledge of the language is often acquired within a few weeks, and almost always within a few months. ! But the narrow view of "Americanisation," which would condemn native languages and customs to be forgotten Is not practised at the Institute. The girls are encouraged to retain their mother tongue as well as to learn English, and to treasure the traditions of their native lands. Entertainments are given at which they wear ■ their native costumes and reproduce their aational festivals and