Around the Globe

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 73, 27 March 1920, Page 19

Around the Globe

Belgian trade unionists have adopted a ■oposal making all workmen to devote ie hour's pay to the fund for the relief ' the Viennese children. A decree has been published in Madrid ohlblclng the making-up. publication, .'livery, and sale of newspapers oa Sunivs. The order will come into force on jnday next, says the "Telegraph" corresmdent. And this is from the country ! Sunday bull fijht?: The most extraordinary tattooing idea rer carried out was that of a French laehman. who at the time of tbe celerated Dreyfus trial, had his body c-evtred Ith no fewer than 120 illustrations of the lse, including portraits of the leading jrsonages. Tbe work occupied nearly | vo years. WHAT RAIL STRIKE COST. An pfficial statement just issued by the National Union of Rallwaymen throws lneresting lisht on the heavy financial bur-, lens caused by tbe national stoppage iv ! he autumn. Strike pay totalling £20c5.9.V> was sanctioned. The bank allowed an overdraft of 5300.000. and War Loan stock worth over i2C0.000 had to be rea'.i-ecl. FLAGS OF NEW NATIONS. Tbe French Minister of Marine in a note, escribes the flags of new States recognised y the Allies. These are: Letvia. coloured, »d and white horizontal stripes: Esthonla. due, black and white, horizontal stripe*; leorpia, a crimson ground with a re.-tangle alf black and half white in The upper orner: the Kingdom of the Heeljaz. black, reen and white horizontal stripes. £100 OFFERED FOR AN EYE. A boy named William Cbantler lost liii :ght eye in an accident at his work. At horedltch County Court it was stated aat his employers, Messrs. Kempner and trandon. Hackney, were willing to fay 100. and that the boy's parents would ccept that sum. Judge Cluer: And have either or the efendants ever lost eye 3, as they are -'llllug to take £100 for an eye? 'Why, an isurance company puts fthe value of an ye at £300. The settlement was refused. LACE WRAPS FOR MEN. Man. according to "Men's Wear," "is a asbionable creature" and "Is gradually, but mrely, following the lead given him by tbe adles." The manufacturer Is studying hi 3 tastes md producing graceful garments on novel Ines for the coming season. "The demand :oday is for everything open—open neck :ennls shirts, open neck pyjamas, and open aeck sweaters. "Within the next few years," it 13 prelicted, "we shall witness a complete revolution ln man's attire generally." To go on with, we are to have this year "heavy lace knitted motor wraps, manufactured to satisfy the most carping critic who ever existed." VAST FORTUNES IN TTNPLATES The record prosperity of the Welsh tin slate trade Is a romance of industry, says the "Daily Mail." To-day plates are changing hands at 64/ a box. compared ivlth 12/6 pre-war. The trade Is unique ln that it Is one >f those Industries that over 100 years igo was established by the Germane. A Welshman, from Pontypool, was at that rime sent across the North Sea, and he returned with the secret of successfully tinning Iron plates. FTom. crude toeglnilnits the Welsh Industry waa built up at Pontypool, Neath, Llanelly, and Swansea, mtU to-day the process of manufacture :urns out a perfect steel plate coated with :ln which is the envy of German compe''' :ors. Many of the chief proprietors nave ■bien through the works to industrial fame md fortune. The late Lord Glantawe started life as a boy in the tlnworks. MACKEREL MYSTERY. Why mackerel should swim ln a taut from left to right and never otherwise, is t problem which the united intelligence o. all members of the Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee has failed to solve, it Is knowr as the great mackerel mystery. For mon than thirty years, a "Morning Post' authority states, the Brighton Aquarium has kept mackerel. When first IntroflaceO to their glass tank they persisted in tryin: to swim through the glass, to their grlevour -bodily harm, an island was aei up in rhe middle of their lake. Accidents at once ceased. And for twenty years anc more the mackerel have been swlmmlni steadfastly round that Island, by day anc by night, in season and out of season, anc never once have they been observed to swln from right to left. WEEK-END WIFE. A wife's double life—living with a tuai ln Paris and paying week-end visits to he 'husband In London —was disclosed whei Mr. William Alfred Alexander, provls_oi merchant, was granted a decree nlsL Mr. Alexander said he married Iris wlf In France ln 1002. They came to £nglan. and lived together until January, 1911. whe; his wife went to Paris to nurse her mother Between lall and 1914 his wife used t visit him at week-ends iv I»ndon. It wa not until »16 that he discovered bis wife' unfaithfulness, but could do nothing owiit to the war. Last year, however, a private detectlv was employed and the necessary evident ! for divorce proceedings obtained. i A private inquiry agent described ho', in May last he watched Mrs. Aiexauae and her lover. Marcel Cheradatn (who « cited as corespondent. at tbelr nat l Paris. No defence was offered. HUSBAND'S HYMN OF HATE. Mrs. Catherine Mackenzie Tillman, •. I Edinburgh, was granted a decree nisi an custody of her children at the DivorCourt in London, because of the desertio aad misconduct of her husband. n r . Ilerte-r Albert Tillman. There was no defen-e ' the suit. After her marriage in June. 19e>). til wife said, she lived with her husband a Leicester and elsewhere. Iv 190S tbet was trouble over another girl, although th husband declared tbere was nothing wrouj The same year he attempted sui.-ide an was placed ln a home. When he came ..-:■ Instead of returning to bis wife, he an the girl before mentioned disappeared, '■ be wrote from Hull to his wife In Ma; ICWS:— "I wish to let you know by this letU how much 1 hate and loathe yon. You a: absolutely less to mc than any crawHo insect. If it is of any benefit yon ma use this letter for any purpose you choos. I admit misconduct free.-. I have no mo: to say to yon." Xir. Tillman then disappeared, but fro: the Medical Register 'Jte wife discovert that be had gone to Caerphilly, <3!am where he lived with a "wife" who was nc the petlrlojer. _ f

Cotton growing in South Africa is mafcng remarkable progress, exports increasing n one year from 7o to 700 tuns. One man nade a clear profit of £2U< fr..m four acres. Fireflies are artleies of commerce in 'apan. At every entertainment they are ■et free by thousands In the gardens. They ■re gathered by children, who have many •firefly songs." which are supposed to ittra.-r tbe fireflies. DOGS AS BEDTELLOWS. T'cat she was made to sleep with her ht:sr.-ir ; cis dogs was asserted by a woman in Dunia'k Police rv.urr. Ellen, Clarke, formerly a school teacher, summoned her husband. Joseph Clarke, timber merchant, for desertion. The Court made au order directing the defendant to contribute €2 . a week to his •,vife'6 maintenance. BERLIN TRUNK CRIME. A terrible d->uM-- child murder has been llscovered in tbe house of a Berlin police ■ergeant. A son, used 12. and a daughter iged S. were found dead ln a trunk in ivhlch they had been shut and apparently suffocated. Both mother and father were irrested. The mother has now confessed hat she shut up both children "for pnnlshnent." and put a heavy stone on top of :b» trunk. A> first they screamed, she said, "but gradually they became quiet, rhe' mother is >aid to be a hysterical -oman. who 0r..-e beat out '.he brains ot six rabbits belonging to -he children. SINKER OF LUSITANIA IN MADHOUSE. Two former German officers, who too* part in the submarine war but are no* working as fishermen, deny that the repor* Is correct that the T2O. which was stranded off Jutland, was the submarine which torpedoed the Lusitur-ia, says a "Week'y Daspatch" correspondent. They maintain that the Lusitaiila was sunk icy the TT22, and declare -that the commander of that boat became mad on the dar that the terrible deed was done. i*bey Bsy- that he has "been interned In • madhouse in Germany ever since. LONGEST SHIPS IN THE WOBUJ The stay of the battle cruiser Benowti ln our waters, says the "Sclentifie American," has raised a discussion as to which are' the longest ships afloat. Of course, amongst merchant ships tbe 1.30 feet long, is the longest, with tho Imperator and the Aquitanla, each 900 .feet long, of the Cunard line, coming next. Among warships the longest in commission, 10-day are the Renown and her sister. ths Repulse, each being 739 feet. But the longest warship constructed Is the Britten battle cruiser Hood, which ie 900 feet to length, and about 42,000 tons load displacement. a.SETTLING ACCOUNTS. j Pre-war commercial debts outstanding 'between British and German traders are I now being settled through clearing-houses lln England and Germany. So fax, BrttishI traders - Claims against Germans amount to between £50,000,000 and £60.000,000, and German claims against British house* exceed £15,000,000. of which over £500.000 has already been paid. Under the Treaty of Peace, such debts on both sides carry 5r per cent. Interest for each of the five years of war—27j per cent, iv £.11—and, after allowing 2i per cent, for clearing-choose ei- | penses, the happy creditors will receive i tbelr claims ln full, with a quarter more for Interest. j ——— CURE FOR CONSUMPTIV BS Professor Bryan, in addressing the Aeronautical Engineers, prophesied that in. a. few years' time there will be an hotel aE the North Pole, says tbe 'Glasgow Herald." It takes one's breath away to think of it, but there is very little doubt that the alr_shlp Is going to take us to many places hitherto written off as inaccessible. When, labour troubles have eubslded and prices ! get stabilised, clever men will start about ' making things business propositions, and there Is going to be a great deal of lung . hnslneEa done by airship. Kipling's idea was lung cruising ln the upper altitudes, but at present that promL«es to be aa e» j pensive kind of cure. | ABLE TO WRITE, BUT UNABLB TO READ. j A witness in a case at Ashby-de-la-Zouedi was found to be suffering from the strange affection called "alexia." Though able to write and spell perfectly, he could not read, says "Pearson's Weekly." This applied not only to primed matter, but even, ta what he bad written himself. There are several similar diseases, all at which are very peculiar. In "aphacsia" the patient is unable to i explain his thoughts If means of speech, it Is a most painful- business for tbe sufferer tries desperately to talk hut never i gets hold of one correct word. For Instance, jlf he means to say: "How d 0 you do?" he may say, aa ln an actual instance, "Throw 'mc out of window." j Sometimes be can form sentences, sometimes The words he utters are a mere meaningless jumble. The worst of ft la i that he knows perfectly well what he wants jto say. It i s Lot if he were off his 1 head. Tbe "lesion" c,r weakness, affects ; only one particular portion of the brain. | A rnird i,,rm v. "agraphia," or ti-e I inability to write The sufferer Is very j often a nerc a who bus done a deal of writing and the b:ou tails quite suddeniv. .. He .■„„ read as w.:. ever, but when be I puus pen to paper :..- ■ ante.: ro.-m a slug.v letter, let ui.i.e a -ord ~.- seruen.-e. CANNOT KILL HTM are i-oEfronr«i -..!-., the et' ruo:.ili.ary y.-o- ---; b.em o.' l.ovv ... k. 1 a c-rim-ual legaby. 10..<. niurde.. .-, j„ Jlls >~.,, -j-i a | ' .-k-ban-uou-c .:. -~.. -...-.- , iru . a ; ',7_'- rirm-slttiKe-a. At tl.e n..i. j :.,. jury, finding no - extenuating ■ i. •.:..--, v e-. sentenced him ' A.,.,1d1cg to Swi-, . a w. however, there. ■ lire only twej in.-j:;- i-> executittg a crunl- . na.- the guillotine ~:- de-upltntlun with a : .>;;t>."c-. l*rofe*--i ;nai execct:oii**rs with, a. ■sabre disappeared : o ii» age. uliile Swttzeri land pc,s-e,.es o i,|_ v ~.,.. r .._ xy Ku i:.otine iv . employed after uiaiij pieparatl >tis. to deI -apitate a murderer i-u .ears ~:;n. - t >.-i :he question ar..-e „f iniportiiis a c--v The; eleatli pec Icy cm>> abolished many , years ng., : u all the 22 Cantons except four. Sentence of imprisonment for r life 1< usually pronounced In extreme ■ .uses, but tbl< rue is complicated by rhe ,'| fa-t that Kamei is sl.-k of life, and de- - mauds the death penalty, at.d not lmpri.=ou- . ment for life. ■ j AfVorcliEs lo the verdi-- of rh r- jury he jis legally entitleel to make this demand. i He refuses to appeal, and the autborlt.es Ij must therefore put nlm to death, out the . question Is how': It would take several t weeks to make the ac-b-nt guillotine at j Uicecmj. -work satisfactorily.