Around the Globe

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 19

Around the Globe

One person in every twenty-eight In England and Wales is in receipt of poor law -lie,. j THE GASTRONOMISTS. Dr. A. Glascocli, addressing the Medical Convention in New York, described Americans as "a nation of over-eaters." Over- I eating was the greatest cause of disease in | the United States, and Ue suggested that men should wear corsets and diet strictly to combat the danger of overweight. 1 POST-MORTEM TEMPERATURE. A case of the rise of temperatures after death was mentioned at a Morylebone inquest on Leo Arnold, ."a, who died from heat stroke. Dr. Reginald Peat said that shortly hefore death the man's temperature was' llOdeg, but arter death It went up to 1)2. | Chauncey B. Tinker, professor of English at Yale University, handed the pa!m to Americans girls for their ability to drink "anything, anywhere and at any Urns. They are almost perfect," the professor said, his eyes twinkling as he considered his words. -'The younger generation are all right, God bless them. And as for drlnlsing. they know when to stop better than did those of a past generation." HOLD MY BABY" TRICK. A handsome young woman of 23, approaching a little girl sitting on Tootine Bee Common, asked her to hold her baby for a few moments while she went to buy some biscuits. The child readily agreed, and irarsed the baby. An 'hour passed, however, and as the mother did not return the girl told a park keeper. The police were notified, and removed the baby to St. James' Hospital. UNKNOWN MONSTER. They have caught something besides Mr. de Valera in Ireland. At Cahircaveen, in County Kerry, fishermen landed a "fish" ten tons in weight, 30ft long and ISft !n circumference. It took many fishermen 21 hours to land it. No piscatorial experts, including those of the British .Museum, were able to say what species the monster belonged to, but they are all agreed that the giant was like a specimen caught off Panama, which weighed 15 tons. THE BEER CURE. Ex-service men under treatment f" r tuberculosis who drink beer pot on more weight and are apparently better In healtn than those who abstain, it "was stated at a meeting of the Soath-West Middlesex War Pensions Committee. One man, lectured by an official for "taking too much," promised to keep soher, and did so for a fortnight. He lost twelve pounds in weight (says the "Dally Expressreport), and had to be placed again under treatment. QUEEN AND BABY. The King and Queen lately visited Earl Haig*s garden settlement in 'Edinburgh for <tfsabled ex-.Service men. AfteT the Queen had. planted a tree in the square ehe visited the cottage of a Mrs. Harvey. The ■woman's two-year-old child, which was in an upstairs room, was heard to cry, and the Queen Immediately went upstairs and pacified the infant. Mrs. iFTarvey was asked where the Kins was, and she naively answered: "Oh, he stayed in the kitchen with mc." A HOUSE STOLEN. A resident of a Paris suburb has the misfortune to lose his entire house. Tired of living in a cramped flat and unable to find suitable accommodation, he bought a plot of land and a wooden souse to be erected in sections. These be set up and beautified, but before removing his furniture he decided to take a week's | holiday at Deauville. "When he returned he found that his house had vanished, and nothing was left but a few screws. The thieves had taken the house to pieces and had carted them away, with even the dog kennel and chicken house. DEATH FROM POWDER PUFF. An inspector of the London County Council gave the Islington coroner a striking explanation of the way in which a child of two months named Montague Dolman, whose parents live at Sotheby Road, X., got its clothing alight and afterward* died from bums. The mother had placed the baby In a wicker cot by the side of a table on which stood a lighted candle and a email celluloid powder box. When the child was fonnd with Its clothing alight and taken to hospital, the powder-box was missed, and the Inspector said that hot was had dropped down from the candle and set the celluloid box alight. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. THUMBS UP! Scientists of Chicago, according to the "New York Herald," are hastening to Echo Lake, near Hay City, in Nebraska State, to investigate nu apparently genuine account of the presence of a prehistoric animal in the wilds of the vicinity. George Locke and Uobert Cooke. two ranchers of Central City, Nebraska, got into difficulties with their moto rear while passing the lake, nnd were forced to spend the night on the spot. In the middle of the night they heard a tremendous splashing in the lake, and were amnzed to sec a huge animal, described as having a neck as long as a giraffe, and a born in the middle of its forehead. Farmers in the neighbourhood have been losing calves in a mysterious manner, and 1 they are confident that the strnnge beast I is responsible.

Mr. George Smltb. a Journalist, who sustained a broken leg in a motor cycle collision, received a basket of flowers sent W j the Queen. i BAN ON RED-NOSED POLICE. Considering it wonld bring discredit on the j force, the Southend chief constable has ■ written to the local Carnival Committee 'objecting to anyone dressing up as a constable with a red nose. WORLD'S FATTEST MAN. ( A Budapest meesage says that "the SerI vians, Croats, and Slovenes possess the fattest man in the world. He comes from tie town of Zaitehar. and is said to weigh about 38 stone. His "width" is given as 5s feet, and more than 10 yards of clotli is necessary to make him a suit. ! YOUNG AT SEVENTY-FIVE. I Toe engagement was announced of Mr. Fred Weatherly, of Bath, the famous songwriter, to the widow of Mr. John Bryan, of Llanfechan. Montgomeryshire, a wellknown Welsh singer. Mr. TVeatherly, who is a prominent barrister on the Western Circuit, wrote "Nirvana" and other 6ongs known to millions. lie is 73. OCTOGENARIAN THIEF. ! For stealing a piece of satin worth 7/3, ja woman of So was sent to prison in LonEllen Adams a laundress, who stole the satin, was described by the prosecution as a perfect nuisance. She 'had been caught stealing 'before, but on account of her age no proceedings were taken. HOMING PIGEON WALKS IT! Though it.s wings had been clipped and its tail feathers torn out, a homing pigeon limped took to the loft of an Imminghajn fancier named Grebby, and a boy of ten, who admitted stealing the bird and mntUsjtSng it so that It might not return home, ■ was ordered by the Grlmsby County Bench to receive three strokes with the birch. OIL ON FIRE. j When a pressing machine in a tailor's shop blazed up suddenly, an employee , picked up a bucket' of benzine, believing it to be water, poured the oil on to the machine, and started a fire which virtually wiped out Orangetleld, a village in the Orange oilfield at Beaumont, Texas. Thirteen buildings were consumed, and the loss is estimated at 100,000 dollars. CHEAP CLUB BEER. " Workingmen's clubs in the Ponteiract district sell beer .to members cheaper than it can be bought In the public-house," said Police Superintendent Flairbum in a case at Pontefraet, "and there are frequent complaints of non-members sending children to members , nouses with bottles, and members going into the clubs, ha-ving the •bottles filled with beer, and returning them to the children." WONT-WAIT COUPLES. Iα his annual report, <£ne medical officer 'of Leicester esys the marriage pate is stUi much higher than it was before the war, wliich indicates that the housing shortage does not deter young people from matrimony. Indeed, the Ehortage ie actually conducing rto matrimony, says the medlral officer. In normal times these people defer marriage until they can start a home of their own. Now they do not wait to save for a home, but live with their parents. CHEERFUL ASSASSIN. A gruesome explanation is furnißhed from Moscow of the discovery during the last two years in the Moskva River and other places of 27 corpses sewn up in sacks and having their skulls shattered. The police have arrested a Moscow citizen named Petroff, who boasts he took only 15 minutes to operate on prospective purchasers of a horse he offered for sale by smashing their skulls, strangling them with a rope, and putting them into a sack. EXHUMING A PARENT. Before his death, iMx. Thomas Bird, retired accountant, of Doncaster, requested to be burled in the same grave as nis wife at Doncaster. In her erief at her loss, the daughter forgot her lather's wish, and Hie was burled at Scarborough. Immediately after tlie funeral, however, she remembered, and made application to the authorities. Tie body was exTmnied, and has been reburiei in Doncaster. WOMAN m SLEEP. Awakened at five in the morning toy the sound of a heavy thud, the son of Rosa. iHemmings, of Stevenage, Herts, went to his mother's room and found her lying in a pool of blood. There was a terrible wound, apparently Inflicted by some lieavy instrument, on her head, and she Vas dead. Search was then made for the husband. who was missing. He was eventually found in a field with a wound in his throat end bearing traces of Laving been in the water. POISONED BY STORM. A mysterious case of poisoning, attributed to a storm, was investigated by the Southwark Coroner. Ernest Wright, 27, a labourer, came home very ill and scarcely able to stand. He told his mother the rain had got on to some sacks in the foundry, and gave rise to fumes. The police surgeon, who made a post mortem, said he suspected poisoning by arsenuretted hydrogen. Mr. Alfred Mnnday, chief metallurgist and manager at the foundry, said they had bags containing printers' dross consisting oC 85 per cent of actual metal, the remainder being oxide, PJ lu aweewings lrom the printers" , dust, etc. SURGERY ON THE FILM. Films were used to show the wonders of modern surgery at a sitting of the International Society of Surgery, in London. The congress was discussing arthroplasty, the new method of producing joints of the body artificially where the original Joints have become fixed. An Italian, Dr. V. l'utti. of R.ilopnn, who lias performed 140 operation* of this kind, is the strongest advueato nf tho new method. A fll-a showed him performing an operation and the suhsetiuenr progress <-f the patient. Later four ot Dr. PuttlVs patients, who i c- s i y j. appeared,, on the platform. AH were formerly cripples, and they c.in now walk with ease. Two are still officers in tbe Italian army. A film was aleo exhibited in connection with the report of Dr. W. R. MacAusland on an operation to the elbow. In the subsequent discussion. Dr. Eltnslie London, said there wns no doubt thnt boj-s and girl* with bony disease of the hip, conM mlles farther than other children.