NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 19

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

One thousand applications a week for houses and fiats are being received by tbe London County Council. A giant swordfish frozen into a two-ton block of ice will be exhibited in the Nc'v Zealand section at Wembley Exhibition. Mrs. Mary Denning, of Coleford, Bath, ivho has died in ber 100 th year, was one ot twins. Her twin sister died 10 years' ago. A small plant bearing flowers which resemble tiny slippers was among exhibits at the show of the Hoyal Horticultural Society. With a population of about 600.0D0, Alberta, Canada, has now, apart from her higher seats of learning, 3000 schools a*" 1 5000 teachers. An old African native, who a3 a boy was rescued from slavery by tbe great African explorer, David Livingstone, is living in a little cottage in Chislehurst, Kent. An Indian theatre, in which the "mango tree trick, the basket trick and possibly the Indian rope trick will be performed," has been erected at the British Empire Exhibition. Mr. James Elliman, famous for his embrocation and bis benefactions to Slough, recently died at Brighton. His gifts to Slough were worth altogether about £100,000.

WOMAN FARMING AT 103. The French Ministry of Agriculture has awarded the Order of Agricultural Merit to Mme. Josephine Clolery, a farmer, who, in spite of her age—she is 103—is doing farm work and has been cultivating tbe soil all her life. DEADLT FLUMONIA. A serious epidemic or influenza broke out In Blackburn. The death roll is unprecedented. At the cemetery, where 130 burials have taken place in 14 days, the hours are being extended. Hearses are being borrowed from neighbouring towns. Over 4000 insured persons were on the sick list, and local industries were held up KING'S PARDON FOR WORKER. A Clyde shipyard worker named John Manderson, of Govan, has received the King's pardon for an alleged offence of which he was convicted nearly two years ago, and underwent three weeks' imprisonment. He was the victim of a clerk who j bas recently been convicted of appropriating dole money. STARVED HERSELF FOR HER CHILD. Earning only 13/ a week by preparing rabbit skins, Mrs. Elizabeth Stacey, of Petrockstow, Devon, tried to keep herself i and her 12-year-old grandson. To feed i the boy she went without i.ood herself, i She was found dead from extreme emaciation, sitting in front of a board on which a- rabbit skin was partly nailed and with a nail in her hand.

GIRL TYPISTS FALL FROM TRAIN. While Miss Blanchard, a London typist, aged 19, of Croydon Road, Beckenham, was standing In a crowded compartment of a fast train from Croydon to London, the door opened and she fell out backwards. After walking along the line she collapsed on reaching Beckenham Station platform, suffering from slight concussion and other minor injuries. TWO DEATHS IN CHURCH. A girl walking up the middle aisle of St. Mary's Parish Church, Stoke Newlngton, shortly before the beginning of the service, fainted. She was carried to a pew and attended by Dr. Mack, a sidesman, but she died in a short time. Henry Billet (72), a retired tradesman of Worthing, died ia Steyne Gardens Wesleyan Church. He was noticeu to be unwell soon after he took his seat in the pew. ELOPED WITH YOUTH ON STOLEN MONET. Arrested after eloping to London with a youth of 10, Emily Sugden (24), was sent to prison for three months at Bradford for robbing ber employer, an Inland Revenue collector. The youth, Lesllle Walker, was ordered six months' hard labour. He was said to have persuaded the girl to commit the thefts and to have taken the bulk of the stolen money—nearly fIOOO in all. BANK DIRECTOR'S DEATH IN A TAXI. While driving in a taxi-cab to Euston Station from a board meeting, Mr. John H. Clayton, a director of Lloyds Bank, collapsed and died. Mr. Clayton, who came from Birkenhead, was accompanied by a fellow director. On the way to Euston Station he became ill, and the driver was told to go to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Mr. Clayton died before the hospital was reached. He had recently recovered from an attack of influenza. COMEDY AT NO. 11. Staid Downing Street was the scene recently of an unexpected little comedy which greatly amused the crowd which gathers daily to watch the official residences. Two men were seen to rear a ladder against the front of No. 11, the residence occupied by the Lord Privy Seal (Mr. J. R. Clynes), and one of them, mounting it, produced a wooden mallet and deliberately smashed a window on the first floor. The crowd gasped. Then someone noticed that the ladder bore the initials, "lI.M.O.W."—His Majesty's Office of Works. The fact was that on Friday evening, while two of Mr. Clynes' sons were playing an indoor game, the pane of glass was accidentally damaged, and tht workmen had arrived to replace it. In his lighter moments Mr. Clynes joins his sons in a game resembling table tennis, which they play in the drawing-room.

A Crimean veteran of 93, who was nurse* by Florence Nightingale, has died in Ha** iingden (Lanes.) Union Infirmary. A necklace of ISS pearls was sold at a Palis auction room for _,_21_,175 francs (say, £33,000). The vendor is reported to be one of tbe recent unfortunate speculators in francs. Parents responsible for the school strtt* at Eggington (Beds.), where children over 11 refuse to walk three miles to a senior school, are to be prosecuted. The dispute begau last September. Jehu Greenhalgh, of Hcapbridge, Hey wood. Lanes., was found dead with his bead in a wash boiler. In February last year his son attempted to murder him, and afterwards committed suicide. Alexander Bell f aged 70, of Kilsytb, near Glasgow, who lived for several years with a split spine, caused by a fall, died recently. He was able to move about until a few days before his death, which was considered remarkable. THE LAWYER WINS. "Yon won't get anything if you are not careful," said Judge Cluer at ShoreditcH County Court oa Tuesday to a plaintiff in an administration case. "The lawyers will have it. Yon remember the tale of the tw» farmers—one pulling at the horns of th* cow and the other pulling the tail, while a, lawyer did the milking." BOY'S DANGEROUS JOKE. Two boys, who set fire to a Glasgo* cinema "for a practical joke," were eactt fined £3 3/. -While the entertainment was to progress they sprinkled a quantity of benzine on the floor and set fire to It. The benzine burst into flames, and, amis women's Bcreams, the people In tho hall dashed for the exits. i ■Fortunately no one was injure! fcjj "•'"•£ I AIR SPEED RECORD. "* A Daimler air express create* a _pe*<| record on Its maiden flight—between Lo* don and Manchester. It made two return flights, a distance of nearly SOO miles, in actual flying time ot only seven hours. The machine, a Napier DH 34, was fltte* with an entirely new type of wing. Eaca flight from London to Manchester was made in 90 minutes. The return flight! occupied two hours each. SPIKE ISLAND. '^* Spike Island, or Fort Westmoreland, is the largest of the group of Islands In Cor* Harbour, and is one mile south of Queenstown. Between 1547 and 1885 it was the chief prison for Irish convicts who were employed In the fortifications and in tne construction of the Royal Dockyard between 'Spike aud Hanlbowline. A maintenance party of British soldiers is stationed on the island In accordance with the Irian Peace Treaty.

PERFUMES OF JEWELS. The perfume of precious stones was discussed in a lecture recently by a French jewel expert, M. de Henselaer. Some stones, such as the emerald, he said, have been shown by experiments to give a pleasant subtle 6cent when reduced to powder, while others, among them diamonds, have a disagreeable odour. The expert avows that jewels , influence the temperament and sentiment of those who wear them, some stones possessing a soothing effect while others irritate. 25 IN SIX ROOMS. Remarkable evidence of overcrowding was given in a case heard at Southend, when a woman asked the justices to eject her sister from two rooms in her house in Tunbridge Road. It was stated that 17 persons lived in a six-roomed dwelling. The landlady denied that she took in casual visitors, but her sister declared that they numbered 25 in the summer season, because the applicant slept there with her five children in oa« room. The bench ordered tiie sister to jet oat in two months. OLDEST DIRECTOR. ~~* J i Mr. Frank James, of Penkridge, neas Stafford, the doyen of British director* died in his 103 rd year. On March 1 a "Daily Mail" reporter, wh* saw him after his re-election to the board of the South Staffordshire Waterworks, found him well except for the frailty ot age, and able to look at the pictures and read the headings in "Tha Daily Mail" without glasses. For 65 years, until lie was nearly 100, Mr. James did not miss a meeting of tha waterworks boar*. He twice represented Walsall, his natlva town, in Parliament. 1 DIGGING HARD AT 103. "Hard work in the open, and plenty of it,"* is the recipe for long life recommended by Mr. Charles Tulley, an original breeder of the famous Southdown sheep, who has celebrate, his 103 rd birthday. At Yeoman House, Hassocks, he lives the life of a typical Sussex yeoman, and be still works hard with spade or fork in his market garden. Beginning life as a farm hand, at 2/6 a week, he became a butcher later at Burgess Hill. Then lie turned to farming and sheep-raising. Presently he had thousands of sheep ou the South Downs. He does not smoke, but he likes a glass of good port. SCRAMBLE FOR HUSBAND. Nearly 250 offers of marriage have been received by an elderly pensioner who asked (be Stonehouse Guardians, Plymouth, to assist him in finding a wife, "middle-aged, good cook, and able to deal with his weekly pension of 30/ in a righteous, sober and industrious way," to use the old man's phrase. The fact that he has a substantial sum in the bank has not been disclosed to would-be brides. The offers are being carefully examined by tbe old man. His two sons were murdered In Ireland, and be himself was condemned to death as a Loyalist, but escaped while the execution party was being summoned.

HOW OLD IS INFLUENZA T Influenza, which gets its name from th* fact that astrologers believe it was caused by the "inflnence" of the stars, has not* been traced back to 1-jSO. It was then prevalent in eastern Germany, and waa known, curiously enough, as sleeping sickness. For definite records, we must come down to the ISth century, when epidemical of it were frequent anil prolonged in most European countries. Among the famous people of long ago who suffered from it were Sir Isaac Newton, Goethe and Schiller. The great philosopher Kant was attacked by it, and he believed it was caused by noxious insects brought to Western Europe as a result of trade wittt Russia.