NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 226, 24 September 1927, Page 23

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Sir Arthur Conan Pcyle has given 500 dollars for the .erection of a boulder to stand as a monument to Spiritualism on the 'grounds of th? Plymouth Spiritualist Church at Kochtsu-r. New York. • At the annual meeting of the Hereford* shire Coursing Club, England, only one meeting was arranged for the present, because it was staled, the county was being stripped of greyhounds as the result oi° electrical greyhound racing. A Marseilles tramway conductor found a wallet containing 600.0U0 trance (about £5000). which an Englishman had left iu his vehicle. The conductor at oat-o eou-'\t ri't t'io K.>';li.- - 'i; :.n :•••>' ..• nr-1 t!i~ r.v.lii C U> him. 'I'll'.: o> .;tr uaeied the io;i----...jct-r a reward of -00 I rams iul>out 35/) which he refused. With not a penny in his pocket. Andre Robe McWbyte, a Canadian of 33. has started to walk round the world simply for the love of adventure. McWhytc arrived in Deal on Saturday. "1 am not walking round the world for any v.-ager, but simply for the love of the thing and to see all I can see, hz said. The largest continuous stretch of concrete roadway in the world has just been completed in America. This road is 137 miles long, and passes through 20 towns and villages. It is estimated that the new road will save thousands of pounds annually, since prior to its being reconstructed it was costing as much as £750 a mile to maintaiu as a gravel surfaced ror.d. CLYDE STRIKE ENDED. * After an unofficial strike lasting eight days the Clyde riveters have resumed work on the condition that their executive committee will negotiate with the employers regarding a grievance concerning the new price list. As abruptly aa it started the strike ended, although the vote in favour of returning to the yards was far from being unanimous. PILLION RIDER KILLED. Herbert Steele was committed for trial on bail, at Derby, England, charged with the manslaughter of Walter Lewin, a blacksmith. Steele was motor cycling through the town with Lewin as a pillion passenger, and there\was a collision with a motor car. It was alleged that Steele was riding at such a speed that Lewin was thrown over the motor car.

UNHURT AFTER 20FT FALL. Commander Russell, of Surrey, bad a remarkable escape on the road at Wilberton. His car skidded while descending a steep glen, and after turning completely round several times, crashed backwards through the protecting railings and fell 20ft down a wooded embankment, finally becoming wedged on its side between two trees near the bottom. An R.A.C. scout found Commander Russell and a passenger to whom he had given a lift emerging practically unhurt" from the smashed car. CLAIMS TO B*IG FORTUNE. There are fourteen Australian claimants to ;i colossal fortune estimated at £H«.00.».noo which was amassed" by' William Andrews Clark, «m iriali-Aiuerican copper magnate, who died about two years ago at the age of 86. Unusual and very systematic measures are being taken to establish the title of the claimants, and a number of New South Wales business men have formed themselves into a syndicate for the purpose. Since the death of the magnate more than fifty American claimants have unsuccessfully sought to establish their relationship. LORD HALDANE. Lord Haldane, formerly Secretary for War and twice Lord Chancellor, who is now 71, owes much of hie success in life to a capacity for taking recreation, as he says, by varying his labours. When at the Bar, with an almost record practice in addition to heavy Parliamentary duties, he was accustomed to "rest his mind" after a long day's work by editing treatises on abstruse points of law and writing philosophical essays. His chief physical recreation was, and is, walking, and he still thinks nothing of strolling 20 or 30 miles in an afternoon. PROPHECY COMES TRUE. Granny Douglas, Morayshire's oldest inhabitant, died at Dallas at the age of 98 years and six months. Many years ago she prophesied that when she was no longer able to move about she would die. The prophecy has come true, for until a few days before her death Mrs. Douglas, who lived alone, did all her own housework. Aβ a hill farmer's wife for 59 years she lived a, hard, laborious life, and covered 24 miles on foot to Elgin each market day with her farm produce. Her recipe for long life was: "Keep active and eat little." . She leaves six sons and six daughters. 38 grandchildren and 15 greatgrandchildren.

IN HIS 80TH YEAR. Special interest attached to a Unionist pfcrty fete held in the grounds of the residence of the Earl of Balfour, Wbittingehanie, East Lothian, because of the expectation that Lord Balfour was to speak on the subject of the Geneva Conference on the Limitation of Naval Armaments. A large crowd assembled during the pleasant afternoon, many having come froni a distance, as was made evident by the great number of motor cars which had to be parked. Although he spoke in the open air for nearly 40 minutes, his Lordship, who the other day entered upon his 80th year, was heard clearly, and there was no falling off in vigour and clarity of statement.

NOTED LAWYER'S TRAGIC END. A correspondent at Berne reports the circumstances of the death in Switzerland of Sir George Lewis, the eminent solicitor. Sir George one evening was sitting on the balustrade of the .terrace of the Grand Hotel at Territet, and he overbalanced on to the railway Hue below just as a train was passing. He was caught by the engine and killed on the spot, his body being badly mutilated. The train at once stopped, and officials carried the body to the mortuary. During the afternoon Sir George went to a bank at Moutreaiix to get some money, and only a few minutes before his death he was watching a game of tennis on the hotel courts with evident interest. Sir George had been staying for some time at a sanatorium at Vahnont-sur-Territet.

What is regarded aa the highest price for a Stradiyarius has been paid by the Hungarian violinist, Zoltan Szekely, who gave £100,000 for a superb specimen. . During a competition at Pleasington golf course, near Blackburn, one of the players had driven a ball to within three yards of the pin at the 18th hole when a kitten scampered on the green and pawed the ball into the hole. The streets of Penarth, Scotland, were crowded with thousands of spectators ope Saturday night, when a women's road race of two miles was won by Mrs. Robbins, of Grangetown. Cardiff, the mother of three children, who accomplished the two miles' walk in twenty minutes, three seconds. LORD JELLICOE'S LOSS. The Rev. Frederick Gilbert Gardiner Jellicoe. elder brother of Admiral of the Fleet Jellicoe, and an old Oxford cricketing blue, has died in Guy's Hospital. London. He spent over 30 years in Winchester diocese. He v.as 69 years of age. Mr. Jellicoe recently had one of his legs amputated. While at the Naval Conference at Geneva, Lord Jellicoe was advised that his brother's illness had taken a serious turn and within a few hours he left for London to be at his bedside. GIFTS FOR PLAYING FIELDS. Latest donations to the English National Playing Fields Association include £1000 from Lord Greenway chairman of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Ltd. Nearly £300.000 has now been received by the National Playing Fields Association in response to the Duke of York's £1.000,000 appeal. The latest donations include: £1000 from the Imperial Tobacco Company. £ 1000 from Sir Gilbert Wills. Bart. (£SOO for Bristol aud £500 for Gloucestershire), £1000 from Lord Greenway. NOTED EXPLORER DEAD. The death of Sir Harry Johnston, the well-known explorer, has occurred at Woodsetts, near Worksop. Sir Harry Johnston was a remarkably versatile man. Born in London in 1858, he began life by mastering drawing, painting, natural hie tory, and languages, accomplishments which served him well during his subsequent brilliant career as administrator and explorer. In 1884 he commanded the scientific expedition of the Royal Society to Mount Kilimanjaro, and five years later he explored Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. He held various administrative posts in Africa and was the author of many books on travel, and also several novels. In 1923 he wrote the story of his life.

CAR'S SOMERSAULT INTO LOCH. One night, when Captain Stroyan and his wife, Lanrick Castle, Doune, were motoring homeward along Loch Lubnaigsidr at a point eix mile* from Callander, the car left the main road and went over the embankment, dropping ten feet into Loch Lubnaig, where it lay partly submerged in an overturned position. Captain Stroyan escaped with minor injuries, bat on Mrs. Stroyan being extricated she was found to be dead. It is thought that the greasy nature of the road consequent on the heavy rain made the car skid. Mr. Stroyan is the son of Mr. John Stroyan, ex-M.P. for West Perthshire. The deceased lady was a daughter of Sir John Ropner, Yorkshire. . KILLED BY DRINKING VINEGAR. "A most extraordinary .case; I have never in all my experience heard of one like it," said the Borough Coroner at Shrewsbury, England, regarding the death of Emma Helen Ellis (00), a spinster, who died from the effect* of habitually drinking vinegar. It was stated that the woman practically all her life drank vinegar freely with everything she ate, and could not be induced to give up the habit. Dr. Urquhart, who waa called in to the woman ia her last illness, said she smelt very

strongly of vinegar and had dose to her a bottle which had contained about two and a-half pints of vinegar, but it was then nearly empty. The jury returned a verdict that death was due to the effect* of excessive vinegar drinking. "OUR ROTTEN MODESTY." "We in Great Britain are cursed with a rotten modesty which prevents as from clearly visualising that we are the centre and mainspring of the greatest and most splendid Empire that the world has ever seen," writes Vice-Admiral Dunas in the "Sunday Chronicle." "We should be duly aid of the work of the men who have t up the Empire and not be ashamed, to confess it. The constant belittling o ourselves is looked upon as false and hypocritical on the Continent, so nothing is really gained thereby except contempt. Undue modesty as regards our Empire and what it stands for is in truth but falee pride and may better be described as rotten modesty. Let us be honest with ourselves, do justice to our fellows of that Empire and sweep modesty away." ELECTRIC HARE'S HUMOURS. The electric hare recently installed at Powderhali Grounds, Edinburgh, for greyhound racing doesn't always win, any more than the natural puss it ie intended, to save the terrors of the "s]>ort." One night—which seems to have been * special Border night at the popular rendezvous—the Selkirk Stakes. the Haw i< k Stakes, and the Melrose and St. Bosiwplls Hurdles were all successfully run, but both the Jedbunch Stakes and the Galaehiels Stakes proved tizzies and had to be declared void, the mechanism refusing to work owing to the excessive damp and the electric counterfeit of the real article being caught both times before it deigned to "earth." A little more of this sort of thing and the hounds may begin to realise how they are being fooled —and refuse to do their share of the work too!

WEALTH TO V/ORKHOUSE. An elderly man who says that after being left £20.000 wheu a youth he took up home racing and made £40,000 in one year, has just been discharged from Barnet workhouse, Englund. Now calling himself Edward Roberts he snya that he was weli-known as Edward Ulover in racing circles in the days when Fred Archer was in his prime. He claims to have owned a large establishment at Suttou Coldfield. During the war. he eaye, he held an honorary poet at the War Office for purchasing army horses, and out of hie own pocket paid a staff to help him Two years ago, he states, hie health broke down, and a succession of financial reverses left him penniless, in spite of assistance which he eay« he received from Lord Rosebery. Lord Lonedale and other... 11l fortune persistently pursued him until at ast he had to seek shelter iu the workhouse. MURDER OF HIS WIFE. At Tower Bridge Police Court. England. Artlier March.int (20), of Bermond*ey, was committed for trial charged with the murder of bis wife and the nttempted murder of their two children. Edward (4) and Robert (7 mouths I. by Ktrikii.t? I Inn. on the head with an iron dog. Kvidnue showed that on June 27, about «i.«! am. Marchant was heard shout.iiK "MurUei " as he left the liuuwe. Mrs. Merchant"• sister and mother «ent up to lier room and found her on the 1»H bWdiiig from injuries to tlie head. Her two children, also injured, were by her si.le. An irnu dog, about 12 inches long, w,.n found on the bed. Mrs. Matciiiint and the two children were found to be euffermif from fractured skulk. The woman's brain bad been penetrated, and nhc died. The ehi!drci were, however, recovering. Dr. Reginald Larkin. divisional surgeon, eaid he examined accused soon after hie arrest, when he was suffering from ophthalmic uoitre and was liable to impulsive mania. In his opinion accused was insane at the time.