NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

FATHER GIVES HIS LIFE. An heroic father named Joseph. Klaiman saved two of hie children at the cost of his own life during a tire which broke out in his flat at Toronto. The flames raged fiercely, cutting off all .escape. When the firemen broke into the room they found the father's body badly charred, but the two children were pulled out from underneath him unhurt. His wife and their infant son, who was clasped to her breast, were both burned to death, and a fourth child died later in hospital. SAVED BY A KICK. By a few feet Miss June, the woman parachutist, escaped from landing on the sports pavilion after making a 1000 ft descent at the Crystal Palace. Her parachute, "The Guardian Angel," landed in 63 seconds, and she was carried nearly 300 yards across the ground. She just missed the pavilion. "Although there did not seem to be very much wind on the ground," said Miss June, "it was very strong above. I thought I was going on the pavilion and it was only because I gave a fierce kick that I managed to avoid it." BABY HANGED BY "DUMMY" CORD. A baby's death by hanging was recently investigated by Dr. McCarthy, deputy coroner, and a jury at Hackney. The mother, Mrs. Harris, of Florfield Road, Hackney, said that she left the jaby, Roy, aged 14 months, with a sister of two years and four months while she did some mangling. On returning she found Roy hanging by the cord of his "dummy" to the handle of a chest of drawers. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death and asked that their fees should be given to Mrs. Harris. EDGAR WALLACE CONFESSES. "Although the producer may have improved the story 50 per cent, one is always on tenterhooks and wondering what is coming next." So said Mr. Edgar Wallace at a luncheon at the KitCat Restaurant prior to a private film show of "The Ringer." He confessed that he never went to see any of his stories on the screen. "Some years ago 1 went to see the film adaptation of a book of mine in which there were seven murders. After the third murder I crept out, and I have not seen a trade show since. From that date I have limited my murders to five." Mr. Wallace mentioned that during the twelve I months ended March 31 he sold 5,000,000 books. "As you applaud 1 hope you will sympathise with me when I 6ay that I did not draw royalties on one-third of them." MINERS SHY OF BATHS. A scheme for the erection of pit-head baths, costing £20,000, at Llay Main Colliery, near Wrexham—the newest and biggest mine in North Wales —is in abeyance because the men declare that they don't want them. The managing director of the collieries, which employ 3000 men, says that he ratifies that a certain amount of prejudice prevails among some of the men against pit-head baths, but as these were to be built on the cubic system he was hoping that they would be acceptable. He has appealed to the wives to persuade their husbands to take kindly to the baths, and it is now proposed to send thirty of the men to see the system at work at a large I colliery in Warwickshire, where it is stated they are exceedingly popular. It is hoped that the visitors will be favourably impressed, and that the conversion of the Llay Main - workers to the scheme will follow. THROWN INTO SEA. The authorities are investigating an amazing "rag," of which a recent critic of stag-hunting was a victim, which took place about midnight during a fancy dress ball held at a Minehead hotel. The man was standing in a part of the hotel used only by the staff when several men, understood to be prominent stag hunters, burst through the door and seized him, blowing hunting horns. The man was dragged by his arms, head and legs into the public part of the hotel, through the hall, and then, followed by a crowd of dancers, he was dragged out of the hotel grounds, across the promenade and thrown into the sea. Waiters and others were unable to interfere. The man pulled himself on to a breakwater, but one "ragger" is alleged to have thrown him in again. The matter has been reported to the police, and three well-known Army captains are said to be implicated. WON THE V.C. AT 14. Buglar Dunn, V.C, who won the coveted honour at the age of 14 in the Boer War, was the guest of honour on the liner Suva when it left Sydney for the Philippines under the American flag. He had been chief steward of the Suva and has had to give up his post with the change of the Suva's flag. Mr. Jack Dunn was 14 when the whole world was talking of his gallantry and pluck for which he was awarded the V.C. Never since has the honour been earned by one so young. He was given the order to sound the retreat at the action of Modder River, but refused to blow it. He swam the river, and as he climbed out on the far bank his bugle arm was shattered by an enemy shell, but he took the bugle in his other hand and blared out the attack. The soldiers, inspired by such courage, swept the enemy before them and won the action. DON'T SMOKE IN BED. The practice of smoking in bed was condemned by Mr. H. R. Oswald, who held an inquest at Paddington on Miss Emma Perry (60), of Marylebone, who was found unconscious on the floor of her bedroom, which was full of smoke caused by the bedclothes having smouldered. Archibald Baker, a fire brigade officer, said that a number of partly-smoked cigarettes and used matches were found in the bedroom, There was no oil in the lamp, which did not appear to have been used recently. Hii opinion was that the fire was caused by Miss Perry smoking in bed and dropping c lighted cigarette. Recording a verdict oi "Death from natural causes/' the Coronei . said: "I think the fire was caused by Misi . Perry smoking in bed. In my opinion it i is a dangerous and unhealthy practice foi . people to dope themselves to sleep. If j . had anything to do with an insurance com i pany I would not pay compensation ti ■ anyone who caused a fire by smoking ii bed."

CONVICTS' HOLIDAY. Smoking cigarettes and pipes, and giving he appearance of having had a good time, i party of 32 convicts serving long sentences left Cowes on their return to Maid- ■ stone Prison. The men had had a few weeks' change at Camp Hill Prison, Isle of Wight, spending their time tree-felling and wood sawing in Parkhurst Forest, with in* tervals for recreation and concerts, ia R-hich the prison orchestra took part. TheJ wore grey civilian suits and looked sun? burnt and healthy after their "holiday" in the Isle of Wight. ! WHEN BIG FAMILIES WOULD PAY. At the annual conference of the Laboul party, held at Birmingham, the representatives of the I.L.P. delegation, headed by Mr. James Maxton, M.P., proposed that there should be inserted in tin party's general election programme a proposal that the State should pay, out of Exchequer funds, a weekly allowance to every working-class mother. The scheme is as follows:—The allowance to be at the rate of 5/ a week for each child. It should be paid at once, in respect of all children in the family who are under 16 years of age, i.e., in a family of six children the mother would draw 30/ a week. That with the arrival of each new baby there would be an additional 5/ a week for the mother. The allowance would be paid weekly to the mothers, through the Post Office, and not to the fathers. In cases where there was proof that the money was not being used for the welfare of the children there would be provisions under which the allowance would be withheld. I RUSE THAT FAILED. An ingenious but unsuccessful attempt to escape from Pentonville Gaol, London, has been revealed. A prisoner was engaged in cleaning the prison yard when a laundry van was driven in. The driver went into one of the buildings, brought out a large, empty laundry basket, and returned for another. The coast seemed to be clear, so the prisoner slipped into the van and curled himself up in the basket like another Falstaff, that valiant knight who, according to Shakespeare, escaped from a difficult situation by hiding in a basket and being covered with linen. He heard footsteps approaching, imagined it was the van driver, and chuckled to himself at the thought that he would soon be trundling through the prison gates to freedom. He was mistaken. A stern voice suggested that he should "Come out of that," and the vigilant warder, who, unseen himself, had watched the manoeuvre, marched him. back to his cell. PAINT STAINS AS CLUE. What the police believe to be marks of paint on a coat led to the arrest of an sx-policeman of the S Division, named William Henry Brown (30), of-Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, London. He was charged at Marylebone Police Court before Mr. Sandbach, with breaking and entering the office of Stacey Motors, Ltd., at Canfield Place, Hamp3tead, N.W., with intent to steal. Detective George Smith said he saw Brown at Swiss Cottage just before midnight, and told him he had reason to believe he had been in Canfield Place that night. Brown denied having been there. On the back of Brown's coat, the detec- . tive said, there were marks like light* coloured paint, which Brown explained by* saying that he had been painting a shop in Child's Hill. The door of the office at Canfield Place had been freshly painted earlier in the evening. Brown, from the dock, protested that the stains were not those of paint, and, taking off his coat, passed it up to the magistrate for examination. He was remanded on bail. SCHOOLBOY "HOWLERS." A diverting specimen of a schoolboy 'howler" occurs in a paper written by ona of the young people who entered for the recent Ellsworth examination in West Somerset. Answering a question about Thomas a Becket, the competitor wrote: "Thomas a Becket had the Krushan feeling and was high-spirited. This was until Henry 11. made him Archbishop of Canterbury." Another amusing example is this original synopsis of the story of the Good Samaritan: "A certain man went down from Jersum to Jeriker, and he fell among; thornes, and the thornes sprung up and choked him, whereupon he gave tnppins to the boast, and said, Take care on him, and put him on his own ass/ and he passed by on the tuther side." A class, invited to state what they knew of the Patriarch Abraham, produced the following astonishing facts from one of the boys:—"He was the father of Lot, and had ten wives. One was called Hismale and tuther Hagar. He kep one at home and he hurried the tuther into the desert, where she became a pillow of salt in the daytime and a pillow of fire, at nite." One child, asked by an inspector, "What did the Israelites do when they got through the Red Sea?" answered, "Wringed their clothes!" CHIPS OFF THE HOUSE. ' The hundreds of pieces of carved and decaying stone removed from the Houses off Parliament and offered for Bale to member-* and ex-members of Parliament, have been eagerly bought up. An Office of Works official said: "The demand has been greater than the supply. We have just begun thelong and difficult task of thoroughly repair-' ing the Houses of Parliament, replacing the present stone, where necessary, with stone of a much more durable kind. In the years ahead more portions will be put upfor Bale as mementoes, and the time will probably come when there will be some for the general public. At present we must confine the privilege to members and exmembers." Members are putting the stoneto a variety of uses. The smaller bits, sold at 10/6 a ton, make artistic rockeries and garden paths, and can be used for the building of arbors. Pieces most in demand were the tops of pinnacles and cupolas and slabs of good size, which are being fashioned into sundials, bird baths, and basins for fountains. Some blocks weighed as much as three-quarters of a ton. There was keen competition for the little grinning gargoyles and the graceful pinnacle tops. Prices ranged from 10/6 to ten guineas for one piece of stone. The profits will go tothe Exchequer.

CONSTABLE SHOPBREAKER. Tempted because he wanted a smoke, a young constable broke into a shop on hia beat and stole cigarettes and aerated water. This was the plea put forward at Greenock Police Court when John Barbour (19), a probationary constable, was sentenced to 60 days' imprisonment for breaking into a confectioner's in Inverskip Road. Mr. W. G. Young, prosecuting, said that on August 29 Barbour was on night duty, and was watched for a quarter of an hour tinkering at the lock with some instrument. On the following morning persons living near by were aroused by sounds coming from the shop. Barbour was seen on the roof. There was a skylight window on the roof which could be easily opened from the outside. Accused disappeared, and was seen a little time afterwards making his exit from the shop by one of the doors. When arrested Barbour admitted the charge. C° u ™™ added that he would be failing in his duty if he did not impress the serious mhff«« offences against property by one aP* s ""* detailed for the duty of Voting it" was a much more serious ca* >*£**?%£ breaking committed by 3£j vidual. For the defence it tbm Barbour tb* wa« shop and **■**&£ temptaS that %J% ** in » I teal the cigarette, caused *. m * w f£,; n He did not touch anyand •«" tod I Swh there were valuable thing else, Barbour wanted a *rt*dee in toe snop. mone y home anoke, ■ nd . b » d T |ffetocea quoted several to his VBrents. that he hodgihlaclaah ;^B HP------