NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 164, 13 July 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

ROMANCE OF RING

Mrs. James Donald, who resides in the village of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, has just recovered her wedding ring, which she lost shortly after her marriage 21 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Donald in their early married life occupied the email croft of Nether Coullie, and one day the young wife, while working in the fields! lost her wedding ring. She and her husband searched diligently in the field and steading for the lost ring, but it was nowhere to be found. Recently a farm servant was harrowing in the field where Mrs. Donald had been working 21 years before, and there, glittering in 'the sun, lay the long-lost wedding ring— ne-t a whit the worse oi its long intermeni; in the soil.

BAD EGG'S DOOM. No imported egg may be sold in Britain without its origin being stamped on its shell. This is the third aini last step in egg reform, following the introduction of the national mark scheme in February and the compulsory marking of preserved eggs in March. Henceforth, only British and Northern Irish newlaid eggs will be unmarked. "In my opinion," Mr. James Gateclifi", the leading authority on eggs, said, "this act will revolutionise the British industry. There is one thing, however, in this new regulation that I regret. Imported eggs may be merely marked 'foreign' instead of with the name of their actual country of origin. An egg from China, for instance, is of much less value than an egg from a near European country. This measure should not only protect home producers, but also the general public."

TONSILS MAKE YOU SAD. The modern panacea for that fed-up, depressed feeling ig to have your tonsils out. "Thousands of people in this country imagine they are suffering from a variety of ailments such as catarrh, 'nerves/ and dyspepsia, when all that is wrong with them is septic tonsils/' a well-known Harley Street specialist said. "If people only knew how septic tonsils can poison their whole system they would not hesitate a minute about having them out," the specialist said. "They can cause a form of blood-poisoning which can lead to a low and depressed condition, rushing sounds in the head, fullness in the ears, and symptoms of nervous trouble. Once t.heir tonsils have been removed the majority of people feel as fit again. Their troubles drop from them like magic, and they become new men and women." WORKHOUSE SWEETS.

Wandsworth Guardians are issuing a quarter of a pound of sweets to women inmates, to correspond with the weekly allowance of tobacco foremen. "Have one with me," is becoming quite a familiar phrase as two old inmates meet in the grounds and swap an acid drop for a bull's-eyei When a pressman asked an official at the institution what kind of sweets old women prefer, he smiled. "We are proposing to give them various sweets, week-by week," he said. "There will be something in the nature of bull's-eyes, boiled sweets, and mixed drops, varied from time to time, and we shall go by the kind they like best. We shall not issue the same sort every week." Although the modern girl smokes as never before, her grandmother—if workhouse experience is any criterion —is not nearly so fond of smoking as she was twenty years ago.

BOOTS THROWN AT PRISON GOVERNOR. There was an exciting scene in the church attached to Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, when, it is stated, a prisoner threw his boots and a Bible at the Governor, Mr. Wilkinson, during religious service. Mr. Wilkinson was sitting in the body of the church with other officials when the prisoner took off his boots and threw them at the Governor. Mr. Wilkinson, however, received a timely warning from a member of the staff, and he dodged the first missile, which struck the wall, missing his head by about two inches. The prisoner followed this up with the other boot, but the Governor again succeeded in avoiding it, although he had to exercise considerable agility to do so. The prisoner then aimed his Bible at Mr. Wilkinson, but his third shot also missed. Warders rushed forward and succeeded in overpowering the man, who, it is stated, is serving a term of imprisonment for theft.

BITTEN BY A WOMAN. "You appear to have behaved more like a wild beast than a human being," said Mr. J. B. Sandbach, K.C., the Lambeth Magistrate, in dealing with Mrs. Emily Dickenson (56), of Walworth, who was charged with assaulting Henry Scott, a labourer, living in the same house. Policeconstable Simmonds said he was in Doctor Street about 11 p.m. when he saw a man struck by prisoner. The man was defending himself and witness parted them, prisoner going indoors. She soon came downstairs with a pair of tongs in her hand, and attempted to strike the man. She afterwards took hold of the man by the waistcoat and bit him on the cheek. The man came out into the street, but prisoner followed, and continued to attack him, making use of bad language. To stop her conduct witness took her intocustody. Turning to the man she then exclaimed, "I will do you in." Mr. Sandbach fined the woman 20/ and 21/ costs, one-half of the latter sum to go to Scott as compensation for the pain and suffering he had 'undergone. '

MODEST GHOST. Ghostly manifestations, which are said ,to have started at the witching hour of midnight and to have continued for some time, have been attracting thousands of people to a house at Cheltenham. The police have had to be called to control the crowd on the road. The scene on the mysterious knockings and scratchings is the house of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, in Maude's Elm Terrace, Swindon Road. According to local legend. Maude was a i beautiful girl, who, in the Middle Ages, lived at Swindon, a hamlet which stood where Swindon Road now is. Unfortun-1 ately for her she attracted the attention . of the lord of the manor. Later she was found drowned in a brook in circumstances which nowadays might )e awkward for her admirer, but then the verdict was suicide. It _ was at first thought that the noises which were heard were caused by rats, but -n hen Mrs. F kins knocked back she was answered But Maude will have nothing to do with the male sex. She will reply to Mrs. Hopkins her daughter, aud a woman friend but to advances made by .men even spiritualists and police, she will not repb.

WOMEN FIGHT A DUEL,

The first duel with foils ever fought by women took place in Budapest. Two beautiful Hungarian dancers, Mary Radvanny and Susanne Winghardt, were the principals. The cause of the fight is said to have been jealousy about a man friend. They fought with such seriousness that Susanne was severely wounded_ in the shoulder. She exclaimed hysterically, "I cannot wear evening dress any more." Then she fainted. The adversaries parted without becoming reconciled.

RUBBER HEART KEEPS CAT ALIVE.

A cat spent one of its fabled nine lives recently equipped with a rubber heart, according to Dr. 0. S. Gibbs of Dalhousie University in a lecture at the Nova Scotia Institute of Science. _ The heart, electrically operated, maintained full action over a period of hours in the feline circulatory system, fiom which the natural heart had been removed. Experiments to study the effects of drugs on the system soon wore out the natural heart, Dr. Gibbs said. The operation on the cat took about five minutes. After the rubber heart was installed the cat lived several hours, said the scientist.

THE FATAL OVERCOAT. "It does seem a dangerous thing from a layman's point of view for a man doing this work to wear a light overcoat unbuttoned with the ropes swirling about the deck as they do. This man had, however, been doing this type of work for 30 years, and was probably used to it," said Dr. R. L". Guthrie, the East London coroner, at an inquest at Poplar on John Simms, a ■ stevedore, of Bartley Street, Silvertown. It was said that Simms was working on the s.s. Nortonia at the Albert Docks when his coat became entangled in a rope runner and he was caught in the winch. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

BEFORE PARENTS' EYES. Two children were burned to death in a shed at Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. The children's parents, who were among the crowd attracted to the scene, had the agonising experience of having to stand by without being able to do anything. The two children were Jar vis Appleyard (3%) and Kate Chapman (2%). Their bodies were found in a corner of the shed. It is thought that the children went to the shed to -play and that they must have taken some matches with them. The fire brigade could not get anywhere near the shed, so fierce were the flames. Only ten minutes elapsed between the time the alarm was raised and the subduing of the fire. MARRIAGE CLUBS.

Birmingham girls can now become engaged and married on the "easy payment" system—at least so far as the symbols of these blessed states are concerned. For this they have to thank the jewellery clubs which have been formed in many factories of the Midland metropolis. The girls themselves form and run these clubs. Membership is usually limited to girls who have reached the "walking out" stage. Each girl pays into the funds a fixed weekly sum, and at the end of the week lots are drawn and the lucky maiden receives a chit which entitles her to choose a ring at a local jeweller's. Each girl in turn eventually gets a ring, but it is in the lap of the gods whether she receives it next week or next year.

GAGGED HERSELF. Found bound and gagged on a bed, Glady's Hooker, a servant, of Milton Street, Doncaster, told the police that two men entered the shop where she is employed by Mrs. Milnes, and after binding and gagging her in a bedroom, ransacked the premises and stole £7. The girl now admits that she concocted the story, tied herself up, and stole the money. It was stated that a constable found her in the bedroom bound by a clothes line to a rocking chair, and gagged with a large handkerchief. The girl gave a description of her alleged assailants. Subsequently she confessed she spent the money on her sweetheart. She was bound over.

FINGER-PRINTS 500 YEARS OLD. Dr. Fernando Perez, the Argentine Ambassador to Italy, who has for many years been experimenting on a process to establish the authenticity of Old Masters, has traced finger-prints on five paintings in the Royal Museum at Venice —two of Giovanni Bellini (15th century), two o£ Cima da Coneqliano (loth century), and one of Francesco Bissolo (16th century). The finger-prints on the Bellini pictures are identical. The scientific section of the Venice police has checked the discovery byits own methods and confirmed the exactness of the results. Dr. Perez's process, which is being kept secret, has aroused very keen interest in official artistic and scientific circles, as it is hoped it will serve to set the authenticity of Old Masters beyond dispute. , POLICE STOP WEDDING. Police officers recently stopped a marriage which was to have taken place at Middlesbrough register office. Miss Alice Butcher, aged 20, of Eglinton Road, Grangetown, was greeted by the husband when she arrived for the ceremony. A few seconds later the police intervened and questioned the man, who was to be married in the name of Robert Lister, a post office mail driver, of Grange Road. Middlesbrough. He had declared himselt a bachelor, but he admitted to the police, it is alleged, that his proper name was Robert Lister Matthews and that he had been married at Halifax. Miss Butcher almost collapsed, and was led from t registry office by her friends. The two had known each other tor lo months. Miss Butcher is a stewardess at a local club. SIX YEARS' SILENT HONEYMOON. 4. novel sort ox honeymoon tour is to be" made bv a South African couple. Wishing to be known as '"The Silent Strangers," they have set out from Johannesburg on" a six years' honeymoon _of silence. The time will be spent touring the world on rush cycles. They will speak to nobody except each other. When they come to hotels they will present the host with a letter informing him that they are pledged to silence and asking for accommodation and menu cards.

''Keeping silent for six years is very difficult," tlie husband admitted in an interview, "and it lias never been done before, I think, in the history of the world. That is why we are doing it— and because of the fun of it. We shall speak to each other, but to no one else." Their itinerary is from Johannesburg to Beira, thence to London, and across the Atlantic to America. They will pedal across America, Australia and Asia. STRANGLING SENSATION. . A coroner's jury of "VVinnetka (U.S.A.) citizens agreed that the questing mind of twelve-year-old John McGavock Dickinson had caused his own death when he experimented with a noosed belt to determine the sensations of a strangling person. The boy, son of Attorney Jacob M. Dickinson Jnr., and grandson of J. M. Dickinson, former Secretary of War, was found dead, his body hanging from a hook in a clothes closet. ''He was continually making experiments," his father told the jury. "He was a great reader, especially of works of science and particularly on aviation. He always was cheerful, and there was no reason for him to have ended his life.' Chief of Police William Peterson, of Winnetka, who knew the boy well, •a' Bo testified. He said that he believed tie belt, made of soft cloth, ''buckled v the boy fastened it about his nee . it been a leather belt, the I boy c loosened it, he said. rs " , was son. the mother, collapsed, and was ujom a physician's care.