NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

FLYING SCOTSMAN BABY. The baby boy. born in the Flying Scots.an some ■weeks ago, is to be registered i the ravish of Huntingdon. According > a report by the guard, this was the >ot the train was passing at the time of ie birth. It is believed that the L.N.E.R. itliorities are anxious to mark the event i some fitting way, probably by the gift E a christening cup. GASSED IN A MORTUARY. Mr. William G. Kershaw, a sanitary injector, aged 64, of Westmere Road, West 'ampstead, N.W., was found dead in the üblic mortuary at New End, Hampstead. he mortuary keeper who made the disjvery said that when he entered the uilding he found the place full of gas. [r. Kershaw possessed a set of keys and [ten visited the mortuary. AIRPLANE SILENCE INVENTION. A Canadian officer, who lost both legs uring the war when he served with the anadian Light Horse, has recently inented an apparatus which, it is claimed, ill silence airplanes and motor cars. J. Tyller, who is now living at Hove, England, has tried his invention on a motor lorry and noisy gas engine with great success, proving it an almost perfect silencer. CORONER FINED. A coroner who was summoned on subpoena to appear on a judgment sifinmons at Carmarthen County Court was fined £2 for non-attendance. He was Dr. L. Thomas, coroner for West Carmarthenshire, and the summons was in respect of £15 alleged to be due from him under a judgment of the Court to the Carmarthen Steam Laundry Co. The judge ordered payment of £5 a month under a commitment order, with suspension for 28 days provided the payments were kept up. VILLAGERS DEFEND TREE. The villagers of Cottered, near Buntingford, Hertfordshire, prevented the removal of Bumpy, a freak tree on the village green, which had been felled during the night a few days ago. It is stated that the'tree had been sold. Bumpy is an old elm, and has a peculiar large growth on its trunk. Visitors come from all parts to see and photograph it. A meeting of the parish council has been called to see if action can be taken against those responsible for the felling. AEROPLANE TO TAKE KEYS. At a cost of £50 an aeroplane was speqijJly chartered to carry a bunch of keys from Croydon to Paris. A traveller bound from London to Marseilles and the East left his keys at Victoria Station. Shortly after he had left the station his valet discovered the keys and telephoned to Imperial Airways for an air taxi. The aeroplane, which was piloted by Capt. G. Olley, started more than two hours after the train, but reached the Paris air port in time for the keys to be handed to the owner- on his arrival at the station. NECK BROKEN? His neck dislocated and possibly fractured, a man astonished doctors at Sydney Hospital by walking in for treatment, several hours after he had received the injury. He was admitted, and was X-rayed as soon as possible. The victim was John McMahon, aged 52, a drover, living in Stephen Street, Paddington. He stated that he was driving a sulky at Flemington in the afternoon. The horse was spirited and suddenly shied. McMahon was thrown out and crashed on his head. He went home, but after tea felt ill and decided to go to hospital. STOLE £3 A DAY FOR A YEAR. For eight years cashier to a London firm of solicitors, Edgar G. F. Pritchard was sentenced at the Guildhall to six months imprisonment in the second division. Pritchard had been charged with stealing £1050, and Mr. Dodson, who. prosecuted, said the defendant had written to the firm, Beaumont and Sons, Old Broad Street, confessing that for the last 12 months lie had regularly stolen £3 per day. His income of £300 a year, he wrote, went for ordinary domestic expenses, but the £3 per day he had used for holidays, weekends, Christmas parties, presents and private charities. COW UPSTAIRS. A cow mounted the stairs of the Y.M.C.A. Institute at Doncaster and defied all attempts to move her for an hour and m half. A clergyman saw the cow wandering unattended near the institute, and as he prepared to enter she turned on him. The clergyman evaded the attack, whereupon the cow entered the front door. The assistant-secretary was chased up the stairs, but near , the top, however, the cow found the steps too slippery and turned back. A local cattle slaughterer at last arrived with a lorry, chains, and assistants, and from the top of a cupboard a policeman lassooed her with chains. P.-C. SAVES CROWD FROM MAD BULLOCK. A plucky constable saved a number of persons from being gored by a huge bullock which ran amok in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. The beast threw two men who were holding it and careered madly into Market Street, scattering a crowd of pottery girls. Constable Halfpenny,, who was on point duty, stopped all traffic, and the bullock, with lowered horns, dashed wildly towards him. The constable grasped the beast with one horn and the halter rope and, though lifted off the ground, brought the animal's career to .an end. It was secured and taken back to its stall. THE DOZING JUROR.' At the end of a long inquest at Islington, N., the coroner, Sir Walter Schroder, discovered that one of the jurors was asleep. He was the youngest one and arrived late. When the man had been wakened, Sir Walter asked him if he had been listening to the evidence. The man: Most of it. What part of the evidence have you missed?—l had only just lost myself. I have been on night duty and am tired. Sir Walter said that all the evidence would have to be read over to the man. He had heard part of the, case, and there was no power in lav/ to release him from the jury until the verdict was given for other than illness. The inquest was thereupon adjourned.

CHEER FOR OLD FOLKS. Old age pensioners in Bournemouth last vear again each received a 10/ note as a Christmas box from Captain and Mrs H. B. Norton, of Bournemouth. That was the tenth year in succession that tins generous couple have cheered the pen sioners by their gifts, and it is estimated that they have thus distributed about £10,000. In 1928 recipients of the gut numbered 2023, and last year the number had again increased. THE QUEEN IN AN APRON. The Queen recently visited the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, S.W., and assisted in the sorting and allocating of the goods made by her needlework guild. She was wearing a blue-grey cloth coat and a toque matching it, but she changed thess for an apron and a covering for her hair, and at once began to unpack the parcels. To save time she had luncheon sent to the institute from Buckingham Palace, and she and her helpers ate it in a screenedoff part of the hall. YOUTH'S ARSON MANIA. A remarkable story was told at Leicester, when Donald Billson, aged 17, was sentenced to six months' hard labour, and recommended for Borstal treatment, tor wilful damage. It was alleged that he set fire to waste paper, fodder, and the like at five places, reported the fires, helped to put tiiem out, and was rewarded—except in the last case, when suspicion arose and he was arrested. It was stated that he had been of weak intellect, but was now normal. FIRST WIRELESS SET SUICIDE. Sulphuric acid taken from the battery of his wireless set was found to have caused the death of Ernest Evan, colliery contractor, of Abernant, near Merthyr Tydvil, at the inquest at Merthyr, Wales. \ verdict of suicide was recorded, ft was stated that a glass which had contained the acid was found under the bed clothes in his room. The widow said her husband had been in trouble through having i eglected to buy insurance stamps for his workmen. SHIP OF 10,000 TOOTHPICKS. Ten thousand toothpicks are among the stores shipped on board the Cunarder Carinthia, while waiting at Liverpool for an abatement of the recent storm to proceed to New York, where a number of wealthy American tourists will embark on a four-months' pleasure cruise. The "cellars s '' of the Carinthia contain 3000 bottles of champagne and wines, 13,000 bottles of beer, 300,000 cigarettes, 2000 cigars and 5001b of tobacco. There are also 50001b of tea, 22401b of coffe and 22.0001b of sugar aboard the liner, in addition to 10001b of English grapes, 18,0001b of butter, 5000 head of poultry, 1500 bottles of sauces and 2500 pots of English jams. UNDERWEAR FROM THE CEMETERY. An old lady,' over 70 years of age. was found a few days ago at Verano Cemetery, Rome, stealing the ribbons from the wreaths and floral offerings. The police who took lier in charge said that she would go to prison unless she revealed to whom she sold the stolen ribbons. But the old lady replied that she did not sell them, but used them to make underwear for herself. This unexpected revelation rather nonplussed the police. She was handed over to the matron, who found that the old lady was actually wearing a petticoat made of ribbons stolen in the cemetery and sewn together. 3410 TO I TOTE WIN. A totalisator record for Britain was made when the huge odds of £341 2/6 for a win and £10 '2/ for a place for each 2/ invested Was paid at Haydock Park. The fortunate punter was' Mrs. Unsworth, of St. Andrew's, Dorhills Drive, Blundellsands, Liverpool, who had 2/ iach ( way on Coole in the 2.30 race. On her win, Mrs. Unsworth received the amazing odds of 3410 to 1. The bookmaker's price was 100 to 8. The previous world's record stood at the rate of £3037 to £1 over a winner at Shanghai. The previous record dividend in England was the 238 to 1 paid over Scotch Lament, which won at Catterick Bridge. Mrs. Unsworth said that the only reason why she supported Coole was that the filly was the last number, 30, on the board, and unsupported. STRANGE COINCIDENCE. A skier named Loretan was swept away by an avalanche while in the Torrenthorn region near the Gemmi Pass, Switzerland. He was flung 3000 ft over a precipice. Loretan was crossing a gully filled with snow, and it is believed that the tracks, made by his skis set the mass in motion.' By a strange coincidence the accident occurred at the exact spot where, 30 years ago, Loretan's father escaped death partly through being the possessor of a wonderful tenor voice. Like his son, he was carried away by an avalanche, but on the very edge of the abyss he struck a rock to which he clung for 24 hours. Unable to move, he spent the night singing "Salve Regina." The next day he was rescued by mountaineers, who had listened in the darkness to his beautiful voice without being able to discover whence it came. BEETLES AS TENANTS. u A little house is shortly to be built "somewhere in Buckinghamshire," which from the outside will seem to have "all modern conveniences." Actually, however, the house—which will cost £1000— ; will have been plenty inoculated with dryrot fungus, and death-watch beetles (whose kin devoured the old oak at Westminster Hall) will hold undisputed revels in the roof. These undesirable "tenants" will be permitted to do their worst, while scien- > tists from the Eorest Products Research I Institute at Princes Risborough (Buckl inghamshire), the Building Research Staf tion at Watford (Hertfordshire), and J- other Government centres will look on and increase their knowledge of the pests which cause such damage to Britain's 1 buildings. An official of the Forest Products Research Institute told a "Daily Mail" reporter that even the_ ground floors of new houses are being found today affected by dry rot. i i 3 ANTIDOTE FOR POISON GAS. • Gunpowder, glass, and ■ use in China centuries berore t y known to the outside world, and now it is confidently stated that the Chinese have discovered an infallible antidote for poison gas, that most terrible weapon of modern warfare. In the early stages of the recent conflict between the Soviet and Chinese forces in Northern Manchuria Chinese generals indulged in much boasting to newspaper correspondents as to the valour of their troops. Said one: "As for gas attacks, our soldiers are immune. Our preventive is infallible. You kill a monkey, and taking some of the fresh blood you rub it on your upper lip. No gas can harm one who is thus protected." Lest the reader doubt either his veracity or his sanity it should be mentioned that on his return to Peking the writer related the story to the military attache of the American Legation, and the latter summoned to his room a Chinese ex-officer from the Manchurian forces. This officer, an intelligent and foreign-educated Chinese, speaking excellent English, proceeded without any prompting to propound the same theory, gas attacks, monkey's blood, and so forth. So with such expert and official benediction the story takes its place in the realms of facfc and not of fiction.