NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

■filial 4:11. Cooke'* - ; -• «- 2;

ECHO OF PENINSULAR WAR. M. Adrien Geraud, a Customs official, called at the polite station at Toulouse recent''- to i?nnc"nc(? that, while digging in .uniju, he round tiie ueriectly pre-rcrr-ed "rkelcton "? an En-lish soldier who was no doubt killed whiie fighting in the Duke of Wellington's army against Marshal Soult in ISI4. A bullet of the type used by French troops of that period was femd "hurled in the head, and with the skeleton was a sum in English money of the period. SKYSCRAPER TO BE MILE HIGH. Construction work is about _to begin on a building in the centre of New York which will be of the stupendous height of one statute mile. Costing, it is estimated, £15,000,000, the building _ willbe eauipped with an aeroplane landing field on the top. A tower of 50 storeys will rise from a base of graduated_ cubes. Office accommodation in the building will house £0,000 persons, more than the total population of a large-sized town in England like Chester. A WOMAN'S BUSINESS ROMANCE. A widow came to London from Canada a good many years ago with £100. She took a house in the south-western .district near the river, and let it out in rooms, providing breakfasts and dinners. She susp-ected there was a need for such accommodation, and she was right. Now she has 42 houses in the neighbourhood where she started, and has made a very prosperous company out of her original little venture. She is an Englishwoman, not a Canadian. FRENCH PRESIDENT'S HOME TALKIES. It is seldom that the French President. M. Doumergue, has the opportunity oi attending a play or a cinema performance, although he delights in both. With the double object of encouraging the French film industry and of exhibiting the first French talkie, "Le Collier de La Reine" ("The Queen's Necklace"), apparatus for the projection of talking pictures is being installed in the Elysee, the President's official residence. M. Doumergue saw the first performance recently. On the following day 200 school children were invited to the Elysee to see Buster Keaton's film, "Spite Marriage," £6000 NECKLACE FOUND IN GUTTER. A pearl necklace worth £6000 was recently found by a chauffeur in the gutter in Portman Square, London. The woman owner of the necklace discovered near Hyde Park that she had lost it. She at once reported this to the police, _ and a message was circulated giving a full description of the jewels, which it was first thought had been stolen. Nothing was heard of the pearls until Mr. Youngs, a chauffeur, of Letchmore Heath, near Radlett, went to the local police _ station, handed over the necklace, he had picked it up in the gutter. Not thinking the necklace worth much, he had driven his employer to Bushey with the pearls in his pocket. THE HARP. The harp was one of the favourite string instruments among most of the ancient peoples. Although very primitive to begin with, it was improved little by little, and more and more strings were irom time to time added to it. The ordinary harp, sometimes called the big David;s harp_. which is played sitting or standing,, and of which the strings are plucked by the fingers of both hands, has a range nearly equal to the piano. The half tones were originally produced by pressing the thumb against the neck of the strings or by using hooks. The use of pedals for this purpose first came m in 1720, five, and later seven, being the number. Old as it is, however, the harp is one of the least j complete instruments or to-day. FARMING BY LOUD SPEAKERS. j Wireless is more intensely appreciated in Canada than in any other part of the world for the simple reason that its range of usefulness is unrivalled. Small wonder that there are nearly 300,000 licensed receivers and 87 stations and that the value of production in the industry runs to roughly £2,600,000. In the rural areas the wireless has wrought revolutions and has, along with telephone -and car, banished the loneliness of the more distant settlements. But it is not merely as a means of entertainment that the receiver is of value. The farmer finds that the loud speaker can help him in 'his work. Through its medium, he receives weather forecasts, market reports ana a great deal of general information of value to him in the daily round and common task. 7/6 SUIT MADE FOR A 22-STONE MAN! The story of a suit of clothes made for 7/6 to fit a 22-stone man has been told byJudge Sir Alfred Tobin at Westminster County Court. Colonel the Hon. Frederick Hayworth Cxipps, of South Audley Street, W., wa3 sued by Emms, Limited, Savile Row, W., for £50, the price of Jodpore riding breeches, riding coats, a lounge suit, and a shooting' suit. Colonel Cripps declared the price excessive. The judge said a Liverpool tailor once advertised & suit at 7/0. "My great-grandfather, who weighed 22 stone, went in to be measured. The tailor was horrified; and still more horrified when he learnt that my great-grand-father's first cousin was stouter. Next day the advertisement was withdrawn. If you buy pigs in pokes in Savile Row you must expect some surprises." Judge Tobin suggested there might be mutual arrangement and-the parties agreed to judgment for plaintiffs at £42 and costs. TALKIE CARDS. Americans spending the Christmas season in London sent talkie postcards to their relatives and friends in the States. Instead of the card with ita picture or engraving, these records, put on the gramophone, shout out: "Merry Christdad and mam and everybody! Glorious New Year!" in the well-known voice of the travelling member of the family. This way of sending spoken Christmas greetings is making a great appeal. The records are cheaper than an Atlantic 'phone call—and they are lasting. The discs vera shipped in specially padded holly-decorated boxes. They may be engraved on_ one or both sides, according to the talking power of the purchaser. ■It is suggested that the talkie cards should not be limited to Christmas cards. They are good for all holidays, birthdays and occasions. Wedding announcements could be sent out engraved with the "I do's" of the couple.

[ M.P. TO RACE PIGEONS. ' Sir William Edge, MP. for Bosworth i (Leics ) has challenged members 01 tfie I Ibstock Horning Club to a race with their I pigeons from London to IbstccK. lie ! offered to pay the expenses or two mem- ! bers in taking the pigeons to London, tie 1 will leave.the Palace Yard, Westminster, at the same time that the birds are liberated, and, travelling by train, will race them to the club headquarters, divorce for piety. A Viennese husband has s^ e '4 ... lC " r divorce on the ground that his wire is "too pious," and neglected her husband ana children in order to pray or atten-i church, services. Neighbours testified taat tns wife refused to clean the house or cooi the meais, and her children were lett to do as they liked. The wife's defence was that she thought it more useiul to pray for her family than to direct their material welfare. Tlie divorce w&s granted* FREED MILLIONAIRE. Richard Reynolds, son of the late tobacco king, has arrived home in >.ew York from England after serving a term of five months' imprisonment on a manslaughter charge. Friends who met him said he looked in better health that ha had been for years past. His arrival in New York passed unnoticed as he dodged the reporters there by registering his name as A. J. Reynolds. He retused to comment on his treatment at the hand 3 of the British authorities, but indicated that he was not at all disgruntled. UNUSUAL OCEAN PASSENGERS. Dunns a recent eastb6und voyage of theCedric "certain or the travellers in that ship were fed on raw bullocks' hearts, a diet to which they applied themselves with eagerness, says the "White Star Magazine." It has to be added that the travellers were not cabin class, for they were live mink accommodated in tour score cases, 171 of them in all. Their destination was a ranch in Scotland, and they have been brought over for breeding purposes, hemg the first ot several consignments due to reach Liverpool in the near future. QUICK LUNCH BAR FOR M.P'S,A "snack bar'' in the Housesof Parliament is the latest scheme for facilitating Parliamentary business. It would be placed at the top of the grand staircase leading to the committee room corridor in the space at present occupied as a cloakroom. The proposal has been inspired by the requirements of M.P's. and others-who have business at Westminster during the daytime in connection with committees on private bills, etc. Provision for the new bar has been made in the estimates of the Kitchen Committee for next year. • PRISON FOR CUTTING TRESSES. Sentence of eleven months' imprisonment was passed at the Old Bailey on John Hamilton for cutting off a girl's hair while on a bus in Old Kent Road. Hamilton, it was said, had been convicted eight times for similar offences since 1921. Every time he came out complaints were made of girls from 14 .to 16 having their hair cut off in this way. The Recorder (Sir Ernest Wild): Nobody else has any hair to cut. Do ladies in the East End shingle more than those in the West End? Detective Sergeant Dawkins: I think they do now. BIG PRICE FOR GREYHOUND, A record price, £2000, has been paid for Mr. A. Williams' champion greyhound track racer, Mick the Miller. It was bought by Mr. A. H. Kempton, rice-chair-man of South London Greyhound Racecourses, Ltd., on behalf of his wife. Mick the Miller, bred in Ireland, won the National Cup at Shelbourne Park, Dublin, and, on coming to England, ran a record heat (29.82 seconds) in the Greyhound Derby at the White City last July. He also won the final, and his other successes include winning the International Grey- ' hound Derby Sweepstakes at Wimbledon in October. Previous high prices have been Cormorant, an Irish two-year-old, £1000; Hungwell, a winner of the Waterloo Cup, £1102. PASSPORT FOR CAT. A passport was taken out for Dinge, the favourite kitten of Mr. John Savage, who has been the American Consul at Southampton for the past ten years. It was perhaps the first time in history that a passport was taken out for a cat. Dinge was informed that he was booked to go to Am erica, and was to sail in the United States liner Leviathan, but Dinge had other views on the matter. In his short lifetime he has developed a very real affection for the land of his birth. He cried a protest to his owner, but all in vain. Dinge may have been the first cat to possess a passport, but he did not appreciate the honour, and, driven to despair, seized an opportunity and dashed away to freedom. But was it freedom or a suicide's grave? For poor Dinge ran in front of a motor car and was killed. VESTRY AS NURSERY, 'Die Rev. Percy T. Norris, rector of Trinity Church, London Road, Southend, has made an effort to prove to the mothers of hi 3 _ congregation that he is capable of managing their babies while they attend the church services. In his parish magazine some weeks ago the rector stated that if any of the women did not care to go to church because their babies cried he would, when it was his curate's turn to preach, collect them, take them into the .clergy vestry and look after them. A number of women who came to put up the Christmas decorations in the church were accompanied by their babies, which they handed over, complete with dummies, bottles and toys,_ to Mr. Norris in the vestry. Mr. Norris said afterwards that he managed quite well. "As long as they don't all want their bottles at the same time I ou2ht to manage," he said. COMEDY OF BOAR'S HEAD. Customs officials at Croydon Aerodrcms solemnly considered how they could beat get rid of a boar's head. The boar had been shot in France, and was sent by Mr. Jack Kahane, an author, living at Acy-en-Multien, Oise, by air to his brother, Mr. Fred Kahane, of Ifield, Sussex, and was intended to grace the festive board of the Ifield Golf Club, of which Mr. Kahare is captain. But as 2lr. Kahane had_ not a license for importing fresh meat, he was told that it could not stay in the country owing to the possibility of its spreading foot and mouth disease, ihe Customs men were anxious, owing to the mild weather, that the head should be moved quickly. They waited, however, for Mr. Kahane's directions, and he said he could do nothing! Meantime, friends, he said, wers tantalising him with reminders in the form of chocolate and cream boars.

HOUSE BOUGHT WITH PENNIES,

How a house was bought with pennies accumulated for seventeen, years was revealed in. Norfolk, England, as tie result of the house changing hands. The house is on the banks erf the River Oase. Sojne rime ago ilrs. Newman, the wife c 4 a railway signalman, started saving sll the pennies she received in change, and when she had twelve changed them into silver, and fcer the silver into notes. This went on for several years. One day she was out with har husband and she pointed out the house, which was then in. the market, ilr. Newman admired it, and she turned to him and said, "Then we will buy H." Her husband laughed, thinking ejie was joking, and was almost stagger*! when she produced the purchase money. The cash represented the saved pennies. Mr. Newman, who knew nothing of his partner's thrift, on the death or his wife took his pension, sold ''she hortsse, and went to "live near lys daughter.