NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 175, 26 July 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

• "RACEHORSE" ENGINES. Eight new L.X.E.R. engines of the "Pacific" type are to be named after -the following famous racehorses: Trigo, Manna, Gainsborough, Rock Sand, Rock Law, Call Boy, Spearmint,, and Cicero. 'Ilie locomotives will haul express passenger trains on the East Coast over • the truck oi the "Flying Scotsman." PEER'S EXPERIMENT. Lord Onslow 13 trying to acclimatise some, rare butterflies which have become extinct iu England. He has obtained 400 pupr.c, and these arc now being hatched out at his Surrey home at Clandon, near Guildford. The butterflies are all of the swallowtail species, and Lord Onslow has appealed to people in the locality not to molest them, but to give them a chancc to breed. VETERANS' FIST DUEL. Two Confederate veterans, Jacob Heater, 89, and W. M. Butler, 83, engaged recently in a fist fight in Virginia to decide which should go first to a barber's chair. Heater was found dead, and Butler was arrested on a charge of killing him. Both resided at- the Soldiers' Home. Coroner Whitfield said Heater ■probably died of shock. RADIO AND THE ESKIMO. Radio is extremely popular with the Eskimos, and the time is not far off when there will be a radio set in every igloo, according to Staff Sergeant M. A. Joyce of the Canadian Mounted Police, stationed at Chesterfield Inlet, in the northern part of Hudson Bay. "It will not be long before the Eskimo will be demanding . radios from the traders in payment .for their furs and labour," said Sergeant Joyce. "It is quite a common sight to see a number of them collected in the mission here listening to the music over the radio. VETERAN STEEPLECHASER. Eighty-five years old Colonel E. R. Gregge-Hopwood, of Hopwood Hall, Mi'ddleton, Lanes, challenged any rider of his own age to a two-mile steeplechase match for £1000 a side. This is the outcome of a 'house party discussion at the time of the Chester races. Colonel Gregge-Hopw-ood said he knew Sir Claude Chaniipion de Crespigny would take up the challenge like a/shot, but Sir Claude was only 81. Sir Claude said that.he was 83. He would decide on an answer if a definite challenge to him arrived. Sir Claude, who lives at Maidon, Essex, is a great sportsman. ; '• ' ... SECRET OF COLLEGE ROOM. For five months a' room, seldom used, at Marischal College, Aberdeen, held the secret of a boy's disappearance. The boy, William Aden Stuart, aged 16, was an assistant in the chemical laboratory at the college. But nothing had been heard of him since he left his home at Torry, Aberdeen, last November. His body was found last month in a room adjoining the laboratory. The day before he disappeared the boy had been questioned by the police concerning the removal of two revolvers from the college, and it is thought he feared a prosecution. No action against him, however, was contemplated. MUTILATED WILL DISPUTE. A man who lived mainly at Rowton Houses left estate worth £5400 and his will was the subject of arj action in the Probate Court.. He was John William. Gates, of Arlington Road, Camden Town, who died in October, 1928, at the age of 79. His will, which had been mutilated, was found in a packing case in a CamberAvell store. It was said that, part of the will,, containing bequests to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and to a friend, 'had been cut away. The next-of-kin , contended that the will had been revoked and the Public Trustee put forward the will as it was found. Lord Merrivale found for the Public Trustee, but directed that the cost of the R,N.L.I, be paid out of the estate. CANINE POLICEMAN. " Officer Bob " of the St. Louis police department wears brass buttons on his collar, is the best sleuth of his kind iu the city, patrols a beat twenty-four hours a day and never went to rookie school. Being four-footed instead of two, like most coppers, and with a barking voice that beats a traffic cop's, "Officer Bob" has been able to rise fast in the department, and there is some talk of making him sergeant. The xiondescript dog, part bull and part terrier, has six arrests on record so far this year. All day long, and often through the night., the dog follows Patrolmen Thomas Walsh or George Checkett around their downtown beats. A man with a bundle who acts suspiciously when Bob barks—for the dog always barks at anyone with a bundle—is certain of arrest. PUSS GETS A RISE. Rufus, the British Treasury cat, recently sccured a 50 per cent increase of salary on account of the higher cost of living. It started with a high Treasury official who noticed a mouse scampering down a corridor —with 110 Rufus in pursuit! This grave matter was brought to the attention of Sir Warren Fisher, who signed the former Treasury notes, and the general opinion- was that 2d a day is not enough- to provide a -hunting cat with sustenance. The Lords of the Treasury turned down a suggestion that Rufus should have another oenny a day, but . Dame Maude Lawrence, bead of the women .in the Civil Service, enlisted the sympathy of Mr. Snowden, who has a fondness for animals. A second minute went to the C-hancellor, and was noted, after an interview with Rufus: "Treasury vote: Approve increase of cat's pay." HELD ON TO HIS LEGS. "I must congratulate you on your presence of mind and bravery,"' said Mr. Powell, a London magistrate, to Miss Vera Isabel Bland, a young typist, after she dsscribed her capture of an alleged burglar. Ernest Percy Dean, 22, of Balling Road, Hammersmith, was charged with breaking into a flat at Rosedale Terrace, Hammersmith, and stealing property valued at £50. Miss Bland said that she and her brother were listening in at their wireless when she heard movements in an adjoining flat. On her calling out in a deep voice, "Who's ,there?" the door was slammed. She gripped the handle, and the door was wrenched open, and Dean rushed out, knocking her against the wall. "I rqji after him, arid as he was clambering over the gate I seized his legs and held on till my brother came," said Miss Bland.

DROWNED IN A FOOT OF WATER. John Arthur Herbert, 45, of Cecil Road, West Croydon, was found dead face downwards in about a foot of watet at Three Kings Pond, Mitcham. There was no suggestion of foul play. WHEN OTHER LIPS! A French music critic is being sued for £400 damages for criticising a singer severely in a newspaper. It appeared that the singer had obtained leave of absence from the music hall where he was employed. Nevertheless, his name still appeared 011 the programme. The critic had been under the impression that the singer was the artist himself instead of his deputy. FISHING-ROD RESCUE. The remarkable presence of mind of Leslie Gray, aged nine, of Leicester, saved Harold Stanley, aged eight, from drowning in a deep canal. Several boys had just arrived 011 a fishing expedition when Stanley fell in, and was .quickly carried away. With great coolncss Gray connected up his fishing rod, and, holdnig it out for the drowning boy to grasp » as he came up for the first time, succeeded in getting him to the bank. MASS POISONER. Texas Jim," otherwise James Baker, the modern Borgia, whose boast to the Detroit police that in the past four years lie had poisoned eight men in different parts of the world and set America aghast, was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Harry Gaw, a laboratory watchman. According to Baker s story, his eight victims were dispatched by the method of the Borgias— poison—and their homes were widely scattered from Bombay to Texas. £20,000 FOR CLERGY. Am anonymous gift of £20,000 for augmenting the stipends of, the clergy of the I)iocesp. of Liverpool was announced r™ • 1 s ' 10 !? Liverpool recently. lhis donor, said the Bishop,' gave £10,000 J in 1928, mainly for the same purpose. .It is understood that the donor was Mrs. Moss, widow of a Liverpool shipowner, who lives at Liss, Hampshire. She was s entrusted with about £300,000 by her . husband for distribution to various cfses She gave £20,000 to Liverpool Cathedral building fund. • ' BABY LEFT UNDER A BUSH. A blue-eyed baby boy, aged about tea , months, was found at Paradise. Drive, , Eastbourne. Two young women who were walking along the. drive found 'the child ■ - wrapped in an eiderdown lying among some bushes near the main road. The youngster had apparently recently 'been fed and appeared to be very 'happy. Along the road for a distance of about 300 yards a number of .baby's garments were found, left apparently: to lead people to the spot where the child lay. A blue (perambulator was also found. £1200 DISH. FOR £378. < V ' Just 20 years ago, at the sale of the ' Coope collection at Christie's, London', the late Mr. Harding, the St. .James' Square art dealer, paid £1200 for a small Gubbio ware dish, measuring only BV2 inches in diameter, the work of the great sixteenth century Italian potter, Maestro Giorgio. Since then as much as £2800 lias been paid for one of these dishes, but'at the sale of Mr. Harding's • collection at Christie's, the bidding stopped , with : a bid of 1 £378. The whole collection of 164 lots produced just under £3000. SAW SONS KILLED. Two brothers, James and Alexander Adam, aged 8 and 13, were killed while bird-nesting on the cliffs at the village of Cove, Kincardineshire, Scotland.' They had, apparently, been attracted by a gull's egg in 'a nest. James fell over the rocks' into deep water. His brother tried to grasp him, but lost his balance and also fell over the cliff. Their mother and'sis- . ter saw the tragedy. Mrs. Adam -had gone' to call her children home, and saw two boys fall over the crag, ibut did not then know that they were 'her , sons. NEW IMMORTALS. It took the Academic Francaise less than 40 minutes to make two new "im- i mortals." The select company was called to elect two members, to fill the seats occupied by the late M. Francois de Curel (a playwright) and the late M. Clemenueau. ■ To the former seat M. Charles le Coffie, a well-known novelist, 1 was elected after three ballots.; His 'competitors were M. Francis de Croisset, a dramatist, and the Due de Broglie. M. Andre Chaunieix, an author ' and journalist, was chosen, on a first vote, to replace "The Tiger" in the company of the 40 "immortals." ' £100,000 IN JEWELS. • Fortunes in jewels were gathered together at a London hotel one nightdately. They were worn by the' wives of jewellers who had come from many countries to the third international jewellers' congress • at the Mayfair Hotel. At a modest estimate the, stones worn were worth not less : than £100,000. One woman wore two necklaces—one of pearls and the other of diamonds and emeralds. Another bad a magnificent necklace of uncut polished emeralds. Cir Austen Chamberlain, who is president of the National Jewellers' Association, appealed to women to arrest ; their. fashion for a few years to give jewellers a chance. They would then know what to prepare for. ORIGIN OF AH SIN. Tn an attempt to discover the ancestor of the Chinese race, Mr. Roy Chapman Andrews, the American explorer, set out .■ lately on his fifth Mongolian expedition. His destination, 400 miles north of Kalgan, is an uncharted, mystic lake, in the midst of massive saud dunes—a lake reported by natives but unknown to Westerners. Its shores are tall Pleistocene cliffs, which are said to be crammed with fossil remains. A party of 26, including Americans, French, Chinese and Mongols, accompanied the explorer. After motor transport is discarded, travelling will be • made by camel for many weeks. Mr. Andrews doe 6 not expect to discover new' living animals, but. only "old" ones. BARREL ORGANS FOR ROYALTY. The musician who writes in praise of the barrel organ, lamenting its rapid dis- - appearance, may not be aware of the popularity the instrument once enjoyed among the great ones of the.earth. When first invented barrel organs were much in demand for society functions; the famous Lady Jersey set the fashion by having one installed in her drawing room at Berkeley Square. As late as 1877 even Augustus Hare found Lord Exeter, with his family and guests, dancing to the music of a barrel organ which they took it in turns to grind. Royalty shared the craze, for Napoleon 111. and the Empress Eugenie gave " barrel organ parties " at the Tuilmes, when, according to one of the guests, " the worst of tlie many bad organ grinders was the emperor himself." SINLESS COUNTY IN TEXAS. During the 30 years that Gail has been the couuty seat of Borden county, Texas, only one person has ever been convicted of a felony in the county, and he was given a suspended sentence. The court there lias never sentenced a man to the penitentiary or even to the county gaol. Although the gaol has stood in the courthouse yard for many years, it has been used only as a storage place. Other remarkable facts which apply to Borden county are that it has 110 railroad, there is not a preacher within its confines, nor is there a physician. The only justice of the peace 111 the county is C. W. Taylor, 75 years old, ■who has always found business so slack that his regular employment is as a cowbov on a ranch near Gail. A A