NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

CYCLIST TURNED BLIND. Evidence that a cyclist had a fit which turned him blind and that he crashed into a wall and was killed, was given at a Leeds inquest. The cyclist was Samuel Lindsay (46), a miner, of New Street, Woodlesford. At the time of the accident Lindsay was absent from work as he was suffering from nystagmus (an eye disease), which contributed to fits of dizziness. A verdict of accidental death was returned. "ONE MOUSTACHE—£2O." A Swiss gentleman prided himself on his resemblance to President Hmdenburg, which was so striking that it brought him into conversation with many strangers and thus gained him numerous friends. A dog recently attacked him and bit his face so severely that his moustache had to be ehaved off to allow the wound to be sewn up. His resemblance to the German President was destroyed, so he sued the owner of the dog. An award to him of £20 for the damage and depression resulting therefrom has now been confirmed on appeal. WIFE TURNED OUT OF CHURCH. The ban imposed by the Pope on the entry into churches of immodestly dressed women is being rigorously carried out by the priesthood throughout Italy. In one case at Lavis (in the Trentmo) the priest not only had the woman turned out of church, but forbade the members of her family to participate in the services. ±ne woman's husband took the matter to Court, and the priest was fined 100 lire (about 30/) and 100 lire costs. This verdict was reversed in another Court, but the husband won it back when he went to the Court of Appeal. CAIRO TOMBS PIMPLE. The action arising out of the death of Mr Weyerhaeuser, a rich American, after visiting the tombs at Cairo, ended in the King's Bench Division, London. Mr. Montagu Evans, a Lloyd's underwriter, was sued for his share in an £82,000 insurance policy. The policy was against accidental death. A pimple formed on Mr. Weyerhaeuser's nostril and it was probed by a companion. Giving judgment for Mr. Evans, Mr. Justice Roche said there was no evidence which entitled him to decide that the death. followed_ an accident or injury caused by an accident.

LONGER-LIVED BULLDOGS. It used to be said of bulldogs that the only objection to them was that they died young. It seems that the reason for this was because their hearts were too big for their bodies. "Bulldogs used to live about five years," said Mr. T. Roger Boulton, secretary of the Bulldog Club, at the annual show at London, "but you will find many nowadays ten years old or older. They are living longer because their hearts are getting smaller. Their hearts used to be too big for them, and they would drop down dead, but by judicious breeding it has been possible to develop strains with smaller hearts."

A DANGEROUS "SWANK." Poetic justice? Artistic and literary circles in Chelsea are greatly amused over the unfortunate predicament in which a newcomer finds himself. He is a young artist of a certain amount of promise. The other night he got into conversation with a stranger, and later invited him round to his studio flat to see some of his works. The stranger assented, and, arrived at his ilat, the artist proceeded to expand upon his abilities and his position generally. "Do you know," he said confidentially,"! think nothing of giving a few hundreds for anything that particularly takes my eye." He went on to explain' that his ilat. which by no means seemed to be very expensively furnished, only contained a tithe of his possessions. His visitor congratulated him upon the evident soundness of his financial position, adding tha ■ he had no ide.i that there was so much money to be made out of art at the present day. "Oh, men like, say, Lavery, Epstein and Augustus John and just a few others," was the _ modest reply, "well, we can make practically as much as we like." After a great deal more in the eame strain, the visitor prepared to take his leave. "By the way," said liis host, as they eliook hands, "what is your particular line?" "Oil, 1 am only an inspector of taxes," came the reply. "I expect you'll be hearing from us presently! Good-night, and thank you very much!"

THE SMUGGLING INDUSTRY. Curious revelations are made at Paris regarding the development of an important industry for the provision of aids to smuggling between Fiance and England since the imposition of the general tariff. These aids were not altogether unknown before, but the industry has received an enormous fillip of late, and more and more the ingenuity of manufacturers is being turned to developing attractive lines. Walking sticks and umbrellas, hollow and with giaiss tubes, are openly sold for the use of those who like to get their spirits or perfumery through the Customs without duty. , And considerable ingenuity has been shown in manufacturing dolls and wax or wooden figures with facilities lor stowing away in hollow interiors .such contraband as drugs, silk and cigars. It is stated by one authority that tailors and dressmakers' "dummies" are being sent to Kngland and back For no other purpose than to make possible the smuggling of all kinds of dutiable articles. These are constructed with such skill that even the closest examination may fail to reveal the secret spring that opens the interior with its safe hiding place. Hooks also are in great demand, and the Customs officer who find a selection of nicely bound volumes among die luggage of the traveller can hardly be expected to know that if he opened one of those volumes lie would find that iimiile the prg.'s have been hollowed out .-loverly to provide a hilling place for dutiable gllOllt.. I

VILLAGERS WANT LIFE. The inhabitants of Crowburst, near Lingtield, England, are getting rest ess ami want to explore the world outside their village, which k one of the smallest an 1 most isolated in Surrey. The nearest railway station is three miles away, they have no motor buses, shops, electric, light or gas; the nearest cinema is over five miles away, the nearest public house is over f mile away. And yet the village is less than 30 miles from London. liring : of their isolation the annual parish meeting has decided to ask the local bus company to provide a service through the village. TWO MEN IN AN ELEPHANT. Two men masquerading as an elephant at Oxford walked through the plate-glase window of a millinery shop in Cornmarket Street, because they could not see where they were going. Inside the elephant were two Oxford residents, Mr. W. I' • Burrows and Mr. J. Linnell. They were on their way to a dance organised to raise funds to buy Rosie, a baby elephant, for the Oxford Zoo. Mr. Burrows, who was the front part of the "elephant, , could not. see properly through the mak<2up animal, and led his partner into the window. He was cut by splinters of glass. VICAR INHIBITED. Following a commission of inquiry the Bishop (fr Carlisle has inhibited the Rev. H. T. M. Lindesay, vicar of Walton, near Carlisle, for 25 years, from carrying on the ecclesiastical duties of the benefice until further notice. A majority of the commission found that Mr. Lindesay had failed to observe the promises made by him at ordination, and had not manifested due solicitude for the moral and spiritual welfare of his parishioners. It was also found that he had not for some years conducted a Sunday school for children of the parish and that he had failed, except in a few casee and for the purpose of collecting his tithe, to visit his parishioners. He had also created an attitude oj hostility.

TO STOP FAMILY QUARRELS. West Wickham Community Council, Kent, has formed a confidential committee to help young married couples—and others—to solve domestic and other problems. The Rev. C. J. Barry,_ the minister of Emmanuel Congregational Church, said: "We are going to try to stop home disputes going to the police courts. There are not only troubles between husband and wife, but disagreements between neighbours. We can. also help by giving people legal advice, particularly on mortgage and hire-purchase questions, which are constant sources of trouble nowadays with young people/ The legal adviser to the local Traders Association is to give his help. The Community Council on its social side is an outcome of the recent broadcast appeal by the Prince of Wales to "help each other." DRUGS IN BOUQUETSThe eight of a fashionably-dressed woman alighting from a limousine outside a dingy hotel in Montmarte, Paris, attracted the attention of a passing detective. He waited about for a time and the woman reappeared from the hotel carrying a bouquet of violete. Later he noticed that other visitors to the hotel, including five stage celebrities, all carried bouquets when they left. The detective reported the matter to the Surete, and the police arrested a woman living at the hotel, Henriette Pierre, on a charge of trafficking in heroin and cocaine. It is alleged that in' her room was found a large quantity of drugs, some of it in a trunk, and the rest of it concealed in bouquets of violets. Four men and Tromen prominent in the Paris theatrical -world and five women said to be well known in social circles are alleged to have visited the hotel to buy the -women's "bouquets."

A SHY GENIUS. The Queen, going round an exhibition of modern pottery in London, came upon two beautiful bowls. "But these can't be modern, eurely!" she exclaimed. "They're •ancient Chinese—just like some I've got at home." Modern, however, they were— the work of one of the greatest geniuses working in pottery to-day. He is Reginald Welte, a 6ft emiling giant, whose hands can _ work magic witih clay—and who, despite hie towering inches, is as shy as a EchoolgirL So shy, in fact, is he that he cannot be persuaded to attend one of his own exhibitions. They tried to drag him along to one that was being held at Lady Oxford's house in Bedford Square, but Wells just grinned, and muttered something inaudible, ar\d stayed lurking at home in his studio at Pulborough. "If they like the stuff they can look at it," he said. "Who the dickens wants to look at me?" The public has not only been looking at Wells' stuff, but ■princes, peel's and commoners alike have been buying it—buying it for years at handsome prices.