NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 179, 30 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

WILL STOPS ART DEAL. A portrait of Mr. Augustus John has been, lost to the Tate Gallery because part of it was painted in the south of France. It is a picture of his daughter, Poppet. He began work on it in England, but finished it abroad. He took it home, and it was later seen by the Koyal Academy Council and chosen for purchase with money from the Chantrey bequest. The purchase was impossible, however, as under the will of the late Sir Francis Chantrey, .pictures purchased must be painted wholly in the United Kingdom.

CONVICT'S WREATH. Convicts in Maidstone prison sent a wreath, which they had made themselves, to the funeral of Mr. J. C. Dunk, a popular visitor to the gaol. This is the first time that convicts at the prison have sent a wreath. As soon as they heard of Mr. Dunk's death they asked permission to make one. Mr. Dunk, who frequently took a class of 40 convicts at the prison without a warder being present, recently formed a concert party among the prisoners, and was responsible for many of the comforts in the prison. He was 63, and was superintendent of the Maidstone St. John Ambulance Corps.

BELLES OF THE BULL RING. Women bull-fighters have made their debut in Spain, and have actually killed the bulls with their swords. Two senoritas, named Manolita Tulla and Maria Alegra, took part in a bull-fight at Alicante, in Murcia, and received an ovation from a huge crowd of spectators. They wore the full traditional costume of the bull-fighter, with jewelled tunics and breeches and three-cornered hats, and used red capes to skilfully play the bulls with which they were confronted. The Spanish Press remarks that "a woman has flown the Atlantic alone, so there is no reason to forbid women taking part in bullfights."

HOW HE DIDDLED "DORA." A charge of acting as a human "shilling-in-the-slot" machine was made against a Rotterdam tobacconist in a police court. As in London, shopkeepers have placed automatic cigarette machines outside their shops, since they are now compelled to close at 8 p.m. But this Rotterdam tobacconist erected a dummy machine outside his shop. He stood at the back of it, and when money was put in the slot, he supplied the cigarettes. If a buyer put too much money in it, the "human machine" obligingly supplied the change. The court decided that his action was illegal, but as it was merely a "test case," he was not fined.

PRISONER SEES CRIME "ACTED." While the daughter of a detective was made to reconstruct the death struggle of Mildred Hawes, a 15-year-old girl guide, who was found outraged and shot on Table Mountain last December, John Henry Munnik, who is accused of murdering the girl, looked on with perfect composure. The crime was reconstructed at the spot where it is alleged to have been committed, the entire personnel of the court motoring there for the purpose. The daughter of a detective allowed herself to be dragged, as the Crown alleges that Mildred Hawes was dragged, from the centre of the road to the mountain side. Munnik stood watching the police and the detective's daughter going through their piece of acting. His features betrayed no emotion.

BURGLARS SAVED BY TRAIN. A railway train helped two burglars to escape from the warehouse of Messrs. Beards Service Depot, Edgware Road, London, when they were surprised by a policeman. Both men jumped through a plateglass window at the back of the building and ran towards the L.M.S. railway line. The policeman continued hia chase, but a train approached and separated him from the fugitives. He had to stand still for a few moments, and when the train had passed the men had disappeared. At the warehouse he found bloodstains on the floor and on. the broken window. Some cycle accessories had been packed ready for removal, and it was presumed that a motor car in the neighbourhood was waiting for a signal to take the goods away.

KING "GETS HIS OWN BACK." King Carol is taking advantage of the benefits accorded farmers under Rumania's much-disputed agrarian debts law, and thereby he is evening up an old score. The King's application under the debts law means that a mortgage on his estate, Manastirea, will be reduced 50 per cent and he will have 30 years in which to pay the balance. Bankers say that this does not mean that the King is in a bad way financially: instead, he is merely getting even with, the financial powers who treated him as an ordinary dirt farmer when he was a prince in exile. It seems that the bank which holds the mortgage tried to sell him out during his period oE exile because he was late with interest payments. Carol was hard pressed for cash at the time, and he had to do considerable anxious scurrying about before he could gather resources to save hia estate. The fact that the bank was controlled by the Liberal party and < was exercising pressure for purely political reasons, did not make the Prince feel any better. Now, as King, he is getting the last laugh. .

BOY CAPTURES DEADLY SNAKE.

A healthy cheeked schoolboy walked into the office of Dr. Burgess Barnett, the new curator of the Reptile House at the London Zoo. He had a little box, which he opened with pride. "What do you think of this snake?" he asked. The curator's eyes widened. He thought a lot. In the box was a long black adder, a dangerous and almost unknown British, reptile, which might have bitten the boy and even caused his death. The boy, Robin Copping, aged 14, of Selhurst Road, South Norwood, London, told Dr. Barnetfc that he caught the adder at Reigate, Surrey, where he had gone in pursuit o£ his hobby of hunting for reptiles. The curator later showed a reporter the new arrival as it lay curled in a big glass case in his laboratory. "It uncurled, shook its head angrily, and spat when he touched it with a stick. It is coal-black and well over a foot in length, and is a really dangerous-looking specimen. "It is the only one known to be in captivity,' said Dr. Barnett, "and the type is very rare. It is really a black 'albino,' and is a poisonous member of the adder family, from tho bites of which people have been known to die." "