NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

OLD CUSTOM PASSES. The Admiralty has been in existence for nearly 300 years. All that time it has been.in control of oars, thousands of them. Recently, in solemn Fleet orders, it announced a discovery. Thus:—"lt lias been found from experience that the practice of immersing oars in water before use for the purpose of making them less brittle, etc., is detrimental, inasmuch as it increases the tendency to warp after subsequent drying, tends to enhance decay, and does not cure brittlenees." The end of the notice gives the Navy definite instructions to take advantage of this revelation: —"The sentence in Article iv., p. 7 of pamphlet "Boat Pulling, 1931, ' viz., 'unless soaked before use they are liable to break,' should therefore be deleted." CULTURED LABOURER. Alfred Williams was a railway labourer at Swindon. He was also classical scholar and poet —and expert in French, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. Dr. Albert Mansbridge told the story of this man at the British Institute of Adult Education Conference at Oxford. "His translations from the classics," he said, "are treasures of English literature. He produced two volumes of poetry and several distinguished prose works. During the war he went to India and soaked himself in Sanskrit. He came back to bo a market farmer, built his own house, and died just as a Civil List pension was conferred on him. He w-as a workman and remained a workman; and he probably never got more than £2 a week in his life." "BOMBED" INTO HEALTH. Patients in four of the great London hospitals can now lie "bombed" into health. The bomb contains one gramme of radium, encased in a thin steel shell within a thick outer shell of lead. It cost £17,000. At one end a hole is cut from the lead, and plugged with wood. This provides the outlet from which the powerful rays arc directed. An official of University College Hospital explained that patients usually have two applications daily of two hours each over a period of three weeks. He said that in a number of cases of malignant tumour, three periods of treatment have been sufficient to restore the patients to full health. There was evidence, he added, that "bombing" patients was proving a valuable addition to therapeutic methods for certain types of disease.

THE PRICE OF HOLIDAYS. Reports from the holiday centres in Britain indicate that 1934 has been a most successful year. Holidaymakers have spent mote freely than for many years, and it is estimated that their total outlay reached £300,000,000. This figure is arrived at by calculating the varying amounts in circulation in banknotes. Expenditure on holidays brings note ch dilation in summer to a higher level than in winter, except at Christmas. During January and February this year the value of notes in circulation was between £360,000,000 and £370.000,000. By Easter it had risen to £380.000,000. The increase went on until by August Bank-holiday the total had gone up to £303,000,000. Foreign visitors in the country spend about £22,000,000 yearly. SUNSHINE METEOR. Golfers on the Finchley course, England, describe u meteor which appeared over London as being loin to ISiu in length, and tapering to needle points. One woman thing herself to the ground thinking that the "body" would strike her. There is uotliing on record to showthat a meteor luit> ever been seen in England during bright sunlight. Dr. A. C. D. Grommeliii, the astronomer and authority on comets, said: "The phenomenon is rare, but not unknown in other parts of the world. Thirty yeacs ago a meteor appeared over Spaiu iu daylight and disappeared amid great detonation?, which frightened the countryside. In 100S Siberia was visited by a similar body, which caused great destruction. In this caee the meteor must have been a remarkable object approaching the brightness of a full moon." Many letters and telephone calls regarding the meteor were received by "The Daily Mail." Oue from Kenhold, Bedfordshire, stated: "The meteor appeared to be only about lOOyda away. ]i was a body of flame with fiery fins. My friend and I watched it for several seconds, and it seemed to disappear into a deep chiypit about 150 yards across. It appeared to be travelling slowly, and at an angle of 30 degrees." A letter from Hornsey, N., states: "At approximately 3.4.") p.m. there appeared a huge green-blue meteor travelling from west to east. It left a trail of glowing red sparks. The object was exceptionally large and brilliant, ami was seen against a perfectly blue sky during brilliant sunlight." One expert said it was significant that a violent electric storm broke over London within 24 hours of the appearance of the meteor.

MORPHINE FROM POPPY STRAW. "The Lancet' , states that the Advisory Committee of the League of Xr.tions recently became aware of a new process for extracting morphine and other ulkaloids from poppy straw and poppy chafi remaining after the ripe capsules have been threshed to separate the seeds. These parts of the plants have hitherto been regarded as useless aud have been destroyed or utilised as a poor quality of manure. The process is regarded as a new source ot income for agriculture, and owing to the ease with which s-tocks of the raw material can be accumulated, transported aud stored the manufacture can be uninterruptedly carried on throughout the year. There are at the present time some 8000 hectares of land in Hungary under poppy cultivation, yielding some 1.3,000 tons of poppy ptruw annually. One ton <<i poppy straw can be made to yield 800 grammes of morphine base and SO grammes of codeine base, ll,us some 10,000 kilos of morphine and 1000 kilos of codeine could be annually produced. "The quality of the alkaloids is pronounced to be the same as that obtained from raw opium and to meet pharmacopoeial requirements. The eltc.-t of this new discovery on the supply of morphine for licit, and also illicit, purposes is likely to complicate still further the international control of drugs of addiction. The Hungarian Government and the inventor of the process are prepared to enter into arrangements bot!i with private undertakings and with the Government for the sale of the secret of the new proee** to foreicri producers under certain conditions. All this makes, it important io! expedite the summoning by the League of Xations of the projected conference on the production of the raw materials of dangerous drugs."

I n ? EE y LE LEADS T ° ROMANCE resulted in a love romance t? , has fessor found the beetle when he J Pto " from a ferry boat to the landing while on a holiday Inst year T et *S e coyery brought to Tilbury a' dls ; Ministry officials, who staged or London Authority's hotel, where \n Wright is the manageress. t h' professor became friends, and now n ■ engagement has been announced Ti! r wedding will take place next June. LEGAL "TOUTS" DENOUNCED Undercut ting and touting by wlicito™ were denounced m strong terms I,T H. R Blaker of r n Ins presidential address to the Moviici a i meeting of the Law Society at Newcastle l<or sonio months the professional n,r poses committee of the society had con sidered these questions, lie said, and aim the subject of solicitors sharing profit costs with unqualified persons. "tC practice of undercutting and touting is m l which should not be tolerated in our prv fession. It is not fair to those who avoid it and it is unfair on their clerks. The-w clerks—there is no more admirable body than solicitors' clerks— cannot be properly remunerated for their services if work is dene at less than an adequate charge. The effect of undercutting falls largely on their shoulders." STEEL KING BUYS AN ISLAND. Mr. L. D. Whitehead, the Monmouthshire eteel magnate, has bought a 600-acre island off the south-west coast of Wales as a birthday gift for hie wife. It is the Isle of Ramsey—"The Isle of the 20,000 Saints." Only two people live on it, a farmer and hit) mother. A thousand years ago the isle was inhabited by large numbers of monks. Now it is to be preserved as a bird sanctuary. On it is a chapel, dedicated to St. Justinian, which is scheduled by the Office of Works as an ancient monument. It contains traces of a Norman cathedral, and legend says it once had some valuable belle, which.were stolen by pirates St. Justinian wae the confessor of St. David, the patron saint of Wales. His servants killed him on account of his disciplinary measures, and be is supposed to have walked across Ramsey Sound with his head in his hand.

—"Judge.

GIRL OF SEVEN SHOCKS BISHOP. Sir Richard Gregory told an amusing story at the conference of the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaus ut Oxford. A bishop ivho was staying at a rather gay country bouse en mo down to breakfast and found oniy a little girl in the room. "'Good morning." said the bishop. •"Can you say the Lord's Prayer?" The child promptly replied: "Yes, sir." and s;ii,l it. "Very food,' said the bishop. "Do you know the Commandments?" The little girl immediately repeated the Commandments. "That is excellent,"' boomed the bishop. "Now, do you know the Catechism ':" To which the child replied brightly: "Damn it, I am only seven!" A POLICE ERROR. How Mr. E. L. Gandar Dower, an airman, was detained by the police on suspicion, of "impersonating himself' and was questioned until 2 a.m. before lie established his innocence was toH at Marylebone. Last April Mr. Gandar Dower lost a suitcase containing two cheque books from his car. Some time later, while lie was flying in the Kingf Cup air race, a man unknown to him was impersonating him at a Chertsey (Surrey! hotel. In August, while flying from Jvewcastle, Mr. Dower booked a room iu advance at the same hotel. On arriving there about midnight he was met by two police sergeants and detained on a charge of uttering forged cheques. He explained that he was in Aberdeen when the cheques were passed, but it was 2 a.m. before lift satisfied the police and was released. He gave evidence at Marylebone, against Alfred Wood, aged 35, a sales manager, oi Bark Place, W., who was charged with stealing and receiving the suitcase and cheque books and uttering two cheques to the amount of £70. Mr. A. H. Freeman, for Mr. Gandar Dower, recalled the incident at Chertsey. and said that the accused man was alleged to have impersonated Mr. Dower, and that Mr. Dower was arrested for impersonating himself. Wood was remanded.