NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

HIDDEN TREASURE. A peasant woman in the little village of Hubenstein, on the River Inn, coujo never understand why the chest in her kitchen held such a small quantity ot flour. She decided to unscrew the back t»r the chest. It contained three bags oi silver coins, weighing 10lb, dated from the year 1770 to 1804. Tliey are believed to have been the savings of one of her ancestors concealed there from the eyes of Napoleon's soldiers. SEAL WITH A STORY. A baby seal lay wounded on the rocks at Seahouses, on the Northumberland coast. Mrs. Robinson, of ~Elford, Seahouses, found it and took it into her farm. She fed it every day from a baby' 6 bottle. The seal thrived. Now it comes every day to the front door and cries when it is hungry. It lives in Mrs. Robinson's garden and seems quite content to remain. Although white at present, it will turn gradually darker until it is black. AFTER 46 YEARS. Professor Gilbert Murray celebrated the forty-sixth anniversary of his wedding by attending a League of Nations Union Conference luncheon in London. The delegates congratulated him and in reply he said: "All I can say is that we began young and we have continued a long time. After 46 years we have not yet seriously entertained the thought -of divorce." Professor Murray married the - eldest daughter of the ninth Earl of Carlisle in 1889. They have three children. TREASURE EXPEDITION. A treasure-hunting expedition, led by Mr. Herbert L. Nelson, a contractor, will leave America shortly for Blackbeard Island, the lonely strip of land lying about fifty miles south of Savannah, to search for buried pirate gold. The island is a wild bird sanctuary owned by the Government, and the hunters have received permission to dig there on condition that they remain on the island for only ten days, and that they replace every piece of turf they dig up. Scores of expeditions have previously attempted to locate the pirate hoard, but all have failed. Mr. Nelson, however, claims to possess a delicate instrument which will locate the exact position of the treasure, and thus make it unnecessary to dig up more than an acre of ground. The treasure is said to have been buried there by the famous pirate, Edward Teach, known as "Captain Blackbeard," because ! of his jet-black beard, who used to ; terrorise the coasts of Carolina, Florida \ and Georgia IGO years ago. I

HE HAD 246 DESCENDANTS. A man who had 246 direct descendants has died in the village of Tholan, in Holland, at the age of 95. He was the oldest inhabitant of the village and had thirteen children, ninety grandchildren, 138 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. Ox this number 207 are still alive. TURKEY'S MODERN PRISON. A new modern penitentiary has been completed on the island of ImralJj\ in the Straits of Marmora, where the prisoners will be able to keep themselves, lhey will all be allowed a certain amount of freedom, and earn their own living by cultivating plots of land which will be given to each prisoner. Their food and clothing will vary according to their respective successes in cultivating these plots. Some of them will earn their living by fishing in the straits. The new penitentiary has been inaugurated by the transfer there of 500 convicts, all serving sentences of over 15 years, from the gaols of Istanbul and Anatolia.

WINDJAMMER CENTENARIAN. Hero of many a thrilling adventure while skipper of windjammers on the Atlantic and the Great Lakes of Canada, Captain Alexander McKay, a Scotsman, has just celebrated his lootn birthday at Nanton, Alberta. He lias been shipwrecked three times, and thinks such exciting experiences are an aid to longevity. Captain McKay was born at Stornoway, lxoss-shire, Scotland, and came to Canada when lie was 14 years old in- the sailing f, ?P ar y Blanche. For 50 years he "lived" on the water, making three voyages across the Atlantic in addition to his regular Great Lake servicfes. The centenarian speaks Gaelic fluently, and is an authority on Gaelic literature, music and games. HIGH-LEVEL FISH WANTED. There are fish in Lake Titicaca, the highest in the world, but not enough. Ilie.v are of a coarse, native variety, and the large number of natives who live on ithe lake's shores would like more refined fish, although the water is said to be too cold for most European varieties. The Bolivian and Peruvian Governments have therefore _ signed a "formal diplomatic agreement" whose object is to create a fishing industry on this sheet of water set in the Andes 12.000 feet above sea level and 5000 square miles in area, and restock it. It is confidently expected that foreign experts will find some species of fish that will be able to bear the intense cold, even though tile natives, who from time iin - memorial have fished from frail boats made of reeds, refrain from learning to swim because they cannot stand the cold themselves.

I CURATIVE WATERS FOUND. I Curative waters which may result in the ! establishment of one of Europe's most beneficial spas have been found in the i Krasnokamsk region near Perm during a drilling for oil. Under a layer of petroleum, water was discovered, the analysis of which revealed bromine and iodine salts, radium emanations and a large quantity of sulphurated hydrogen. Hydrogeological surveys show that the water beds cover a large area and contain a vast supply The Krasnokamsk source is believed to be the only one of its kind in I the world, and its curative properties are claimed to be even stronger than those of j foreign springs such as Aix-la-Chapelle. Used experimentally by the clinics of the | Perm Medical Institute, the waters have | been found to have a good therapeutic effect upon t!ie heart and vascular system and also in skin diseases. A health resort is to be built in a pine forest on tlie banks of -ti*> Ivaipa Bijer.

SOVEREIGNS IN A STOCKING. r A clerk in a bank in North Wales w : ? sked l ? ™ ake out , a cheque in excCw : tor cash by an old man. The man! general dealer in a remote village J : plained that he had no banking account preferring to keep his money at home T„ 1 a lifetime or saving he had filled a stort ; with more than £1000 in sovereign" His family had always kept their S ' "n thl f. way and his sister, who liyS near him, had a similar amount in sovereigns in a chest of drawers Who, the bank cierk told the old man of price his sovereigns would fetch if ho inif them he replied in Welsh: "This has btn the security my family have relied on fw generations, and nothing will make Z part with the gold. ' e WHEEL WOBBLE S.O.S. Captain Cecil Barry, of Hill House OU Warden, Biggleswade, Beds, said ,rood-bv-to his wiie at Southampton. Hp about to sail for New York. His wifr drove away in their car, and officers -n the liner were surprised when Captain Barry dashed down the gangway and iked an official on the quay to telephone the Manchester police. Captain Barry hai seen from the liner that the back wheels of his wife's car were wobbling He was afraid she might meet with an accident He knew she was returning home by wav of Winchester, and he asked that she should radio t 0 him in the liner of her safe arrival there. BLESSED BY CONVICTS. Detective Inspector David Thomson who for ten years has been convicts' supervision officer a t Liverpool, has r® tired with the well-earned title of "the convicts' friend." Scores of convicts and hundreds of ex-convicts will be 60rry At' Dartmoor and other penal settlements any, newcomer from Liverpool is always asked "How is Thomson?" Once a prisoner | abused him, and was set npon by fellow prisoners and punished on the spot. A man sentenced to four, vears' penal servitude at Manchester Assizes recently said: "I want to thank Inspector Thomson for all he has tried to do for me" Inspector Thomson's duty of reporting on prisoners found guilty and about to be sentenced has been discharged with a fairness and sympathy frequently praised by judges. In Inspector Thomson's office was a drawer full of letters of gratitude from convicts. "I am not sentimental," he said, "but I have tied those letters up in a bundle, and I'm going to take them home ana' keep them as the greatest compliment to myself."