NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

EPIDEMIC OF DUELS. Since the pistol duel between the Hungarian Premier, General Goemboes, and the leader of the Opposition, M. Eekliardt, 011 April 7, iu which neither was hurt, the number of duels in Hungary lias been increasing daily. At least 100 now take place a month, but the majority of these cases do not become public. During one week three duels involving well-known Hungarian personalities took place. They were fought with sabres, and in each case one of the combatants was severely wounded. NEW DUTY FOR DOGS. Alsatian dogs are now being trained in Germany to act as guides for the deaf and dumb, as well as for the blind. They are taught how to lead in the streets, as traffic sounds cannot be heard by their masters. The lirst of these trained dogs, Pi.xi Hofwachter, is able to distinguish seven different sounds, apart from traffic noises, and to act accordingly. "Dixi" also has a way of dealing with door bells aiul alarm clocks, and if the telephone lings while her master is alone she takes off the receiver and barks into the mouthpiece. DOGS ATTACK TOWN COUNCIL.

Dogs liavc forced tlic town councillors of Szeged, Southern Hungary, to iilter a by-law —after being chased round and round their council room by the enraged dogs. At their previous meeting, the councillors decided to increase the tax on dogs. This aroused a storm of protest among the town's many dog owners. In reprisal, they decided to set their dogs on the council. So. at the next meeting, the dog owners assembled outside the Town Hall with their animals. Then, forcing their way into the council chamber, they let loose the dogs and encouraged them to attack the startled councillors. So fierce were he dogs that the councillors had to flee, while the burgomaster himself sought refuge in a cupboard from a huge Alsatian. As a result of this attack, the councillors have decided to abolish their new decree—and the dog tax remains unaltered.

FIRE FOUGHT WITH MILK. When a joiner's workshop in Umea, Xorth Sweden, caught fire" the flames were mastered by milk being poured on them. The fire brigade was summoned, but the fire spread so rapidly that it seemed the place would be in ashes before the firemen began work. A couple of milk floats carrying cans of skim milk were passing and these were requisitioned by the people on the spot. One after the other churns were emptied on the flames and when the firemen arrived they found their services unnecessary.

CHAINED TO 'PLANE SEAT. There was a remarkable display of armed force" when Alvin Karpis, the present holder of the title of J'ublie Enemy Xo. 1, arrived at St." Paul (Minn.) by air in captivity, chained to his seat in the machine, from Xcw Orleans. 1 he flight had been stormy, the weather was freezing, and Karpis was shivering in his slimmer clothing. He was immediately raced to the local headquarters, of the Department of Justice, accompanied by four "G" men armed with sub-machine guns. Police and deputy-sheriffs lined the route. Six cars, each containing a load, of Federal agents armed to the teeth, followed the car in which Karpis was being taken. The drive from the aerodrome to the city was made at 00 m.p.Ji. Karpis was imprisoned in the Ramsey County goal with six other persons who were indicted with him oil a charge of kidnapping the brewer millionaire. Mr. William A. Hamm, jun. Mr. Hamm, head of the Theodore Hamm Brewing Co., was kidnapped in June, 1033. The kidnappers demanded £20,000 ransom, which was paid, whereupon Mr. Hamm was released. MADE ALIEN TO AVOID WAR. To prevent her son from joining the British Army in 1!)I4 a woman told the authorities he was an American citizen and had liim registered i'S such. This was one of the statements made at West London, when Harry Davis, 41, a sign manufacturer, was r-harged under the Aliens Registration Act with failing to notify his change <"f address from Caerleon Road, Newport, Moil., to Glazbury Road, Barons Court, London. Detective Inspector Hatton said: This is a curious case. Davis is registered as an American. He says his father was 'a British subject, although he has been unable to prove this, and that his I mother is also British. He told me thatj lie -left America and came to England r when he was a baby in arms. In 1914 he tried to join the army, but his mother I stated he was an American citizen. He ! asserts that he is not American but | British. Davis declared that he always thought he was a British subject. He was trying to trace the birth certificate of his ' father, who was dead. He was bound over for 12 months to observe the condi- | tions of the Registration Act, Sir Ulcrvais Hentoul. K.C., the magistrate, advising him to clear up his position I with the Home Oilice. .

THE WEDDING TRAM. A tram, bedecked with garlands of flowers and flags, was the wedding coach of Herr I'reuss and his bride, Fraulein Rose, when they were married at Berlin. Both Herr Freuss and the bride's father are officials of the Tramway Company of Berlin, which lent the tram. The tram was glistening with new white paint and shining with polished metal when it drew up before the Xathanaei Church in the Schoeneberg district, in West Berlin. Where as a rule the destination is indicated, the tram born a large sign: "Wedding ear." The driver and conductor, wearing gala uniforms with white gloves, acted as guard of • lonour. The "wedding car" had to do a great deal of shunting to allow ordinary trams to pass while it was waiting to take the bridal pair home after the ceremony. BOYS THRASHED BY B.A. "I regret I have no power to order you the same kind of treatment that you think you had a right to inflict 011 little children." Mr. Justice Singleton addressed these words to Edward Georg.Turner, 25, of Crookes Road, Sheffield, a Bachelor of Arts, whom he sentenced, at Leeds Assizes, for assaults on four boys. Turner was alleged to have as a detective to the boys, whom he met 011 waste land, asking them whether they would be caned by him or reported to the police and be birched. They chose the caning, and a police surgeon stated that one boy had 40 livid weals, another 38, the third 12, and the fourth 19. It was stated that Turnar had suffered from sleeping sickness, which caused abnormal tendencies. He told the police, "I know it is wrong, but I cannot help it." Turner was said to have thrashed a little girl whom he found picking flowers in 1929. In 1933 he was bound over for beating a boy, and in 1935 was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for thrashing three boys and a girl. He was sentenced to two years' hard labour on one charge and one year's hard labour on each of the other three, the sentences to run concurrently.

CINEMA IN COAL MINE. Germany lias a cinema in a coal mine, 2000 ft under the surface of the earth. The cinema has been installed in a disused pit at Oberliausen in the Ruhr. Ihe mine is at present being used as an industrial exhibition and has been inspected by more than 32,000 visitors. A portion of one of the main galleries has been enclosed and fitted with a cinema operating chamber and rows of tip-up seats. Here visitors to the mine are shown a film tha different processes in coal production. PIGEON BEATS 'PLANE. A homing pigeon flying at just under 50 miles an hour beat a large transport aeroplane over a 110-mile course in a handicap race from Plollywood to sail Dietro. Both the bird and its mechanical rival had to fight against head winds. The aeroplane actually landed before any of the .'!•"> pigeons in the race, but was penalised for' taking off before scheduled time. The birds were to have been ,riven a two-hour start. The winning pigeon, owned by a Mr. Rink, flew 12S!>.81> yards a minute.