NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

LUXURY TAX. Heads of Texas households with a liking for amusements and a few luxuries must figure in their I!W7 budgets a new item —the State's tax on virtually every expenditure in entertainment. It will be paid in cents here and there, but when books are closed on the twelve-month period which started on January 1 thoi-e little acorns will have grown into sizeable oaks. The man who pays for two package* of cigarettes a day, buys a pint of liquor a week, a bottle of beer now and then, takes his wife to a motion picture once a week, trocs dancing twice a month and spends 20 dollars a year for rac, opera, football or other tickets will pay the Treasury approximately 38.98 dollars in 1937.

WANTS A PRISON HOLIDAY. Ali Fuat, the educated son of a wealthy family at Istanbul, with whom he is not on the best of terms, wants to go to prison. He says he will then be certain of having shelter for the long winter months. He is finding it exceedingly difficult, however, to get accommodation in any gaol. On his last attempt he was discharged after being accused of stealing clothes from a poor old woman, as the plaintiff withdrew the prosecution. But Ali is not dismayed. Before he was released he told the judges: "I shall do better next time, hut please let me know of those crimes the punishment for which is under, but not over four months' imprisonment." The judge refused to give him any advice, but Ali promised to visit them again before long.

CALLING THE FAITHFUL. No longer will the muezzin call the faithful to prayer from the slender minarets of the Great Masjid Sultan Mosque, the most important centre of Mohammedan worship in Singapore. Powerful loudspeakers, audible more than a mile away, have been installed in two of the four minarets. The muezzin will, in future, stand at a microphone inside the unique and quietly repeat his summon* into it. Singapore Mohammedans have been dubious in the past of the wisdom of installing loudspeakers, which are out of keeping with the romantic conception of the holy cities of (he Fast, where the sonorous tones of the muezzin and the tinkle of camel bells nro as old as recorded history. 'Rut- lately the increased traffic noises of Singapore have proved too much for the muezzin's voice.

BOER WAR RELICS. An historic silk menu, printed in Dutch, is on view at the African Museum at Pretoria. Tt is the menu of a dinner given in honour of President Paul Kruger in IS!V> by Mrs. .T. M. Lane, at Klcrksdorp. Transvaal. Turtle soup was one of the main dishes on the menu. Three relics of the Roer War arc also in the museum. One is a Christmas pudding, the second a hot cross bun. and the third a handkerchief. The pudding, which js wrapped in cloth. was sent out to the British troo|>s from England. It has a red, white and blue ribbon round it. The bun bears a close resemblance to a piece of stone, both in looks and texture. It was made in Mafeking. during the siege, for Good Friday. The ingredients were mostlv bran. The handkerchief, like the red. white and blue pudding, was sent out from England. Tt is profusely adorned with a number of pictures depicting phases of a soldier's life.

ITEMS OF INTEREST IN PASSING

"GAS ATTACK" ON BEES. Because she kept calm, a little girl of Middlefontein. Transvaal, escaped from being severely stung—and perhaps killed —by a swarm of bees. Her father, a farmer, had taken her to his mealie (maize) fields by car. He left her alone there for a short time while he inspected the maize witli a friend. AYlien they returned they found that a huge swarm of bees had collected round the car and that some had already settled on the gill's neck. Realising that she might be stung to death, the farmer told her to keep quite still. Then he ran to where his tractor was standing, and drove it up to the car as quickly as be could. Adjusting the exhaust, he ran the tractor engine so that the carbon monoxide fumes were directed at the bees. One by one they became affected and began to drop off the girl's neck. In a few minutes the whole swarm had Iveen gassed. In the fresh air the fumes were not strong enough to affect the girl. She escaped from her ordeal without so much as a single sting.

"HYPNOTIC ARTIST." The first "hypnotic" statue ever made is now being displayed in Budapest. It is the work of a young sculptor, Andor Koesis, who began his career as a mason. Later he studied at evening school and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. In 1926 Koesis won success when his works were shown at the AngloHungarian Exhibition at the Budapest Municipal Gallery. Not long after he was taken seriously ill. The aftereffects of this illness developed into acute melancholia. Six months ago he consulted a well-known nerve specialist and hypnotist, Dr. Aldar Vincze. By hypnotic means the doctor succeeded in restoring to the sculptor a normal outlook on life. Recently the doctor suggested that he should, while in a hypnotic trance, sculpt a statue depicting Hypnosis itself. Koesis agreed to make the experiment. The resultant statue, showing a beautiful symbolic figure of Hypnosis with Dr. Vincze himself making hypnotic gestures, is causing a sensation. It is hailed as one of the most outstanding works of art of the century. I

DOG PARACHUTISTS. Experiments in parachute jumping for dogs are being carried out in the Soviet army, according to an article in the (ierman dog breeders' journal "Der Hund." The idea is that, after Soviet, soldiers base landed by parachute behind the lines in enemy territory, their

I messenger dogs should be able to follow' ! them by the same mean's. One recent I experiment was carried out by a Soviet J airman named Oswald. He climbed to 1 .1 height of ISOdi't, and the dog is said |to have appeared unaffected by the i height or (lie ••bumping" of the machine. At, jsnott an automatic parachute was launched to the dog. which was then | taken on to a platform on a wing of | the aeroplane. At a word of command, land without showing ~ trace of fear, the 'dog is slated to have jumped into space. : The automatic parachute opened, and I the dog floated slowly towards the I ground. The dog's trainer jumped ! almost simultaneously and was thus I able to watch the dog as it descended. j The trainer stated afterwards that the J dog kept perfectly still during the I descent. When the trainer railed' to it Iby name, it turned its head towards him and barked. Finally the dog landed ! gently on the ground without accident.