ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3139, 16 October 1922, Page 8

ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

A vengeance gang litis been formed in Vienna, to protect members of the Hapsburg dynasty from insults, according to reports current berc. The oi'ganisation is a secret one to be known as the "Honor Guard of the imperial House." and will deal out punishment to any one besmirching the name or memory of living or dead members of the Hapsburg and Lothrin : gen families. Prince Johann Lichtenstein is said to be the president of this league, but actually the management is in the hands of a less noted person, named Kuno Hoynigg. who lias boon active in legitimist circles. The majority of the membership is made up of ex-officers and aristocrats. ft is said that the oath calls on them even to stake their lives in carrying out the League's orders. It also is reported that the legitimists in Vienna are arranging to organise a branch in (V.cclm-Slovakia. which will collaborate with thi> Kscherisch movement in Germany, the latter agreeing to furnish the weapons and funds. All efforts of the police to control the growth of the league are said to have l,eon without avail. The ritual is being kept secret and meetings Jiko those of the original Kn Klux KUui are said to be held in lonely forests ,„• coal vards far from the districts where there is likely to he any police supervision. Tim interesting revelation that four judges in the highest places on the English Bench to-day had never received a prize al school, and were gcneralIv at the bottom of Ihe class, was made by Lord .lustice Scrutton lately in distributing prizes at Christ College. Hlackhc.ii tli. They were now among the most trusted of judges, he added, and they had been appointed because they kept at their work and had developed late in life. They might think that it was sometimes th" (iuest flowers that bloomed (he latest. He was interested to know that the hoys at that school selected their own prizes. Ho noticed one. "Redskins* on the Warpath." H<> would like to read it. and he thought it was a healthy sign of the times that a boy should gel what be could enjoy. He supposed the lads thought to themselves, "That old buffer is pulling our leg." He was not. He wanted them to think he was talking to them as a representative of the hoys of England.

Mail order marriages, it appears, are a source of consida'iable trouble to the American Post Office Department. Aside from the deserted brides who write for govern mental assistance in locating runaway husbands there are almost daily letters from wives who blame the postal service for the unhappy termination of their excursions into 'married life. They complain that they were courted entirely through the mails, and hold the Post Office Department'directly responsible for their misfortunes. The following passage from one letter is said by post office officials to be typical of the others received :- "1 want to know if I can start suit, against my husband. We married through a correspondence club advertised in the newspapers, and he went me money by post office money order to come and marry him. He also courted me by mail. After the wedding he failed to support and take care of me, and finally left me altogether. 1 want to know if 1 can do anything through the Post Office Department, as our business, such as arranging for the marriage details, was transacted entirely by mail." I A. valuable motor truck was completely burnt out recently in the Manawatu district in a, very peculiar manner (states an exchange). The driver was buzzing along the road on a line day with a quantity of flax for his load. He noticed people on the roadside waving rather excitedly to him. but thinking it was only a sort of passing the time of the d&y to him he only waved back. Then the waives became more urgent, people pointing, to the back of the vehicle. He looked round and found his load all ablaze. The cab was already burning and the petrol tank in danger. The driver immediately jumped and just in time. The truck ran on, hit a fence, and set fire to it, and did! some damage before it burnt itself out. The outbreak was put down to loose ends of flax wrapping round the exposed portion of the back axle and being fired' by friction. A second driver would probably have save the vehicle from the total destruction that actually resulted. An English correspondent enters a protest against the continued use by various writers of the word fiance and fiancee, words, he says, distinctly unEnglish. Why cannot we coin as a noun the word "betrothed" from the verb "to betroth"? We already have in use the beautiful word "betrothal," and how much better it would sound that So-and-so was present with her (or his) betrothed!. The New York City Health Department has just inaugurated a very great reform by putting into force a regulation under which babies are to have their finger-prints taken and attached to their birth certificates. This practice will be of the utmost value in safeguarding the lives of children, in findng them when they are lost, discovering their parents if they should boabandoned, and making identity easy in any case of emergency. Says a London paper:— Architecture and acoustics have of late become sworn enemies, with no sign of a peace conference. While common folk are wondering why we continue to build on lines long proved to be ccho-haunl-ed, there may be some point in recalling an old English custom that silenced the voice of the mocker- strewing sand on (he floor. By way of permanent example of this treatment we have Saint Clement's Caves at Hastings. These are echolcss solely on account of the deposit of line silver sand on the floors. There one may whisper, talk or shout without the slightest confusion. Probably in the furnishing of large balls some species of matting might prove an efficient substitute. Dr Max Thorek, a Chicago specialist, blames the modern easy living for the average short life of man. "Constant struggle against hardship does much to lengthen the span of life," he declares, "and is undoubtedly the reason Tmle .Johnny' Shell reached the age of 134." Dr'Thorek said that in Bulgaria and other European countries, where men are obliged to toil without the comforts and luxuries ot America, it is common for men to reach the age of 120. Hones of mastodons that once roamed Northern Canada have been found by Mr Frank Perry, a mining engineer of Vancouver. Mr Perry's discovery was made in a valley in the far north of British Columbia, close to the Yukon border, which it is believed was never before visited by a white man. Indians will not travel through the valley. They believe it to be haunted by the giant animals whose bones they have found. The bones —hip—bones and sections of (he spine— which are of great size, are not fossilised, but are in a state of excellent preservation. Mr Perry believes that by excavation specimens of much historic value could be unearthed, footprints in the sandstone and shale of sonic other pre-historic monster were also found by Mr Perry. These are clearly defined marks, shownig that the maker of the tracks was a three-toed animal.

"You cannot make preachers as you make lawyers or ny other professional men," said the Rev. S. Chadwick, of Ch'fi'e College, at the Wesleyan Conference at Sheffield recently. He did not ask for an untrained or an uncultured ministry, he said, but it often happened that a man who could not pass examinations was better qualified for the ministry than the man who could do nothing else but pass examination. Soul counted for more than technicalities. A committee was instructed to prepare a scheme for submission to the conference next year, to provide for candidates for the ministry who were not of the prescribed educational standard. A sheepdog lately saved the life of its mistress. Salmon. Hall. Seaton. Cumberland. Hhc was attending to poultry in a field near the farm when she was savagely attacked bv a cow. which broke through the hedge of an adjoining field, knocked her down, and began to gore her. When the unfortunate woman screamed the sheepdog came in response to her cries for help. He leaped at the face of the cow, bit its nose and legs, and a light ensued hinting several minutes, during which the woman lay on the ground unable to move. So viciously did Hie dog attack the cow that at length the beast turned tail and tied. The woman was able at length to get some, and. though gored badly about the body, she is making a good recovery. Roman remains an*' constantly being found in England, but it is seldom that such an interesting discovery is made as that recently uncovered near Cirencester, when a well was being sunk. An almost complete mosaic pavement in a second century RomanBritish house was disclosed. Mr St. Clair Beddeley. the archaeologist, had ibe privilege of inspecting these remains, and came across a, lot. of Roman-British tiles in addition to the fine mosaic work in red. white and blue. A photograph of one of these i ill's shows that it' bears the letters l-.11.5. Similar tiles unearthed with. if was supposed. T.H.S. on them, wore taken as evidence of early Christianity. 1 The lettering is now assumed to be the mark of a local briekmakor of the second or third century.