HERE AND THERE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3464, 7 April 1930, Page 2

HERE AND THERE.

Bertram Hartman, aged 50, bookseller, of Petherton road, Stoke Newington, N., though ordered by his doctoi- not to attend court, answered a charge of theft at Marylebone Police Court. He was carried in. His solicitor said he was dying, and had heard that his wife had met with a serious accident. Mr Hay HaJkett (the magis. trate) granted tne prosecuting counsel’s request to withdraw the charge, and said he felt very sorry for Hartman.

“Kissing the Book has fortunately gone out ol fashion. Many years ago,' 1 ■said the coroner (Dr Edwin Smith) to a woman witness at a Hackney inquest “a lot of people used to kiss the same Book, but others who were a little more particular opened it and kissed one of the pages. Better still, most people held the Book and kissed their thumbs.” The witness: That is what I should have done. The coroner ; And I think you would have done the safest thing. Motor car thieves of a new type have been active in Kent. In a seel uded spot at the foot of Polhill, on the Bromley-Sevdnoaks road, a motor car stolen from Bromley on the previous evening, was found abandoned and reduced to a skeleton, the wheels spa rep arts, and other accessories having been removed. It i& believed that confederates in a lorry followed the stolen car, dismantling it -and placing the parts in the lorry. Iho Jong spell of wintry weather—more especially the continuous nights ol icy cold rain—have driven many courting couples to the tramway cars in Glasgow, a corporation official reloaded. He explained that for some weeks cars which cover 20 miles, and lor which the fare is only twopence, have been carrying an unusually large number of couples. “The cars are electrically heated and very comfortable,” be said, “and a couple can sit for over two hours, if they take one of the long routes, and elect to come back, for a combined outlay of Bd.” Awakened early by the sounding of a gong in the hall, members of a family living in Hampstead, lushed downstairs to find Florence Barnes (49), a servant employed at the house, lying semi-conscious on the floor. The servant was taken to hospital, where she died from the effects of poisoning. At the inquest (Mrs Winter, the woman’s employer., said that she had been comnelled to give Barnes notice, and this had depressed her. A verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was recorded. Mr Alfred George de Lisle Bush, of Eastington, Gloucestershire, late member of a firm of bonded warehousemen and merchants at Bristol, who died on August 27 last, aged 82. left unsettled estate of the value of He bequeathed £3OOO upon trust for his grandson, Christopher Godfrey Bush, for bis education at a good public school (other than Eton) and at a university if considered desirable. After making provision for his family he also left £IO.OOO (less sums already settled) to bis daughter Vera Weathorall find £250 to bis coachman. There will be 165 volumes of 500 pages each in the complete catalogue of printed hooks in the British Museum which is about to be printedlt will appear at the rate of about 1.5 volumes a year, and the cost of the work to subscribers will be about £SOO each. The number of motor vehicles in Berlin rose from 83,200 at the beginning of .1929, to 97,400 at the end of the year, an increase of 14,200. In the preceding year the increase was 19,000. Motor-cycles accounted for 6200 of the total increase of 14,200 last year, and trucks for about 1500, leaving only about 5500 more passenger motors.