NEWS OF THE WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 20374, 4 January 1930, Page 7

NEWS OF THE WORLD

MAYORESSES. ALL A FAMILY RECORD. JUtes Margaret Wilson, at the ago Of 11, Is being taken from the boarding school ait Ackwprth, Yorkshire, to become- Mayoress of Ossett. near Wakefield, during the term of office of her father, Alderman G. F, Wilson. Miss Wilson was born during the ./time her mother was Mayoress, and she will wear the 'chain used by her mother. Both her grandmothers have also been Mayoresses o£ the town. HISTORIC CORNERSTONE PARIS SUBWAY •DIGGERS’ FIND. During the excavations for the new metropolitan subway line in Paris, workmen unearthed a stone block under the ancient chapel of St. Yves, in the Rue St. Jacques, which bore the following inscription:—“l, John, King of France and Navarre, have placed this first stone in honour of /God and Monseigneur St. Yves in the •"year 1352, second of my reign.” As Yves is the patron saint of lawyers, the city granted the request of the French Bar Association to have the lilstorlc cornerstone installed in Its museum in the. Palace of Justice.

; A QUESTION OF NOISE CARRIER NOT RESPONSIBLE 5 The magistrates were equally di- • Tided kt Worthing recently in a Case In which Albert Ernest Laker, of West ■ v Grinetad, Sussex, was summoned for using a noisy motor-lorry. A constable said the noise was due to the tattling of the. unfastened lid of an empty milk churn. Mr. Jackson, defending, said the, case was an important one for carriers.' Laker could not , he held responsible for the churn, ; for he had no control over it. Could a carrier, for example, be held responsible if his lorry was filled with crates of geese, which all started to cackle? , The chairman, Mr. H. Hargood, said .. the case would have to be reheard, thereupon the police withdrew the summons. 1 A NOCTURNAL COMBAT WAX MODEL DEFIES ROBBERS. Motor-car bandits who raided .a fur ■tore in the Promenade, Wood Green, London, early one morning, were t ‘.‘held up” by a wax model wearing an -expensive coat. , The proprietress of the store said that she S was awakened by-the sound of breaking glass. Looking; out of the window,” she said, “I ■aw three men wrestling with a wax model on the pavement. One of the arms was bent upward, and they were .unabje to disengage the coat, which they tore to shreds In trying to remove it Although I was scared out of my wits, I could not help seeing the--humour of the situation. Two policemen came running up, and one r^thre#'Ws truncheon at the raiders, but missed. The men jumped into the car and drove off.” MEN’S DRESS REFORM '/■ NEW EVENING ATTIRE f . ’ A new evening dress for men is the latest creation by the Men’s Dress Reform Party. ' In the Little Lord . Pauntleroy style, the“ suit may be in black silk of some cloth in mauve, salmon-pink, spinachgreen,: or blnsh-red. There is a white or silver-grey Silk shirt in Byron fashion, and a sleeveless knickerhocker suit buttoned down the side from neck to knee. Black silk stockings and buckle shoes complete the ensemble. , A Cheltenham member has devised ■.form of dress with can be adapted to winter or summer. It consists of : a tunic and knickers, which are worn above the knee like Elizabethan trunk hose. The stockings can he turned down to expose the knees, or worn long. The material may be adapted to the weather. The effect, instead of being futuristic, is mediaeval.

SAFETY FOR SMOKERS AN INGENIOUS DEVICE Cigarette ends that extinguish i themselves have been evolved by ] ecientista, says a of ;•! the “Daily Chronicle.’’ They are ex- • pected greatly to reduce* annual loss from fires attributed to cigarettes discarded carelessly by smokers. .The device is an inch long corktip, lined with air-excluding sodium silicate, or waterglass. There has also been perfected a fireproof match, coated with waterglass within half an inch of the head. Two thousand matches. Including all varieties in common use, were ignited in tests. It was learned that five seconds Is the time most frequently taken for lighting cigarettes, and 10 seconds for cigars and pipes. The percentage of waterglass with the greatest safety factor, while retaining the usefulness of the match, was' then computed.A GRANDMOTHER’S GIFT SAVES FOR 15 YEARS. ,An elderly woman, poorly dressed, and carrying a shabby umbrella, went up to a stand at the Olympia motor show, London, and asked to see a sports car in the neighbourhood of £SOO. The salesman showed her the car and explained its details. When the woman said, "I think I willvjmve this one," the salesman, : still doubtful, re- > piled, “Yes, madam." The woman produced a good-sized handbag, from which she extracted a large bundle of £5 notes, and said: — *T have been saving up for this for 15 years; xhy son was killed in the war, so I determined to buy my grandson a car when he turned 21.” The woman came from a Yorkshire , village, and had travelled alone, Intending to make the purchase a surprise.

NINE MONTHS’ SILENCE A "TRAPPIST” HUSBAND

Silence, they say, is golden, but it proved to be monotonous and unbearable to Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, of Sacramento, who sued Ernest Thomas, a local contractor, for divorce on the ground that he refused to talk to her for nine months. Mrs. Thomas also alleged that her husband kissed other women in her presence and escorted other women home from social functions, leaving her to shift for herself. Mrs. Thomas asked for £SO a month alimony. STAMPS WORTH £7OO " ELDERLY WOMAN’S LUCK V ■ , The sale of a block of nine 1-cent British Guiana stamps at Plumrldge’s recently for £650 and a strip of 4-cent Stamps for £6O has enriched an elderly woman of Plymouth. She had read an article on rare stamps and remembered that her husband, who had been a sailor, had sent her some as a “valentine.” Fortunately she had preserved them. HALF A MILLION AUTHOR’S ADVANCE FEES! Herr Remarque, the author of "All Quiet on the Western Front,” Is, according to the “CEuvre,” the Paris paper, to receive a "kolossal" price lor his next book—as yet unwritten. Several of the biggest literary and newspaper agents have been bidding for It, and an American concern has obtained the world's rights. For these it will pay Herr Remarque half a million dollars—more than £IOO,OOO, The book will be published first in the United States and afterward In the different countries of Europe. THE ROBOT DOG BARKS AND WALKS A robot dog that walks and barks Is amusing Paris. Selenium cells in the eyes actuate motors that turn little wheels In the paws and a horn that supplies the bark. A flashlight directed at the eyes controls the various mechanisms. Held to one side, so one eye gets more light than the other, the paw wheels on the opposite side move, causing the dog to follow the light. If both eyes are illuminated equally the dog advances straight forward. An increase in the light causes harking. SUNDAY SENTENCE MAN SECURES RELEASE F. E. Goodway, of Selma, won his freedom from the Fresno County Gaol bn a writ of habeas corpus because he was sentenced by a Selma Justice of thfe Peace on, Sunday, a legal holiday. The District Attorney’s office offered no opposition. Goodway served 23 days in gaol on a battery charge. CHEWED TOBACCO MAY COST MAN £SOO A chew of tobacco that Charles A. Appel, who lives in Cincinnati, indulged In last January 27, will cost him £SOO if Mrs. Margaret Drescher, of Sllvertown, wins a damage suit that she filed in the common pleas court. Mrs. Drescher charges that because Appel was using one hand to take the chew, he lost control of an automobile he was drving past her home, with the result that the car crashed Into the side of her bouse and damaged

it to the extent of £SOO.

SNAKES AS STOCKWHIPS . A DANGEROUS HABIT Having been bitten on the finger by a snake, and not having a knife to make an Incision and scarify the wound, an Australian, H. S. Long, performed the operation with the aid of a barbed wire fence at Macorna, near Kerang, recently. Later he went to Kerang, and after medical treatment there, is now out of danger. Long had been in the habit of killing snakes by catching them by the tail and cracking them in stockwhip fashion. He said that he does not think he will Indulge In this pastime In the future. MARVELS OF AN ORGAN MILES OF WIRE Three hundred miles of electric wire are being used in the rebuilding of the organ at St. Paul’s Cathedral. , It is hoped that the work will be completed, in time for the performance of Bach’s Passion Music during Lent next year. The largest pipe on the pedal board will be 32 feet in length. It Is made of pine wood two and a-half to three Inches thick, and weighs nearly one ton. The organ is being enlarged, and It will rank among the largest of Its kind in London. A number of improvements and additions are being made to the organ which will add to Its power and variety of tone. The electric mechanism Installed in the temporary Instrument, which ensures a rapid and crisp response on the part of the pipes, Is being retained, as well as the modern blowing plant, consisting of a rotary fan. When complete the organ will possess fivs manuals and 87 speaking stops, controlling about 4,500 pipes. Which vary in weight from nearly one ton to half an ounce, all of which will be carefully brushed out and cleaned before the organ is reassembled/