NEWS OF THE WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 22032, 18 May 1935, Page 7

NEWS OF THE WORLD

STRANGE SHOPLIFTING CASE "I saw another woman doing it, so 1 thought I could,” was the remark alleged to have been made by Mrs Margaret Pope, aged 46, wife of a company director of Bayswater, who at West London Police Court was fined £SO for shoplifting at a Kensington store. It was stated that in 4930 Mrs 'Pope was fined £25 for shoplifting at the same store. J MODELS MADE FROM PINS ENGRAVER DISCOVERS NEW There are great possibilities in pins. Mr Harry Barker, a 60-year-old Bradford engraver, has discovered them. In five minutes he can engrave a clock face or the alphabet on a pinhead. Without a-magnifying glass, .he makes , perfect characters. . But he does more with pins, , His "museum” contains a model of Campbell’s Blue Bird, a three-wheeled car and a wheelbarrow. Blue Bird and the other, car were each made out of a single pin. They/have wheels that revolve and axles l-64th of an inch thick. \ They will pass through a pipe- ■ item. ' “Forty years ago I was asked to engrave the Lord’s Prayer on the back of a' half-sovereign.” Mr Barker told au " interviewer. “Later I engraved it four times on a threepenny bit. Friends pay me sixpence each to decorate pins for them. When I have time, I am going to ~ split one pin into lour strips and turn thenj.over to look like;a flower,” MUSIC’S HEALTH-GIVING CHARMS Lord Horder, Physician-in-Ordinary to the Prince of Wales, presiding at the Musicians Club dinner, in London last month, said there was a caretain liaison ■ -between medicine and music, for both wdre healihg arts. Music might heal,hundreds of their ■weariness in a short .time, while the doctor was healing one. 'Even doctors sick sometimes, in spite of a certain immunity of soul against such troubles, and they found healing in music or gardening or in/an exquisite picture. ' Referring to ; the Anti-Noise League, of which he is president. Lord Horder said developing science and machinery had increased noise, but science could cure noise, too. Music was the anti- > thesis of noise. LAWSUIT THROUGH LEAP-FROG ACCIDENT IN SCHOOL PLAYGROUND The question whether leap-frog is a dangerous game was raised recently in the/ King’s Bench Division, London. Arthur Ernest Greenhill, aged 13, of Edmonton, dislocated his .knee while playing leap-frog in the playground at Elden Road School, and he and his father sued the Edmonton Education Committee for damages for negligence. Counsel said that four dozen boys, representing different houses at the school, were divided into teams of 12, and one of the masters was encouraging the boys to leap faster “to make a race of it.” Greenhill had leaped over 10 of the “frogs”’in his row when he fell and dislocated his knee. Captain Muller, principal of the Muller Institute of Physical Exercises, said that when leap-frog; was played on asphalt.supporters were required to prevent the leapers from falling. Mr Justice Horridge held that there Was no negligence by anybody, and that It was an accident which might have happened in any playground, and he saw no evidence of negligence in the fact that it happened to be an asphalt playground. Judgment was entered for the defendants, with costs. / . "' , ' THE MUSEUMS OF THE WORLD WONDERS IN NEW YORK LIFT SHAFT A London man will sail for India shortly to finish one of the most remarkable books in the world. 1 He is Mr S. F. Markham, Empire secretary of the’Museums Association. For the last nine years he has been compiling a report on the museums of the British Empire. . - ~ He has travelled all over the world and visited more than 2000 museums. After six months in India his work will be complete. Mr Markham said to an interviewer: "America leads the world in methods of museum display. In one museum in ; a New York skyscraper the lift shaft is used to represent the depth of the sea. The different fish are all displayed at their natural depth in the lift shaft, and travelling in the lift , gives you the impression of diving into the sea right down to the bottom, seeing the fish as you pass. “Great Britain h?s the best museums in the'world so far as collections go, - and the Science Museum in London has the largest attendances in the world.” DRUGGED HIS CIGARETTES YOUNG MAN’S FOOLISH .. MISTAKE A yoUrig man,/ having read in a popular chemistry book of the properties of Indian hemp, separated the hempseed from some parrots' food mixture, and planted it in his garden. The seeds germinated, and in the course of a few months the plants grew to a height of 4ft qr sft and flowered. The youth plucked the leaves and tops, dried and chopped them, and made them into cigarettes. These he smoked on several occasions, and experienced • mild symptoms of cannabis intoxication. including hallucinations and drowsiness. His, fiancee, who also tried a hemp cigarette, wag less fortunate. Within an hour of inhaling the smoke she was taken to hospital, and it was nine hours before she could leave. The, story is told in an article in the “Lancet” by Dr E. T, Baker-Bates, of Liverpool. The youth concerned, it is understood, is unemployed and wished to make cheap cigarettes. Indian hemp is actually a most dangerous drug. It is widely used in the East and in Mexico and South America, whdre it rivals hashish in popularity “Frequent indulgence.” says Dr BakerBates, “results in loss of judgment and restraint, and is accountable not only j for cases where natives ‘run amok.’ but also for various types of insanity.” Although it has been stated that Indian hemp grown in, England ds more ,-or less harmless, the doctor adds the warning: “There is a possibility that if the fact that homo seeds could be grown with ease in England were widely known, hemn-smoklng might become a national menace.” Another medical man stated: "1 have not heard of any case where hemp has been grown in similar circumstances in England, and usually it has been thought the plant in this country has no poisonous properties. Among the queer effects of the drug is that of making people of a pleasurable disposition more pleasurable. and morose people more morose. The fact that people can purchase hemp seeds in.a shop, since they are contained in bird foods, may lead to a menace.”

KING AND QUEEN ON HOLIDAY A novel afternoon was spent by the King and Queen, while their Majesties were recently on holiday at Eastbourne, when they visited Belle Toute lighthouse, now the seaside residence of Sir James Purves-Stewart, the eminent specialist. , One part .in which the Royal visitors were particularly interested was -the lamp room, which has been converted into a solarium, and yields magnificent views in every direction. Other rooms in the lighthouse on the cliffs west of Beachy Head have been converted into an up-to-date model kitchen and a comfortable lounge. ON TOUR BY ACCIDENT MAN’S SUDDEN DESIRE TO TRAVEL A mdn who is on a round-the-world* .tour —by accident—arrived in London recently. Harry Siegel is his name. He is a motor-dealer in Schenectady. New York. ' ' Three months previously he motored from New York to California for a holiday. Suddenly, as he says, he “caught the wanderlust," and decided to visit Japan. He telegraphed his intention to his business partner, who replied; "Go ahead. Good luck.” „ , So Mr Siegel made up his mind to make a real tour, and, instead of returning across the Pacific, decided to go on round the world. He journeyed by way of China, Singapore, Colombo, Aden, Naples, Marseilles and Gibraltar. . , In an interview, he said; “It has been a great experience, all the better because it was done without long preparation. It will cost me about SISOO, but it’s worth it,” , '' / , LOVELY VILLAGE SAVED REbTOR PURCHASES EVERY ' ACRE " The beautiful old-world village of Barnsley, in the Cotswolds, near Cirencester, has been bought by its iector. Tragedy threatened the 200 inhabitants when their village was put up for sale. For the first time in the history of this little beauty spot, there was a danger that the land would be used as building site for flats and modern bungalows. At the last moment their rector, the Rev. J. W. H. Toynbee, who has lived in the village only 18 months, came forward and purchased most of it at his own expense". His purchase included the village hall, the school, the only inn, three farms, and about 25 cottages, with a total of about 1100 acres. CATERPILLAR CARAVAN PILGRIMAGE OF COMMERCE TO AFRICA Mr Herbert Fane, a 70-year-old retired English importer, is to take a caterpillar, caravan to Africa to sell British goods. He has spent,two years travelling industrial Great Britain to find the people and the firms to make inventions for the. caravan. Everything in it is either collapsible or has several uses. The’ following are some of its features: —A caterpillar drive, also an auxiliary drive, to enable it to negotiate at all seasons South African roads on which at present traffic has to stop in the, rainy season. A collapsible veranda at the back, a double bed, a wall panel which lets down as a table. A stainless steel bath under the floor, nd a main water tank holding 30 gallons' connected with a 15-gallon tank sunplying a geyser. A stainless steel sink, a large wardrobe, and many cupboards. An all-in-one gramophone, shortwave wireless and amplifier. ' The gramophone plays 35 double-sided records without being touched. On the roof is a collapsible ridge to take a tent, 26ft by 10ft, which comes right down over the caravan, protecting the exhibits, which will be on stalls on one side. On the other side is a photographic studio which is a miracle of compression. It Is only 3ft 6in by 4ft 6in and 6ft high, but contains a complete darkroom in which films can be put through every photographic process, and prints up to 20in'’ by 16in' can Jpe produced. ORIGIN OF GOLF ayes EXPLANATION BY VETERAN PLAYER “The names of the clqbs with which we play golf were handed down by the old Scottish masters who gave the game to the world. The names are the same to-day as they were a century ago. We still use the driver, brassie, spoon, iron and niblick. The mashie, as 1 point out later, is a comparative newcomer,” writes J, Hi Taylor in “The News of the World.” In the, iron class I must include the deck. Its disappearance from the set gave me cause to lament a week or so ago. The deck is dead, and everyone who appreciated its sterling merit will for ever regret the fact. The names of driver and spoon are self-explana-tory. The one is to drive the ball, the other to spoon or lift it into the air. The brassie is an off-shoot, of the old wooden niblick, which I remember well, and, although 1 hate to suggest it, is a product due to English conditions. When the game first made its appearance across the Border it located itself at Blackheath and Wimbledon Common, where the subsoil is of a gravel nature. The lies and small undulations throughout the so-called fairway were' full of flints, which tore the bottoms of an ordinary wooden niblick to ribbons. Scotsmen predominated at Blackheath and Wimbledon, and they resented seeing their wooden niblicks so maltreated. They -hit. upon the economical idea of screwing a brass plate to the bottom, and in this way the brassie was evolved. I think this theory is tenable" because in the old days there were among the wooden clubs drivers and play-clubs, long, middle and short spoons, and the baffy. There were no brassies, so in putting forward my theory I think I am on safe ground, The name given to the club we now know as the mashie is more or less modern —at least, no more than 50 years old. I never knew of it until the year 1888/ It was about this time that the word “masher” came into vogue. “Masher” was supposed to be a loudlydressed young man, wearing a high collar and having the gift of captivating the ladies —a fellow about town, nr if provincial, one who desired to be thought worthy of distinction. Remember the mashie was an intruder in the set of staid, respectable irons; and I have every reason to believe that the name mashie was given to it as a term of reproach, (or its intrusion. Here again, I think I am on safe ground. If this explanation is not true, I have never heard of one that is more likely. My original mashie I won in a competition of the Northam Work-ing-men’s Golf Club in 1888. It was a sample club, sent to Gibson, of Westward Ho! for approval. I chose it instantly. - With its short, squat head I visualised that it was just,the club for playing short approaches> I started, and continued to play with it after I had become a professional, and, I claim to 1 have set a fashion that has lasted.