NEWS OF THE WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 22086, 20 July 1935, Page 7

NEWS OF THE WORLD

ECCENTRIC CLUB A “ Reverse Club ” has been founded by 39 voung Czechoslovaks in Chicago They arrive at their meetings each wearing one article of clothing back to front, and greet one another with a “ good-bye.” They enter, walking backwards, a room in which the pictures are all hung with their faces to the wall, and have dinner that begins with dessert and ends with soup. Asked how many members the Reverse Club has, any of the 39 will tell you •• 93.” • ADVANCE on braille Dr Milos Rokos, a blind inventor of Prague, claims to have made a machine that will revolutionise the teaching of the sightless. The principle is that of m “pencil” passing over a sheet of paper under which iis an electromagnet Pressing with the “ pencil ” establishes an electric contact that causes the outline traced to be finely pricked in from below. The user can therefore feel exactly what he has drawn or written. PRINCE OF WALES STORIES The story of a plot to assassinate the Prince of Wales while in New York in 1919 is told by Colonel Norman Thwaites, one of the Prince’s body- ' guard, during his Canadian-American trip, in a book of reminiscences. It was discovered, he says, that the rooms allotted to the Irish Conference at Waldorf Hotel were situated beneath the.Trince’s, and it was reported that a desperado had secured admission and was determined, to bomb the Prince’s quarters. Investigations partially confirmed the allegations, ‘ and the conference 1 immediately told the man to “ get to hell out of this.” Colonel Thwaites recalls that the ten-year-old Lady Anno Cavendish, youngest daughter of the Governor-General of Canada from. 1916 to 1921, while the company was dancing at Government House, Ottawa, partnered a be-medalled and uniformed general. The Prince, clad in mufti, oA asking her to dance, received the tart reply: “ Can’t you see I am dancing with a aoldier!” JUST HERSELF. The Prince’s naturalness was illustrated at an informal dance at Washington, where a girl with no pretensions to inclusion in the smart set, replied to the Prince’s request for a dance: “I do not know how to behave with Royalty, so don’t think me rude if 1 am just myself.” Within five minutes they were talking - like friends from the cradle. The Prince later paid her and her mother the only visit outside his schedule. SHANGHAI APES CHICAGO Chicago’s gang wars have been aped in Shanghai, where kidnapping, gunrunning, and opium smuggling are tak- „ ing place to the accompaniment of police motors pursuing the desperadoes ami pistol battles in the streets. The police declare that the movies have potently influenced the crime wave, which is sweeping even the international concession (reports the ‘ Manchester Guardian’s ’ Shanghai correspondent) . The American Club, numbering special police among its members, and situated opposite the Central Police Station, might be regarded as ultrasafe, yet the club’s rich Chinese steward, owner of a chain of food shops, was found in a motor car at the side door after having disappeared for weeks. He had been invited to “ take a ride ” to an unknown destination, and was returned only after payment of a ransom of £2 000. Now he is always accompanied by a bodyguard of two. Russians, a number of whom are General Koltcbak’s ex-soldiers, have been licensed by the police for the protection of Chinese merchants. These ex-soldiers find the profession lucrative. They live as members of the merchant’s family, and accompany him in evening dress when he goes out to dine. BANK NOTE FOR PENNY The Bank of England note library is one of the most interesting places in the world, where privileged persons may he shown some of the most curious specimens of paper currency ever made. A correspondent of the ‘ Observer ’ recently asked which was the smallest banknote ever issued, and the Old Lady of Jhreadneedle street can supply an answer. It is a banknote for one penny, properly printed and sent out for circulation. How it came to be issued is a mystery, but it would appear that in 1828 the bank, by accident, it should be said, struck off and issued this note with the face value of one penny. . There was only one, but having got into circulation it was for many years a source of annoyance to cashiers in making up their accounts. One story goes that the Bank of England, in ■ desperation, advertised a reward of £5 to recover it; another is that the holder of it brought it to Threadneedle street, and, after considerable argument, persuaded the bank tp give him £5 for it. In any case, there it is, preserved in one of the bank albums, and it is very unlikely that it will ever see the light of day again. ' At the far end of the financial scale is a note for a million pounds. The Bank of England has been known tc , be light hearted and once struck four apparently genuine notes of £1,000,00C each. One of these the bank retained; another passed to Samuel Rogers, the banker-poet, who put it in a golc frame; the third was given to Barer K. M. Rothschild: and the fourth wai sent to King George IV. at Windsor,

DOGS FREE TO KILL CATS

Mr S. J. Bliss, the t magistrate at Grafton, New South Wales, has held that an owner of a dog which had killed a cat was not liable, as the dog was following its natural instincts. A woman sued a neighbour, the owner of a greyhound dog which, it was alleged, trespassed on plaintiff’s property and killed a purebred Persian cat, valued at £ls. Plaintiff said that the same dog had killed a cat the week before. Counsel for defendant submitted that the Dog and Goat Act did not apply to injury to a cat, as the definition of animals did not include a cat. Liability did not attach to his client at common law, as to make him responsible he must have knowledge of some vicious propensity beyond the common instincts of the dog. The hostility of cats and dogs was proverbial, and if a dog fought a cat he was merely obeying a natural impulse. There was no evidence that this dog had a vicious or mischievous propensity, nor proof that the defendant knew it. Plaintiff’s counsel replied that the dog had previously killed a cat, and there was evidence that the defendant knew its mischievous propensity.

The magistrate, after adjourning to consider authorities, said he sympathised with the plaintiff, but the action must fail. Dogs had been given a favoured position. , The owner of a dog was not responsible for mischief done in following its common instincts. Plaintiff was non-suited.

“ A PROUD DAY FOR THE CLAN”

Members of the Clan Maclean from all parts of Britain and many parts of the world, to the number of 700. gathered on June 18 at the ancient Maclean stronghold of Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, for the centenary birthday celebrations of Sir Fitzroy Donald Maclean, Bt., and to pay homage to their chief. , An illuminated address from the Clan Association and an old Highland cruisken, better known as a spirit lamp, was-presented to Sir Fitzroy. A silver cup Was also handed over by Commander H. H. Maclean, the hereditary chief of the Ardgour branch of the Macleans.

Shoals of congratulatory telegrams were received. One came from His Majesty the King, whose message was: “I am delighted to learn that yon are celebrating your hundredth birthday, and send you heartiest congratulations from the Queen and myself on this memorable occasion. There can be few still living who took part in the Crimean War or who can boast of so long a service as yours,, and I know that this is a proud day for the clan of which you are the distinguished chief.—George II I.” Volumes containing the signatures of over 4,000 Macleans were handed to the chief by the Hon. Mrs Maclean of Ardgour.