NEWS OF THE WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 22721, 7 August 1937, Page 7

NEWS OF THE WORLD

PEASANT’S FIGHT .WITH WOLF After a desperate unarmed struggle with a she-wolf Dyordye Yovanovitch, a peasant from Brezno, near Tetovo, caught and carried off to his village nine wolf cubs. , , The wolf escaped, defeatedbut carrying the remaining two cubs in her teeth. The nine cubs were sold for 60 dinars (about four shillings) apiece to villagers, who find that an admixture of wolf blood increases the ferocity of their watch dogs. THE VANISHING RICKSHAW The rickshaw, the man-drawn means of conveyance which formerly ranked with geisha, cherry-blossoms, and Japanese meals eaten squatting on the floor among the exotic attractions of Japan) is rapidly vanishing—a casualty ol the machine age in the Island Empire (says the 'Observer ’). : It is a curiosity, to-day to see a rickshaw in, the mam streets of Tokio, which are filled with taxi-cabs, ready to drive, one anywhere at hair-raising rates of speed for charges that are extremely 'modest compared with those which prevail in other capitals. Between 1926 and 1935 there was a steady decline in the number of rickshaws, from 10,893 to 1,640. During the same period the number of taxicabs increased from 8.300 to 23.265. The same tendency is also noticeable in provincial towns, although some oldfashioned Japanese inns still maintain their staffs of rickshaw-pullers, who bid for ‘ customers by the picturesque light of Japanese lanterns when the train arrives in a town at night. The rickshaw is not such an old conveyance as must people imagine; It was invented in 1869 hy a certain Yosuke Izumi, who, with typical Japanese quickness to imitate a foreign product, modelled it on one of the first imported carriages. Its predecessor was the palanquin. ■' BRITISH TARS IN FRANCE i Jack Tar is making himself as popular in the south-west of France as Tommy Atkins did in the north of France in days of much too unpleasant memory. The ‘ Petite Gironde,’ of Bordeaux, in a recent issue writes: “ The unfortunate events taking place in Spain have brought to our ports of the south-west of France some of the finest ships of the British Navy. The Shropshire, the Royal Oak, the Hood have anchored at Saint Jean-de-Luz and La Pallice.

‘‘-Wherever the English have come into’ contact with the-French it has .not taken long, in ' spite/ of the difference of language, for curiosity to be transformed into friendship. At La Pallice, where the. warships nave stayed longest, this friendship has been marked by visits of the boats, receptions on shore, dinners, private and official invitations, and dances, much to the delight of all. There have also been two football matches between the Union Stade Rochelais and a combined team from, the cruisers Hood and Shropshire, as well as a single team from We enjoyed watching fast games, happy, intelligent, without rough play —real Rugby again. Jack Tar has found among onr coast populations the same welcome that Tommy Atkins received in Flanders, Artois, and Picardy during the war.” BULGARIA’S G.O.M. Archbishop Simeon of Varna recently celebrated his ninety-eighth birthday, and was the recipient ot thousands of telegrams from every part of the country. • His Eminence is an outstanding figure in contemporary Bulgarian history. He had an active l part in the struggle which took place between 1860 and 1870 for the liberation of the Bulgarian Church from Greek influence.' Before liberation he was chosen as the first archbishop of Varna, now a noted summer resort on the Black Sea, which he still heads. He took part in the struggle for Bulgarian political freedom from the Turks, and was comrade and supporter of the. prominent Bulgarian revolutionaries of that time. Hia Eminence also took a leading part in the re-creation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church after the country was liberated, and it had been suppressed for 500 years. He still reads without the use of spectacles, enjoys good health, which ho attributes to being a strict vegetarian, a non-smoker, and total abstainer. His daily meals consist of Ireeh milk, cheese, buttermilk, vegetables, and fruit. He is to be seen daily either working or writing m his gskTQons. find attends to his diocesan uties.aa regularly as he did 30 years ago. RATS IN ZULULAND Rats and mice on trek in Northern Zululand are making havoc of promising crops. They have now reached the settlement area of By ala, Mkuzi, and Magut, and are crossing rivers. Extraordinary methods are being adopted by fanners in order to comibat the pests in their houses. Attempts to clear them out of fields are regarded as hopeless. One method adopted is to give the rats ptomaine poison by means of tins of infected sardines. Locust poison is being found as useful for rats as it is for locusts. ■Farmers have been opening tins of sardines, exposing them to the sun, and leaving them on shelves. The effect is said to be devastating. One settler’s particularly promising field of mealies has yielded four cobs. Pumpkins are much appreciated by the rats, and a crop of them resembled balloons after th© rats had finished. Only a small hole was bored in each and the inside eaten out. At Byala recently a European girl of 13, accompanied by a younger native girl, went out hunting rats with sticks, aided by a torch. In three nights they accounted for 630,