MISCELLANEOUS CABLES

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 April 1932, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS CABLES

M2 WIDOWS

LONDON, March 25.

Of fifty-two ratings who perished in the submarine M2 off Portland, thirtyfour were married, and fifty-one children have been left fatherless. All the widows and dependents will receive the standard pensions laid down in the Navy List. Widows not more than forty years of age, without childrenj receive 10/6 a week, and those with one child 17/6. Those who are more than forty years old receive 17/6, and those more than sixty 20/-. Compassionate allowance is awarded, in addition to the above, at the rate of 5/- for each child up to the age of sixteen. The corresponding rate for motherless children is 10/per child per week. Parents who have been partly dependent on one of the men receive an allowance not exceeding 7/6 a week, providing that there is no widow or child with a prior claim. WHITE GIRL AMONG BLACKS PERTH, March 29. Shearers who have been going through the Murchison district, have just returned to Perth with a wellauthenticated story of a very pretty white girl who is living with a party of aborigines in their camp some distance from Mullewa.

She does all the cooking for the bucks, is general rouseabout for the camp and talks the native language. Her previous history is not widely known. One - story is that she is the daughter of a Government employee and was married, but after a short honeymoon left her husband and drifted into the blacks’ camp. She is well educated, and still retains evidences of refinement in her conversation. Her age is about 22.

VALENTINO ESTATE

LOS ANGELES, March 28

Assets of the estate of Rudolph Valentino, screen actor, will total about £26,000, it was disclosed in Court, but claims, mortgages and other encumbrances may absorb it. A petition for partial distribution of the estate assets, filed by Alberto Guglielmi, a brother, and Maria Guglielmi Streda, a sister, was heard by Judge Albert L. Stephens. The assets consisted of £5OOO cash; real estate valued at £lB,OOO, personal property worth £2,200, and a 43 per cent, interest in two motion pictures which returned a revenue of £679 in 1931,

Claims against the estate included mortgages totalling £2,300, an attorney’s fee of £2,400, a claim by the Government for'income tax of £21,600, and miscellaneous fees which may total £1,600. Attorneys said the Government’s claim probably would be reduced to about £6,400.

PERPETUAL MOTION

LONDON, March 28.

A Franciscan friar, Brother Giro Francisco, claims to have discovered the secret of perpetual motion, in an everlasting accumulator, which never needs cleaning. The accumulator does not contain liquid acid, which is replaced by powdered charcoal or a charcoal agglomerate. It can be quickly charged or decharged without damage. The inventor uses iodine of zinc, which is decomposed while the battery is charging, the zinc being deposited on the negative electrode and the iodine on the positive electrode. Thus, while the accumulator is being decharged the zinc and iodine recombine, the dual operation continuing almost indefinitely.

The wireless expert of the “Daily Mail” expresses the opinion that the claim should be accepted with reserve,’ in view of Edison’s attempts to improve accumulators. It is possible, the writer states, that Francisco has discovered a new combination of elements, marking a definite advance.

LOAVES AND FISHES

LONDON, March 29

The traditional site of the New Testament miracle of the loaves and fishes has been discovered by two German archaeologists, Herren Mader and Schneider. They excavated a large Byzantine church, with a beautiful mosaic pavement, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Four small pillars supporting the table above the stone are still visible. It proved to be the church of which Silvia of Aquitaine speaks in describing her travels in B.C. 383. The church is built over stone, which is now visible. Pilgrims may see the place where Christ traditionally fed 5,000 people. The excavators found on a stone still projecting above the pavement, a mosaic showing loaves and fishes.

CRAVING FOR DRINK

LONDON, March 28

Four reasons why drunkards crave alcohol were stated by Dr. Alexander Baldie, of London, in an address be-

fore the Paddington Medical Society. First of the four, and usually the most serious to overcome or remove, Dr. Baldie said, is the chemical influence which alcohol exerts on the utilisation of food and the production of energy in the body. To stop drinking may cause serious distress until the former chemical .conditions can be restored, if this is possible at all. This is one reason for tapering off slowly in curing a victim of chronic alcoholism.

.The marked contrast between the pleasant mental and emotional state which alcohol causes in many people, and the unpleasant lassitude as the effect is wearing off, is the second reason.

A third is mere automatic habit, like biting one’s nails or smoking many cigarettes. > To break the habit even for a few days is enough to cure this.

Finally, some people misinterpret normal thirst or fatigue, and imagine that their bodies demand alcohol when the real necessities are merely plain water or a rest.

MISSIONARIES’ DEATH PACT

CHICAGO, March 28.'

Following many years of a hard life as Quaker missionaries in Japan, Mr. and Mrs Horace Coleman, and their only son, Horace, committed suicide together. The three bodies, in affectionate clasp, were found in a gas-filled garage. A note disclosed that plans had been made for the suicide because the boy had been accused of seduction.

NEW WAR CAMOUFLAGE

PARIS, March 27

A new method of individual camouflage, the invention of a reserve officer, has been satisfactorily tested. It modifies the net screens largely used during the war. The device consists of a whipcord net, weighing 150 z., to which suitable material, such as local vegetation, can be rapidly affixed. Many joined nets afford larger protection. The nets can also be used for stretchers, hammocks and shellcarriers, and even for making rope bridges across small streams.