HOW WAGS THE WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3809, 22 December 1914, Page 3

HOW WAGS THE WORLD.

POOR BACHELORS. The Grand Ducal 'Council of Mecklenburg lias passed a Bill imposing a 25 per cent, 'increase of taxes on all bachelors- above the age of. thirty FEMALE POLICE IN CANAD Y Two women, who have been pro inent in connection with the IT at lers’ Aid Society in looking after i • accompanied women and gir’s, l.u . ; been appointed to tlio Ottiwa poll, a force, and have taken up their dul'cs as full-fledged “police women ’’ T'he-r duties will be to meet railway trains ■and assist and guide young women, to frequent places of amusement M.d cinema palaces for tlie m-oticiicn of g.rls. If the new movement meets with the success expected, similar appointments will he made in other cities.

PRESIDENT WILSON AND CORRESPONDENTS. President Wilson has resolved to set aside two hours each week for “heart-to-heart talks” with newspaper correspondents. On Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons an hour will he devoted to this purpose. The President will discuss Administrative policies and sketch his 'official programme. THE LAST OF A GREAT- CAFE. The Cafe Anglais, in Paris, which is now closed, lias a. connection with this country all the closer for the reason that the late King Edward Vil. was a faithful habitue. Thus, during the last stay that he made in Paris, King Edward went there often in company with Queen Alexandra to dine in it.s charming simplicity. Ho was the most welcome of all the aristocratic clientele of the cafe. He always chatted with the proprietor, while Queen Alexandra conversed with the cashier at the pay-desk. The passing of the Cafe Anglais makes a gap in the life of Paris and.will he heard of with regret !>v nuuiv people in England.

SHOT WHILE DRUNK. Whilst guarding a hospital camp at Gratz a sentry challenged two men. One rjf them stopped, but the other, who, in addition to being deaf, was intoxicated, walked on and was shot by the sentry. POLYGAMY IN SOUTH AFRICA. In an immigration case the Cape Provincial division of thy Supreme Court of South Africa refused to recognise an Indian marriage, admitted by the applicant to he polygamous, and the Johannesburg Indians at a mass meeting have vigorously protested against having their* children branded as illegitimate. They have passed a resolution requesting the Government to introduce remedial legislation and stating that unless relief ho granted the Indian community will adopt passive resistance.

BURGLAR AND BABY. A baby is often a nuisance, hut Allain Guillaume found his first-born a valuable asset in the exercise of Iris delicate profession of burglar (says trie Paris correspondent of the “Telegraph”). His air of a good family man. disarmed the suspicions of concierges, and enabled him to crack his predestined cribs in peace. Moreover, the baby came in again on the lave occasions when the untimely entrance of a tenant disturbed him at his work. ‘‘Do forgive me, kind sir,” lie would snivel. “J am without work, my wife is in hospital, and i have been driven to crime in order to feed my starving child.” However, all good things come to an end. One day Allain was-caught rctl-hiuid-ed hv a crusty bachelor, who did not like children. * The Court sentenced “le monsieur an petit bebe,” as Allain’s neighbors nicknamed bun, to a couple" of years’ imprisonment.

' A RICE STORM. One evening recently the Chinese in Shanghai had good reason to believe that a miracle was happening. It rained rice! From ten o’clock at night until well after midnight groups of Chinese were on their knees scraping together the grains which, like a free gift from the gods, fell in little showers. The explanation of the miracle was that some miles away the roof of a granary had been swept off by a typhoon, and the grains had been whirled for miles by the same agency, to fall in showers when and where the force of the wind abated.

R I DERS OF THE PLAINS. The Royal Canadian North-West Mounted Police —“Riders of the Plains,” as they were known in the early days of Canadian development—are at present under a cloud. From their headquarters at Regina come stories of desertions and of men committing misdemeanors to get themselves dismissed. It is reported that one-third of the regular members of the force have got out of the- service by hook or by crook, and that the guardroom at Regina has been almost constantly full of men who have committed offences. The discontent is said to he due to favoritism in appointments and putting pleasure before the pursuit of criminals. Recently there was -a murder, within four miles oi the barracks, and it is alleged that instead of hunting the criminal two ot the officers went off prairie cricken hunting, and that, ten days later, though the police had been unable to find the murderer, lie was able to walk Out into broad daylight and give himself no. Another allegation against tlie North West Force is that when a man was shot at Movloy, on tlio Canadian Pacific Railway, there were no police to hunt the murderer.. They Were all at Ghost River Building, a camp which was never used for the Governor-General. " A commission oi inquiry into the work of the force has been suggested.

A HUMAN ROCKET,

Rodman Law, an American, has appeared at New York in the role oi a human rocket. r J o oblige a moving picture firm, and for a valuable consideration, Law was shot 3,500 feet into the air from a rocket such as is used in firework displays, and descended gracefully. to earth in a parachute. Law, according to the interviewers, felt a bit dazed, but soon recovered. Before playing the part of the human rocket, which is tlie climax t-p a hlood-aud-thuuder moving-picture series, the man-ate an enormous meal. The motive power of the rocket was ordinary oowder, and the steel cylinder in which Law made the flight was 10 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, tapering to a point as a rocket does. Tlie charge of . powder, the cylinder, Law, and the parachute outfit brought the weight of the apparatus well up to five tons. It was estimated that the powder alone weighed 8001 b.

SCOTSMEN’S LONG TRAMP. Two Scots—James Scott,a native of Stirling, and John Armstrong, a native of Hawick—have started from Durban on an self-imposed task ot walking to London They propose tramping through the Transvaal and Rhodesia, • afterwards making for Lake Nyassa, and thence to strike out for Lake, Tanganyika. Afterwards, by Uganda and Lake Albert Nvanza, they cross British East Africa, and enter Abyssinia, making their way for the Nile, Ivordofan, Khartoum and Omdurmiln. From there they reach Cairo, and cross by way of Suez and the Eclan deserts into Palestine. They then travel through Asia Minor to the Bosphorus, going through Turkey, Hungary, and Austria, and from Munich strike out for Lyons, m France. Thonco th&v make straight for the Straits of Dover.