CURIOSITIES FROM THE WORLD’S NEWS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 9 March 1935, Page 12

CURIOSITIES FROM THE WORLD’S NEWS

UNCONVENTIONALITY PAYS | After having been unemployed for' two years, a young American, secured a post through the insertion in a j newspaper of an unusual advertise- 1 ment. Instead of cataloguing bis virtues, lie drew attention to some of his defects. The announcement read: “Worthless youth seeks job. Will not- go anywhere and will not do anything unless conditions reasonable. Knows no foreign languages except high school French. Memory poorisli; only moderately punctual; a, ‘white’ liar. Wants big pay, short hours, and long holidays.” . ■ , . Before mid-day fifty employers had made him offers by telephone. Weary of the usual sort of thing, they weie apparently convinced that the adveitiser possessed at least originality and initiative. HYMN WOMAN WROTE 70 YEARS AGO Seventy years ago Mrs. Love M. Willis, an American, wrote a hymn, which is included in “The English Hymnal.” It has now been discovered that the words of the hymn, with slight variation, were part of the specially composed anthem sung in i the marriage service of the Duke and Duchess of Kent at Westminster Abbey. The first verse remained as originally written by Mrs. Willis - —. Father, hear the prayer we offer! Not for ease that prayer shall be, But for strength that we may ever Dive our lives courageously. JEWISH EXODUS. Jewish immigrants to Palestine from Germany last year numbered 15042. COSTLY MODERN STAMPS. At Harmer’s, New Bond Street, /London, a set of eight “He do France” 10-franc air mail stamps (1928) fetched £125, and two 1930 “Zeppelins,” of Argentina origin, fetched £4Q and £42. ROOSEVELT’S SON ARRESTED ON SPEEDING CHARGES Franklin D. Roosevelt, jun., was arrested at Grange, Connecticut, on a speeding charge by policemen Carl A. Peterson o.nd Joseph Cummings. He was accompanied by his brother John. Officer Peterson said that the car passed a red light and it was necessary to chase it for some distance before it halted. Franklin received a. summons. Ine hoys were on their way to the W lute House from Harvard. ■ ,

GONE TO EARTH. A fox saved its life' at Blackmill, Glamorgan, while hounds were in.lull cry, by leaping on: to a coal wagon just as it began its journey to Cardin-. NOSE VALUED AT £2OOO An Arab of Royal descent, who values his nose at £2003, lately arrived in Great Britain. He is Ei-Haj Sheik Jalal Quraishi, direct descendant of Omar tho Great, second Caliph of Islam. His object, was to produce an exquisite perfume for the Duchess ot Kent. , , For years this Arab has lived the life of a wandering perfumer, and his travels in .search of rare flowers and scents have brought him many hairraising adventures. Even in childhood he had a pronounced sense of smell, and when given anything to play with instead of nutting it in his mouth as most children do, ho would place it under his unusually large nos.e, and, if the scent did rfot please him, discarded the article with a grimace of disgust. During his travels Sheik Jalal has carried with him a secret scent which he claims protects him from all harm. , He was lately bringing all his skill to bear on the production of his perfume masterpiece for the Duchess of Kent. He was using no chemicals at all, working only with flowers and plants. HAMBURG POLICE AS SANTA CLAUS German children have always admired and respected policemen, but Hamburg is the first city to dress up the most paternal members of the local force, as Santa Claus and send them into the poorest homes laden, with gifts for the very poorest of the child population. “No child without a present and no child without a Christmas tree” is the national device which was to male “Police Day” throughout Germany on December 18 one of the most- memorable in the long list of special efforts in the Winter Help Campaign. There | was still money needed to make Christmas of 1934 a bigger and better festival for the needy than was the Christj mas of '1933, and the police, besides ' collecting very large sums within their I own by no means well-paid ranks, were ' to demonstrate with their brass bands. their 'highly trained Alsatian dogs and » their horses.

[ In some cities the special effort war 1 to take the form of free seats for a Christmas fairy play, the German form a pantomime, for children who ' had never had the chance of any such ! pleasure in tlieir lives. 1„ . " j FAMOUS FLY-TIER , • Mr Dick Perrott, the ninety-five- .' year-old Devon fly-tier, sent a wedl ding gift of salmon and trout flies to . the Duchess of Kent. In her letter . of acknowledgment the Duchess exI pressed her amazement that at ninety- ; ! five Mr Perrott could, still he able to \ 1 produce such fine work without - glasses. The Duchess’ amazement is i natural. Perrott is a great character, f i His mind is still as keen as his sight. He is known to nearly everyone who ■ has fished in Devonshire, He has ; known, too, all the great men who have tempted the waters with' (aln, angle. He has tied flies for Charles Dickens, Charles Kingsley, John Mori;ley, Lord Grey of Fallodon and.Rich- ' ard Blackmorc, the author of “Lorna Doone.”

ZEAL FOR MUSIC A voung man rose in the crowded Queen’s Hall, London, one night- in ( November, his hands, and . shouted: “What about those twelve i bars?” The London Symphony Orclies- . tra was nearing the close of Tschai- , kowslcy’s “Fifth Symphony.” The ( young man pushed to the foot of the rostrum and tried -the attract the attention of Mr Albert Coates, who was conducting. MV Coates motioned bun away. “What about those twelve bars?” again shouted the young man above the music. Attendants hustled him protesting into the street. “I like a man like that!” said Mr Coates to a Daily Express representative later. I “A man whose zeal for music will carry him to such lengths is a man to be admired. There are twelve optional bars just before the coda of the symphony. Tsdhaijtowsky (hliiriself ©(ever played them. This young man was protesting, X imagine, because they had been left out.” PIZARRO STATUE.GOES SOUTH When the Grace liner Santa Lucm sailed for the West Coast of South America- a few weeks ago, a box fourteen feet high by seventeen feet long by nine feet wide occupied space in on© of her bolds. Tli© box contained a bronze equestrian statue of Francisco Pizarro, who conquerer Incan Peru and founded Lima 400 years ago. Peru alt present is commemorating that event with celebrations lasting a month. The statue, which will be set up in front of the Government Palace in the Plaza de Armas in Lima, is.the work of the late Charles Cary Rumsey, the American sculptor and sportsman. Modelled in- 1910, the great Pizarro was not cast until last summer, when Rumsey’s widow, Mrs Mary Harriman Rumsey, determined to present the statue to Lima. FABULOUS TREASURE LOST The disappearance of over £3,000,000 worth of precious objects during the transference of the Chinese State treasure from Peking to Shanghai early in 1933 has just been discovered, according to letters received in Marseilles. The Chinese police are investigating and • efforts are being made to locate the director of the museum and his secretary. The Imperial Treasure of Peking consisted of tribute levied on subject princes over a course of many centuries, and was of such size and splendour that its valqe was incalculable. Early in 1233 a large quantity of the treasure was- removed' to Shanghai on the ground of danger of a. Japanese invasion. KITE FLYING BANNED ' Kite flying, for centuries a Chinese national pastime, has been banned by the Nationalist Government. The official decree from the Ministry of Communications explains that huge kites .at high altitude impair visibility for j aviators and constitute a danger to aeroplanes. AT LAST, A FISH FILLETER An invention which it is. claimed removes all the hones from a fish is being shown in a -Copenhagen shop. The instrument is in the form of a knife. It is introduced into the fish and moved up and down a little, after which it is withdrawn with all. the bones sticking to it. The inventor considers his instrument puts the delights of herring eating before many people who hitherto have . refrained from the delicacy because of their fear of the bones. STREET APPOINTED AS JUDGE It may take a couple of new decrees to untangle a situation which resultedin the naming of a street as municipal judge of the town of Banao, in Santa Clara province, Havana. Gahing Galvez, provincial governor, recommended the appointment of Rafael Saurez Prieto as municipal judge. His address was given as Joaquin Maceo Street. The official gazette published a decree naming Joaquin Maceo Street as a judge of the town.

PRISON FOR TELEGRAPH GIRL Failure to deliver telegrams proved a serious offence for Anna Merkusheva, messenger at for the So- ; viet Union Telegraph Service. She Avas sentenced to seven years in prison, the testimony showing that on July 18, after tearing up messages and forging receipts for 389 telegrams, she delivered only three. Inspectors and supervisors Avho failed to detect the girl’s fault were sent to prison for from one to three years each. SEVEN PINS IN BREAD Mrs Read, of St. John’s NeAvfoundland, took a bite from a piece of bread —and got badly pricked. She removed the bread from her mouth and found three pins in it. Then she examined the rest of the loaf and found four more pins. The baker cannot explain how the seven pins got into the loaf. HEART TWICE NORMAL WEIGHT. ’ It Avas revealed at a Bolton inquest on Joseph Robert Unsworth, aged 45, a poultry farmer, of Merrick Street, Bolton, who -died as he Avas being prepared .for an operation at the Bolton Royal Infirmary, that his heart weighed twenty-two ounces, which was more than twice the normal AA r eight. UnsAvorth died in the operating theatre over one minute after the administration of the anaesthetic had begun. His physical condition Avas stated to be such that he AA T as likely to die at any moment, and Avas sufficient to cause death, quite apart from any anaesthetic. A verdict of “natural causes” Avas returned.

ALLEGED CURSE ON BUS-DRIVER. A remarkable story of the concern of a man and his wife over the curse alleged to have uttered by a Avoman neighbour AA T as told at ClerkenAvcll County Court lately in the course of the hearing of a house possession case.

Leone Charlotte Field claimed possession of a house occupied by Mr F. Hurst, on the grounds of arrears of rent totalling £l7 8s 9d, and that he and his wife were a nuisance and annoyance to the neighbours. Mrs Mary Frost said that Hurst’s Avife had laid a curse on her baby.

Mrs Helena Roberts Davis said she could not go into the garden because Mrs Hurst, Avho was often intoxicated, came muttering round. Mrs Hurst had cursed Mr Davis, an omnibus driver, and expressed the hope that he would fall off and break his neck. Since then he had had a number of minor accidents .and was convinced :that Mrs -Hurst had laid" a curse on him.Mr Hurst said his w-ife Avas 75 and was unable to go into the garden, By doctor’s orders she had half a bottle of port a day. Occasionally he helped her to drink some of it.

Judge Earengey made an order for possession. No warrant Avas to be issued Avliile there was no renewal of tho annoyance and Mr Hurst paid his current rent plus 10s a week toward arrears.

PRISONER SLIPS HIS CHAINS “Angel-Faee” Louis Abrams, notorious thief facing a life imprisonment as fourth offender, slipped his handcuffs on the Bridge of Sighs in Tombs Prison, New York and escaped under the eyes of three deputy-sheriffs. He Avas one of 22 prisoners being brought for trial at the general sessions. So avoll planned was his escape that his absence was not discovered for 15 minutes, Avhen one of the other prisoners was detected, with a handcuff hanging from his wrist. Abrams by that time had disappeared, leaving only a trail of grease on the stairway railings which he had used. to slip off his fetters. Confusion reigned in the Tombs and the Courts. The fugitive was arrested for the loth time a month ago and charged with the theft of £IOOO worth of eyeglass frames from a large optical manu- ] factoring company. REMAKING A CITY. Definite plans have uoav been made for the rebuilding of Berlin. The city itself Avill be expanded and the original inner city, will be 'reconstructed' in such a way that people will no longer want to flee from it into the suburbs. The famous’ Friedrichstrasse is to have colonnades, if the architects’ plans materialise for creating a really handsome centre of commerce and traffic out of the present narrow and neglected, side-streets Tunning at right-angles to the still handsome Unter den Linden. Whole blocks are to be pulled" down to make room for modern parking place?. JEWEL GANG TRAPPED BY FIRE. Thieves, it was revealed recently, trapped by a rapidly-spreading fire while they were packing thousands of j pounds’ AA-orth of jewellery into suitI cases in a London shop, cut a hole in I a main Avater pipe in the basement I and escaped through a first floor win- \ doAV with gems worth £3OOO. Fighting hard to put out the flames, and thinking the task impossible, dashing upstairs to get away from the building, they left £SOOO worth behind in the suitcases. This remarkable burglary took place at the premises of Messrs A. Shoot and Company in High Street, Whitechapel. Next 'morning r the place was found full of smoke and the basement flooded to a depth of ten inches. The raiders, by opening the water pipe, had put out the fire. A reward of £3OO Avas offered for information leading to the conviction of the thieves and the reeoA'ery of the property intact or pro rata. One of the gang must have concealed himself in the basement of the premises before they Avere locked up. It is believed that he dropped a lighted cigarette which ignited material near some large packing cases and so started the fire.

A SIX-YEAR-OLD PRODIGY A marvellous future is prophesied for a young son of a JcAvish couple in NeAA 7 York. At the ago of 20 months he learned the alphabet, and soon ho was reciting it backward. At the age of four he taught himself to read, and he could add four columns of figures at a glance at the time his teacher showed him how to write the figure 2. Now, aged six and a half years, lie is of qA'erage height and 1 ., weight. He 1oa t 6S games, and he likes arguing with his father, avlio admits that he is no match for his youngster. He knoAVS the positions of the chief stars and the names of the constellations. His present ambition is to be an astronomer. DOG WITH A MEMORY. Hachiko is a Japanese dog which used to accompany his master every morqing to the railAA r ay station in Tokyo and again in the evening Hachiko waited at the station for his master’s return. Although his master lias uoav been dead for years, Hachiko does not forget. He still Avalks to the station every morning and still waits there expectantly each evening for the master Avho ne\ 7 er returns. Hacliiko’s faithfulness to his master’s memory has become a byAvord in Japan. Bronze images of him are being presented to the Emperor and Empress.