NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1928, Page 8

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

HIS LAST FOURPENCE. After spending £IOOO in loss than six months, Arthur Colson (60), a Mokvse.y carpenter, put his last fourpence in the gas meter, and two hours later was found lying with his head in a gas oven. The money was left him by his wife- who died eigfit months ago alter a long illness. It is believed that the worry of his wife’s illness unhinged his mind. . TRIPLETS’ NAMES. , Mirs. B- Hartley, of Yerbury Road, Hollo-way, has given birth to triplets, two girls and one boy, in the Royal Northern Hospital. The girls weigh 31b 12oz and 31 h 14oz, and the boy 51 b. All are doing well. They have been given the names of Ann, Betty, and Cedric,, after the; nurse Miss Ann Leydoh, house-surgeon Miss Betty Darling, and the visiting, doctor, Mr. Cedric Lane Roberts. MARRIAGE BY SIGN'S. A wedding between a. deaf and dumb couple was solemnised aa Newport recently by means of signs. The parties were Mr. W. xi. Abraham, of Bargoed, and Miss- Violet Chappell, of Newport. The service was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter of the deaf and dumb language. Mr. Abraham and Miss Chappell met at the deaf and dumb School, Swansea, where they were trained. FARCE OF AN OLD ACT. The most peculiar manner of spending Bank Holiday, is that of Mr. J. H. Whitham, secretary to the ancient Cutlers’ Company, of Sheffield. He sits in the Cutlers’ Hall every August Bank. Holiday waiting for. manufacturers ; who-- .never turn up.,,..An Act of Parlianientj *pjissed in 3.790, says a meet-' shall he held on the first Monday in August to elect twelve assistants to the company. Nobody every turns up for this meeting, but, aq. it would cost from £7OO ,to £BOO to- alter the Act the secretary, has still to qtt.end'. LITTLE DORR IT'S CHURCH. The [ famous flagstaff, with its Royal crown, which for two centuries surmounted the- tower of St. 'olave’s Church, Tooley Street, S.E., has been presented by the,, proprietors of Hay’s Wharf, tlie owners of the site, to St. George’s. Church,, Borough High Street. . (This is ,the .Ohui’Cjh immortalised by Charles- Dickens as “Little. Dorrit’s Church.” St. Olave’s tower is in course of demolition and three hells whicjh hang from .its ancient ra-f----i tors .are to,, be given to, St. O-lave’s Church, now .being built, at Mitcham.

SMALLPOX IN CHURCH. After a, wedding at,Mountain Ash, Glam'prganp when the,. bridal party were about to partake of the wedding breakfast, the bridegroom complained of feeling unwell, and eventually a doctor was called in and diagnosed smallpox. The bridge room was removed to the local isolation hospital tor treatment and the bride returned home. The wedding guests had also to return home, but not before the v bad all been medically examined. Tbe church was disinfected, and tire bridal ptfrty were strongly .advised tbe revaccinated to avoid infection. AN AIR. “WARNING.” An air pilot tells of a, strange premonition that recently saved him from probable disaster. Flying at a high altitude he was suddenly conscious of a “feeling” that another plane was near him, hidden in the cloud through, which his own plane was passing. He could neither see nor hear the approaching plane, but the sensation was strong, and he dived out of the cloud.- As he did so, a second plane appeared and passed close above him. A moment later and a collision could hardly fail to have occurred. WHY THUNDER FEAR, The view that it is not the noise of thunder, but the mysterious origin of the noise which disturbs some people is strongly supported by the story told about an 18th century Court official who occupied a famous old house on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, which is changing hands. He used to go down to the cellars whenever there was a thunderstorm and stay there till the sky cleared. He always took down with him a drummer, whose business it was to drum as loudly as he could and prevent his master from hearing the thunder. That was a clear case of Dread of the Unknown.

Society if the next archbishop decided to carry out this duty, for tiiey could hardly do less than-make him their president, though his shovel hat and gaiters would be quite in keeping with his status.

IN CELLAR COOL. Deep down in the basement of a building liu Copenhagen there is a cellar known to every Dane. It is called “Andersen’s Cellar,” and no summer-time visitor to Denmark's capital can claim to have seen “all the sights” without having descended into its cool depths, there to find the long deal table running down the centre of the place groaning under its weight of dishes piled high with strawberries, quart jugs of cream partly whipped, great basins of sugar —and nothing else. And there to find that for the modest sum of about sixpence one can eat a fill one is not likely to forget to the end of one’s days. WAR ON THE WEEDS. Weeds are to be eradicated from Canada. They are troublesome and costly, and conferences are now , being held at various provincial schools of agriculture preparatory to a big antiweed- campaign. The conferences are being attended by field supervisors, weed inspectors, councillors, . reeves and other municipal officials as well as by members of the general public. The latter are given free lectures on the approved methods for the control and destruction of weeds, the unchecked growth of which involves a heavy toll on crops of all kinds. The air services are, of .course, doing good work by spraying. RHYTHMIC HORRORS, “There are few things which make me want to kill anybody, but if a person drums his fingers on the breakfast table I feel positively murderous,”. said Dr Percy C. Buck, professor of music at University College, iii a lecture”at Oxford. “It is the reiterated rhythm ■ which causes this, for there is nothing in a song which' plays on any person’s feelings so much as persistent rhythm. There are certain tunes which nearly drive me mad. Sitting downat the piano and playing the hymn, ‘New Every Morning Is the Love,’ entirely brushes me up tlie wrong way, because it has no rhythm. It just drones on with no shape or breathing space except when you are compelled to } make one jyoilrself in order to save your life, which everyone does by taking a big gasp in the ’middle and packing up the tune as best one can.”

OVERCROWDING PERIL. Disclosures of serious overcrowding in the Borough of Bermondsey are made in the'yearly report of the Medical Officer of Health (Dr R. King Brown), who states' that in 1927 so many as 2763 families were living “in overcrowded circumstances exceeding the L.C.C. standard of two persons to a room.” A census undertaken by the coHUK'il showed that in one instance a family of eleven persons, and in two cases families of ten, had only a single room. There were 192 families ,of five persons, 585 of four and 1902 of three with only one room to live in. Commenting on the seriousness of the question, Dr Brown emphasises the injury that is done to health in the spread of tuberculosis and infectious and zymotic diseases. “There are/’ lie writes, “numerous other disease's thait might he classed as social diseases; in overcrowded rooms young children do not get proper sleep, and consequently become nervous and irritable; there is also the question of morality; and further, owing to the lack of accommodation the members of the family are driven to frequent public houses and overcrowded and unhealthy places of amusement.”