NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1929, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

PET OCTOPUS. ZOO SPECIMEN FEEDS FROM THE HAND. LONDON, November 14. It. is a pretty fair test of tameness when a. wild creature feeds out of your hand, and the London Zoo is quite justified in now describing its biggest octopus as “ tame.” When the time comes for its crabsupper the eight-armed tiling conies brazenly to the edge of its tank and pushes out a tentacle so as to he helped before its three companions, Handed a fair-sized crab, the octopus brings it within reach of its horns beak—ignoring casual nips from the victim—chips a piece of shell as delicately as if it were an egg, and then absorbs the soft inside. The four large oetopods now in the Zoo Aquarium promise to .do really well. The reason contains no moral if or children, because the authorities base their hopes on the constant quarrels which take place. Life is one long wrestling-match for the quartet,’ and hits of skin float in the water after each round. Thus the Well-matched creatures get plenty of exercise as well as something to give them an interest in life. As they are also feeding well there is every hope that they will establish themselves. A group of healthy, blood-curdling oetopods would be, so to speak, a bright gem in the crown of Regent’s Park. L. G. M. SCHUBERT HOMAGE. VIENNA, Noy. 20. Centenary celebrations in lipnour ot, Franz Schubert, the composer, began hero to-dav. There was also an immense demonstration in support of the movement for a union between Austria and Germany. This afternoon 500 children sang before the modest birthplace, oi the composer. and a handsome fountain representing a listening girl, was unveiled in the presence rtf lflUQOf} spectators. Tlie principal Government ceremony was the Schubert concert and the. delivery of addresses at 11 n.m., attended by the President, .Ministers, and Diplomats. Workmen’s choirs sang Schubert’s music before the illuminated city hall this evening. Dr. Boess, Oberburgomaster of Berlin, declared at a city hall banquet; last night that Schubert was the common possession o,f the German people,. Schubert’s death at. the age of 31. will be. commemorated to-morrow in the Kotteiiliruekeugasse. There will he a municipal ccremonv beside the original grave, of Schubert in the Wuehring Cemetery, now a public park and playground for children, except a small portion containing the graves and monuments of Schubert, and of Beethoven, who, died in 1827. The State programme will be continued until Sunday. November 25. 15 7, a,sllF?haesestlies litse litse he SURPRISE FOR GREEK CAPTAIN. OPORTO (Portugal) Nov. 20 Captain Nichiferos, of the Creek steamer Virginia (2,500 tons), had the surprise of his life yesterday. He had declared here that his ship had been struck amidships by another vessel a in dense fog, and that lie and the crew abondoned her when she . was waterlogged and sinking. The Virginia, which was laden wjtli minerals and was on a voyage from Huelva, Spain, to Nantes, was towed yesterday into Leixoes Harbour near here. She had been salved by the tug Jupiter belonging to the firm of Carland. Laidlcy and Co., Lisbon with, the assistance of several Portuguese trawlers. The Virginia was brought close inshore. where she sank, leaving only her masts showing. The first trawler tljat got alongside the Virginia hoisted the Portuguese flag over her, and the Jupiter was obliged to signal for the maritime-po-lice to preserve order among the trawlers owing to the confusion of orders and interests.

The authorities are holding an inquiry and are making an examination of tiie hull of the Virginia. Meanwhile Captain, Nichiferos and. his crew have been ordered to "stay here by Ihe Greek Consul. POLICE ATTACKED. \ VIENNA, Nov. 23. A lore than 200 soldiers had to be sent to the Slovakian village of Beregszeg from Pressburg because the Communists attacked two gendarmes who went to arrest some of their friends. The Communists stripped off the gendarmes uniforms, beat them, and fired on them with their rifles as they fled. They killed one and dangerously wounded the other. Reinforcements of gendarmerie occupied the village after a long fight with 150 Communists. SICK WIFE’S FRIGHT. VIENNA, Nov. 23. „ As she lay in bed this morning, suffering from a heart complaint, in a house, occupied by 42 families, in Vienna, a young wife saw plaster falling from the ceiling. • She rushed from the bedroom and when she reached tlie corridar saw room vanish. She fled screaming, and people thought her delirious when she cried, “Our bedroom has gone.” Three storeys of the house had collapsed into the street. All the other occupants were warned by a shoemaker. From -the lirst alaim until the collapse was less than two minutes. Hundreds of police are controlling, enormous crowds and the debris is still being searched, but it is believed that no lives were lost. ANCIENT INN FIRE. HOD DEAD ON, Nov. 23. When the lire bell in the clock tower at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, sounded liisL night people in the Alaiden Head Inn hurried into the street to watch the fire brigade assemble. The curiosity of the landlord and I.is guests changed- to alarm when the firemen hurried to the back of the inn with Lhe cry, “The building is on lire.” It was lound that a room at the hack used as a coal cellar was on Are. Anxiety was felt as the building is reputed to date from tlie 13th century, but tlie firemen soon put out the flames. LORRY BLOWN UP. PARIS, Nov. 23. Four ineii were killed and. eight injured at the small arms ammunition factory at Vincennes this afternoon. A horse lorry containing boxes of detonators was being unloaded in the courtyard of one of the workshops when the boxes blew up. The lorry, the three civilian workmen who were unloading it, and the driver, as well as the two horses, were blown up. FASTING A!AN HOAX. CHOCOLATE SALU(IG LED. BERLIN, Nov. 20. A Berlin cafe in which a fasting man lay in a glass case was visited by 300,000 people. For 14 days the curious entertainment. went on, and the citizens of Berlin marvelled at the endurance of the man, who subsisted so long on nothing but cigarettes and water. Now a court of law has decided that he swindled them. Alter 28 days of cigarettes and water he began to take chocolate, which was smuggled in to him. The court fined him £SO for deception yesterday, hut as he received £IOOO for his performance, he is £9.50 to the good. Al OSCO W, FAMINE. RIjCA, Noy,. 20. Post Office officials report that thousands of Kill) packages of foodstuffs, chiefly flour, rice, and lard, are being sent by post to Russia weekly by people having relatives there. 'llie.se relatives lire receiving letters telling of the famine conditions in .Moscow, Petrograd, a (id other centres, when* workers are allowed 1 jib of bread daily, but the unemployed are starving, almost, their only food being apples. A DAY OF GLORY. Special services were held in all the Lavian churches to-day commemorating the Latvian fallen in the War of Independence and the country’s rescue ten years ago from the hands of the Bolsheviks. Dining their four months’ reign of terror the Bolsheviks shot 4000 leading citizens of Riga, including pastors of the local churches..

To-day ? s festivities at Riga were participated in by delegates from the Finns, Estonians, Lithuanians, and Poles. The Soviet Press views the celebration as a demonstration against Russia. WOMAN KILLED,BY. BANDITS SHOT BECAUSE SHE PROTESTED. PERKIN, Nov. 20. Details are to hand of the murder of Al iss Grace Alurie! Alann, the woman j missionary whose home Was in Feline Park, Hornsey* N., who was shot by bandits last Alonday. The Baptist Missionary Society had decided to transfer Aliss Alann to Sinchow, and it was arranged that Air Dart, another Baptist missionary, should accompany her to a spot halfway between the two cities. Al iss Alann and Air Dart, who rode on bicycles found the road muddy and as conditions got worse they decided after covering seven miles, to return. Air Dart dismounted, when lie felt - a dig in the riljs. Turning he found himself looking down the barrels of several revolvers. The bandits demanded all his valuables, and . lie handed over his watch ring and money. Aliss .Mann apparently, expostulated with the bandits, when one of them deliberately shot her. Air Dart saw her fall dead. The robbers at once math* off taking with them botli bicycles. TOO GOOD-LOOKING. PARIS, November 23. A young saleswoman in a fashionable Paris fancy goods shop lias been awarded three months’ wages as damages because her employer discharged her for being too good-looking. The proprietress of • the. shop- complained that men ogled the pretty saleswoman but never bought anything. Their presence, she alleged drove other customers away. The court decided that the fact that tlie girl was good-looking was not a sufficient reason for dismissing her. OPIUAI SEIZED. SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 4. The recent fight at Shanghai between .Chinese soldiers and the police for possession of smuggled opium worth £6,00(, seized 011 hoard the Chinese steamer Kiang All is being investigated. A big opium business involving leading military groups in the Nanking Government is expected. Public agitation lias forced tlie Government to start an enquiry, as the Nanking Government recently promulgated anti-opium laws threatening the severest punishment of all offenders. On Sunday Captain C. Stewart and Chief .Engineer J. Ross, tlie veteran British officers aboard the Kiang All, and 20 of the crow were taken off by Chinese police when the vessel arrived at Nanking. The British officers were questioned about the opium and then released, hi. the. Chinese crew were held prisoners. The Kuing An then proceeded to Sluing, liai. aiai of boaib gangs. TRYING TO JNTIAIIDATE GOVERN-. AiEiYf. .MELBOURNE, Victoria, December 4. Investigation of the bomb outrages has satisfied tlie police that all the perpetrators were paid hut the source of the money is at present uncertain. Some detectives believe that the in litigators, who originally tried to retaliate only on voluntary workers during the watersiders’ strike, are now aiming at intimidation on a wider scale to create public panic and force the Federal Government to abolish the Transport Workers’ Act. The eight arrested men were al! grafted bail at the police court to-day against tin* advice of General Blarney, the Police Commissioner. Ljetectives say that some of the worst members of the bombing gang have not been captured yet. and that several more arrests are necessary before tinpublic are safe. Jt is suggested that Red influence is behind the outrages, says Reuter, and a man who was prominent in fomenting riots in the early days of the waterside workers’ strike is suspected of being the ringleader. woaia n stow aw ays. FOUND IN SHIP’S BATHROOM. PARIS, December 4. Two women were found in a disused bathroom in the French liner Massilia (15,147 tons) by the second officer while lie was inspecting tlie ship on its voyage to South America. The women confessed that they had been smuggled on board by a steward named Camu and that food was supplied to them by two of the ship’s waiters. The- captain had tlie women locked up in a cabin when tlie ship reached Buenos Aires. The steward, a waiter, and the two women were arrested at Bordeaux "hen the ship returned. One of the waiters escaped. The police are seeking lor supposed accomplices of the two stowaways in Bordeaux.