CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 247, 17 September 1932, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”)

Teacher. Tommy, . «£• gS.hT T.mw, 1 «■!. 1 could, ,ir. It’s toothache 1 m

rri,~ latest joke in London: A T 1 nf American women tourists number street cafe Star bout of sight-seeing, when a highly attractive young woman burst in, obviously. greatly excited bv some recent experience. a ■ ca oy soni ■ t cfline from tho Chesh“r Ch.ie An’ 1 saw the cutest CUesneer v / . ner where Samuel tSW fo “t »gue With Amy Johnson I # , * The following is told by a leading London actor:-“An Englishman returiling from America HK n New York for a ffood story to recount aboard the liner. Ihe cleik replied: ‘Well, I don't know about a story but my mother had a child who was not my sister, nor my bother, who was it?’ In answer to the Englishman’s shake of tho head, the clerk ex"i“ n ed ‘Me.’ Hr the smoking-room of the liner that night the Englishman recounted the story with gusto My mother.’ he said, had a child. It was not my brother nor my sister Who was it ?’ When his audience had registered due bewilderment he continued, with elation: Why, the. reception clerk at tlie Ambassadors Hotel!’ ” * * * *

Tlio public, through the columns of tho daily Press, are familiar with the efforts which are being made bv the Artiglio to recover tbs gold from the sunken ship Egypt and the large menur© of success already achieved. >\hon this work is completed the Artiglio will commence a salvage task " inch may be even more difficult than tho one on which she is at present engaged. According to a statement made by an Italian newspaper tlie Artiglio is to explore the wreck of the Dutch liner Tubantia, which was torpedoed in the North Sea in 1917, with a view to salving her gold cargo. There has alwavs been considerable mystery concerning the cargo which the Tubantia was carrying when she 'vent to tho bottom, but it is believed that sho had a large sum of gold which was being sent from Germany to tlie l nited States for financing war propaganda. Tho gold, it was stated, amounted to more than a million pounds and was supposed to be hidden in Dutch cheeses. Salvage efforts wero made in 1925, but were abandoned. There is also a possibility that the Artiglio may attempt to salvage main of the wrecks in the Bay of Biscay.

The lato Lord Plumer, whose remains havo been interred in Westminster Abbey, was loved and respected by tho men who served, under him, and he has been described by one of them as “tho dearest, kindest of men under whom I ever served.” The soldier lias mentioned two incidents characteristic of the late Field-Marshal's never-fail-ing sense of humour and deep understanding of the common soldier’s mind. During the Boer War he had to bring before Colonel Plumer (as he then was) a corporal charged with some minor offence. This corporal, an expublic schoolboy, sometimes affected an eye-glass —a relic of civilian days. After hearing the charge, Plumer screwed his familiar monocle in his eye, and glared at the offender, who, to the horror of all present, coolly produced his own eye-glass, and, fixing it in position, returned the C.O.’s scrutiny. “Sergeant-Major,” barked the Colonel, “does this man always wear an eye-glass?” “No, sir, not in the dark,” replied the sergeant-major, with as much gravity as he could muster. “Go away. Get out of it,” roared Plumer, and there the episode ended. A few weeks later the squadron was pushing forward into the Transvaal when a bullock wagon carrying 150 of the men’s kits overturned. A fatigue party had reloaded half of them when Colonel Plumer appeared on the scene with a battery of Canadian artillery. “Throw the rest on to the veldt and come on,” fie said, whereupon an old trooper, standing, with arms akimbo, on the top of tho wagon, said slowly. “Colonel Plumer, your blank kit ain't on this blank wagon.” Out came the monocle again with the retort. "Do what you d well like. 1 only hope you’re all captured,” and Plumer cantered on.

FTirther excerpts from “Round the Empire” series:—Jamaica, the largest of our islands in the West Indies, was discovered by Columbus in 1494 and remained in the possession of the Spaniards until Oliver Cromwell sent a force which captured it in 1655. to be finally ceded to Britain in 1670. It was not then regarded by some as worth keeping, but the wealth taken from Spanish skips and landed there by the buccaneers gave the colony a start. Its inhabitants of nearly* 900,000, over 9S pier cent, of whom are coloured, grow, among other things, sugar, coffee. cocoa and millions oi heads of bananas, and likewise “brew" a famous rum. The island is very mountainous, lias many rapid rivers and some very picturesque waterfalls, and in spite of recurrent- hurricanes and devastating earthquakes, is said still to remain the jewel of the West Indies.

The Bermudas, a cluster of 300 small coral islands in the Atlantic, 5:0 miles from America, were discovered by _a Spaniard, Juan Bermudez, in 1515, but no attention was piaid to them until the British Admiral Somers was wrecked there in 1609. This mishap led to the islands becoming ito centre of a sea-carrying trade. English settlers makmg small ships from tho island timber and plying for cargoes between the West Indies, the American continents, and even Europe T< maritime enterprise was checked', largely by the introduction of steam and iron ships, which. nevertheless caused the islands to 'become an important naval and coaling stationSince then the beautiful climate has made the Bermudas a favoured winter resort. So, in addition to their agriculture and the presence of a garrison, the islanders find profit in i large influx ot visitors from Canada and the l .b.A.

Tristan da Ciinha, in the South Atlantic. was an uninhabited island found in 1000 by a Portuguese who gave it his name. In ISIO an American. Jonathan Lambert, landed there to fqim an independent settlement but PTC a Mn IUW m tho Rritish Record O Ikc Museum, was not officially hoisted- In lMt> the British tick the island to prevent its use as a base ter attempted rescue of Napvdeon H • Uoloi h\- :uul the British garrison withdrew in O--poral Glass and his wife "wished to wvd , l t0 ' V T 0 l°»ned by two exn.wal men and some shipwrecked seamen who, later, commissioned a seacaptam to bring their wives from > WlrnT' 1,1 lN *> most of the ablebodied men wore accidentally drowned. U o community now mnstehs some 130 2; 1 T , t!wi r turn stock ami wlr r iVf" ' from the n orld. When offered m 1904 a grant ot land m tvnuh Africa, most ot the island"' to lxn naiu on their