WORLD'S NEWS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1885, 2 April 1913, Page 2

WORLD'S NEWS.

FROM LATEST FILES. THE UPRIGHT MAN. SCIENTIST POINTS TO DE-" SCENT FROM THE GIBBON. Loudon, February 18. With the aid of seven skeletons — three primitive monkeys, one orangoutang, one chimpanzee, one gorilla, and a primitive native of Tasmania—Professor Arthur Keith, curator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, gave the first of a series of lectures on the upright position of man yesterday. The three anthropoid apes and the Tasmanian were eo much alike when dissected, he said, that on a might suppose they all came out 0 f one common stock. The "nthr o p o apes were evolved from f ' jie bon, and were distinct any other animals, as were all upright. The upright position of man was not a human problem, but a problem of the gi.obon, and the great problem was how the gibbon came by the upright, posture. The form of the upright ape came into the world at the Eogene period, and the gibbon had come right down from the niocenejperiod almost unchanged.

Discussing the evolution of the orthograde posture, Prof. Keith said the first stage was the specialisation of the arms, as was done by the gibbon. After the gibbon came the anthropoid ape; then the specialisation of the feet.

GOLF GREEN OUTRAGES. MRS PANKHURST'S ARGUMENT WITH SECRETARIES. London, February 18. Mrs Pankhurst, speaking at the London Pavilion yesterday, said the civil war which was being waged in this country was from the point of view of insurgents progressing very favourably. R. ferring to the golf course outrages, Mrs Pankhuist said it was true nobody w«s caught and nobody punished, but many people were much disturbed and were filled with terror and consternation—much more consternation and terror than they I would have felt if seven people or a dozen people or perhaps even a hundred people had been injured or been killed. It was not human lives that mattered so much to-day. It was property that mattered—enjoyment, sport, and moneymaking. If they wanted to excite consternation and terror they must attack those. Indignant secretaries of golf clubs had asked her if something could not be done to stop what was going on. There was great indignation, she was told, and that women members of golf clubs were going to be turned out. She was able to point out to the gentlemen what a mistake in tactics that would be, because to turn out the women who had not done it in order to prevent those who had was not likely to stop it, and was likely to aggravate the complaint.

TRAIL OF SOOT. HOW A CONCEALED GIRL INTRUDER WAS DISCOVERED. London, February 18. An arrest which recalls the adventures of one of Charles Lamb's chimney-sweepers in the palace of the Howards 'has been made by the Birmingham police. Having been summoned by a housholder, who alleged that some marauder had entered his premises in his absence, the policeman made careful search, but failed to find the intruder. But after the search had, to all appearances, been given up, a wily sergeant returned and discovered traces of soot which had previously not been perceptible. Following the trail, he peeped into a bed, and there, hiding between the mattresses, lay a sootbegrimed girl, who has apparently exchanged the chimney for the bed as a place of concealment After the first investigation by the police. The girl, who some weeks ago told a remarkable story to the police of having been bound and gagged, was remanded yesterday on a charge of housebreaking.

LODGERS WHO LOOT.

POLICE WARNING TO LONDON LANDLADIES.

London, February 18.

London police officers are anxious to meet two men, said to be cousins, who have committed a series of mean thefts. These men commenced to rob London landladies in December, 1911, and they have worked on the same principle ever since—taking rooms in houses where apartments are advertised, paying a small deposit, and then ransacking the premises at the first opportunity. Five or six weeks ago Scotland Yard issued a warning to landladies, and since then the men have worked singly. The second man is introduced. generally as a brother, on the day following the engaging of rooms by his confederate. While the second man engages the landlady in conversation the first man goes upstairs "to prepare to go to some place of amusement," and in due course the couple leave together, and the landlady finds that the upper part of the house has been ransacked. Two piles of reports at Scotland Yard , indicate the extent of these men's thefts, which are said to number at least 50, and there is hardly a district in London in which they have not operated. The men are thus described:

No. 1. —Aped aboiit 31, height sft 3in, complexion dark, hair dark brown, eyes hazel, scar over left eye, draws up left side of mouth when talking, may be clean shaven, or wearing slight dark moustache. No. 2.—Aged 30, height sft sin, complexion dark, hair brown, thin on top, eyes grey, mole right side of mouth, several scars on head and inside right thumb. Both men dress in dark suits, dark grey overcoats, fiat bowler hats, and speak with a North Country accent. They are of very respectable appearance. The police would he grateful if anyone having such visitors would quietly and without alarming Jihoir guests, communicate]

their suspicions to the nearest police I station. j • i MIRROR GAZING. THE TIME A WOMAN SPF, NDg Paris, Feb , lfi A Paris gentleman of a ma { hema . tical turnof mind ha- 4 jußt conc i ud . Ed rather an unkind. Culculation , H « has endeavoured t a aiseover the time w { l ' . „ urm .£ her life, a woman spends before Aer ] oo ki n g glass, and Ins conclus, is that t] * f Qtal ti is about 2 rtays He es that gj r j 0 f f ro m six to 6(in y ears remains on an avera£.® r >»ven minutes a day before her mj /Tor. From ten to fifteen she s fiends a quarter of an hour; from fifteen to twenty, as womanhood i J dawns, she spends twenty-two min- : utes. Then comes, according to . this authority, the maximum period of self-examination. Between the age of twenty-five and r thirty, he says, a whole half hour is spent in the adjusting of the furi tive lock, and the last bewitching ■ fold—the imparting of the final ; "cachet," the "je ne sais quoi," to > an all-conquering toilette. Half an i hour certainly does not seem much > —for a morning toilette, at all i events. Most women would probi ably claim that an hour's monopoly ■ of the looking glass would be perfectly reasonable when preparing

for a dance or dinner. After thirty the period declines, states the statistician. From thirty to tliity-five it declines to twentyfour minute*, from thirty-five to forty it dwiudles to eighteen minutes. At sixty the condition of

childhood is again reached, and six minutes suffices. This, on the face of it, seems to indicate that the child of six is wiser than the woman of sixty, but, of course, figures can be made to prove anything the mathematician may happen to set iris heart on.

j BRITISH TOBACCO. EXPERIMENTS ENCOURAGE INCREASE IN CULTIVATION. London, February 18. Though last summer was particularly hard upon those few English and Scotch agriculturists who are experimenting with tobacco, this year there is likely to be an increased area of land used for tobacco cultivation. The excise authorities grant up to an aggregate of 100 acres in England and Wales, and 50 in Scotland for this crop. Grants of licenses for land for this purpose have not yet totalled to the maximum ; last year but 40 acres were under tobacco—2o in Hampshire, 10 in North Wales, 5 in Norfolk, and 5 in Scotland. An average yield of cured tobacco is about I.loolb per acre, last year's crop in Great Britain may be estimated at 44,000. In Ireland the official returns for 1911-12 give 61.881 as that year's produce, and the prices obtained were from 4d to 7d per lb. The restrictions upon tobacco growing in England were removed in 1911—under the Budget of 1910. Last year's crop in England and Wales, in spite of the unfavourable conditions of the summer, turned out fairly well, a Daily News and Leader representative was informed yesterday. The growers have not yet placed their crops upon the market, except in the case of the Welsh crop, which realised quite satisfactory prices. Already there is an all-British mixture on the market —and smokers < say it is a really good mixture—but j a Daily News and Leader represen- | tative was informed that though it contained tobacco grown in Eng- j land, yet with that is blended certain choice varieties cultivated iu British Colonies. Anticipating that the success of the last season's crop will encourage other experimenters to apply to the excise authorities for licenses, some seedsmen are importing suitable tobacco seeds. It is said, for instance, that *Lord Iveagh proposes to plant over 20 acres of his Suffolk estate with tobacco, and that a Cambridgeshire landowner intends also to make an extensive experiment with the plant.

CHANCELLOR AND THE LAND.

MR SAMUEL FINDS APT FORECAST IN SHAKESPEARE.

London, February 18.

Mr Herbert Samuel, M. P., the Postmaster-General, last night commenced a series of meetings in the division of Cleveland by addressing his constituents of Loftus.

Dealing with the work of the Government, Mr Samuel referred to the great Budget of Mr Lloyd George, which, he said, had provided all the funds for old age pensions, National Insurance, the strengthening of the Navy, and payment of debt at an unprecedented speed. That Budget had been viewed with much indignation by the Conservatives, and especially by the land-owning class. To them Mr Lloyd George was anathema. They felt they could not live because of his land taxes, and could not die because of the death duties. (Loud laughter.) The position, strangely enough, was foreseen by Shakespeare. who wrote in Richard 111. no doubt by a remarkable exercisia of foresight: He cannot li"e, I hope; and must not die Till George be packed with posthorse up to heaven. (Loud laughter.) It was true Shakespeare was alluding to George Duke of Clarence and not to the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, but, still, he felt certain he was expressing with marvellous exactitude the sentiments of the typical landowner of to-day. (Laughter.)