NEWS OF THE WORLD

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7067, 28 January 1933, Page 5

NE WS OF THE WORLD

TAX ON WINDOWS

HOW COLLECTORS WERE FOILED Brickcd-in windows in ninny of the old houses in England are a reminder of the time when all windows were taxed. The tax was introduced in the reign of William 111, in order to defray tlic cost of the rccoinage of silver. Many people objected to paying the tax, and it was to lessen the amount which could be demanded that they caused sonic of their windows to be bricked-in. The tax remained in existence until 1851, when it was replaced by the inhabited house duty.

ORIGIN OF GRAPEFRUIT

DEVELOPED BY CHINESE Grapefruit, which is now such a popular article of diet, was developed by the Chinese some 3000 years ago from one of the wild citrus trees with which their country abounds, and whose natural fruits are small and hardly edible. In the 18th century it was taken by an Englishman, Captain Shaddock, to the West Indies and grown there with success. Thence it spread to the United States, whose fruit-growers have given it much attention and have improved it considerably.

FULFILMENT OF A VOW

FAMOUS HOSPITAL BUILT St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, in London, was built as the result of a vow. Eight hundred years ago a courier named Rahere started on a pilgrimage to Rome. Becoming ill during the journey, he vowed to St. Bartholomew that if he were spared, he would build a hospital for the poor. He recovered, and in due course the hospital was built, partly by his own hands. “Bart’s.”, by the way, is the only hospital within the City of London, and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City, while holding office, automatically become governors.

CREAM AS A WEAPON

SURPRISE FOR ROBBERS Whipped cream pie proved an effective weapon when robbers entered a store at Boston and headed for the cash register. Mrs Mabel Bowman, the proprietress, picked up the pic and flung it, movie fashion, in the face of the leader. The attack took the men by surprise, and the cream, an inch deep on the top of the pie. splattered over them. The group then dashed into the street. Later a policeman arrested two men whose clothing was spattered with cream.

CHURCH OVERCROWDED

GALLERY SINKS A FOOT So many people crowded into the south gallery of Huddersfield (England) Parish Church, at a special Armistice and civic service that a large beam supporting the gallery cracked so badly that it allowed the floor of the gallery to fall about a foot. The congregation of more than 2000 people was the largest at the church for many years. The vicar, Canon A. Baines, was reciting the prayers when the' beam cracked, and in fear that the gallery might collapse, people below it made a rush.for the doors. Policemen quickly cleared the gallery and the service was continued.

BODY IN A SUITCASE

WOMAN HACKED TO PIECES The dismembered and savagely mutilated body of a beautiful young woman was found wrapped in English and Italian newspapers in two suitcases at Naples railway station recently. The cases were left in a second-class carriage of a train from Turin, and when being removed to the lost property office one of them burst open and revealed the woman’s body, with the arms and legs hacked off and the head almost seared. In the other case were the legs, but the.feet had been cut off and, together with the arms, were missing. The body was that of a brunette, evidently a woman of refinement. A passenger by the train informed the police that a man believed to have been with'the suitcases got out at Pisa and did not return. |

SERGEANT MURDERS GOVERNOR TRAGEDY OF THE TROPICS An amazing account of the recent nurder of Scnor Sastoa, Governor-Gen-;ral of Spanish Guinea, while on an . official visit to the West African island of Annabon, situated almost exactly on the equator, was recently reported. When Scnor Sastoa made a previous visit there were three white men on the island, with nearly 1000 natives. One of the white men, who was a missionary, left, and the other, a doctor, died. The third man was Sergeant Rcstituto Castillo, of the Colonial Infantry. The lonely white sergeant received the Governor-General and organised in his honour a native dance. During the festivities Scnor Sastoa was found stabbed to death. His host, the sergeant, had disappeared into the virgin forest. The next morning Castilla returned and confessed to the Gov-ernor-General’s staff officers that he was the murderer. He appeared to have been driven mad by his lonely life among the natives and exposed to the fevers of the tropics. PREHISTORIC GOGGLES FIND IN NORTH ALASKA A prehistoric pair of “snow goggles,” dug from a frozen grave in Notthern Alaska, has added a new chapter to the history of the human race in the Arctic. The goggles, of ivory, with narrow eye-slits to shut out the glare of the sun on ice and snow, date back several thousand years to the long-lost “ivory civilisation” of the Eskimos. The Smithsonian Institute, in announcing the find at Point Barrow, .Alaska, said the discovery of the goggles and other ancient relics “literally turns upside down” old ideas of man’s past in the Far. North. . Eskimos far more civilised than any known in modern times made the goggles, which are as useful as when they were first carved by prehistoric “colonists” on the shores of the Arctic Sea. The discovery furnishes a long-sought connection between the old “ivory civilisation” ’and more recent Eskimos, showing that these people developed in 'reverse fashion from most other races. They came to America from Asia with a high degree of culture, but instead of continuing to improve, they have gone “down hill” ever since, according to the Smithsonian scientists.

BOMBS FOR POLICEMEN i

FILLED WITH PAINT . “Egg-bombs” filled with white and green paint to throw at fugitive motorcars arc carried by the police “Flying Squad” of England for use when ing gangs. Experiments with these bombs—Which arc fitted with a pin like the war-time Mills bomb—have been carried out by experts at Scotland Yard. A special chemical in the construction of the bombs makes the removal of the paint extremely difficult.

DOG’S CLEVERNESS

A SECOND RIN-TIN-TIN A Wonder dog, named Jonathan, belongs to Robert Stephenson, an Englishman living in Berlin. He can undo a reef knot in three minutes. The ordinary “granny” takes him only a few seconds, The films have made a substantial offer in the hope of turning the dog into a second Rin-Tin-Tin, but Mr Stephenson refuses to part with his pet, and he makes a comfortable living by giving exhibitions in the streets of the large German towns.

MASCOT FOR HAPPINESS

THE SWASTIKA’S POPULARITY The Swastika is credited with being the oldest as well as the most powerful mascot in existence. The sign has been found on ancient rock carvings in India, China, Japan and elsewhere, and on stone implements belonging to the very earliest races of mankind. The belief that it attracted good fortune arose from the fact that it was used by the ancients as the .emblem of the sun. All the ancient races worshipped the sun, and the emblem was supposed to attract to the person who wore it, a big share of the sun’s favour. The name Swastika is Sanskrit, and means “happiness.”

DRUNKEN PIGS

LAKE OF WINE IN ROAD Sixty pigs in various stages of intoxication was the surprising spectacle which greeted motorists passing through the village of Bozen, in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, recently. The pigs were being taken to a slaughterhouse at Bale in a motor-lorry when the vehicle skidded and crashed into a great vat standing by the roadside containing about 4000 gallons of new wine. Some of the animals were thrown into the vat, where they made the best use of their opportunity for a free drink, while the others wallowed in a miniature Jake of wine in the road. The cost of this Bacchanalian episode is estimated at £250.

A VILLAGE FUNERAL

WHITE SMOCKS AND TOP HATS Scenes reminiscent of village funerals of other days were witnessed at Medstead village, Hampshire, England, recently. Mrs Alice Andrews, aged 75, had expressed the wish that the eight men who acted as bearers at her funeral should wear white smocks and top hats. Only two could be found in the village, and the others came, after a long search, from Chawton village, near Alton—where Jane Austen wrote many of her novels—and from Itchen Stoke and Itchen Abbas, villages near Winchester. The walk from the house to the church is over a mile, and the bearers carried the coffin in turn.

SWEEP TICKET LOST

GIRL’S VAIN TRIP FOR FORTUNE An American girl winner of £15,000 in the Irish Hospitals Ccsarewitch sweepstake, who resigned her position to make her claim in Dublin personally, found that she had lost her ticket when she visited the auditors in Dublin, and the prize money could not be paid. The girl was Miss Nina Field, of Far Rockway, New York, and she produced credentials which satisfied both the auditors and the organisers of the sweepstake—the Hospitals Trust, Ltd.— whom she later visited. The trust officials, however, were unable to do more than offer to relieve Miss Field of any temporary financial embarrassment. In a statement, the Hospital Trust, Ltd., says: “In view of the possibility of a ticket being produced by some other person, Miss Field agreed that the prize money should be placed on deposit until the expiration of the six months’ period during which claims may be made.”

MAN WHO PLAYED KING

SWINDLER ARRESTED Otto Witte, who for a brief time was “King of Albania,” has been arrested in Berlin on a swindling charge. Now fit) and shabby, Witte looked everything but a monarch when placed in gaoi. Born the son of an itinerant Punch-and-Judy showman, Witte was travelling in the Balkans in 1913, just when the newly-created State of Albania was looking for a king, and he heard that a Turkish prince had been invited to Albania to submit his candidature to the throne in person. Witte immediately bought a gorgeous uniform, telegraphed his arrival at Durazzo in the name of the Prince, and was given an enthusiastic reception by the Prince’s supporters. The festivities in honour of the “King” were in progress when the genuine Prince telegraphed. Witte promptly denounced the newcomer as an impostor and the Prince barely escaped being thrown into prison. During the confusion Witte fled the country. COURTING STICKS STRANGE AMERICAN EXHIBITS Devices used in furthering romance among some of the Indians of the North-west Coast are included among exhibits on view at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History to illustrate the culture of these peoples, and also those of the Eskimos, says an announcement from the museum. In the Nootka tribe, for example, the ritual of courtship was highly developed. Included in the museum exhibit is a “courting stick,” of a type used by young men of the tribe much as a bouquet would be used among young white people. This consists of a small bundle of red cedar bark, with white ' feathers projecting from the top, attached to a staff, which was set up in front of a girl’s home by her lover as a sign of affection. It W’as intended to convey a sort of “be my Valentine” message.

There also is displayed a “courting mask.” This represents a human face with a coil of rope around it, and a bird’s tail at the top. Such masks were worn by young men in search of wives, according to museum anthropologists.