ITEMS OF GENERAL HEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17603, 16 October 1920, Page 2 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF GENERAL HEWS.

_____ v ETIQUETTE OS- ARREST/ .- A man charged at WUlesden" complained ;that a policeman knocked his cigarette out of his mouth. " I merely removed his cigarette,'': corrected the constable." ■".Why?"', asked the magistrate. " Because he Was in.custody," was the reply. Magistrate (to accused):/." Did you knowit -wasn't etiquette to smoke when in custody?" The Accused: " No, I didn't"; Magistrate: "Neither - did I." • ■ ' _, , _ GAMBLING ON A GRAVESTONE. :; .John Roberts and .Alfred Underwood, colliers, of Whitwickj were: summoned at a Leicestershire police court for -gambling with.playing cards. A constable'_:ii'd he saw the men in Whitwick churchvard playirig " nap 3 ' on a gravestone. This prac- : tice;had ;become, so coniinon that the vicar and churchwardens were led -to complain. There - was a footbath through the churchyard. r = The men were j each^fined•: 12s 6d. WARHiirio IN. a love SONG. \ .verdict of wilful murder was returned at a Liverpool inquest against John Fitzgerald; a labourer, who v it was alleged cut the threat! of -Mary ;vMeakins, ; aged thirty-four, a widow, at a party. It was\ stated that Fitzgerald ' sang-/ a song which, contained/'the line: :." I loved you well;* you broke your vows," which he emphasised, and* afterwards attacked- the woman.. : It was alleged .that he was jealous of the woman because" she- kept company with another man. - ' *

A MEAN HUSBAND.

"' My husband is so mean that he makes me pay him for an egg from his own fowls," complained a wife to the Willesden magistrate. " Does he charge you the full market price?" asked his worship. " Yes, indeed he does," was the reply, "and money down before you get your egg. And me the mother of his' ten children." The magistrate expressed regret that the legislature gave him no power to deal with mean husbands. DECLINE IN FRENCH PHYSIQUE. " They are not men, but phantoms of men," said a doctor who was examining boys about to enter a famous school in Paris. Doctors agree, says the Matin, that the flower of French youth is declining considerably. The boys are less robust than were their forebears, and, although intellectually they afe on a high plane, their physique leaves much to bo desired. POVERTY OP A POETESS. A little woman of 59 who treasured a letter from Queen Alexandra thanking' her for a poem sent on " Alexandra Day," was charged at Tottenham Police Court with wandering without visible means of subsistence. She had been found sleeping under a hedge, and had only 10id in her possession. To the magistrate she confided how she bad composed and sold poems in the interests of war charities. Her father, she said, was a cousin of a former Bishop of Manchester, but she had become reduced to gaining a living by selling a boot polish of her own make from a recipe she had discovered. She added that she had friends at Brighton, and would go tothem. The magistrate : T-enpcnce farthing will _ not earn,' you there! The woman said she was sure her boot polish would provide maintenance on the road. ! In discharging her the magistrate warned her not to sleep by the roadside— could always spend a night in a casual ward.