General News Items

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 5 (Supplement)

General News Items

PRINCJ2 AS A RANCHER In his capacity of Alberta rancher, tbc Prince of Wales lately exhibited pure-bred stock at the fair at Edmonton, Canada, with conspicuous .success. / The Prince's " Princeton Neptune " was adjudged grand champion Shorthorn bull. He has 4000 acres oi land in Southern Alberta. — f I WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT The ruturn of Mrs. Dorothy Gretchen Steeves at a by-election gave two women to the ne\* Legislature of British Columbia. Mrs. Steeves was a candidate or the Co-openuivc Commonwealth Federation, which is a third-party political movement. M AN " FORGOTTEN BY DEATH " Once upon a time Francisco Antonio Ac Lima, a negro, was guitar player to Kin"" Carlosy 1. of Portugal. Lately he was "found wandering from fair to fair slaving his guitar. The negro has a birth certificate showine that he was born on Boavista Island, in the Cape Verde group in 1802. But. he is very reluctant to talk about j ljg ' a g 0 —because he says that death I Ins forgotten him, and he does not want to say anything which will act as a reminder. TELEPHONES IN GERMANY The German Post Office reports that 2 100,000,000 telephone calls were put through in the .Reich during the year 1933. The total number of calls made in Great Britain in the same period was 1,600,000.000. Great Britain sends more telegrams than Germapy. The figures for last year were: 50,000,000 for Britain, as against 22 600,000 for Germany. The General Post Office handled 6,640,000,000 letters during the same period, compared with the Reichspost's 5,500,000,000. TAPE MACHINE IN EVERY HOME After the successful trial of a new and enlarged tape machine system be- - tween Berlin and Hamburg, the German Post Office now plans to extend existing communications to other cities in Germany, and even to foreign countries. I The new svstem will enable any pri- /♦ rate person having a tape machine to send a message to another city, by the simple expedient of telephoning his intention to do so to the Main Telegraph Office, just as he might put in a call for a trunk line. HISTORICAL LACE EXHIBITION I An historical exhibition of laces was lately held by the State Museum of Applied Arts in Dresden. Germany. The exhibits were systematically arranged according to workmanship, countries and periods. There were old German, French and Flemish laces of beautiful workmanship, as well as the more recent products of later periods. A collection of photographic reproductions of celebrated paintings showed the significance attached to lace in the fashions immortalised in the German, Italian and Dutch schools of painting. MOROCCO WAR LEGEND Wives, mothers and sweethearts of hundreds of Spanish soldiers who fought in the Morrocan war in 1921, believe that their are still alive and are being compelled to work as slaves in the desert. In order to establish their fate, the Spanish Government is sending a military mission into the desert. , . . The wonten believe that the missing ' soldiers survived the massacre of' General Silvestre's 10,000 men at Annual, in Morocco, in July, 1921. The legend grew that hundreds were taken prisoners/by Riffian tribesmen and have been kept *as slaves ever since. JUDGE RECAPTURES PRISONER A judge/, who had been a champion sprinter in his student days, recently chased and captured a prisoner who ' escaped from the dock in a Warsaw Court. A tew moments after the man, a had been sentenced to a year's imprisonment, three police otneers 'who were on duty in the court were called away to the witness-room because of a disturbance which had arisen

there. , . . Seizing his chance, the burglar jumped' out of the dock, gained the stairs, and dashed into the street. Bu u / he reckoned without the judge. Leap- ' ing from the bench, the judge vaulted over his chased the burglar, and brought him back to court. MODERN GOLDEN FLEEOES >. Modern miners are to attempt to dredge the River Pek, on the Yugoslav"Rumanian// border, on the bed of which i gold has been collecting for more than ' 2000 vears. Up this river sailed Jason and his Argonauts from the Black Sea, and the Golden Fleece of their quest is ■ no legend to-dav, for tho peasants of the Pek River Valley steep sheepskins in the water and after a few weeks null out golden fleeces, the alluvial gold brought down from the mountains bv the water having settled in the ft was here that Alexander found all the gold for his expedition in c.U Firms of many nations have made bids to supply the dredging machinery, and the operations are expected to be extensive. PEER'S CLAIM TO FORTUNE Lord Strabolgi, formerly Commander J. M. Kenworthv,'claims to be the heir to an estate worth £60,000 left by Sir Thomas Brooke, who died five hundred years ago. In the London Gazette, Baron Strabolgi stated he was the issue male of the heir male 01. the body of Sir Thomas Brooke, who died in or about the venr 1418. at the date of the death of/Francis Capper Brooke, who died on January 13, 18S6, and that f ' am therefore entitled to the property disposed of by the will of Francis C'aoper Brooke. ... i , . This prppertv is known as the rJrooke FVtate, in Essex, and there have been other i claimants to it. " Since ni - v father, who was the original claimant, has died, I must now put in the claim to the estate." said Lord Strabolgi. " Although it is a house, with grounds, worth about £OO.OOO. 1 have never seen it." EROSION AT NIAGARA FALLS When a mass of rock estimated to weigh 45,000 tons crashed into the ri'er from the top of the precipice which is Niagara Falls, geologists said this was but another step in the inevitable extinction of this scenic marvel. It is only - three vears since a mass of 80.000' tons fell from the United States side of the Falls 200 ft. into tho Niagara River. Geologists have records to show that in Mm past 101 vears the Falls has rece. Ed some 820 ft., or at an average rate of five feet each year. If this rate oi' erosion .continues they say that in another 20,(XX) years the Falls will have worked its way back to Lake and the turbulent* Niagara River will heroine hut a placid arm of water joining Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The cause of Niagara's steady retreat is the undercutting of its brink by the ln>ge volume of water pouring over its ef'ge. This edge is hard caprock. but below it is softer stuff, sandstone and ■ thole, more susceptible to erosion. 1 enodically tfie brink is undermined and collapses of its own weight.

GREAT BATTLE IN THE AIR Canadian motorists on a near by road were amazed at a battle in the air near Montreal between a flock of crows and swarms of swallows for possession of a small wooded knoll. The dashing attack of the crows at first promised them victory, but the swallows quickly organised, tackled their larger adversaries in a solid phalanx, and eventually drove them from the field. STALACTITE CAVE AS THEATRE In one of the famons stalactite caves of Ruebeland, in the Harz Mountains, said to have been used by the vehmic courts of the Middle Ages for their secret and horrible trials, performances of the play "Heimat im Berge" (Home in the Mountain) were to be staged fortnightly from the beginning of August until the end of September. The cave chosen for this unique theatre is 210 yards long, 40 yards broad and 10 yards high. The author of the play is a native of Ruebeland. PARADISE FOR BIRDS • An area of -1385 acres on the Southern and South Eastern shores of Drausensee, near Elbing, in East Prussia, has been set aside by the Prussian Government as a reservation for birds. All shooting or cutting of reeds on the lake shore will bo prohibited. The girdle of reeds encircling the lake is inhabited by many rare specimens of water-fowl, and it' is expected that within a few years this tract of land will have become a natural paradise for birds of all description. VICAR FORGETS A WEDDING The bride and bridegroom and their guests were kept nearly an hour at Winkfield Church, near Windsor, Buckinghamshire recently. The vicar, the Rev. W. Thompson, forgot the ceremony. The bride was Miss Edith Liddle, of Chester-le-street, Durham, and the bridegroom, Mr. Walter Tanser, of Winkfield. When the vicar did not put in an appearance inquiries were made and he was found at a British Legion fete in the village. He rushed to the church in a car, apologised, and performed the ceremony. MONUMENT IN A NAME A peak in Mount Robson park, in British Columbia, has been named " Mount George Graham." in honour of the Right Honourable George P. Graham, publisher of the Brockvillo (Ontario) Daily Recorder. Mount George Graham is 8450 ft. high. Mr. Graham is a member of the Canadian Senate, a former Cabinet minister and a power in the Liberal party. He has received many honours from his fellow-citizens, but perhaps nono he will appreciate more than this unusual distinction of perpetuating his name in a lofty peak of the Rockies. GIRL'S FEET ON STEPS Rude manners received a shock in Zurich, Switzerland, recently, when Miss Christine Maple, 22 years old, of Los Angeles, was arrested for putting her feet on the seat of a railway carriage. She was on a train from St. Moritz to Paris. Signs forbidding passengers to put their feet on the seats were displayed in the carriage, in French, German and Italian, but not in English. r Miss Maple was freed after being detained 20 minutes, when the United States Consulate interceded for her. A fine of 50 francs (about £3) was imposed. TERRIFIC FIGHT WITH WOLVES Having fought off a pack of wolves with axes, three brothers named Typkoif have become heroes in the vicinity of Stanimaka, Bulgaria. The three were returning home after a day's woodchopping, when the yelping animals chased them. Soon the pack overtook them, pulled one of them, Gheorghi, to the ground, and attacked him. The other brothers, Vassil and Anghel, charged the wolves with axes, their only weapons, and the pack left Gheorghi, to attack the other two brothers. After a terrific battle, one of the brothers split the skull, of the largest of the-beasts. The others fled, and the three men, wounded and exhausted, dragged themselves home.

FAMOUS SCULPTURE FORGED Daring forgeries of famous sculpture have been brought to light by the Hungarian police, who recently arrested a silversmith, Joachim Schreiber, of Neupest, Hungary, found upon-examination to bo insane. Schreiber had evidently been operating for years past, his chief forgeries being imitations of the work of the great Hungarian goldsmith, Josef Szentpetery, birt it also proved that the works'of Benvenuto Cellini, the great goldsmith and sculptor of the 16th century, and other Italian artists, had also been copied. Many of those who suffered a heavy loss from trickery declined to prosecute for fear of injuring their own reputations as art connoisseurs, especially as Schreiber is now quite insane. lightning reveals a theft \ thunderstorm which was the means of discovering a stolen church treasure has aroused a wave of wild religious fervour among the inhabitants of Split, Yugoslavia. A few weeks ago the diadem" disappeared from the head of a statue known as the ' Black Virgin in one of the local churches, and an intensive search for it by the P9^ ice ani the worshippers was unsuccessful. When the thunder and lightning were at their worst, a farmhouse at a hamlet near Split was struck by lightning and partly demolished. Rescuers who went to the help of the farmer, named Peloj. and members of his family, all of whom were found unconscious, saw in a hole in the wall the missing diadem, entirely undamaged. The Peloj family are said, to have confessed that the diadem was stolen with a view to its being sold abroad. MARTIN LUTHER'S BIBLE In commemoration of the 400 th anniversary of Luther's translation of the Bible into German. th§ municipality of Wittenberg has arranged a Bible exhibition in the refectory of the old Augustinian monastery in which Luther completed his work. The exhibition is in four sections. In the first is to be seen the evolution of the Bib'e before Luther's time—from the earlier days of the Latin version, represented by wonderfullv-well preserved, hand-writ-ten copies of the Cnrolingmn era, to the richly-illuminated Bible of the later Middle Ages, up to the invention of printing in the 15th century. The second section is devoted to the Oermanisation of the Bible, which period—from the time of th , Gothic Bishop TJlfilas. 350 A.D., up to shortlv before the advent of Luther ati many n» 14 high German and four low German versions were already in existence. Tho third and principal section deals with Luther's translation of the Bible, which he began in the Wartburg and completed in Wittenberg in the same building which now houses the exhibition. The fourth section shows the further evolution of the < Bible since Luther's time. Tho exhibition will remain open until the end of the year.

FLOATING MEADOW IN GERMANY When spring rains swell the tiny river Hainme, near the small city of Osterholz, in Hanover, Germany, and it floods its banks, a strip of meadow on the south side, from two-thirds of a mile to a mile wide and three and ahalf miles long, begins to rise, with all its trees, including even great oaks and birches. The whole meadow is afloat, and even in normal times it gives under the feet. Some 200 years ago the river is said to have loosened a small farm with house and barns, and carried it for an hour down stream so gently that the sleeping family did not waken. LESSONS FOR CYCLISTS A courso of education for the erring cyclist is being tested by the police at Leipzig, Germany. Cyclists violating the traffic regulations are taken to the police station, where their cycles are " arrested and kept in custody " while the offenders are given a half hour's lesson on the principles of traffic. They are then questioned, and if they fail to pass the examination, their bicycles are retained until, after one or more subsequent lessons, they can pass as cyclists qualified to bo let loose on the public highways. On the day that the new regulation came into force it was found that 70 per cent of the apprehended offenders were ignorant of the simplest traffic rules. THE BRITISH SWASTIKA When H.M.S. Orion recently visited Memel, Lithuania, Nazi agitators in the town were greatly excited on discovering that the anchors of the warship were decorated with swastikas, the sacred emblem of Hitlerism. The only conclusion that the agitators could draw was that Britain was moving toward the Nazi creed. But a Sunderland firm gave a simpler explanation, and one that would inspire little hope among the revolutionary elements of Lithuania. The swastika emblem has been the trade mark of the firm which made the anchors long before Hitler was ever heard of. The reason for its adoption, it was explained by a member of the firm to an interviewer, is its antiquity, and. its suitable meaning, " well-being," when applied to an anchor. The anchors of the Orion with the swastikas were made 20 years ago. Now, however, on account of the adoption of the emblem by the Nazis, the firm is considering a change in their trade mark.

FORCEPS IN BODY FOR 13 YEARS It was revealed at a Southwark inquest lately that for nearly 13 years a woman had carried in her body a pail of surgeon's forceps. The inquest, at which a verdict of misadventure was returned, was on Mrs. Lllen Toinalin, aged 70, a widow, of Brixton, London. She was successfully operated on for appendicitis in the Camberwell Infirmary in September, .1921. Recently a pair of surgical artery scissors, about five inches long, was removed from the woman's body, and she died a week or two later. It was stated that in the operating theatre the forceps were counted in groups of 10 before use, and checked afterwards, the theatre sister being responsible. After hearing the doctor who performed the 1921 operation, the coroner said a surgeon was not liable for a mere error of judgment. PILGRIMAGE TO VIMY RIDGE Fresh from the inspiration of a most successful reunion of tho Canadian Corps, held in Toronto in connection with that city's centennial celebration, the Dominion Command of the Canadian Legion is planning a pilgrimage to the battlefield of Vimv Ridge for 1936. The pilgrimage will fit in with the plans of the Canadian Government for the unveiling at Vimv of a national monument now approaching completion. The Vimv memorial is the eighth and lr.st in Canada's chain of monuments on the battlefields of Furope. It is the most majestic of all, its graceful columns surmounting Hill 145 and dominating the whole of tho ridge which the Canadian army stormed on April 9, 1917. The seven other memorials, from north to south, are at Passchendaele, St. J til ion, Vimv, Dury Crossroads, Bourlon Wood, Coureelette and Lo Quesnel. FROM COBBLER TO PROFESSOR A few weeks ago Mr. Lloyd George handed over to the trustees the deeds of a white-washed cottage in a North Wales village, which was the birthplace of Sir Henry Jones, who from being a village cobbler rose to be Professor of Philosophy at Glasgow University. Hundreds of ]>eople came to the remote village, miles from the nearest railway station, for the ceremony, standing bareheaded on tho hillside before the cottage throughout the proceedings. When shown the little workshop where Sir Henry had mended the villagers' shoes until ho was 18 years ol ago, Mr. Lloyd George said it reminded him of his own boyhood days, for there was a workshop at the cottage where ho lived with his uncle. Mr. Richard Lloyd, to whom he owed so much. Sir Henry Jones was born in 1852 and died 'in 1922. His early schooling ended when he was about twelve years of age.