S-S-S-SH! Don't Tell a Soul!

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 15 (Supplement)

S-S-S-SH! Don't Tell a Soul!

A MERICANS, as a rule do not carry umbrellas. As a result, Mr. Chamberlain's famous umbrella puzzles Uncle Sam. There must be some sinister secret behind it. A letter in a New York newspaper the other day suggested that attached to the umbrella is a tear-gas cartridge which can bo used against anyone who should molest the Premier. •*

The next day the following letter, written by a number of well-known British residents in the city, appeared: "I am surprised that there should still be anyone who does not know the facts about the Chamberlain umbrella. "It is actually a sword-stick; that is to say, the handle can be pulled out

Here's the Truth. About the Umbrella

and a thin rapier withdrawn from the stem. Mr. Chamberlain is an expert fencer. " '

"The ribs of the umbrella can be removed and expanded at a moment's notice into a wire entanglement behind which Mr. Chamberlain could take cover if charged by cavalry. The cover can quickly bo converted into a sandhag and used either for a firing rest for the elbow, a pillow when sleeping 011 the veldt, or as a rifle rest. "Dangling from the umbrella's middlo is a black tassel in which messages may be hidden and dropped from an aeroplane when all other communications fail." Well. Americans have a reputation for believing anything. But we doubt whether even Uncle Sam will swallow this 01101 —Answers, London