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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18746, 27 December 1922, Page 4

Compared with the stamp sales for the Christmas period last year, those for the same period this year show a decrease of £209 16s 4d. Hie following are the details: December 20, £635 16s Ed; December 21, £729 IQs; December 22, £574; December 23, £543 10s; total, £2482 16s Bd. The total receipts for the ■ corresponding period last year amounted to £2962 12s.

About 8 o’clock last night two young men gave themselves up at the’police station. Both were in a very badly burned condition. They stated that they had broken into an office in the town and picked u*. a jar which was standing inside. They let the jar fall, and it exploded, covering their face and hands with some powerful acid. The sufferers were taken to the Hospital in a state bordering on collapse, and they will in all likelihood remain there for some time.

A Christchurclj Press Association message says that a 10-roomed house owned and occupied by Mr R. T. Watkins, in Bryndwyr road, Fendalton, -was destroyed by fire at 3 a.m. on Monday. Mr Watkins and his faipily were absent from home. The house and contents were valued at £4000; the house was insured for £2OOO, and the furniture for £IOOO.

A very thrilling spectacular event was provided at the Lyttelton regatta yesterday (says a Christchurch Press Association message), when A. E. Astwood made a triple parachute descent from an aeroplane piloted by Captain Euan Dickson. The machine came over Lyttelton at a height of 4000 ft, and after it had manoeuvred over the har- < hour the parachutist climbed cut on to the wing, from which he dropped. Each parachute opened promptly, and the final drop was made on to an open paddock just behind Lyttelton. A Wellington Press Association message says that the Hector Observatory reports that a large active sunspot group is now visible on the sun’s eastern hemisphere. The position of the largest spot is approximately in latitude 4deg 42min north and longitude 98deg 24min. A group of spots will cross the sun’s central meridian tomorrow, and should bo a grand object in the telescope during the next week. The largest spot is easily visible to the naked eye, using a shade or a piece of smoked glass. It is not very often that a local body finds itself with money that it is unable to spend, but this position has fallen to the lot of tho Morrinsvillo Borough Council. At its meeting recently the clcrfc reported that the last of the £IO,OCO loan for the extension of tho water supply, amounting to £2OOO, had been received from the State Advances Office. As the whole of the scheme hits now been completed for a less sum than was anticipated, it was decided to send the £2OOO back to the State office.

“Tho colossal work of tho Simplon tunnel has been completed,” says the Express Geneva correspondent. “The last rail was laid and the final electrical connections made in the second parallel tunnel. Tho now line was opened and international traffic henceforward will be greatly expedited. ' The new tunnel was pierced simultaneously with tho first tunnel, which was opened for traffic on June 1, 1906. It remained a mere gallery out through the rock until December, 1912, when the work of converting it into a parallel railway tunnel and track was begun. The tunnels are each 12 miles and aquarter in length, and the cost is about £5.000,000.” It pays better to be a promoter of strikes rather than an unpaid striker. An’ Australian contemporary gives some interesting figures as to the remuneration of the members of the Council of Action, the Communistic administration sot up by the AllAustralian Labour Conference a year ago. Their salaries as union secretaries, organisers, and advocates range from £312 to £624 per annum, with pickings in travelling expenses. Eleven members of the council collectively draw £SOOO a year from the workers, who keep the strike-promoters in comfort while they and their families do tho starving during a strike. An agitator with a sure £6OO a year, wet or dry, can well afford to urge a unionist to tighten his belt and fight for freedom.

It is apparently a great rarity to see a man or woman with a complete natural set of teeth. During the course of an address at the Auckland Rotary Club Mr L. Taylor mentioned that the previous week a man who visited his surgery had a complete set. They were perfect, and there was not an irregularity. “Was he married?” inquired a member, amidst laughter. Mr Taylor replied that he was. He had travelled all around the world, and on inquiry it was found that he was not fond cf having his meals in the conventional stylo, lie liked hard food, and was very fond of bones, which he picked up in his fingers and cracked with his jaws;. When he was in camp, after enlisting, he was ordered to parade sick, and could not make it out, but was informed that it was h’:r lemh, which surprised him more than When he visited the dentist’s ho found ti.st the dentist just wished to let other military dentists see what a perfect sut o; teeth was.

Yesterday was observed as a complete holiday about the wharves. A meeting of seamen has been called for 9 o’clock this morning.

A New Plymouth Press Association message says that a prisoner in gaol named 'Morris Scott Johnson aied in hospital on Christmas eve, death being due to natural causes. Johnson, who was 50 years of age, was undergoing three years’ reformative treatment.

An unusual case of particular interest to tram passengers was heard in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court last week when a male defendant was charged with a breach of the by-law for placing his feet on one of the seats of a Wadestown car, on which he rode on November 11 last, and refusing to take them down whon requested to do so by the conductor, his refusal being based on the ground that he had paid his lare, and did hot sea why he should take his feet off the seat. The solicitor for the department stated that this case was brought for the protection of passengers’ clothes. The magistrate, in convicting the defendant and finding him ss, said- that defendant had acted stupidly in not taking his feet off the seat when requested to do so ( as in the event of a lady getting on the car in a white dress and sitting down .on a dirty seat, there would undoubtedly be trouble. Germany is the home of some quaint charities. In the town of Hoschmann prizes are onered yearly to the men wno will marry the ugliest, the most, crippled, and the women over 40 who have been jilted at least, twice. Ihis strange charity was the result of a wealthy man’s discovery of the exceeding power of beauty, and he, therefore, made a bequest in aid of women who are without it. He provided that out ot tire income of the fund not less than £l6 should be given as the marriage portion of the ugliest girl in any year, and that the cripple should receive £l2. The poor women over 40 who have previously been jilted receive £lO each, when the funds will permit, but the trustees can vary this amount at their own discretion in order to offer a larger prize to some man willing to accept an unusually plain or crippled bride. An amusing incident happened in Wanganui on Monday in connection with, the display of Christmas goods being made by one of the local tradesmen. For advertising purposes a line-looking Christmas pudding had been placed in the shop window, and it proved to be quite an attraction. Several customers had to be advised that it was merely a dummy imitation of the real puddings, and all went well until a newly, initiated shop assistant sold the dummy. The result can be better imagined than described. When the boiling of the pudding commenced, the bread with which the “shell” had been stuffed soon became soft, and with consternation the good housewife saw her fine “duff” shrink and collapse. ‘‘‘What was said to the tradesman is being held in reserve for the Blue Book,” says the Chronicle.

£SO Reduction: 1923 model Harley-David-gor. motor cycles, fitted with carriers; lamps, rump, tools', Goodyear tyres; best value offering. Remember’ £SO per machine reduction. 1023 models now on view.—W A Justice and Go., Imperial Garage. Princes street, Dunedin. —Advl. Williamson’s Princes street, are the diamond ring esperta. They give you prompt attention and fine value.—Advt. New Zealand is fortunate in having good grocers., good women, and good “No-Hub-bing” Laundry Help. HoOray ! —Advt. To wear a suit or costume tailored by G. S. Roberts, Stock Exchange Buildings, will give you that sense of pride and satis faction which come from being properly groomed; —Advt. Buy your Christmas gifts now while we have the large selections.—Mollisons Ltd., corner George and Frederick streets, Dun edin. —Advt. The mp for hippy winter weather, Wat son’s No. 10. Fine old Scotch whisky.— Advt, A. E. J. Blakeley, dentist. Bank cf Australasia, corner of Bonsl and Hatcray streets (next Telegraph Office;., Telephone 3859.Advt. ' Xmas Jewellery.—Just landed, large selection diamond rings, watches, brooches, pendants, and silver ware. Compare values. — Peter Dick, Jewellers, 490 Moray place.— Advt.