PEERESS AND PEARLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19349, 9 December 1924, Page 8

PEERESS AND PEARLS.

NECKLACE TO BE SOLD. LIKELY TO CO TO AMERICA. A mystery pearl necklace, one of the heaviest in existence and the property of a peeress, was expected to come into the open market immediately after the general election in Britain. The necklace consists of six rows, and contains some of the largest pearls in the world. It is expected to fetch a very big figure. , . , This inlormation was vouchsafed recently by Mr W. E, Hurcombe, the auctioneer of E-over street. * I am unable as yet to give the name of my client, but I can tell you. that she is a peeress/* he said. "The necklace Itself has been lying in the vaults of a bank for years, and, as was distinctly proved by the famous Thiers pearls in the Louvre, this long imprisonment should not have had a bad effect. I anticipate that they will b« purchased for America. The pearls themselves belonged to a maid ot honour of Queen Victoria, and they are clasped together around a pearl and diamond tiara. They are tremendously heavy—one of tho heaviest pearl necklaces I have ever seen. Mr Hurcombe gave an Evening Standard representative an insight into the way L e treasures of noble houses of England ate gradually being sold to the United States. "I am going to sell very on a singla afternoon 200,000 ounces of old silver/’ M said. “I do not anticipate that after th*» sale a single ounce will be left in this country. Auctioneers are getting demands from all kinds of unexpected sources to dispose of valuable treasures.

“One of The most interesting experiences I ever had was at Chertsey. I can now make it public, for one of the parties concerned has, unfortunately, died. I went down to make a valuation of a house, and found the contents were worth about £939Before leaving, however, I came across a little necklace snap, and I knew by the value of the stone that it must have bee»attached to a valuable row of pearls. I men* tioned this to my client, but he said he di<fc not think the dead women to whom th® house belonged had any valuable treasures. JEWELS IN THE CELLAR.

“Wo searched the vaults of the bank, but only found jewellery worth a thousand pounds, and were about to give up the search when the maid of the house said that her mistress had been in the habit of keeping her most valuable possessions in the coal* cellar.

* a, systematic search of the coal-cellar was made, and alter much trouble there was unearthed an old deed-box roughly tied up with string. Inside that deed-box there were jewels to the value of £30,000. My client then handed me a little chamois leather bag. Inside that bag was the rope of pearls I suspeQted belonged to the original snap, and they were worth another £30,000. I know it sounds like a romance, but it is perfectly true."

An appeal on a point of law from a decision of the magistrate concerning an interpretation of the “limited period of employment’’ clause in the seamen’s and firemen’s award, was upheld by the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, in giving judgment at Wellington last week. The case was that of the Chatham Islands Fishing Co. (Ltd.) versus Frederick Seth. The clause involved was the following“ When a ship is placed in commission or for the puj-pose of some emergency, or for an excursion over a number of days, for a period of Jess than one month, each deck hand and each engineroom and stokehold hand shall 'be paid 25 per cent, in addition to the rates of wages fixed bv clause 1 hereof. All other provisions of this award shall apply to such men.’’ His Honor said that the right to discharge seaman appeared in the Shipping and Seamen Act, and it was not denied that a seaman could be discharged, full wages being paid up to the time of his discharge. Before the provisions of the fourth clause in the award could take effect the ship must ha placed in commission for an emergency or for an excursion for less than one month. That was not the case, and therefore the engagement made by the seamen, did not bring the case within the exact words of the award. The magistrate had held that the period of one month must refer to the length of time that the ship wa s actually doing the work, but with this view his Honor did not concur. A fire which broke out in a four-roomed wooden dwelling, No. 55 Driver street, St. Kilda, claimed the attention of the City and South Dunedin Brigades at 3.5 a.m. yesterday.. The fire started on the outside wall of the kitchen, 'but the cause is not known, and the occupants had the outbreak extinguished before the brigades arrived. At 8.3 a.m. a call was again, received to the same dwelling, where fire had broken out in the front bedroom at the base of one of the walls. The cause of this outbreak is also unknown. In the first case the damage, is estimated at £5, and the second at £lO. The house, which is owned by Mr Stewart, of Musselburgh, and occupied by Mr J. T. Taylor, is not insured.

A remarkable coincidence occurred in the Magistrate’s Court at Christchurch last Friday. An old man was charged in the morning with having allowed his horse to wander in a cemetery. He pleaded not guilty, and said that the caretaker, a man. named Johnston, had given him permission a long time ago to put his horse in the cemetery. The case was adjourned to the afternoon to enable the police to find the sexton. When the case was resumed Johnston, who is the present sexton at the cemetery, appeared and swore that be did not know the defendant. It looked as if the old man had committed perjury, but then it wa s found out the man who took oare of the cemetery before the witness was also called Johnston. The coincidence was commented upon, and the case adjourned to enable the police to find the right man.