NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15595, 11 August 1921, Page 9

NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL.

CHINA MORTGAGING EX-GERMAN"

POSSESSIONS TO JAPAN

SHANGHAI, duly ?.- It, is reliably reported that the Government has mortgaged the former German concessions al Hankow and Tientsin to the Japanese, the first payment being £600,00). although the full sum is not known. Poverty is forcing the Government to mortgage further territory. Surprise is expressed here that the British would permit the mortgage on the Hankow concessions, since the Yengtse Valley is generally regarded as within I lie British sphere of influence. Perhaps a new regional understanding has been reached in view of British activities in China's North-west, formerly the Russian sphere.

FRIENDSHIP OF HUNDRED YEAH LONDON, July 4. The welfare of It world and the immediate interest < English-speaking peoples are concerne

in continuance of Anglo-American friend.ship, which has endured more than a hundred years, President Harding declared in a message to the London Tillies todav.

"A clearer understanding will prove the surest antidote for the unfortunate irritation which 100 often has been caused by the unimpofranf aggravating utterances of thoughiless demagogues and irresponsible agit: ifiTrs." Mr. Harding said.

The message was the feature of a special 20page American edition of ih<; Tunes published in honor of American Independence Day.

(TRY OCT AGAINST NEW TARIFF WASHINGTON, July 7.—Democrat, members of the ways anil means committee in a minority report tiled to-day in the House of Representatives, denounce the administration tariff Bill as a conspiracy to benefit a icw favorites al the expense of all humanity. "Like every conspiracy ii has been hatched in secrecy," the report say.", adding :"\Ye record our solemn judgment that (his measure is a plan to plunder the people of our own country and to oppress the people of every country for the benefit of a few who have succeeded in usurping for all practical purposes the taxing" power of this Government, using it primarily to enrich themselves, and, secondarily. to finance, the political party which tolerates, encourages and facilitates Hie usurpat ion."

ENORMOUS PRICES FOR ART OBJECTS. J PARTS, Juno 6.—Record prices are being Obtained at a public sale of the Engel Bros.' collection of porcelain, crystal and other art objects now going on at the Hotel "Drouot. Two hundred and ninetv-five pieces have been sold for a total" of 5.000.000 francs. .Many of the prices paid are far in excess of the expert's valuation. A Persian drinking cup. valued at 15,000 francs, was sold for 102,000 francs, in addition to which ttie buyer must pay a tax of 17£ per cent. The Louvre paid 152,000 francs for a Limages platterj ai littje tapestry of the fifteenth century brought 455,000 francs, and a Persian prayer rug 308,000. An enamelled gob-1 let of the fourteenth centurv. valued at! 30.000 francs, was sold for i 07,000. I The state taxes on the receipts of this sale so far are placed at more than 800.000 francs. CANADIAN VETERAN MENTAL . SUPER-MAN. SEATTLE, June 3.—Michael Nolan, 42-year-old University of Washington j engineering student, today was characterised by university authorities as "one j of the twenty-five most brilliant minds j in the United Stales'' following his feat yesterday in making a perfect score—2l2 i points—in the army "Alpha'' intelligence test, I Nolan required only thirteen ol the seventeen) minutes allowed in which to complete the test. His feat was unequalled, so far as is known here, by any of the approximately 3,000,000 ser- , vice men who took the. test during the, war. According to Dr E. R. Guthrie, professor of psychology at. the university, the best, previous record of 207 points in seventeen minutes was made by a Yale University professor while an oilicer in the army. The highest score known In have been. made by any university slu- j dent was 206. The average for Ihe army was 135. 1 Nolan's education prior lo his entering the university last, year was confined | to seven grades in an Irish grammar school. Ho had boon a lumberjack, longshoreman and roving jack of-aii- j hades. Within four weeks after enter-j ing a. Canadian base hospital to which he was invalided during the war, he qualified as an expert bacteriologistwork in which he had no previous train ing—according In records on file at the university. Among the. questions asked was llm ( meaning of such words as agerahnn, architrave, oamfor, cleistogamous, elo-j him, gambit, gumpe, intaglio, meta- I carpal, nada, pomology, rococo and simony. I Nolan served three years wilh the Canadian army overseas in I lie late war. • I

WILL WASP WAIST RE TITK MODI'.? PARIS, July 7.—ls the corset coming buck'/ The.ro lias boon a rumor going about for' some limp lo the effect that next winter's gowns may require the iisc of that instrument of feminine torture. So Maurice Montabre of La Liberie started out tlie other clay lo "documcnl himself"] on corsets. ! First lie iwent lo sec the eminent dressmaker, .Paul Poiref. | "Body of woman has no need of -he-i ing sculptored," Poiret-told him gravely, j 'lf women wore corsets, wo could fix them up robes of Louis XIV. and XV. periods, or of. the lath century. But with the body free— impossible.'* I This rather discouraged Maurice who doesn't hold to corsets very much, but, he reflected, Poiret is not the only magnate of the mode in this town. So he went, to see Worth. "The corset?" exclaimed M. Jacques Worth, "That means bringing back old robes and heavy satins. Let's work this out a bit. ' In the last 20 years there have, been a lot of little revolutions; in feminine life. Look at (lie automobile, sports, modern dancing, and Hie war, I MUDKS ARK RAYTSIIINC. ( '•The modes of* 1 lite seventeenth, the eighteenth, and the nineteenth century arc ravishing. Do they want to go back, to them? All right. Rut in that, case, ( I beg you, replace these dancing palaces by real inns. ' The aulris by carriages,; tiie fox trot and (he .shimmy by (he. pavan and minuet." j Then M. Monfahiv. tried Paquin. j "It is quite true,", the director of thatfamous house solemnly told him, "that women hardly ever wear corsets nowadays. Thai's the way they get even j fur Lite pains that tliose terrible and. obligatory cuirasses inflicted on them k'(jj ye.u's ago. The sport-loving spiv-it of) 'to-day doesn't permit of a return to the ancient robes,' * At. Maisonheci', the director said:-- '•[ don't believe in a change from the present, styles. The skirt has been lengthened n bit more. Ln any case, it will not- be- shortened again that's all. The women don't want the other models. All modern life in opposed to il.Uierefore —no more of the old corsets." Prom which Maurice concludes that , the dresses of our great- grandmothers might as well be donated right now to (he historical museums, and the corset. to the collection of old armor