NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16378, 11 March 1924, Page 8

NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL

FIRST BRITISH WOMAN TO FLY ACROSS' CHANNE L. LONDON, Feb. 4.—Mrs. Atkoy is j the first British woman to pilot, nu J aeroplane across the Channel with a passenger. 1000TH CROWNING OF SAXON KING. LONDON, Feb. s.—The thousandth anniversary of the crowning of King Atholstan in the market, place at King-ston-on-Thames took place tn-dav where the original Saxon crowning stone still stands. The city had prepared a big pageant for the occasion. HONORS COM MISSION. ANOTHER INQUIRY LIKELY. LONDON, Feb. 25.—The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay -MacDonald, announces that he is considering whether a. further “profitable inquiry ’’ can be made into the Honors Commission’s minority report. This asserted that the gravest abuses did not receive attention, j THEFT ON MAIL TRAIN. ' GUARD'S PROMPT ACTION. ! LONDON, Feb. 25.—The guard on I the express train from Paddington to Birmingham, returning to the mail van after a few minutes’ absence, found the door open and a mailbag out. He dropped a note at Leamington asking the stationmaster to notify the Birmingham police, and in the meantime detained O'Neill, a passenger, who said he was a commission agent, and who was later arrested and remanded. SHORNCLIFFE~SOLD FOR. SOAP WORKS. LONDON, Feb. 7.—Lever Bros, have purchased! a. portion of Shorncliffe. Camp tor tile erection of a soap factory. Many thousands of troops spent longer or shorter periods in training at one or other of the. camps in the Shorncliffe area, which included Dibgate, Otfcerpool, and! others within a. large area. It. is presumed l that. Lever Bros, have taken over a portion of Shorncliffe. Camp proper, which lies about three miles from the fashionable water-place Folkestone. CHINESE PIRATES. AUTHORITIES CATCH GANG. FORTY-ONE TO BE SHOT. HONGKONG, Feb. 21.—The Hongkong Government has officially informed the Canton authorities that they have sentenced 41 pirates to be shot and two women to 10 years’ imprisonment in connection with the seizure of the Hongkong launch Ivwongtak. A Chinese revenue launch fought the pirates and sank the launch, afterwards handing over the whole gang to the Oh in es e aut hori t i e.s. ' HUMAN SEISMOGRAPH. EE ELS EVERY QUAKE ALL OVER THE YVOELD. LONDON. Fob. I.—England has a “human seismograph,” a woman, who registers earthquake shocks wherever they occur, says Prof. H. H. Turner, in an article on earthquakes in the Quarterly Review. “A woman of peculiar sensitiveness,” he writes, “has been able, for years past, to report almost every earthquake in all parts of the world before any news comes in. She suiters from a. curious nervous tension, ns though under the influence of electricity. It almost incapacitates her "wliile it lasts, but it »>nds suddenly.” STRUGGLE TWIXT THIRST AND DUTY. LONDON, Feb. I—Members of the British naval squadron in the course of a 30,0C0-mile cruise are writing home to London (newspapers complaining that they have been forced to drink German beer —because no ‘ British ale was available. At Sierra Leone, Africa, one of the first ports called at, the only beer available was a German brand, specially brewed for the tropics. The tars had a great fight between duty and a tropical temperature. The hot sun won and another German product was annihilated. A member of the London Brewers’ Society explains the situation as follows : “It. is largely a question of the rate of exchange. German and Continental brewers are able to brew their beer, ship it find sell it much below the prices at which we could do it.”

HOLIDAY 7 ON THE CONTINENT. CHEAP TRAVEL TN EUROPE. LONDON, Jan. I.—lt is impossible to talk of London at Christmas, because very few people stay to see whether Christmas affects the city or not. Y 7 ou can go to Paris and back again, via Newhaven and Dieppe for £2 Bs, anil the exchange is such that another £3 will give you a. sumptuous holiday for four days. As the finance is now, you get your hotel room (a good one) for four, shillings a night and a. four-course meal, with wine, for two shillings. If you wanted to be really economical, I have no doubt you could go to Paris and back for three days for four pounds, including the fare. Y 7 ou can buy a good hat. for five shillings and good shirts for the same money. Nowadays, it pays to run over to Paris to buy clothes, the rath of exchange is so much in your favor. In Germany and Italy, price's play little tricks with you, and you find that the exchange is not so much in your favor after all. But not so with France. It is a bargain for the Englishman to-day. Australians who are coming home for the exhibition should put Paris on their list. It is far better to come via the continent, leaving a ship at Naples or Genoa, and then coming through Paris, staying there for a. few’ days. The railway fare is very little, and shopping in Paris is a, delight as well as an economy. —'Sydney Daily Telegraph.

HELIUM SUPPLIES. IMPORTANCE FOP AIRSHIPS. CANADA’S RESOURCES. LONDON, .January 14.—1 fwo are to get ahead with airship service it would appear highly necessary to obtain supplies of helium, the element numbered two on our present list. Helium, which is disengaged by liquefaction from natural gas, is a safety gas for airships. Only a little less buoyant than hydrogen, which is ordinarily used to inflate balloons and airships, it s absolutely non-inflammable by heat, sparks, or lightning. In an airship lifted by helium .the engine may be situated inside the envelope without risk rtf fire. In view of this fact it is highly important to record that the Duke of Sutherland, Under-Secretary for Ail', who is at present on a visit to the American Continent, has expressed in an interview there, his views on the importance of the discovery of deposits of helium in Canada. The Duke, who is himse/Lf «. practical airman, said ho believed that tiro supply, small in itself, would bo of considerable aid to the development of British Jighter-than-air flying. Wells have been found in many parts of Canada, including New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, 1 The last-named province is the most prolific, and for some time an installation for releasing helium and capable of producing annually 12,000,000 cubic feet, has been in operation at Calgary.