From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 21

From Many Lands

TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END

TRICKY WORK hunting tigers with axes Sticks and axes were used by natives to kill a tiger which had teen ravaging villages and killing cattle in the Thar and Parkar district o£ Sind, in which tigers are almost unknown. The first man in a group o£ villagers, who had no firearms, hit the tiger with an axe. The tiger felled him, but before it could maul the man the other villagers attacked the beast and beat it to death.

BEES IN THE BONNET motorists strike swarm Driving over the Sussex Downs, near Worthing, a party of women motorists from Hillingdon, Middlesex, ran into a swarm of bees many thousands strong. Hundreds of bees were kiiled by the impact against the windscreen, but the car was invaded. One woman removed her shoe, and with this struck the bees as they alighted on the floor of the car and the seats. The driver accelerated clear of the swarm. No one was stung, the bees themselves being evidently bewildered. The present spell of fine weather is ideal for bee swarming. FROM THE DEEP SEA LEOPARD PAYS CALL. Winter surfers at Curl Curl, Sydney, had an unexpected visitor recently. A sea leopard, weighing 6001 b, was washed on to the beach, and was quickly roped by Mr. A. Payne, a storekeeper, of Pacific Parade, Dee Why. Zoo authorities were pleased to accept the leopard, as it was one of the most perfect specimens they had ever seen. It is the second sea leopard that the Zoo has housed. The other died some time ago. THE STAG AT BAY SPORTSMEN’S NARROW ESCAPE Two Scottish sportsmen motorists had a narrow escape from serious accident near Fochabers, Morayshire, when their car was charged head-on by a stag. Mr. Arthur Craigmyle, the international football referee, and Councillor .Tames Philip, of Aberdeen, were motoring to Thurso en route for Kirkwall, and the annual football match between Shetland and Orkney. Near Fochabers a young stag suddenly leaped into the roadway and charged the car. Mr. Craigmyle put on the brakes, but the stag hit the radiator with great force. The animal was badly injured, and crawled back into the wood, leaving a trail of blood behind. Apart from damage to the radiator and wings the car escaped, and the motorists continued their journey. LOG OF ADVENTURE NEXT ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION Through Reuter’s, the skeleton sailing orders of the Antarctic exploring vessel Discovery, under Captain J. K. David, have been issued: 1929. Aug. I—Clear from London. Call at St. Vincent for fuel. a End of Oct. —At Capetown.. Sir Douglas Mawson, who is now on his way to Australia to complete his scientific preparations, will, with members of the staff from Australia, meet and join the Discovery at Capetown. Nov. —Departure from Capetown direct to Wilkds Land for the Antarctic summer. 1930. March.—Discovery will reach Australia at the end of her first season's work in the Antarctic. Discovery’s crew wdll consist of 28 officers and men while the scientific staff will probably number 12 all told. TRACTOR FOR SHOOT KING’S MECHANISED PONY Mechanised transport on the moors will b© a novel feature of the King’s holiday when he visits Balmoral in the autumn. Special arrangements are being made to enable his Majesty to enjoy to the full his favourite sport of shooting. During his Deeside holiday he usually spends the greater part of his leisure time with the guns. A caterpillar motor-tractor of the latest type is to be delivered shortly. This will allow the King to traverse freely and with comfort the more difficult parts of his extensive Deeside estates. Tests have already been made in the district with this type of tractor, and it has been found to be of great advantage to sportsmen, who have hitherto been dependent on mountain ponies. THE NATIONAL SYMBOL MANX AND TAIL-LESS CATS An emigration quota for tail-less cats is being advocated by publicspirited citizens at Douglas, capital of the Isle of Man. It seems the cats of Man, wlio have helped to make 1 this little island famous by getting along without tails, appeal strongly to the souvenir-hunt-ing instincts of summer visitors. As a result, the Isle of Man soon may have no more tail-less cats than a tail-less cat has tails. That would be very embarrassing indeed, for the tail-les cat has a sort of community mascot, and its likeness has been so widely distributed on steam-

ship and railroad folders that visiters to the island would feel cheated w*ere no tail-less cats to be seen when they got there.

One member of the House of Keys i the Manx Parliament > has announced that he will introduce legislation to regulate the outbound traffic in cats.

RAIN-MAKING interesting HONG-KONG EXPERIMENT Hong-Koug has been suffering from I a shortage of water. The w-eather j observatory and Royal Air Force intend to undertake rain-making experiments shortly. Two airplanes will j mount above the clouds and sprinkle them with a chemical which has a refrigerating effect, and which it is hoped will start a heavy rain. T’he Government has chartered a tanker to transport water from New Canton. The Dollar liner President Adams recently brought a consignment of water from Shanghai. Another ship brought in 1,000 tons of water, which was promptly rationed to the public. The supply was quickly exhausted. AFTER £2,000,000 SEARCH FOF! SUBMERGED INGOTS Another attempt will be made I shortly to recover the treasure of j £2,000,000 in gold and silver which i has been lying at the bottom of the sea, some 15 miles off the Point du Raz, Finistere, North-west France, in the steamer Egypt, since May, 1922. On her way from England to Bombay, the Peninsular liner Egypt, when passing the lie de Sein, at evening, collided, during thick fog, with the French steamer Seine, and sank in 10 minutes. Her precious cargo of silver and gold, in ingots, went down with her. Last year a French company undertook to recover it. German divers were engaged and, after elaborate efforts, they discovered the wreck at a depth of 370 feet. They were able to reach the vessel, but, to get to the captain’s cabin (where the treasure had been placed in a safe) the metal flank of the ship must be cut open. HIS FAREWELL A “BOTTLE” MESSAGE A bottle recovered from the sea at Brighton contained a snapshot of a youth and on the back of it was written: —“Good-bye for ever. By the time this reaches you I shall be dead. —Good-bye all, Jim.” The photograph is of a boy of slight build wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and collar and a pullover. It was apparently taken on the Downs. The British police are investigating the matter. BRONCOS ARE SAFER INDIANS IN MOTOR SMASH Daniel Long Wolf, George SittingHoly and Roy Bear Nose are convinced that the hurricane decks of bucking broncos are relatively quite safe. They are Indians in New York with a circus. They were given an automobile ride by an agency trying to sell them a car. Now they are in a hospital. The car hit a truck. NOISY DOG, WILD WOMEN “EAGER TO SELL” Apparent lack of harmony among residents in a certain neighbourhood at Turlock (U.S.A.) has caused some dissatisfied property owner to insert the following classified advertisement in a Turlock newspaper in hopes of disposing of his home:—“For Sale— My beautiful home, wonderful location, high fences, howling dogs, wild women, radio music day and night. Can’t be appreciated until seen and heard. Price, £650 terms.” QUAINT OCCUPATIONS WHAT IS A HOVELLER? Off Leasowe, between the estuaries of Mersey and Dee, the remains of a great forest lie beneath the sea. At low tide can be seen the great stumps and spreading roots, and after heavy weather long submerged logs are washed up on the beach. The strange thing is that these burn -ery well, and for many years there has been a trade in fire-lighters made from this sub- j marine fuel. An enormous quantity of old iron is

rescued from the sea. This is mostly in the shape of old anchors and chain cables, and as there is a ready sale for this type of iror there are always people engaged in dredging for it. These men are called hovellers, and they are ready to tackle salvage of any kind. A job with an odd name is that of j “cable-burier,” for at first one wonders why a cable that is sunk in the sea should need to be buried. But the cable-burier is kept busy at the point where the cable comes ashore. His work is to keep the cable buried in the sand from the cable station to as far out at sea as it is possible to work. This is to preserve the cable from j injury. TOO REALISTIC THE ART OF THE VAMPIRE The father of the famous Anita Loos, 1 Mr. H. B. Loos, tells the story of how Miss Theda Bara —whom he characterises as the first and greatest of the “movie vamps”—once utterly ruined an important scene by her too realistic acting. “The vampire” was supposed to be stabbed to death by a former lover But when the incident was being “shot,” and the man rushed toward her with a stiletto upraised to strike. Theda let out so piercing a scream that the producer believed the weapon had really penetrated her body instead of buckling up, and he rushed across the “dead line” in front of the camera. This, of course, spoilt the scene, which had to be “shot” all over again “But,” adds Mr. Loos, “the producer's action was certainly a splendid tribute to Theda’s acting, for producers are hard men to move.”

It is not a fact, however, that Miss Bara asked for a big increase in salary on account of this!