NEWS FROM OVERSEAS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM OVERSEAS

POLITE CAMEL’S UNHAPPY DEATH Chang, declared to be the most polite camel in the world, has died at the Zoo in London.. He would take off his keeper’s hat in the presence of women and offer his “hand” to be shaken by visitors. He never would tolerate the presence of a painter in his white coat or a workman in his shirt-sleeves. Death was due to over-eating. NEW KIND OF ENCORE KREISLER ESCORTED BACK TO STAGE Somebody recently found a new way at the Albert Hall in London of obtaining an encore. When Kreisler ended his recital and it appeared that he was not going to play any encores, a man left his seat, climbed on the stage, and trailed him to his retiring-room. A few minutes later he returned with Kreisler. Then, he went back to his seat. At the end of 40 minutes of playing Kreisler beat a final retreat, and the audience tried the trick again. Firemen had to prevent scores of persons from escorting the artist back to the stage. AN OLD GYPSY WEDDING BRIDE’S COSTLY ORNAMENTS An old Gypsy wedding was witnessed at Whitton Park, Middlesex, when a bride of 16, robed in white silk, and bejewelled with diamonds, wearing a gold coronet, a jangling necklace of golden coins, was married at sundown to a boy of 17. The bride’s coronet had in it scores of real English sovereigns and her necklect was made ,up of golden Empire and American coins. Some were £l2 Australian pieces. They will be stored in the humble tent in which the young couple make their home. All the male members, of the tribe are pledged to guard the jewels. GYPSY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND Gypsy education is being carefully looked after in England. A gypsy encampment, which for 100 years had been situated at Hurtwood Common, Surrey, was removed recently to Wal-ton-on-Thames, Eight years ago the Surrey Education Committee formed the first gypsy school in their , midst, and the educational progress which the school has achieved will be completed at Walton. The gypsies will live m bungalows offering accommodation considerably superior to their rude dwellings at Hurtwood. Their school building is coming with them and will be re-erected on a site adjoining the Council School in Terrace Road. The gypsy children will continue with their handicraft work, in addition to the ordinary subjects taught at school. TREASURE IN SECRET DRAWER SPANISH LAD’S LUCKY DISCOVERY Hidden wealth was found recently in a secret drawer by Juan Galvez, a 15-year-old Madrid boy. The find was in the form of Spanish doubloons, worth £7500, and was made when he was carrying a 100-year-old table to the Iccal church at Esplugas de Llobregat, near Barcelona. The table slipped off his shoulders as he was lowering it, and fell upside-down on the ground. As a result of the fall a secret drawer came open and let loose a large number of old Spanish gold doubloons of the times of King Charles 111 and King Charles IV of Spain. The boy filled his pockets with the golden pieces and continued his journey as fast as he could. When he arrived outside the church he placed the table down again, and, in doing so, another shower of gold pieces poured out from the table. The boy reported the matter to the rector, handing in all the pieces he had collected. The rector, who was much impressed by the boy’s honesty, immediately informed the owner of the table, who gave the boy 16 doubloons as a reward.

ROMAN SOLDIER DUG UP WAS NEARLY SEVEN FEET TALL Peasants ploughing near Potenza, in Southern Italy, recently found the skeleton of a soldier, still wearing his helmet and the medal he won m the Second Punic War of 200 B.C. medal is inscribed “Scipio Africanus on one side and “Hannibal Punicus on the reverse, showing that the warrior fought for the Roman Scipio, who, having conquered Hannibal the Carthaginian, took to himself the name of Africanus. The man was nearly 7ft. tall, as his skeleton proved before it crumbled into dust at the touch of the fresh air. All that then remained were the embossed helmet and the medal. ONE-EYED BOY’S ARTISTIC GIFT Minus an eye, and having neither the gift of speech nor hearing, Robert Murray, an Arbroath boy, has developed a trait of artistry while a patient in an Edinburgh hospital. His subjects are film stars, railway engines and rural scenes. His deftness in light and shade and colour creates convincing productions. He has all the stars in the cinema world in characteristic poses. Several professional artists have been attracted to the boy’s work. His mother died a short time ago, and his father is unemployed. TEN SNAKES BEFORE BREAKFAST Snake killing became a pastime before breakfast when a Uganda resident walked into a Kampala office and announced that he had seen _lO snakes that morning. No one believed him, but, jealous of his' reputation, he went to his car outside and returned with a box in which were 10 freshly killed reptiles. Seeing a snake near an old ant hill outside his front door, he shot it, and to his amazement it was followed by another and yet another in seemingly endless sequence. Later, with the aid of native servants, he dug into the anthill and discovered a large collection of snake eggs. Incidentally, the snakes were a new variety, ana have been taken to the game warden at Entebbe for identification. OBSERVATORY MOVED TRANSPORTED FROM OXFORD TO AFRICA Sitting in the Chancery Division oi London, Mr Justice Bennett lately sanctioned a scheme for the establishment of a £72,000 astronomical observatory in South Africa out of the funds of a 200-year-old English charity. The observatory, it was explained, would be built on a site on the high veldt near Pretoria, offered free by the South African Government, and its 72-inch reflecting telescope would be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. The Court’s approval of the scheme was sought by the trustees of the will of Dr John Radcliffe, a scholar of Oxford, and an eminent London physician of the 17th century. The Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford was established in 1768 out of one of the testator’s bequests. Recently, it was sold, and the trustees decided to use part of the £130,000 fund in providing another Radcliffe. Observatory in South Africa, where, they contended, there were greater opportunities for advancing the science of astronomy. It was intended that the observatory should work in close co-operation with the University of Oxford. The university, however, objected to the scheme because they said their long association with the Radcliffe Observatory would be broken and the science in Oxford would suffer. South Africa was too remote for their studies. Professor Einstein, in an affidavit, declared that the University of Oxford would undoubtedly suffer serious damage from the absence of a wellequipped observatory in or near the town. ' . . The judge held that the university had no legal right in objecting to the removal of the observatory. Sanction would be given to the scheme in principle, and it would be referred to a judge in chambers so that the details could be Anally settled.