PIRATES’ DARING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17526, 1 May 1925, Page 10

PIRATES’ DARING.

SEIZURE OF A STEAMER. SUMMARY PUNISHMENT. SHANGHAI. February 23. Another daring piracy has been added to the list of vessels which have i been pirated in South China waters. | The steamer Hong Hwa, a vessel of 1924 tons register, commanded by a j British captain and nine British offij cers. and with a crew of US Asiatics. left Singapore with a full passenger list lot .300 Orientals, for Hongkong, on i January 8. On the morning of the i 13th, the pirates, about 30 in number. , who had shipped as passengers, and were well armed, at a given signal. ! rushed the ship. The officers, who were having breakfast at the time on the after-deck of the ship, were completely taken by surprise, while the captain was overpowered in his cabin. In a short time, the pirates had complete command of the ship, the’wireless equipment was dismantled, and the passengers were collected and put down in the ship’s hold. For three days the pirates ran the ship, other ships were sighted, but with the wireless out of commission, communication was impossible, and the officers on the bridge were compelled to give every ship a wide berth. The ship’s safe was broken open, ami money and valuables taken from the officers and passengers, the total being approximately 10.000 dollars. Finally, the Hong Hwa was taken to Bias Bay, a notorious pirate stronghold not far from Ilong Kong. There the pirates left the ship with their booty and permitted the vessel to proceed to Hong Kong. Following the arrival of the Hong Hwa at Hong Kong, is was realised by the authorities that the pirates must be taught a lesson. A strong force of Europeans and Chinese, numbering altogether about 250 men, accordingly left the next day for the pirates’ stronghold at Bias Bay. The expedition carried out a very successful raid, which resulted in the shooting of the alleged ringleader of the pirates, the capture of about twenty of the gang, and the burning of the pirates’ lair. Altogether the pirates have been taught a salutar\ r lesson, which they will not forget in a hurry. TANNED BRONZE. They use these marvellous sun lamps in the hospitals now*. Warm, golden lamps, too. which contain the red ray. You see little stunted children from tenement houses, lying under them, being drenched with new vitality under their glow. , I have a sun lamp in my Park Lane houses, and exposes myself to it frequently. Very soon these lamps will be as conventional a part of the equipment of every house as a bathroom or the electric light installation. 1 learnt the secret of the sun several years ago in Madeira. I went there, worn out, for a rest cure, and found life and health again. I bathed for hours in the hot sun. Last year I travelled in the wake of the sun to Jamaica. I shunned the hotel and the ci cilised capital, and lived like a native on the golden beach by the edge of the warm blue sea. I swam for hours in that water, which was so clear that you could see the little coral forests deep down on the sea bed. T ran on the hot sand. I exercised. The sun tanned me to a bronze hue. And I felt young again—rejuvenated. I felt that I never wanted to come back to civilisation again. And when I did come back the sunstarved and air-starveiJ look of the town crowds I saw about in drawing room, fashionable restaurant, thronged street, disgusted me. BETTER THAN COSMETICS. No one can understand what life can offer in full, deep joy, the mighty pleasure of existence, the sheer thrill of being alive, until they have bathed naked in the sun and air for days and made , contact again with the elemental Nature in which the life, force resides. To-day I see women obsessed with the whims of fashion. Their thoughts are concentrated upon dress; they never spare a thought for their fine, soft skins, their delicate flesh, the frail, beautiful bone-work on which the external fabric of beauty is modelled bv marvellous processes beyond our knowledge. They use creams, cosmetics, powders to simulate a clear skin and the faint flush of perfect health. Ilow much better advised they would be in seeking the alluring quality of lovelj r complexions by way of regular air bathing and exercise 1 More alluring than the scarlet of lip stick, the bizarre black of eybrow pencil ~the artificial wave of hair, the blush given by rouge, is a high-poised head, a lissom carriage and a straight and graceful walk. Few women in our cities have the peerless, swaying carriage and walk of a native maiden who has worn nothing on her feet save flat sandals, has never known the constricting corset, or the sun-and-aii -proof clothes of the city woman.