People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 63, 16 March 1931, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

Edgar Wallace Says Rouse Should Not Have Been Hanged : Old Country's Sympathy For Earthquake : New Consul-General For The United States.

JT IS BECOMING an increasing!}' simple

matter for an innocent person to place himself in such a position that he is liable to suffer the extreme penalty of the law,” writes Mr Edgar Wallace in the “ Daily Mail,” referring, to the Rouse murder case. Judging from what Rouse himself told of the women on whom he brought misery and shame, Mr Wallace believes that he deserved to be hanged, 15ut looking at the case from the point of view of public safety he concludes that there was insufficient evidence to justify the verdict. “ The main ‘ proof * that he did the murder was that he ran away from the blazing car in which was the body of a man. That might happen to anyone ... So it comes to this that Rouse dies because: “ 1. He told lies. “ 2. He ran away from the fire. “ If you can rule out the possibility of a man being in such a blind panic that the accidental ignition of his car and the death of his passenger made him lose his head, you can justify the verdict, but I venture to say that there are thousands of people in this country who, suffering from some very great shock, have behaved even more absurdly than Rouse behaved.” “ JF THE central Government in India is to be responsible to the Indian Assembly and to Congress and not to this country,” declared Lord Beaverbrook, speaking at Paddington recently, “it means the end of British rule in India and the end of all law, peace and order in that great country. “ India is taking from Great Britain annually £80,000,000 worth of merchandise, and some years £20,000,000 of it is for cotton goods manufactured in Lancashire. Six and a half million tons of British shipping is engaged in carrying goods between India and Britain. All the banks are dominated by British capital. “ Are we prepared to sacrifice all that because of a few agitators in Bombay? If we cease to govern, will some other nation with a greater sense of realities step in and assume the responsibility which the Government is preparing to throw away?” & S? CALVIN M. HITCH, the new ConsulGeneral for the United States at Wellington, has just arrived in the Dominion. Mr Hitch was born in Georgia and educated at Kentucky University. For some years he practised law, and held the position of prosecuting attorney in Georgia. After a term in the Georgia Legislature he was appointed in 1913 as assistant-chief of LatinAmerican affairs. He has been in the consular service for rather less than twenty years, and was stationed for a long period at Nottingham, England. Since then he has been at Basle, Switzerland, and he left there after eight years to take up the present appointment. He returned from Switzerland by way of America, spent six weeks at Washington in communication with the consular department, and travelled on to Chicago and Los Angeles.

<pHE NEWS of the Hawke’s Bay earth-

quake was received with great concern at Home, as letters and papers to hand show. The “ Daily Mail,’ in a leader headed “ The Old Country’s Sympathy,” said: “ The news of the earthquake at Napier in New Zealand—the severest that has ever been recorded in that great Dominion—has been everywhere received with the deepest sorrow in the Old Country. The splendid people of that far-off land .who have thus been stricken are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. With them we lament their dead; with them we pray for their injured. We can never forget what they did for the Empire in the Great War, when their troops left behind them in Europe such a glorious reputation for discipline, initiative, and courage.” 9 9 V “TF there is need for financial aid (as it would seem there must be), then the people of the Old Country, however hard the times here, will be eager to come to the help of the sufferers, whether their action takes the form of a Lord Mayor’s Fund or a vote by Parliament or both. New Zealand has so far successfully faced the difficulties which have arisen from the fall in prices, but now she has had to meet a blow against which no precaution known to man could have protected her.” 'J'HE Shanghai Volunteer Corps, of which Lieutenant-Colonel N. B. W. Thoms, formerly of the New Zealand Staff Corps, lias just taken command, is a heterogeneous conglomeration of nationalities under a British commandant. The Light Horse, mounted on hardy Manchurian ponies, and armed with carbines and sabres, forms the cavalry unit, and draws it troops mostly from British subjects. The artillery, with their 18-pounders, and the machine-gunners are also recruited mostly from Britons. The infantry is the more interesting unit of the corps in regard to nationalities. “A ” Company, “B ” Company, and the Shanghai Scottish (in the Royal Stuart tartan) are British, co-operating with separate companies of American, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese infantrymen, each company with its distinctive uniform, and the Chinese Maritime Customs Company consisting, as does the service to which its members belong, of mixed nationalities. *3? 31? TTOW MANY PERSONS have mispronounced the name of the endurance swimmer now in Christchurch ? A radio announcer last night called her Merceedees Gleets, but he. was as far out as he well could be. The Christian name is somewhat difficult, and is properly pronounced Mer-say-dees, with the accent on the second syllable. A very appropriate abbreviation, indeed, would be Sadie, which is usually short for Sarah. The surname is pronounced like “ Glyts,” with the vowel sound as in “ glide.”

JT WOULD APPEAR that we are only just beginning to realise the principles and value of streamlining as an aid to speed. Sir Dennis Burney, designer of the airship RIOO, has just astonished the motor world by demonstrating a new motor-car, the body of which is shaped like an airship, and which is capable of greater speed as a seven passenger sedan than as a stripped chassis. It is reported that the “ Burney Streamline ” suggests the RIOO vividly, having a low front scarcely higher than the wheels, sloping wind-shield and a long tapering tail extending far beyond the rear wheels. Sir Dennis has also carried out another revolution by placing the engine at the rear of the chassis. The result, according to those -who have travelled in the new vehicle, is that the speed is increased, while noise, heat and fumes from the engine are eliminated and the interior of the car is cool and silent. 3js 3$ $$ THE CITY OF DIEPPE, a steamer which called at Lyttelton last week, has a number of interesting people on board, and not the least interesting is the Chief Officer, Mr J. P. Arthur, an artist and an organist, with an inventive turn of mind. As an artist he has refused more than one attractive offer. He has chiefly interested himself in painting scenery and designing advertisements. Some of his works have become known throughout the world through magazines. As an organist he can write L.R.A.M. after his name. 9 9 9 JJECENTLY Mr Arthur built a model of the German liner Bremen. It was built of steel and was over five feet in length. In it were installed some new devices which tend to economise fuel and give a greater speecj to the vessel. The model is at present in the hands of shipping experts at Home who are carrying out tests. Mr Arthur has also invented self-disengaging life-boat gear which enables the life-boat to drift from the ship’s side without assistance. He is hopeful that one or both of these Inventions may prove financially successful. As the result of being shipmate for some time with Mr W. Baird, of television fame, Mr Arthur is also interested in wireless, but most of his spare time is taken up with sketching. A sister of Mr Arthur, Miss Grace Geraldine Arthur, is a noted Scottish artist. PROM THE “ STAR ” of March 16, 1871. A A God-send. During the trial of a civil case recently, at Nelson, before his Honor, Mr Justice Richmond, in which a Wairau farmer sued Messrs Symons and Bennetts for the value of some wheat shipped on board the barque Hera and burned, Mr Charles Redwood said in evidence:—l have insured wool before this, and 1 think it is generally looked upon by insurers as rather a God-send if it never gets Home. His Honor here interposed, and said that he could not take down such an answer. He was shocked to hear it stated in a court of law that the loss of the indemnities should be looked upon as the profit of the insurer.