NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 563, 17 September 1932, Page 22 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

HOUSES WITHOUT JOINTS. Jointless house* are planned by German architects, who have called on chemists to produce a plastic wall putty. The reason* tor their effort* to eliminate joint* are that every joint in the floor is an accumulator of dirt, every joint in a wall, wallboard or wainscoting is a danger point for the strength and durability of the construction. Future buildings must be jointless, say the architect*. On the other hand, as joints are safety valves for stresses of expansion and contraction due to the changing temperatures, the new materials and putty must be elastic. FISH AND EARTHQUAKES. A remarkable connection between earthquakes and the movements of fish has been observed by Professor T. Terada, of the Imperial Academy of Tokyo. Professor Terada’s researches were inspired by the observed facts that numerous small earthquakes occurred during the spring of 15)30 near Ito, 50 miles south of Tokyo, while abundant catches of horse mackerel were being made at a neighbouring fishing ground. Five years’ records have now' been examined, with the result that 1928 shows excellent correlation, while other years suggest a possible connection in Japanese waters. No explanation is given of the apparent preference of mackerel for earthquake regions. MONASTERY LOVE DRAMA. A sensation has been caused at Bucharest by disclosures as to a shooting drama alleged to have taken place in a wellknown Rumanian monastery. According to reports the Prior had secret meetings in his cell with a nun from a neighbouring convent. The nun was, apparently, desirous of ending these meetings, and there was a quarrel, in the course of which the Prior is alleged to have fired a revolver and wounded the nun. It was only when he had compelled her to sign a statement that she had herself fired the pistol that he had her conveyed to the monastery infirmary. The infirmary chaplain extracted the true story from the wounded woman, but before the Prior could be arrested he had taken to flight.

SHEARING A POET. Senor Gassols, a Catalonian Doputy, who is also a poet, and whose classical locks are the joy of Spanish caricaturists, was on his way to the bathroom of a Madrid hotel at which he was staying, when four men armed with scissors pounced on him. They pushed the poet into the bathroom, and while he struggled to free himself and shouted for help one of the amateur barbers managed to clip and drag away some of his locks. The poet finally got away, rushed to his room across the corridor, became a Catalonian Deputy, grabbed a revolver, and chased the assailants through the hotel, firing shots, none of which hit the men with the scissors (or, fortunately, anyone else), and all four escaped. Senor Gassols is one of Colonel Macia’s right-hand men, well-known for his Nationalist tendencies and his violent anti-Spanish speeches. DE VALERA SHARES MOTHERS ESTATE. President Eamonn de Valera, of the/Irish Free State, will share the estate of his mother, Mrs. Catherine T. Wheelright, who died at Rochester (N.Y.), with his half-brother, the Rev. Thomas J. Wheelright, of West End, N.J., according to terms of her will. The estate consists of the family 'home at 18, Brighton Street, and personal property estimated at about £IOO. Father Wheelright is named executor. Among the papers filed was a waiver of citation signed by Mr. de Valera at the American Consulate in Dublin, on July 4, consenting to probate of the will. After providing for burial expenses, Mrs. Wheelright wrote: “All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate I give unto Eamonn de Valera and Thomas J. Wheelright, my beloved sons, to be divided equally between them." BOY ROOF-CLIMBER PUT TOWN ON MAP. The roof-climbing exploit* of Bernard Matthews, aged 13, were described at -Dundalk, County Lough, when an application was made for his committal to an industrial school. Superintendent McDonagh said that the boy’s escapades had "become famous. “As soon as the civic guards go to look for him he runs up a spouting, climbs on to the roof and remains there for a couple of days at a time," 1 ho 6aid. “The boy even compelled bis grandfather to send his food up to him while he was on the roof by threatening to stop the chimney and thus' smoke him out of the house." One Sunday, continued the superintendent, the boy was squatting on a roof throwing water and rotten cabbages down on people passing in the street. He had been convicted of housebreaking. Mr. C. M. Russel, defending, 6aid the boy’s exploits had brought more publicity to Dundalk than anything that had happened in 20 years. The boy was remanded. V.C.’S SUFFERINGS. Major William Barnsley Allen. V.C., D. 5.0., M.C., of Wittering, near Chichester, was charged at Chi cheater recently with driving a motor car while under the influence of liquor. Mr. Stanley Falconer, defending, said that Major Allen’s story was a most pathetic one. He went to France as a lieutenant in 1915. During his service he was wounded seven times. On one occasion he was blinded for six months and on another gassed. After the war he went to India, where he was appointed sanitary officer to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Connaught. He contracted malaria and dysentery, and returned to England a physical wreck, but recovered after specialist treatment. In 1925 he contracted sleepy sickness, and was for a long time iu and out of nursing homes. He then had further attacks of malaria and dysentery, followed by pleurisy, and again becoming a physical wreck turned to whisky and to drugs. He overcame thp drugs and went into a home to fight the alcoholism. “I do not think there is a man in England who lias suffered as he has," said Mr. Falconer. Allen was fined £l. with £3 16/ costs, and his license was suspended for five years. Major Allen, who was born in Sheffield, and educated at Sheffield University, received his wounds and honours while serving in the R.A.M.C. He was awarded the V.C. for “most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty" on September 3, 1916, on the Somme.

DOCTOR’S LEPROSY TEST. Leprosy 1* not transmitted through the bloou, according to lour i/Juiippiue doctors who have announced the result oi an expei linent in w hich they risked their lives. All lour injected themselves with the blood of a leper to prove or disprove u theory ot transmission, but not one contracted the disease. SOUND WAVES FOR MILK. It is claimed by scientists in America that tJ per cent of the bacteria in milk can be destroyed by forcing super-sound waves through the nuid. 'llie waves do uut 'spoil the milk, tor use. The milk is led upward through aai inverted funnel. A hollowtube below the large end of the funnel vibrates at high speed to produce sound waves which are concentrated in the funnel. Sound kills the bacteria because it is a form of energy. The tube, vibrated by electricity, may be operated continuously, the milk being fed into the “sound steriliser" as fast as it comes from the dairy. NITROGEN GAS BULBS. Light bulbs that glow continuously for six month* without electric current will probably be used lor illumination in the luture. This prediction was made recently by Professor Charles T. Knipp, before tne American Physical Society, alter he had outlined his experiments with a bulb filled with nitrogen gas. After-glow lroni this lamp has given light lor as long as three hour* after it had been charged with an electrical flash for one-tenth of a second. The light was described as bright enough to permit reading by it* illumination, and yellow id colour. PNEUMATIC DRILL TESTS. Experiments with pneumatic drills and other vibrating tools to determine their effect on workers, carried out under the direction of Dr. P. Crowden, Lecturer in Industrial Physiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, are described in the annual report of the Industrial Health Research Board. Dr. Crowden and his helpers found, while using the drills, that their hands and fingers ■became chilled. It was sometimes 30 to 40 minutes before circulation was restored. Warming the handles of the tools did not prevent the hands from becoming chilled, but the lifting of a pneumatic hammer between bouts of work hastened recovery of the circulation. BACHELOR’S STRONGHOLD. Vienna’s first skyscraper, sixteen storeys high, is approaching completion in the famous Herrengasse. It is to be a stronghold of bachelordom. The Austrian capital is full of huge flats and old aristocratic palaces which are empty because the impoverished population cannot afford the cost of upkeep of roomy quarters. Unmarried persons are all obliged to live in furnished rooms. The “’Bachelor’s Stronghold" attempts to remedy this. A binding clause of the lease is that none of the “bachelors" of either aex inhabiting these dwellings may marry, on pain of expulsion. This rule has had a curious sequel. The popular Vienna actress, Hilde Wagener, has divorced her husband. Otto Treseler, in order that they may each occupy a bachelor flat. They also save over £IOO a year in income tax. SNOW BRIDGE CRASH. Herr Witzvrein, legal adviser' to the Munich (Bavaria) courts, was killed while climbing in the region of the Finsteraarhorn, the highest peak in the Bernese Alps. Herr Witzwein, who had set his heart on reaching the summit, 14,000 feet high, without guides, attempted the ascent last year with two other Germans, when the latter fell down a and were killed. This summer he made another attempt, again accompanied by two Germans, and the party had almost gained the spot where the previous accident occurred when a snow bridge collapsed, and Herr Witzwein fell over the edge of a crevasse. His companions fastened to their ice axes the rope to which he was attached, and set off for assistance. ' For ■ some time Herr Witzwein, who was badly injured, remained suspended, but the snow was soft and the ice axes gave way, and ■ he fell another 300 feet down the crevasse. Guides later found his body. TRAMP GANG MENACE. Disclosures about gangs of tramps who , go about the country defying discipline in i poor law institutions and refusing to be separated, were made in & special report i dealing with the growing number of vagrant* ,in the south-eastern area, which was considered by Brighton Town Council recently. The report contains statements submitted by masters of poor law institutions which state that the gangs concentrate especially at week-ends. There are i grounds for fearing that they may become a danger, particularly in small institutions, i The improvement in casual wards has attracted more casuals, but accominodation • and supervisory staffs at the institutions have not nearly kept pace with the , increased number. The report states that ; masters of poor law institutions all tfver ■ the country are unanimous that the improved food offered to tramps if a great ; attraction. The relaxation of senecning, the return of money to tramp* when,they leave, and free baths have also helpnsd t« swell the numbers. During one week-end. it is stated, 5 197 tramps were admitted to the Brighton casual wards, against 294* for the corresponding period last year: