WORLD'S HAPPENINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 15294, 24 July 1923, Page 9

WORLD'S HAPPENINGS.

WINS £50,000 IN SWEEP. "Calcutta rumour confirmed. So my wonderful luck must be time." This cablegram from Zanzibar, says the London Evening News, lias been received by Major A. E. Poole, of Military Knights'-row, Windsor, thus confirming the fact that his son, Captain Anthony Arthur Poole, now in Zanzibar, is the winner of the first prize—believed to be about £50,000 —in the Calcutta Club Derby sweepstake. JOKING WHILE DYING. After the performance of the farce, "A Week-end," at Brighton Palace Pier Theatre, Mr William Dowdeswell, the principal -comedian, professionally known as William Rokeby, was found dead outside the theatre. He had insisted on playing his part although he was ill and in pain. He was 63. Death is believed to be due to heart trouble. An inquest will bo heldMORE AUTOS THAN BATHS. lowa farmers possess one automobile per family, but there is only one bathtub sfor every fourth family, if the survey of the rural social conditions nfadc in. certain townships by Prof. George Von Tungein of lowa State College, is applied as an average to the entire state. Two of his observations follow: Women are best spenders and through their hands passes 90 per cent of the family's living expenses. Seventy-five per cent of the farmers' daughters marry farmers.

"FISHING" FOR CATS. Complaints have been made recently In various parts of London of attempts ■ to catch cats, presumably for the sake of their skins, by means of fish-hooks baited with meat and secured by wire J to railings in quiet streets. J Two little boys brought to the North Kensington branch of the dispensary for sick animals their pet cat which had been caught in this way but had • broken the wire and had escaped. ■ -The hook, which was embedded in dls gullet, was removed with great diffi- ' culty after the animal had been anaesthetised. ■ FACE AT THE WINDOW. A woman living in a house behind Westminster Workhouse, Fulhamroad, London, was startled one night to see a man peering through her bedroom window. She seized the nearest article within reach—a jug of water, raised the window, and threw it out. A yell told her that she had hit somebody. The police were summoned and they found a man in the garden with a wound in the head. He was taken to Chelsea police station. He stated that he had walked in his sleep. CRUELTY TO WIFE. Teofll Kulinski, 36, tried to make a side-show out of his home, according t 0 his wife, Bertha, who appeared as complainant against him in the Eastern police station, Baltimore, U.S.A., where he was charged with assaulting her. According to Mrs. Kulinski, her husband became enraged because one of their children had driven a nail in the door. "Pull it oht with your teeth!" he commanded her, pointing to the nail, Mrs. Kulinski said. Mrs. Kulinski refused and he beat her, she said. To-day she was inclined to forgive him, he was dismissed with a warning by Magistrate Rtalliata. IMBLE BANK-NOTES. An elderly grey-haired man, Henry Wakeford, at Aldershot Police Court, made a dramatic appeal on behalf of his son, for whose arrest he 'had obtained a warrant on a charge of stealing £7O. "My boy has come back to me and he has promised never to/do wrong again," Mr Wakeford told the Bench. "He was dusting some Bibles I intended sending to St. Dunstan's Home, when the bank-notes fell from between the leavos. Then he yielded to sudden temptation, but he has paid for his lapse, for toe was stabbed and robbed of the money in London." The son was discharged.

6D A MILE IN THE AIR. Maj.-General Sir W. S. Brancker, speaking at a conference of the Institute of Transport at Sheffield, said it might well be that air transport would become the most important factor in the preservation of the British Empire. Unfortunately, air transport had ; earned a bad reputation in the business and financial world, but he claimed it ; had now obtained a high standard of ' reliability and safety- Ho thought the , charge for passengers would be reduced to less than 6d per mile before long. Newspaper and parcel traffic by air promised to be just as important as passenger traffic. HYPNOT'SED COUNTERS. Hypnotism is becoming such a ."craze" in Vienna that the police are •' taking severe measures to stop its ■' practice by amateurs. A lawyer who complained that his wife, a Hungarian countess, had been . hypnotised by a Budapest lawyer, went ; to an hotel in Vienna and slashed , with a dog-whip both the lawyer and : the latter's brother-in-law. Another man learned hypnotism to cure the girl he wanted to marry of a nervous complaint. Students of both sexes and even school-children are hypnotising each , other, oftei. with injury to health, apart from moral dangers. 'PHONE CALL TO A 'PLANE. Pour Manchester and Liverpool men who had been at the Birmingham races stopped the London-Manchester Daimler Air Express by wireless at Birmingham one evening- recently. One had an important appointment in Liverpool that evening and could not have arrived in time by any other method. They prevailed on the operator at Castle Bromwich to ring up the pilot of the Daimler Express by wireless telephone and ask him to alight at Birmingham. The pilot, Mr H. S. Robertson, received the message white over Watford, and immediately headed for Birmingham, where he took on the four passengers. Then, running his engine at full speed, he managed to make up the lost time and arrived in Manchester early enough for his passengers to catch a certain train for Liverpool and keep their appointments. The passengers were so pleased with the success of their venture that they immediately booked seats by the air service from Manchester for Ascot races.

SUPER SUBMARINE. Submarine XI., the Briiisli Navy's mystery ship, has been launched .it Chatham. She is the largest and most up-to-date submarine in the world. THEATRE RENT 6d A MONTH. Litigation now proccding lias disclosed Hie fact that the Carl Theatre, Vienna, where "Madame Pompadour" has be'en playing for several months past to crowded houses, showing, it is alleged, a clear profit of not less than £ls a day, is leased under an agreement by which the lessees pay only the equivalent of less than Gs a year rent. The agreement dates from 1900, before the crown depreciated. The rent has been slightly increased, but is still only. 90.000 crowns a year. SICKLY HYMNS. Religion had got mixed up with sickly sentimentality, said the Rev. E. L. Weight, of Holy Trinity Garrison Church, Windsor, addressing the Guards there.

Most of the sickly hymns they sang in church, he said, had been composed by people who must have suffered from chronic indigestion, because they expressed very little joy in living at all. Fancy a young Guardsman in full health singing at the top of his voice, "0 Paradise, 0 Paradise, who doth not crave for rest?" He would bo singing a lie. At least he (Mr. Weight) hoped he would be.

BOSTON NEWSPAPER CASE. Because he refused to print as a paid advertisement a report of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission criticising a Boston department store for underpaying its employees, the publisher of the Boston Transcript was fined £2O. The publisher argued that by printing the advertisement he might subject the newspaper to a civil action for damages. He will take the case on appeal to the United States Supreme Court as a constitutional question. YALE STUDENTS' RIOT. A boisterous section of Yale firstyear students celebrating the end of their freshman days became involved in a town,and gown riot, in the course of which three of them were arrested. The university authorities, unable to find anyone who would admit having participated in the riot, took the unprecedented course of announcing that they would not permit the annual Yale-Harvard freshman crew race unless the culprits 'disclosed themselves. The following day there was a continous procession of freshmen to the Dean's room. Up to nightfall 790 of the 889 members of the class had cried "Peccavi," and they were still coming. The authorities expressed themselves as "gratified," but they have not yet lifted the ban on the race.

GRIEF-STRICKEN DOGS. Interest has been aroused among veterinary surgeons by the case of a fox terrier, which wa destroyed by the police as it was beheved to be going mad with grief over the death of its master. Mr L. Stroud, of South Molton street W., said : "I have known dogs pine for days at the loss of a good friend, but never have I met a case where one had to be shot. Dogs and horses have refused food for days when grief-stricken, but their memory is short-lived, and they get over it in time." Mr Kirk, the Wigmore street veterinary surgeon, who for many years was in charge of a dog sanatorium, said: "The only thing that can make a dog mad is infection from rabies. Dogs that have lost their masters may, owing to mental strain and anxiety, have epileptic fits. Many people then think they have gone mad, but a dog in that state is not dangerous and wants a little sympathy and help to pull him round again. Some dogs have (short memories and soon get over grief, but others, particularly a fox terrier, have long memories, and will remember a person for months afterwards."

' 600 YEARS* OLD ROOF. A roof of wattle and dab (twigs bound with straw and clay) has been discovered during renovation work at the White Horse Inn, Shere, Surrey. Mr John H- Howard, of Haslemere, the architect carrying out the work, said he thousht the roof was built in the late 14th century, at the latest, and possibly in the 13th or 12th centuries. "There are about 200 square feet of it," ho said, "supported by oak beams. Tiles are laid on top of it, and it was probably made to keep the house warm. The clay is of a local earth, containing a good deal of chalk. Only once before have I found wood so well preserved as the hazel twigs in the wattle and dab." Although probably 600 years old, or even older, the hazel twigs, kept fcom the air by the excellent manufacture and application of the "dab," look as If they had only been recently cut. POISON IN WIFE'S TEA. At Billiericay, England, John Henry Taylor, a carrier, of Billcricay, was charged with administering to his wife acetate of lead with intent to injure her. Mr George Peavor, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said Mr and Mrs Taylor were married 30 years ago and had" a family of five- Two years ago differences occurred through Taylor going to the house of another woman. Taylor, who slept downstairs, took up a'cuo of lea to his wife every morning. On February 12 Mrs Taylor did not at once drink the tea and afterwards noticed it had a curious smell and appearance- Her son-in-law advised having it analysed. The tea of that morning and three other mornings in succession was bottled and sent to the public analyst, Dr. Bernard Dyer, who reported that in 2Goz of made lea there was Gl grains of lead acetate, equal to oneseventh of an ounce of sugar of leadTaylor kept a horse, said Mr Peavor, and sugar of lead was used in the treatment of horses. There was no evidence, however, that any sugar of lead had been in his possession. The amount found by the analyst in the tea would not have killed .but iflead were taken continuously it would undermine the constitution.

In her evidence, Mrs Taylor said she had not been well for two years, but put it down to indigestion. After the examination of the lea she accused her husband of trying to poison her. ami he said it was a good job if there was poison in the tea. He left her in March and had not returned.

Evidence was given by fir Wells that the symptoms of Mrs Taylor's illness were conistent with mild lead poison-

ing. Taylor, who pleaded not guilty, was committed for trial at the Essex Assizes. Bail was allowed.

the Prince at a sing-song. Arter a day .spent in touring the Black Country towns, the Prince of Wales nalil an 'informal visit to the Toe II (Talbot House) branch at th,e corner of Great Charles Street and Now Hall Street, at Birmingham. He opened in quite an informal manner a beautifully rurnished lounge presented by the "Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Then a Lamp of Remembrance, lit by the Prince of Wales at the Guildhall some lime ago, was lit again, with special reference to the Royal Warwickshire Hegiment.

Following this the Prince took part very heartily in a "sing-song-" Sitting in a jacket, suit on the arm of a big •arm-chair, smoking a cigarette, he joined with the young men in singing a humorous song known as "Caractacus." The song, which was built up verse after verse, ended as follows:—"The stick that tanned the trousers of the boy who shouted 'Beaver!' to the man who put the powder on the faces of the harem of the King Caractacus."

The song was not only sung by the Prince of Wales with much vigour but also by the Bishop of Birmingham and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. Despite a tiring day the Prince looked in good health and very cheerful, and thoroughly enjoyed his nformal visit.

DANCE CLUB FINES. Fines in connection with the raid on Brett's Dance Club, Charing Cross, London, on June 3, were imposed on' 22 people by Mr d'Eyncourt at Marl-borough-street. On charges of selling intoxicating liquor without a licence Charles Harvey, 40, described as a financier, of Albany-street, Regent's Park, N.W., was fined a total of £2OO and 55 guineas costs and Henry Heyerick, 37, cashier, a Belgian of Handel-street, W.C., £4O. Three waiters, Percy George Holbrook, Filippo Angelana, and Francais Fedanza, were fined AS. each. Six women and 11 men, including three naval lieutenants, were filled 10s each for being on the premises. Mr. Muskelt, for the police, said the club was run by a limited company registered at Somerset House, of which Harvey and another man were the principal shareholders. When the place was raided at i a.m. whisky was being served in coffee sups and saucers. One whisky was 2s and a brandy 2s Gd.

MAN OF 11 DISEASES. 'lt is a wonder this man lived SO long," said the Eastbourne coroner a't an inquest on James Smart, aged 76, a visitor from Wiltshire for the benefit of his health, who died suddenly. Dr. Bramley stated that the post mortem examination revealed that the man was suffering from nearly every disease under the sun, including: Mitral heart disease, Cirrhosis of the liver, Chronic constiuation, Extensive Icidney disease, Arthritis, peritonitis, Caseous glands, Probable tubersular bronchitis, Signs of previous pleurisy, Rheumatic fever, Meningitis. "Yet," said the doctor, "death was due to none of these, gut lo rupture of the large boyel duo to a sterofal ulcer. When he called the dactor in it was for the treatment of eczema. Agter being cured of this he treated himself with quack medicines. The coroner recorded a verdict of death from natural causes.

BURGLAR WITH A CANDLE. There is a burglar in London who has mystified New Scotland Yard detectives for a long time. At every house he breaks into he leaves a cigar-box. About two dozen cigar-boxes have been collected by the police and deposited at various stations in the north and north-west-ern suburbs. The cigar-box is used as a candlestick. He puts the stump of a candle and some matches in the box, and when, in the early hours of the morning, he forces the catch of a window and enters a house, he lights the candle and quietly makes a search for jewellery. Having blled his pockets with all the valuables he can find, he leaves the cigar-box with the candle and the matches on a chair or table and goes home.

Nobody has yet been able to find out who this mysterious burglar is. The police think, (without prejudice) that he is an old man who, after leading an honest life for some years, has returned to the evil habits of his youth. They base this theory on the supposition that if he were a young man he would despise such an antiquated thing as a candle and carry an electric torch, but being old he cannot bring himself in line with the ideas of the modern burglar. "STRONG LOVE" FiLR/IS. The hearing was continued in London of the action in which the Coldwyn Film Distributing Corporation, of New York, sues the Stoll Film Company, Ltd., of Oxford-street, London, for sums alleged to bo due under an agreement to supply the latter with film plays. There is a counterclaim for damages for alleged breach of the agreement. Mr. Geoffry Bernard, managing director of the Stoll Film Company, said the Goldwyn Corporation objected to the Stoll Company's simple form of advertisements. His Lordship: They wanted a greater amplitude of adjective?—Yes. What was the special feature of Miss Farrer's fdms?—-They wore strong. There was one, for example, called "The Hell Cat" in America. I insisted that I should be allowed to alter it in tins country to "The Wild Cat." It was a story of well, I would not like to describe it. (Laughter.) His Lordship: Are they love stories, because if so they are common to the whole world? —-That particular storywas rather on the side of strong love.

Mr. Bernard said his company had objected to a film play entitled "Too Fat to Fight" as being a rather poor subject for the British market. The hearing was adjourned.