WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 123, 22 February 1928, Page 10

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

.(By

T.D.H.)

France is appointing women to posts in its Foreign Office.—lt will be remembered that the nations promised to abolish secret diplomacy after the war. A Jew died in Russia, aged 125, leaving a widow aged 119.—These interesting things somehow refuse to happen in countries where they keep birth certificates. If Britain and Norway start quarrelling as to which of them owns Bouvet and Thompson Islands, in the Antarctic, it would probably be wise to ascertain, .first of all, that Thompson Island exists. According to a British official wireless message, the Imperial Government is confident that there is such a place. Two British shipmasters claim to have been there, one in 1825 and one in 1823, and although! the island was searched for in vain in 1898 and 1926, tlie Government Is satisfied that it is there or thereabouts, and is at least very positive that, whether it exists or not, it is certainly British. * » • Bouvet Island itself was a mystery for a long time. It was sighted by Captain Lozier Bouvet, of the French Navy, in 1738, but the pack ice prevented him from getting within twelve miles of it. He was thus unable to land and take possession of the island for France. Captain Cook, Sir John Ross, and Lieutenant Moore at different times all searched in vain for the island. Captain Lindsay, in command of a whaler, however, saw it in 1808, and in 1823 Captain Norris actually landed on it, and on this event the British claim rests. However, Captain Norris puts his island in quite a different position from that of the earlier discoverers, and he christened it Liverpool Island. Forty-five miles to the north-east of his Liverpool (or Bouvet) Island, Captain Norris discovered Thompson Island, and in its inhospitable shore a boat’s crew was weatherbound for six days. Whether Bouvet, Lindsay, and Norris all saw the same islands or not is a matter of dispute. Norris made the only landing, and found the islands volcanic in character and covered in pumice, and some geographers developed a theory that they go up and down and come up in different places. This line of argument gets over the difficulty as to why some people find these islands and others don’t, and also as to how it is that they are found in different places. But the League of Nations may have difficulty in settling whether an island that is British when it goes under in one spot is still British when it comes up in another.

General Sandino, the Nicaraguan rebel, seems to have laid plans for a very extravagant demise. He. recently announced that .he was keeping five tons of dynamite on hand in his arsenal for the purpose of blowing himself up if he was in danger of capture. Exper opinion is that two pounds of dynamite is ample for this purpose, and that the balance of General Sandino’s five tons is mere vulgar ostentation. There are all sorts of fancy ways of dying, and an American journal suggests that that adopted by Platon Zubov, the youthful sweetheart of aged Catherine' the Great, might be worthy of consideration by the Nicaraguan general. Some say Zubov was poisoned, but a contemporary account asserts that, while suffering from. a fever, the young Russian killed himself bv eating a goose, a whole ham, three chickens, drinking, several quarts of liquor, and soaking himself at intervals, first in ice water and then in cologne. After he had tried this, Nicaragua’s hero might then experiment with the dynamite.

One wonders whether the Russian gentleman M. Zoubkoff, who recently conquered the sixty-two-year-old heart of Princess Victoria of Prussia, and whose affairs are in the news again to-day, is bv anv chance a descendant of Platon Zubov. Their names are not quite the same, but there is plenty of time for the “k” in the middle to have crept in since 1796. Platon Zubov was a youthful adventurer, when he became the last of the long series of the lovers of Catherine the Great, then aged sixty-seven. These lovers began with Count Soltykov and Stanilaus Poniatowski, King of Poland, and their name was legion. ,In all, the amorous Empress is said to have lavished £12,000,000 on them. Zubov persuaded her to make his brother, Valerian Zubov, a field-marshal and to send him off on a crack-brained scheme with an army of 20,000 to invade India by wav of Persia and Tibet. , The modem Zoubkoff apparently aims at nothing more sensational or original than attempting to fly the Atlantic.

Some good stories of the Irish Bench and Bar are told by Sergeant A M- SuJlivan in his new book, “Old Ireland. Mr. Justice Johnston, we are, told, was a monument of kindness and stupidi J He was universally known as V ooden-h-.-aded Billv. Orie morning lie came into the Divisional Court with Ins Hand bandaged. “Aly dear Johnston, exclaimed the Chief Baron, what has happened to you? Nothing serious. I trust.” “Oh, no, thank you,” replied the Tudge. “Very painful but not serious. Merely a'splinter tinder my ‘“He's been scratching his head,” audible observed Sergeant Moriarty. • * *

Sergeant Sullivan recalls that lie conducted a score of cases of Tom Donovan’s, a horse dealer by trade and a local politician by occupation. He once sold a pair of horses to Dr. O D «'}er, the Bishop of Limerick, and his Lordship sued Tom for fraud and breach of warranty. The jury found, for the. defendant' As the court emptied, a friend observed, “That was very satisfactory, Air. Donovan.” “Go away, said Tom. “Don’t talk to me. .-Aly heart s broken, to think that a jury of my countrymen wouldn’t believe a holy bishop on his oath.”

Here is one Irish Judge’s definition of the limit of permissible P e D ury : “Look here, sir,” he said to a litigant in the witness-box, “tell me no mor unnecessary lies. Such lies as your attorney advises vou are necessary for tue presentation of your fraudulent case L will listen to, though I shall decide against you whatever you swear, hut R vou tel! me another unnecessary lie I 11 put you in the dock.” “Did that patent medicine you bought cure your aunt?” “Alercy, no! On reading the circular that was wrapped around the bottle she got two more diseases.” AN OLD FACE. Alany a wild, adventurous year Wrote its splendid record here; Stars of manv an old romance Shine in that ironic glance; Alany a hideous, vital day Came and smote and passed away; Now this face is ripe and glad, Patient, sane—a little sad. Friend to life, yet with no fear Of the darkness drawing near; These so gallant eyes must see Dawn-light of eternity. See the secret vision still High on some supernal bill; ’Tis a daring hope I hold— To look like this when I am old. —lt. M. Montgomery.