Out of the Way

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 104, 26 January 1935, Page 18

Out of the Way

CURIOSITIES IN THE NEWS

A tailor who lives at Dalby, 200 miles from Brisbane, goes to his customers by air. He is a licensed pilot, and hires a machine from the local dying club when he needs one. He says that flying is cheaper than travelling by road.

During a violent storm at Shanghai a huge snake fell from the sky with the rain, according to reports in the local Chinese newspapers. The reptile was more than six feet long and jp-ey in colour. Some men who saw it fall beat it to death.

A few crows completely dislocated the citv of Heijo, Korea, for several hours. The lights went out, tramcars stopped running, cinemas closed down, and factories ceased working. The crows had perched on some power cables just outside the city, causing a breakdown of the electric supply.

A man at Chilaw, Ceylon, awoke to find himself in a coffin and about to be buried. He had taken an overdose of sleeping draught and remained asleep for so long that his relatives thought he was dead. They arranged for the funeral, and a coffin was delivered. The man had been placed in it when he suddenly awoke —only just in time.

Senhora Adelaide dos Reis lias given birth to twins—her twenty-third _ and twenty-fourth children —at the Lisbon Maternity Hospital. The babies were born on their mother’s fortieth birthday. Seuhora dos Reis was married at the age of 14 to a mechanic in the shipbuilding yards at Faro, South Portugal. Her husband has been out of work nearly all the time since he came back from the war.

Efforts to revive the scheme for a £3,500,000 tunnel under the Thames between Purfleet and Dartford are to be made by the local authorities in London. Powers have been granted by Parliament, .but the scheme was dropped during the financial crisis. Now there is some doubt whether the county councils will contribute.

Mr, Lloyd George has taken to clogs. He recently found that he could not keep his feet dry and warm while at work on his farm at Chart, and he commissioned a 71-year-old clogmaker, Mr. William Morlidge, of Church wallgate, Macclesfield, to make him a pair of clogs. Mr. Morlidge is a staunch Conservative.

A small panel picture, 26 inches long by IS inches wide, which was bought recently at a west country sale for less than £lO, came up for auction at Christie’s in London recently. The picture depicts the heads of two peasants with moustaches and slight beards, one wearing a light brown cap. “A sale of old pictures, different properties,” was the auction description. There was a brisk duel of bidders at the sale. The panel fetched 1450 guineas (£1522 10/-). It is attributed to Rubens. The name of the lucky seller was not revealed.

Eight men had a ride on the back of a whale which they were hunting, according to a report received in Tokio. The whaling ship Taiyu Marti, of the Tokai Whaling Company, .sighted the whale and gave chase. Eight harpoons were sent into its body and then members of the crew approached it in two small boats to pass ropes beneath its body. Suddenly tiie whale turned on one of the,boats and smashed it to pieces. The eight occupants scrambled on to the whale’s back to save themselves from drowning, but a few moments later the ropes attached to the harpoons broke and the whale dived. Tiie eight men were thrown into the sea and were rescued by the other boat.

A little comedy was enacted in the Church Assembly, London, when Canon 11. L. Fosbrooke brought forward a motion in favour of fixing a compulsory age of retirement for bishops and other members of the clergy. The Bishop of London, who is the most unremitting of the bishops in hit attendance at the sittings of the Assembly, was seen fo leave his seat and walk out of the hali as the debate opened. The bishop is in his 77th year, and recently remarked that nothing but an Act of Parliament would compel him to resign. In the course of the discussion the Rev. E. D. Merritt referred to the remarkable fitness of many elderly bishops and incumbents, and said, “If this House were to organise a squash racquets contest 1 would put my shirt on the chances of my own beloved diocesan (London) romping home the winner.” The motion was carried, and the matter referred to the ecclesiastical duties committee, with the proviso that the proposal related only’ to the clergy of the future.