BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 July 1923, Page 2

BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. TRADE COMMITTEE. LONDON, April 20. Liverpool Chamber *6f Commerce has formed an Australian and New Zealand Committee to develop trade with those Dominions. At the first meeting of committee Colonel Hawkins read the report of his recent visit to Australia and New Zealand. Several large provision firms have formed a. company with a view to in- JB, during direct shipments to Liverpool. - Its representative will commence work -- . in Australia in September.

A SNAKE EXPERT

LONDON, July 20.

The “Daily Express” says Mies Joan Procter, an English girl aged twentylire, lias been appointed curator of reptiles at -London Zoological gardens. Her grandfather was a famous entomologist. Joan had her first pot snake aged ten. She received a crocodile us a present and took it to Doctor Boulenger, head of the Dept, of Reptiles in the natural history museum, South Kensington. He was astonished at Joan’s knou ledge and offered to train her. Joan became Boulenger's assistant when eighteen and succeeded him

when he resigned. She is one of the greatest snake experts in the world and it fellow of tlio Zoological and Linnaean Societies.

WHEAT RISE

CHICAGO, July 10. Black rust reported from wide areas in African, Canadian, and north-west coupled with the first Inlying orders in a week caused all the deliveries of wheat to rise above the dollar mark. ORIGIN OF MAN. A NEW THEORY. LONDON. July 21. A new theory of man's origin was ' expounded at the Surgeons’ Congress by Dr Grile, of Cleveland. Ohio, U.S.A. v’lio said : “The origin of all lifo forms is an atom of hydrogen, with ft negative electron. Man and animals are electro-chemical mechanisms, constructed on the pattern of the constituent cells. Each cell in itself is an electrochemical mechanism. In other words, man is a collection of countless millions of chemical flames, working out a still further evolution in connection with surrounding electric forces. Following that theory, the brain is the positive pole, and the liver is the negative. Tho v " nerves are connecting wires. The function of the liver is tho foremost importance in this hypothesis, and the effects of that organ on the brain are apparent. The theory explains the interference with digestion by strong emotions, such as pain, and also the failure of health under the stress of chronic fear, anger, or other strong emotions. It also explains the essentia! function of sleep, as a period wherein tho difference in the potential in batteries which drive the organism is restored, alter being decreased by tho dav's activities.”

COUNTESS AND CAPTAIN. AN AUSTRIAN SENSATION. LONDON, July 20. Tlie “Daily Mail’s” Vienna correspondent states:—A sensation has been caused by the discovery of the bodies of Countess Anna Rcvertera atul Captain Rudolph Dowrtiel, clasped in each other’s arms, in tho Captain’s flat. Both wore shot through the heart. Tho husband of the Countess, who Ls tbe s' E. of a- former Austro-Hungarian Minister to the Vatican, was impoverished by the war, and lie is now conducting n grocery business. He was absent at the time of the tragedy, but ho had previously protested to the authorities against the allocation of a flat to Captain Dowrtiel in the same buildings as his own. It is not known whether the Countess committed suicide, or who ther the Captain killed her, and then himself, AVAR MATERIAL SALES. LONDON. July 21. The chairman of the Disposal Liquidatoin Commission states that from tho Armistice to last March, tho sales of surplus Government property, including the sales of raw materials on tho trading account, amounted to approximately £042,000,000. DEATH SENTENCES. CAIRO. July 20. The Egyptian conspirators tried on April 20th., five including Nazir, have been sentenced to death. Seven were sentenced to terms of imprisonment varying from three years to life. ITALIAN POLITICS. ROME, July 21. The Chamber passed the new electoral law by 223 to 123.