NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 August 1924, Page 1

NEWS BY MAIL.

THE COAfPASSION OF TWO AYOAI EN. LONDON, .him* M

Outside the churchyard of St Anne, in AVai'dour-street, Soho—in which lie buried William llazlitt. the essayist, and Theodore, King of Corsica—is to he .seen every day a touching ceremonial, writes a correspondent in the “Daily Mail.”

Aii elderly Frenchwoman, dressed in black, accompanied by a younger Frenchwoman, also in black. arrive with parcels in their bands. They are greeted affectionately by a black Vat. which thev feed lavishly and with tender rare.

Yesterday it wa- given a -aueer of milk, brought in a tin. and a fpiantity of fish, watched hy the two women, who seemed almost, oblivious to the envious gaze of strangers. Both women had :> look of great sadness. and both were poorly clad, though the younger one was handsome and looked smart.

When they were asked the history of the eat. they told in French a moving story of weariness and grief. “Life has been so sad for us that we are full of compassion for dumb animals.” they .said, speaking in French.

“For two and a-half years we im<e led this eat in rain, anil in cold and hitter weather. Wo come from A ietiiria for the purpose. At one time there wore six cats here, now there is only this one, hut though we may starve ourselves it, will never starve.”

There was no smile in their faces as they spoke, and they went away sad as they came. WEAfBLEY JEWELS. LONDON, June 18. The British Empire Exhibition has been, described as a burglar's paradise, lint because its exhibits can he stolen, for this is not so, hut because ol their client Value'. A rough estimate of me. value of the exhibits is given as £I'J.OOO.OOO.

A leading firm of jewellers in the Palace of Industry up to a- few days ago were exhibiting a single diamond valued at £IO.OOO, hut on,ihe advice of toe insurance company it was withdrawn. They have still on view, however. a show-ease of precious stones and pearls estimated to ho worth more than £30,000. ,

A pearl necklace in fho Ceylon Pavilion is said to he worth £•((),000. Mr N. 1). H. Abdul Caffoca'. of Colombo, recently brought to the Exhibition jewellery valued at £1.000,000. tin* several occasions he has taken, a large selection of hi.s slock to Buckingham Palace for the inspection of the Queen. In the Palace of Alt there are paintings and pictures of immense value, and in the theatre section there is a very valuable first folio of .Shakespeare’s works, lent by the Stratford-on-Avon Memorial Committee. The cracksman would have difficulty ill securing any of these tempting articles, for many of the firms employ detectives hy duv and watchmen by night. Tn addition, the Palaces of Engineering and Industry tire patrolled at night l.y policemen and watchmen.

COWBOYS’ AY I YES. LONDON, June IS. A student of human nature who Watches the Roden contests in the Stadium at Wembley see- Jln.-hcs ol emotion play across the cascade of human faces encircling tin* arena like the ripple of sunlight on a waterfall. But in ml obscure patch of mi roofed concrete rising behind the announcer's platform can la* found the whole gamut of emotions from despair to undiluted joy concentrated in the immobile figures nl a dozen vilonl women. They are the wives of cowboy.- who are risking their live- in the field below in uncertain encounters witli wild steer- and vicious .bucking horses. They sit in a row, apparently bored, while thousands above and below them are shouting for a victorious cowboy or a victorious steer, as the case may

A cow hoy may he ilirown, and lie as though dead —as one did yesterday afternoon—hut the woman whose life is hound up with his remains passive and hides her agony while the helpers and judges cluster around him. They take it quietly, do tin* women ol the Rodeo world.

They go to these exhibitions of cowboy skill 'prepared—sis many of them told me during the voyage across the Atlantic— to see their husbands tallied away dying, or at least maimed.

Broken rilis, broken arms, broken leg.- are part ol the ordinary accident routine of Rodeo lilt*. Soule ol the* spectators misinterpreted the aloofness of some of the watching cowboys yesterday afternoon when .John llartwig crashed from a bucking horse with his right wrist badly crushed. He bad sprained his left wrist in a simiku .el--hup <;n Monday afternoon. llartwig was helped front the field, but his comrades, assured :-t.it h<‘ was not dead, left him to the hi --« '• corps and resumed their observation of the scheduled heats. It was Ml in Die cisivV work.

Hut v.hun itn «mtis hurt tlio\ have sympathy for him in phntv. A siiigularlv intrepid individual r.t ue.l Kdwar.l Dillon, of Kpv.m. offer, -d Innself as a sacrifice to bucking-horse tactics during the afternoon for a

pur>o. Hi- horse shed him in b-s- than lei. seconds, and he fell painfully on on |..„ k Cowhovs rushed from all si b--'. !lU( | he was 'escorted off with almost ostentatious care. ,\t the evening performance in the contest for riding wild steers 'lex Parker fell and broke bis collar-bone.