NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 May 1927, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL.

LION ON THE BED. PARIS, February 22

Al.Gatineau, a grocer of Dourges, was suddenly awakened yesterday morning by a lion whirl) jumped upon his bed.

The iton had escaped from a local menagerie, it ran into M. Cotineau’s shop just as the assistant was opening Ihe premises, jumped over the <o:;ntor, and dashed up the stairs. M. Colitieatt buried himself beneath the bedclothes so hurriedly that the lion took flight and ran away and It id in another room, where it was captured a few minutes later by a lion lamer and circus attendants.

A HILL VANISHES. ('OPIA HO. ( bile, Ech. 22,

A strange geological occurrence ts reported from an estate called Guaiio, a few miles from here. It involved the disappearance of an extensive wooded lull north of the Claro river.

Residents in the locality statu that lhoy were terrified one day by a loud cd the ->pt i ia< !e ot the whole forest being swallowed up by the earth in a liool-shape. I opening 1.200 yards long. The punif-strieken peasants hurried towards the liver, where their surprise was increased by seeing an enormous rising of the river lied as if produced bv an explosion of dynamite, until an island 300 ft. long and OOl’t. wide was formed. The space between the bill and the river was unchanged save for some small fissures.

WOMEN TO GO BALD. LONDON, March 17. “ The present generation of young women will certainly go bald.” said Dr Leonard Williams, in a lecture last night under the auspices of the New Health Society at 11. Chaudos-slreet. W. 11 Most women are now shingled, and they wear tight hats like men. with the result that when they get to the age of about, thirty or forty they will find their hair falling out. Other hints in the lecture were:

"Why anyone wants to wear winter underclothing I cannot imagine. It is quite sufficient to vary one’s clothing by wearing overcoats during the winter. Garters give rise to varicose veins, and as varicose veins are liable to show through pink stockings I would advise women with pink legs not to wen:• them. High heels are had. Tight, high collars worn by men arc a serious menace, not only to their Intellectuality—if they happen to have anv—but to their health.

BRITISH MUSIC FEES. WINNIPEG, March 17. The Canadian motion picture theatres are being flooded with United States compositions owing to the insistence of the British Performers’ Rights Society and the Canadian copyright law forcing users of copyright British music to pay a licence fee for tiie use of such music. United States composers do not insist on payment of a fee when their compositions are used. Col. John Cooper, Toronto, president of the Motion Picture Distributors of Canada, is in Winnipeg conferring with theatre owners on the problem. He states that the theatres of Canada will do all they can to have Canadian | compositions played and British music I on which there is no copyright. ‘'Sing us the old songs ; they are so cheap,” will he the motto. A test case is now in the Ontario I courts in which the Regent Theatre of Toronto is being proceeded against for using British music without payment of fee. The Canadian National Exhiblion hoard of directors and the broadcasting stations in Toronto are also being sued. Ou the result of these test cases will depend the songs to be sung and the music to lie played in Canadian theatres in the future.

Col. Cooper states that if the British producers win and Canadians accept the decision and use the newer British compositions it would mean an annual payment of £100.00(1 by theatres.

BATTLE OF WITS. LONDON, March 5. All. the resources known to modern science are being "explored in the effort to resist the activities of the modern burglar. More and more the burglar wlio works alone and enters bouses by forcing doors or windows. lii» only implements being a jemmy find a screwdriver, is being driven out of business by the vigilance of the police.

Ili.i place is being taken by the gang, directed by a clever organiser, a highly skilled man who devotes himself ro Lest,iny: new methods of penetrating tne hardened metals used in the construction nl' safes and strong rooms, sit perusing the lntiking ol new implements, and planning the great raids earned out b,v his subordinates under the control of intermediaries.

All the time lie is pitting his wits and seientilie skill against the leading scientists, metallurgists, and chemists, who are constantly employed in Irving to discover new devices and new processes of producing metal alloys that will resist the modern burglar. Electric (hilling devices working a mysterious type of metal cutter which cuts an Sin. circular hole through hardened steel are the most baffling instruments that have been used in re-

lent big burglaries. As Hie result of long years of experiment. some firms of safe-makers have evolved a process for making a metal alloy which will resist the attacks of every instrument yet used against t hem.

Messrs Hobbs. Hurt, and Company, Limited, safe-makers to the royal palaces and to the Hank of England, have evolved a new alloy much harder than steel which, it is claimed, will resist even high explosives and the oxyacetylene blowpipe.

PARIS, March ]G. A gigantic financial swindle closely resembling the ■'‘share-pushers” campaigns in Great Britain which are exposed successfully is engaging the attention of the judicial authorities here.

It is reported that more than fJ.jflO.000 is involved ami that many thousands of small speculators have been ruined. Yesterday a conference was held at the Ministry of Justice, at which the Minister was present with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Director of Criminal Affairs. M. Villette, examining magistrate. was appointed to investigate the series of alleged frauds. As a result, M Henri Pochette, the financier, who before the war was concerned in several sensational frauds and was sentenced to imprisonment, has been arrested. Two other men named Tliorel and Mcxaiulo have also been arrested. M. Pochette, who many years ago went to Mexico, returned during the war and served in the Erench Army. The utmost secrecy is maintained by the police about the names of all the members of the syndicate against w.hom (barges of swindling and breaches of the company laws are brought. It is stated that their plans were, carried out with considerable skill. Likely victims, before being canvassed to buv shares of worthless or non-

existent companies, were sent copies of ephemeral weekly financial papers with glowing descriptions of the future el those concerns. House-to-house visits were then paid by skilful canvassers. If the first visit failed to produce any financial result, the person would receive copies of yet another financial organ, which also paid tribute to the prospects of the companies. A second visit from a canvasser was rateh without success. .