MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 9 August 1927, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association,

ILLITEB ATE FREXCH. PARIS, July 27

French educational authorities tire alarmed at the prevalence of illiteracy as shown in the recently published statistics of elementary education.

Tlieso figures show that only fivesixths of the population are able to read and write. The totally illiterate amount to 35 per 1003 of the population, against 5 per 1000 in Germany. In some regions the illiteracy is as high as 17 per cent. School attendances have fallen from 5,500,000 in 1913 to 3,500,000 in 1925. The war is the main cause of the trouble, the deaths in the trenches of elementary school teachers having greatly reduced the standard of instruction to hoys attending school during the war.

GAMBLER’S RAGE. NICE, July 20.

A Yugo-Slavian frequenter of the tables at .Monte Carlo decided on Sunday. ,after a run of had luck, to burn down the famous Empire saloon.

He emptied a tin of kerosene on the Hoor, hut was failed in his attempt to sot lire to tlic l»h> ce. .Enraged, ho drew a revolver and fired at random, breaking several windows and a mirror.

He then flung hitnself out of a window, breaking both legs and intally injuring himself internally.

BABY’S ASHES

LONDON, July 27

Charging Mrs Ellen Olivers, aged 57. in the Brighton Police Court with killing a five-months-old baby by neglect. and then burning the body, the prosecution alleged that she was a baby farmer.

She had been warned that she was breaking the law by keeping too many babies, but she ignored an order to return the surplus children to their mothers.

When a baby died she placed it in a perambulator with a living baby, and removed to another house. There, it is alleged, she burned the little body in the grate, and scattered the ashes in a field outside the town.

721 (j HOURS OVERTIME. LONDON, July 27.

“Sir. 1 wonder if that ass, the law, would bang me if I shot you into the realms of gloomy King Pluto," wrote George Dent, a. clerk, to his former employer, Robert Hotelier, a stockbroker.

Other letters charged Fletcher with cruelly killing other poor boys by sweating.” One was headed “Final Notice,” and said “this application is the last made to you for payment of 7210 hours’ overtime.

Dent was sent lor trial on a charge of menacing Fletcher.

WORLD S STRONGEST VAULTS LONDON. July 22.

The burglar who aims to reach the vaults which are being constructed in the new Bank of England, which are .50 feet underground, and are nearing completion alter two years’ work, must firstly elude the guards’ bayonets, then Fore through 92 inches of reinforced concrete encasing the entire basement, bamboozle the i ordon ol detecti\es, cut through the lingo double-steel grilles, which are set in slabs el concrete. cros, a passage, dodging more bayonets, spend three days in penetrating with oxy-ai etylcne the 21 ion steel doors, and crawl about the ceiling like it 11 y f> avoid the alarms which cover every yard ol the vault floor. If he gets this far without dozens ot so; let doors shutting up electrically behind .him. he could tackle the 12 ton steel door, which is impervious to dynamite, and would thou have reached the bullion. It is the world’s most elbaorate strongroom.

RUSSIAN FORGER. MOSCOW, July 26.

At. Kllienko, the Soviet Attorney General, told a foreign newspaper tor respondent that the trial of Dru/.zoliv ski was one of the most importan o'. m .h rn trials.

U proved that he perpetrated gross forgeries as one ol a hand of international forgers, which many foreign diplomatic* corps used to create takes, forming part of the anti-Soviet activities aiming at the preparation for

Druzzolisksi, said the Minister, was a champion liar, and betrayed nearly every Furopoan State. Mis confessions include the bond* outrage in Sofia Cathedral, and he possessed a document headed “Preparation for the explosion of Westminster Abhor.” ONLY £12.000. LONDON, July 27. Lord Swaythling, the iiead of the banking firm of Samuel .Montague and Co., who died on June I I . loft an estate valued at (MCC.OOO. Ho bequeathed the hulk of his estate to his wife, and left only £12,000 on trust, for hiv third sou, Ivor, now 23 years of age, who married a typist in February last. Testator solemnly enjoined his children not to forsake the Jewish religion, and not to marry outside it.

TRAAFPS G FA.RU OF HONOUR. LONDON. July 27. Twenty-eight tramps formed a guard of honour when the .head jsnter of Newmarket workhouse was married. Alugs were strung across the entrance and billycans were raised high as the bridal pair lelt lor the church. After the ceremony, the tramps drank the bride’s health in tea with the workhouse master. FLYING AT 90. LONDON. July 27. Wheeled to the aerodrome in a batlichair, Airs Hannah Smith, aged 90, ol Harrow, had her first flight yesterday, . thus gratifying a 15-year-old wsh. Asked if she were nervous, she said; “Of course not. Why shouldn't wo old I ones enjoy modern pleasures.” .She waved her hand delightedly as j she flew off’ and on landing, said she j had had “a great time.” J MOTHER’S RECORD. I LONDON. July 27. Airs Lucas, wife of a traction engine I drive- Tonbridge, has given birth to j her 24th child. She has been inarride twice, her first I husband and three sons being killed I in the war. Her family is the largest in Tonbridge, though she has a neighbour who is the mother of 23. AIAIEK AfAY TELL STORY OF CONFESSION. LOS ANGELES, July 27. The affairs of the Angclus Temple are getting into a fearful tangle. Airs Kennedy, mother of Airs Aimee AlcPhersnn. has been banished to Alaska for a tour of indefinite length, while Aimee. the red-haired evangelist, who some months ago caused a sensation by disappearing, having, she alleged, been kidnapped ami taken into Afexico, lias resumed personal charge of tlio temple. , The Rev. Gladwyn Nichols, who recently led a band of 300 secessionists, has startled Los Angeles with the declaration that; “Aimee and her mother have a confession to make to the world, and I feel that they must make it and get it off their consciences.” ,

There is open quarrel between the mother and daughter, who are shaking their firsts at each other and demanding that their disputes be settled in court. , “I wouldn’t treat a yellow dog the way mother has used me,” wailed Aimee. VALENTINO TEMPLE. LONDON, July 27. Twelve thousand women, mostly of mature years, stormed the Shepherd’s Bush Pavilion cinema for the Valentino memorial performance, which included the screening of the dead star as ‘•Monsieur Benucaire.” Ivor Novello, the English “Valentino,” placed a wreath of roses in the “Temple of Remembrance,” a Romanesque structure, with smoking censers and tall candlesticks on either side ol a plinth, on which stood a portrait ot Valentino, crowned with laurels and hung with Italian flags.

Ivor Novello, who is a song composer. as well as a movie actor, said nothing could be greater titan lor an artist to die at tho height of bis fame. A liltn, entitled “Reminiscences of Valentino,” was also shown, in which the dead man's athletic prowess was stressed, apparently in order to disprove charges of elfeminaey against the film idol.

Outside the cinema, Novello’s admirers acclaimed him deliriously, much to the discomfiture of the reverential Valentino ‘worshippers.

PRICELESS PRIDE

LONDON. July 27

“The .United States has adopted the principle that it is entitled to equality with Britain in all branches ot naval strength; hut with the United States it, is not a, question of national security. but of national prestige,” declares the well known American publicist. Mr Frank Sinumds. in an article in the “Sunday Times.”

“Underlying everything,” he says, “is the question of prestige. The United States naval programme was not based on potential dangers, but on national pride.”

SHORT SHRIFT

' VERA CRUZ (Mexico). July 20. A y mug Mexican, while resisting arrest for a minor offence, killed a po! iceman. Mho comrades ol the dead office! compelled him to march behind the <ofti.il and then, as he stood beside the grave, they riddled him with bullets and immediately buried him. FAMOUS FILM STARS. NEW YORK. July 22. Herbert Brenon. who filmed Sir James Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” is visiting England to obtain scenes for AVnrwirk Dceping’s famous novel. “Sorrell and Sail,” of which, under the names of Ethel and Duncan, Mary Licklord and Douglas Fairbanks, arc the chief characters.

Although the famous stars are not appearing in the film version cl the 1 ; k .Mr Bren a interviewed them regarding the author’s characterisations the two stars in bis novel. While admitting that the likenesses a:v excellent Mary and Douglas denied the-.- desired the simple life or found tie life cf film ‘tars demoralising. Roth <le< larcd that the production of a. new film was an “exciting adveritd. ” and that fame was exhilarating. They will not retire until the public shows that it no longer wishes to sec them on the screen.

FARM KBS I»I."■■SATISFIED. •TiME FOR I? \IU.CAL CHANGE.” At a meeting of tile Methvea brrn- h of the Reform League, the billowing resolution, a, copy ol which will be sent t : the Prime Minister, was carried unanimously : “That Ibis meeting views with alarm the attitude of the present Ministry in framing legislation which is undoubtedly to the detriment of the primary producer. It ebo lays stress on the fact t hat , under Iho present arbitration system, the awards pronounced by the Court are protective ol secunda’iy industries, while the costs, as based on to the producers, are prohibitive. “Thi.-, branch is also of opinion that tho time is ripe fo a radical change in the present. Government's attitude in tho framing <f h gaslation, some ol which works to the detriment of the farming i mmunity and the country generally and pledges itself to press for an alu oration in policy or to .support a change of Government.