HERE AND THERE

Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1928, Page 3

HERE AND THERE

QUEEN GOES TO LAW AND LOSES. The Queen of the Netherlands, “suing as. a married woman,” was the plaintiff in the action “The Queen of Holland v. Drukker and others,” heard recently in a London Court. The suit was a claim to collect Dutch succession rnonciy. Mr Justice Tomlin, who occupied the bench, said that there was a recognised rule, which had boon enforced for over 200 years, that the Court did not collect the taxes of a foreign State for the benefit of its .sovereign. The Istatcment of claim Was therefore struck out, and the action dismissed with costs against the Queen,

“ACE” ENTERTAINS ENEMIES. Colonel Bishop, V.C., the Canadian airman, entertained eight of his onetime enemies in London recently. The party, of course, discussed their war activities and totted up their “bags.” .Colonel Bishop had shot down 72 pianos. Captain Bolle. the ox-leader of the famous Boclckc squadron, had claimed 36 victims, and Captain Herman Frommliorz had “bagged” 33 machines. Another of the visiting group was one of the chief nightbumoers. Colonel Bishop and Captain Bolle identified almost beyond doubt a fight which they had over Ypres in 1917. The party also went to see “Wings,” now showing in New Zealand, and attended the recent Royal Air Force pageant.

THE KING, “A MARVEL” A leading philatelist, at the exhibition of the Royal Philatilie Society, declared that the King, was “a marvel of stamp knowledge.” The royal visitor, who .showed some of the stamps from li is own collection, was particularly interested in some unused “Sydney Views” as the first issue of Now South Wales hire called.

A SECRET PURCHASE. An air of mystery surrounded Mr E. Sessler, a well-known American bookseller. when be step|K'd off the Leviathan at Southamiptoiii’i recently. He had come intent on leaving £9,000 in Britain But what does an American come to leave money in Britain for? Of course, to take across the Atlantic some of our literary or art treasures. So Mr Sessler has come to buy the manuscript of a Burns’ poem. The auction record for a Burns’ manuscript is £2,000 paid in December for a letter containing bis song, “0, My Love’s Like a Red. Red Rose.’’ What it is he is going to four and a-half times the record price for he will not state, because lie was pledged to se-

LTATiLK TO £3,009,003 FINE. When the “Financial Recorder” was prosecuted at the Guildhall, London, for printing a. newspaper without the printer’s name and address upon it, and also a folder, the law provided for a penalty of £5 for each copy issued. This would have amounted to £3.000,000, but the editor was fined £SO on each of two charges and the printers £3 10,s on each of three summonses, with five guineas costs in all cases. An interesting fact about the paper itself is that that the first number, published on Septcmlier 15, 1927, did not bear the number 1, but 1001 .

CORPORAL M USSOLTNL Signor Mussolini, the virtual ruler of Italy, holds the rank of honorary corporal in the Italian army. The only other person who holds .this office, the highest honorary rank in Italy, is King Alphonso of Spain, wlio wos recently created a field marsall of the British army. What happens when “Corporal Mussolini meets a

second-lieutenant? Does lie give the Fascist salute, and do as the subaltern liids him !

DE-YD MAX LIVES. Cornelius Green. of New York, grasped a 2.400 volt power wire which fell in front of him. A surgeon had declared life extinct, when an .Edison emergency gang rushed up and used their pressure method ot respirations for two hours, after which Green walked home with his wile. STEAM KEPT UP BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT. For 34 years, since 1894, the Tower Bridge tug, of London, has kept up steam continuously. Parliament ordered that it must always he on hand to escort big vessels through the bascules, and past the great stone piers, at uood tide. AN EXTRAORDINARY SPORT—-MONKEY-HUNTING. When a resident of South-end, England, was awakened by a noise in the garden he crawled sleepily out of bed To find his terrier engaged in a fight with a large monkey. When the man came on the scene, the ape ran up the water-pipe and on to the rool. Iwelve monkeys from the neighbouring zoo forced their cage-doors. The ringleader was lured by a bit of chocolate into a hotel bedroom, but before being chained up lie bit the end off an attendant’s finger.

DICKENS AS POPULAR AUT " Collins and Sons, the publishers of classic* works, held a census to find the most popular classic author, and distributed 400,000 voting papers. Dickens topped the list with 142.956 votes, Scott followed with 109.398. and Stevenson ran into third place with 99,834 admire is.

CLOSE CALL IN THE CONGO. Benjamin llm-bridge, American crorilla hunter, who has returned atei Ten months in the Belgian Congo, declared that tropical pests were more dangerous than the beast of the jung c. During his stay, a wounded bull elephant charged, tearing up the trees in Its pathway. They felled the animal with one bullet, but it rose and continued its furious career. A w™ shot dropped him three yards ito.n tin hunter.

WHAT TS AN ENGAGEMENT RING ? When a young lady, engaged to wed. , dies, is the ring the property of the , donor or father of the deceased Tin.J knotty problem had to be answer <1 by a Sheffield County Court Judge a lev weeks ago. when the suitor of a c.e.ul slic'd her father for the possession of the ring The parent did not wish to part with the ring because it is tlic property of bis daughter, and the veilin'- man wanted it because of i - Judge Lias said that an engagement ring was “a symbol of consent ” It was not a question of wooing a woman with gifts to persuade her to give lior promise to marry. The claimant was therefore entitled to the ring. An appeal has- been lodged and so this dilemma has yet to be settled.

ANOTHER EERY'S DOCUMENT. Buried among a pile of unsorted manuscripts in Hereford Public Library a seventeenth century Naval List* lias been discovered. Only one other of these lists is known, and this is m the British Museum. On the new discoverv, however, are ri number of pen anci ink annotions, apparently in the handwriting of Samuel Pepvs, the famous diarist, giving the commanders’ names to many of the ships listed,