LATE CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 April 1931, Page 6

LATE CABLE NEWS

barred from church. BODY OF SOLDIER SUICIDE. LONDON, April 3. A story has boon caused by the refusal of the vicar of Wivolsfield (Sussex), to permit the body of an ex-service man named Cottingham, who had committed suicide, to be brought into the parish church for a funeral service. The chairman of the local branch of the British Legion, Colonel Rust, declared that Cottingham was good enough to fight for his country, but not good enough to be taken into the church. The coroner, Dr. Hoare, described the vicar’s action as unchristian, but Mrs Henniker Gotley, the vicar’s wife, said her husband had merely obeyed the law of the church. SNAKE WORSHIPPERS. EXCAVATIONS IN CRETE. LONDON, April 3. The citizens of Knossos, an ancient city of Crete, flourishing 3000 years before’Christ* really did see snakes, says the Athens correspondent of “The Times.” A discovery in recent excavations described by Sir Arthur Evans, the noted archaeologist, was a room in a private house of the Minoan period, containing 40 vessels, and other objects devbted to the domestic snake cult. A snake table was arranged to accommodate four diners with snake tubes attached to little cups to .shelter the reptiles.- The worship of the snake goddess as the lady of the underworld, and the controller of earthquakes involved ceremonies with viperine snakes of a venomous character. CHINAMAN’S OATH. HIS SOUL WAS TOUGH. LONDON, April 3. A Chinese giving evidence in a Liverpool Court concluded with the Chinees oath, “If T do not speak the truth, may my soul be dashed into a thousand pieces, even as this saucer.” Simultaneously he threw the saucer to the floor, but it rebounded intact. Two further attempts failed; then the witness knelt and hammered it on the floor til! lie succeeded in reducing it to chips.

WAGES OF PATRIOTISM. EX-SOLDIER’S COMPLA TNT. LONDON, April 3. A poignant letter, left by the dead man, was read at the inquest at Burgess Hill. Sussex, on Frederick Herbert Cottingham, a disabled ex-service i mail. “Ten years after tbe war one is not regarded as a hero, but as lucky because he is drawing tlm disability pension,” the letter read. “One is re- . gar.cl.ed.as a.parasite, shunned as if be had the plague.” The widow said that her husband had been found shot at Lis home. He had fought throughout the war and had been passed twice. SOVIET METHODS. PROFESSOR DEGRADED. LONDON, April 3. Professor Armfield White, of the Russian Agricultural Academy at Minsk, has been formally degraded “for persistently excluding politics from bis scientific lectures.” says the Riga correspondent of “The Times.” A a climax to his “sabotage” be openly stated that physics bad nothing to do with polities, and that he did not wish to become a Communist. The authorities deprived him of the title of “Professor,” dismissed him from the Academy, and fo'rebnde him to occupy a post in any Soviet educational establishment. ADVICE TO THE KING. TR IS II FREEST AT E MIN IST Ell. LONDON, April 3. The Vice-President of the Irish Free State, Mr Blythe, in a statement concerning the visit by the Minister oi External Affairs, Mr MeGilllgnn. to the King states that this represented _nn important development of Dominion independence ns it was the first occasion on which a Dominion Minister has tendered advice direct to His Majesty, states the Dublin correspondent of “The Times.” As a result of the visit, future advice to the King would bo given directly by the Free State. All documents relating to Free State affairs are sealed by a special great seal, struck and kept at Dublin.

TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE. A NEW METHOD OF TESTING. LONDON. March 3. A suggestion made at a farmers meeting Skipton. in "Yorkshire, is to enlist help of X-rav in detecting tuberculosis iu dairy cattle. One of the members of the association said that if a small building equipped with the necessary apparatus for X-raying cattle could be provided at each auction malt, they would be able to examine vital places such as the lungs and detect the first suggestion of tubercular disease. Tbe question of cost would present a difficulty, but, he saw no reason why an experiment should not he made in a small way. Cows which passed through an X-ray examination successfully would demand a good price as grade A milk produceiv

BOY MARKSMEN

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST. CAPETOWN, April 3. Canadian boys, lor tbe second time in succession, won the King s tropby. shot under the auspices of the National Rifle Association, with a record score of 80.90. South Africa wa s second with 83.40. Britain got 08.85, New Zealand and Australia 03.10. The Senior Imperial Challenge Shield was won by the Abergavenny Company, Ist Monmouthshire*, with an average of 98.13. EMIGRANTS UNHAPPY. WEST AUSTRALIA’S CONDITIONS. LONDON. April 2. Inmates of the unemployment camp at Black boy. West Australia, in a letter to the “Manchester Guardian.” enclose' a petition, with 0-15 signatures, imploring to be repatriated. They point out that, despite the talk of Australia’s vast natural resources, the West Australian Government, after the depression, can offer (‘migrants nothing. Since the depression been me chronic two years ago, recent emigrants have had no chance. They should not have been permitted to land. They declare that the attitude of (he Government, the Press and a section of the public towards the camp is unsympathetic. Inmates of the camp aro deprived of citizenship, economically pauperised and morally degraded. Nine-tenths of them are British immigrants, many of whom aro former soldiers, who would willingly enlist, in the British Army which needs recruits, rather than submit to conditions which are those of Indian coolies.

They say that they were enroll raged to emigrate and were discharged when the need for their services ceased. The Agent-General of West Australia. Mr IV. C. Angwin. sympathetically replying to the complaints, admits that the. statements are substantially correct.

lie points out that the Government has been economically handicapped, hut is doing its best to relieve distress. He says that. West Australia's wheat and fruit areas exceed the size of England, while there is much land still .available.

Mr Angwin refers to his own experiences as a migrant, when Australians proved most helpful to him. and cites the case of an Englishman who returned to West Australia, who said that he preferred to return there alter experiencing conditions in (lie homeland. OCCASIONAL FLUTTER. CLERICS AT LOGGERHEADS. LONDON. April 3. The long-standing differences between the Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. Barnes, and the Anglo-Catholic rector of St. Aidan’s, Birmingham, Ret'. A. R. Yidler, have been revived by Dr. Raines’ condemnation of the action of the St. Aldan's verger, Mr Alvor Hunipliri.es. .in taking, a ticket in the Irish sweep, for which he drew Shaungoiliii, Rev. Vidler retorted: “It is unfair and hypocritical for ecclesiastical dignitaries to condemn a verger for a rare occasional flutter, when rich men whose wealth is the result of speculation are patronised by tbe t'burch.”

“BOBBY-LIGHTS.” FRENCH INNOVATION. LONDON. April 2. Once upon a time, it was suggested that the London traffic police should lie provided with rear red lights in the interests of their own safety, says the Paris correspondent of the “'NewsChronicle.” The idea was not: acted upon fhit the Paris police will shortly lie equipped with small electric lamps, attached to their helmets and connected with an accumulator carried at the waist, so that, when they are doing point duty at night, they may be clearly visible to motorists. The neat kept rap, which gave a dapperness to tile French, police, will he replaced Irv a dark blue helmet with a white border and hand.

ITALIAN IN ITALY. LINGUISTIC PROBLEMS. ROME. April 2. The Italian police are vigorously enforcing the decree forbidding the use of foreign languages in public places. Chemists have been ordered to affix Italian labels to all foreign drugs and soaps, hotels must use Italian for letter paper, billheads and menus, and hotel, hearing untranslatable names sneff" as York and Bristol have been ordered to re-named. Businesses using foreign words such as “tearooms” and “dancing” must employ the equivalent Italian phrase. Certain words such as “cocktail” present difficulties. An enterprising restaiiranteur confronts to the decree by inviting bis customers to drink “coda da gallo.” meaning “tail of a cock.” Sporting terms such as “golf” and “tennis” are puzzling the police. SWEEPSTAKE WEALTH. ITALIAN WINNER’S PLANS. LONDON. April 2. “Myself and my relations have shared in miseries. They -diall share in my good fortune” declared Emilio Seala. aged 45, who after lifelong penury and hard work as an ice-cream vendor an,l coffeehouse keeper in the poor district of Battersea, finds himself (be nessesi-. or of a fortune of £99,917. The sum consists of a quarter-share of the firsl prize in the Irish vweep on the Grand

National, plus £IO.OOO for which ho sold three parts of his ticket, and ,£l2Bl for drawing a horse. ■Seala’s luck in drawing a runner caused the greatest excitement in Battersea, where mounted and foot police were necessary to keep the crowd outside his shop in order during the race.

Interviewed by the London correspondent of the “Corriere Della Sera.” Sen la. said that he had already written to Signor Mussolini. "In this .greatest day of my life my lirsi thoughts turn to your Excellency, and the wonderlul way in which, with the aid of the Fasoismo. you are ruling my country,’ adding that, it is his intention to return to his birthplace, the little Southern Italian village Isola del Liri. where his 80-year-old parents reside.

“I have received Ihoiisamls of letters which I am not going to read, owing to tli ( ‘ magnitude of the I,ask,” lie said. “They will serve* as fire-lighters. Anion*; the few opened was an oiler by an American film company to invest in an Italian film, another offering a system of gambling for Monte Carlo. “I shall turn down both, lor I have plenty of use for my money in assisting my relations, including an invalid 50-year-old sister and an unemployed brother in Rome. I shall give a donation to the Italian hospital where my son was treated.’’,:.

Seala’s (9-year-old daughter has already received If) oilers ol marriage. His wife Was discovered by the correspondent washing the dishes. "Why are you doing that when your husband is rich?” he asked.. "I have been dishwashing all my lile, and cannot change now,” she replied. GUN-RUNNING GAME. RED SKA SEC REIS. PARIS, April 3. Captain llenri ,|e Moiil'rieil. the French Captain Kettle, is holidaying here from the Red Sea, where lie has spent 30 years in defiance of authority. He was twice imprisoned in the British military gaol, and was also arrested by bis compatriots. He is a lithe, bronzed, eagle-eyed man with a steel-grey moustache, a typical exponent of his own theory t.ha.t gun-running is a “free-for-all” game. He is also interested in the hashish trade. Once he attempted to annex the Farsan Islands for France, hill failed because lie was not supported. He possesses large eofi'ce and grain estates in Abyssinia. He is visiting Baris in order to place bis children at school, but says lie stifles here and intends to depart for Djibouti immediately.