LATE CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 May 1931, Page 7

LATE CABLE NEWS

“LAND ON SIXPENCE.” MERITS OF THE AUTOGYRO. LONDON, May 8. “f am certainly none the worse foi the adventure,” laughed Lord Stonehaven, commenting on lu's descent into a French swamp, when Hying in Hit “windmill” autogyro ’plane. “On the the contrary the so-called forced landing was a. tribute to a remarkable machine. 1 would not have left Brussels in an ordinary aeroplane owing to the heavy mist. Knowing, however, that the autogyro is able to land almost on a sixpence, I decided to chance it. When the fog became too dense, we landed perfectly in a swampy meadow, a. lent which would have been impossible for an ordinary ’plane.” Lord Stonehaven considers that the autogyro ought to be very useful in Australia, where small clearings and the roads are often the only landing places.

CRICKETER DIVORCED

LYON OF GLOUCESTER. LONDON, May 8. Edith Ralston Hicks Lyon (nee Huxtable), of Leighton Buzzard, has secured a decree nisi from her husband, Beverley Lyon, the Gloucestershire cricket captain, on the ground of miscorn duct, The suit was undefended, The parlies were married in 1920. Petitioner was bqrn in Australia and met Lyon there, They came to England on the same ship, and became engaged, Mrs Lyon said that her husband’s manner altered after a trip to America, and they had not lived together .since January, 1930. Petitioner was granted the custody of the child, and costs.

COURT’S FREE SHOW

BLINDFOLD STABBING TRICK

•j LONDON, May 8. Tn the King’s Bench Division Rupert Howard claimed damages from Douglas Dexter for slander. It was alleged that Dexter said Howard had stolen a trick —the blindfold stalbbing trick—i'i-oni him, and that he (Howard) was “the biggest swindler” he had ever met. This was at a performance before the “Magic Circle,” an association of conjurers. While in the witness box Howard performed the trick for the edification of the judge. The case was adjourned.

IRELAND’S AFFAIRS

CONDITIONS IMPROVING. LONDON, May 8. Amid all the difficulties being experienced by the British Dominions and the world at large, the Irish Free State is able to announce that its affairs are definitely improving, An interesting recent development, promising a hopeful future, is the fixing of the income tax standard at two thirds that of Britain’s, which is resulting in increasing migration to the Free State, particularly of landowners, who also find rents much lower, Migrants are able, by registering as permanent residents, to become Dominion citizens, free from all British laws, yet they can reach London overnight,

CRASH IN FOG

AIRMEN KILLED IN CALIFORNIA. LOS ANGELES, May 8. Art. Starbuck and Charles Parmelec, veteran air pilots in the mail service, were killed when their plane crashed on a mountainside in a fog nine miles from Burbank, California. At IU o'clock at night the ’plane left San Diego for Los Angeles, and encountering fog went to Burbank, the airmen hoping to land there.-’ At midnight officials heard the drone of the motors, and exchanged radio message with Starbuck, who said they were 2500 ft overhead, but unable to find a landing field. Scout ’planes ascended at daylight and located the wreckage. The bodies of Starbuck and Parmelee were found Both must have been killed instantly tlie crash, occurred.