From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

From Many Lands

tabloid reading for the week-end.

PHARAOH IN WIG STRANGE FIND AT LUXOR The Austrian archaeological expedition 'O Lower Egypt reports that it I,'as found near Luxor the grave of a sixth dynasty ruler who wore a wig. At least a statue of the old Pharoah, who bore the name of Scheschemnefer, shows him adorned with false hair, something previously unknown among Egyptians of that period. The figure was one of four which, jn pairs, flanked the massive sarcophagus. Near each statue, the archaeologists report, there were three obelisks. The scientists have reported that they found a whole line of graves of the period of the Mycerenus pharoahs. who ruled the land of the Nile for 600 years. "THE BLONDE LADY” SECRET SERVICE AGENT A woman de'scribed as Germany's cleverest war-time spy and known as the “Blonde Lady of Antwerp” has been admitted to a Berlin lunatic asylum, according to a message to “Le Journal.” She was also known to the French Secret Service as "Mile, le Docteur,” and to the British as “Mrs. Captain Heinrichsen.” The woman was of remarkable beauty, and was the cause of more than 300 spies in the pay of the German Secret Service being shot. One night she was attempting to cross the Swiss frontier from France ■when she was questioned by a French soldier and two Customs officials. She shot them and escaped across the frontier. She appointed hundreds of agents who, without knowing it, were watched by others she had appointed. "DEAD MARINES” CHARTING THE CURRENTS Nearly 500 whisky bottles are thrown overboard daily by British ships sailing the seven seas. The practice has nothing to do with liquor, and the contents of the bottles are the driest things imaginable. In each is a small paper issued by the meteorological office of the British Air Ministry. The finder is not rewarded, but if he forwards the contents of the bottle to London his postage is refunded. And many of the papers come back, for the objective is purely scientific, to chart the courses of ocean currents. Each paper records the position of the vessel from which the bottle is cast into the waves. HER 200 DESCENDANTS OLDEST LIVING AUSTRALIAN? Born in Goulburn on March 17, 1527, “Granny” Smith, 102, of Park Street, Burrowa, claims to be the oldest living Australian-bo|i subject. She is still active and very cheery, and can read the newspapers without the aid of glasses. Her memory is perfectly clear, and she can tell of many stirring incidentsof SO years ago.

Ben Hall and Gilbert, well-known bushrangers, once breakfasted with her, and Hume and Hovell, famous explorers, were counted among her friends.

John Bowering, her father, came to Australia with liis wife, but no family, from Dorsetshire, England, a few years before she was born. Mrs. Smith claims well over 200 descendants, and lately has become a great-great-great-graudmother. “Thousands of people celebrate my birthday,” she says, “but that is because It is on St. Patrick’s Day.” COCAINE SMUGGLERS TRAPPED EXCITING CHASE AT CALCUTTA Cocaine valued at £15,000 was seized, after dramatic events in which wireless played Its part, in Calcutta Port recently. A radio message had flashed from the 10,000-ton liner Talma, of Glasgow, arriving from China. A port tug rushed at full steam on a six miles dash to the open water and arrested seven occupants of a river boat who had been seen acting suspiciously by the captain of the Talma. As the tug approached, the smugglers were seen to throw rubber bags overboard. The leader of the cocaine smugglers escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. The rubber bags when fished out w ere found to contain cocaine to the value of £15,000. This is one of the biggest hauls ever taken on the river. TO 0. KHAYYAM, ESQ. Tax OFFICIAL’S BLUNDER Amusing lapses by income tax authorities were related by Mr. Allen Lane, a director of John Lane. The Bodley Head. Ltd., in a lecture in London. have, to my knowledge, during the past ten years, received two applications for assessments, one addressed to Mr. W. Shakespeare and the other to O. Khayyam, Esq.,” he said. Two authors of “thrillers” started for a bet. One was E. C. Bentle>'> whose novel. “Trent’s Last Case,” J'as written as the result of a wager ‘aid by G. K. Chesterton, and the °ther was Mrs. Agatha Christie, who “The Mysterious Affair at W for a bet of £IOO. Mr. Arnold Bennett. while in - merica, was inundated with requests for his autograph on copies of his books. A queue was formed. One man. having got his hook signed, taxied *ome and returned with another. Mr. hennett signed, and the man went home for a third. tk r " now a littje tired, asked he man his name, and then wrote. To Mr. from his now old friend, Arnold Bennett.”

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT! FLYING EIGHT MILES HIGH In no aspect of the world race for ■anciaft of greater speed, range, and wer * s rivall *y now keener than in , the ceaseless striving to fly higher and higher above the surface of the earth. The lighting airman, rushing up to n . a^ r * a l duel in a great mechanical ; hird of steel, must depend largely | for his victory—as do the real fight- | in S birds—on out-soaring and out- : climbing his adversary. bo, by secret work in laboratory and workshop, scientists and designers are endeavouring to increase by thousands of feet the “ceiling,” as it is called, or height limit of airplanes. What are contemplated are great streamlined machines of metal which, rushing up till they »are six, seven or eight miles high, may whirl above the Atlantic at such speeds that a flight between Europe and America i will be accomplished in not more than 12 or 15 hours. HUMANE AIRMAN RELEASES CAGED BIRDS Who is the famous airman ■who buys birds from London fanciers, takes them into the country and gives them their freedom? Addressing a gathering of sportsmen in Hackney, Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Mallinson told how he met this airman in Keii£. The airman had a basket and was induced, after close questioning, to tell of his practice of purchasing the freedom of birds which he saw in London shops. He released them in the lanes of Kent, and had built shelters for some of them under the eaves of his house. Colonel Mallinson refused to dis close the bivd lover’s name. “GRIM FACTS OF LIFE” LORD BUCKMASTER’S PROTEST In moving that his Bill to make marriages under 16 void he again submitted to the House of Lords in Commitee. Lord Buckmaster —an ex-Lord Chancellor —vigorously attacked Lord Hanworth, the Master of the Rolls. Lord Hanworth, he complained, had stated that he had placed before the House matters that were “nauseating, morbid and horrible.” “It is unfortunate,” protested Lord Buckmaster, warmly, “that the facts of life are harsh and grim, and that I cannot make them delicate and rare to suit the noble lord; nor will I ever consent to deal with them before your lordships’ House in terms and lam guage that might be well fitted to the junior class at Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies in Chiswick Mall.” [This is the school at which Becky Sharpe was a teacher in “Vanity Fair.”] Lord Darling moved that the Bill be sent to a Select Committee, so that all interests might be heard on its proposals. and Lord Davidson agreed. Lord Buckmaster said that this would kill the Bill, but the House adopted Lord Darling’s proposal by 37 votes to 29. A FAMOUS COURT FOR BOYS AND MASTERS There exists in the City of London a Court of Justice unknown to the general public, which is never allowed within its doors. Even counsel and solicitors are rigidly excluded. It is the Chamberlain’s Court, a small but beautifully decorated chamber in the Guildhall. In this court the Chamberlain sits to adjudicate upon disputes between apprentices bound by any of the Livery companies and their masters. He has power to compel the latter to carry out their obligations, and he can also commit disobedient apprentices to the Bridewell for a month. The Bridewell was not —as is generally supposed—swept away with the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons. It is still maintained by the City in New Bridge Street, and there is a beadle whose chief duty, it would seem, is still to keep ready the cells against a sudden uprising of city ’prentices. The City Chamberlain derives his powers from mediaeval times, and they are greater than those possessed by the Aldermen —the city magistrates

10,000,000 MEALS ARMY OF “FOOD DETECTIVES” A white-smocked force of over 90 detectives, housed in a great building of spotless cleanliness, is keeping a guard on 10,000,000 meals every week. They are the laboratory staff of Messrs. J. Lyons and Co., Ltd., engaged daily in checking, analysing and testing samples of everything the firm uses—from the penny roll sold in teashops to the cement used in building construction. The laboratories in Hammersmith Road, opposite Cadby Hall, have am mg \ the staff eight to ten fully qualified | women chemists. Every bench is fitted with electricity, steam, cold and hot water, gas. I vacuum and compressed air. I The chemist can enter the factories j and kitchens and take samples of food lin any stage of manufacture. He can i experimentally make his own bread and make his own jam; he can prepare ; chocolate and boiled sweets —model i nlant is at hand for the purpose. He i can control the preparation of food. This development of the application 1 of science in industry is a product of the war. How it has grown is shown in the case of Lyons by the fact that in 1919 the laboratory staff consisted of a chief chemist, an assistant, a junior and a clerk. SAVED HIS OWN LIFE A CUT-THROAT CURE A dock foreman who was found in \ a shed in Copenhagen with his throat cut explained that while eating his supper he found himself choking, a ! crust or large crumb being in his throat. . . I i n the absence of assistance he cut ! his throat where he felt the obstrucI tion with h pocket knife. Hospital doctors describe the opera- | tion as being remarkably well done. . and state that the man undoubtedly I saved his own life-