From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 23

From Many Lands

■ TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END

centenarian churchman OLDEST CLERGYMAN IN BRITAIN Tie lie'’. Denham Rowe Norman, iibo*is believed to be the oldest clergyman in England, has celebrated his lOl* birthday at All Saints Vicarage. Emncote, Warwick. Mtr- Norman lives with his son-in-laF.Canon J. H. Beibitz, anri members of the family attended a birthday luntbeon there. Mir. Norman does not now go out except! i“ the summer, but he takes an actiye interest in current affairs. He bas been a clergyman for 74 years. HIT ON THE NOSE A CURE FOR LOST MEMORY barest suggested cup-e for lost memories is a punch on *he nose. It was tried out qjiite unintentionally in a London hospital when a victim whose mind was a blank suddenly had understanding restored to him when he came out second best in a light with another patient. One violent blow on the nose succeeded in elfeattng a cure when months of expert medical treatment had failed. As a result, it has been suggested that a boxing match should be arranged between a hard-hitting pugilist and an inmate of a Belfast asylum, ■who was pricked up over a year ago, wandering in the streets, and has been unable to remember anything about himself. POLICEMAN’S "BEST SELLER” A HANDBOOK ON SUMMONSES It is not every author who can claim to have sojd over 35.000 copies of a book running into five editions. This is the experience of Sergt. Hopker, of the Metropolitan Police, whose “Summons Headings Useful to Police” ha*> just appeared in a new and revises! edition. Sergt. Hopker's little book may be found in the pocket of nearly every policeman in London. Before the war the sergeant drafted for the use of his students a list of summons headings In most constant use. The draft was hectographed. but the series proved so useful that It was printed and 5,000 copies sold. More and more demands for the hook appeared, and up to the present 38,000 copies have been sold. There are now 2SS summons headings with which a policeman needs to be acquainted, and Sergt. Hopker presented his colleagues with them all at only eightpence for the lot. THROAT BLESSING THE FEAST OF ST. BLAISE The ancient ceremony of the blessing of the throat was observed in the Homan Catholic Church of St. Etheldreda, Ely Place, Holborn, E.C., recently. About 1,000 men, women and children, kneeling 20 at a time at the altar stepe, received the blessing from Father Bernard Roe. the rector. This mediaeval custom is associated with the Feast of SL Blaise, patron saint of woolcombers. According to legend, St. Blaise had his flesh torn with a woolcomber’s iron comb wheu, in 316, he suffered martyrdom. On his way to his death he saw a boy choking with a fish-bone. He touched the child’s throat., tho bone was disloged, and the boy’s life saved. Father Roe said to a “Daily Mail” reporter that mauy of the most firm believers in the ceremony were City business men. “Actors and singers,” he said, “also place great faith in the blessing, which is intended to be not only curative but preventive. Mauy people seek it who are not suffering from any throat malady.” ’ DANDIES NOT POPULAR PERSIA’S CLOTHING EDICTS Details have now been published of the new regulations prescribed by Parliament for a universal style of clothing throughout Persia, which are now being enforced. -Ml men except clergy and high judicial officials must adopt the Western *tyle of short jacket aud trousers; Pny form of overcoat may be worn while travelling. Drivers, blacksmiths, and "hunters” Way choose their own headgear wheu at work, but for others —save the exceptions mentioned—the new pahtcvi hat will be compulsory. It is a Peaked affair made of cardboard with cloth, and a heavy shower causes it to collapse like a fatigued accordion. Hatters are jubilant. The public are warned that their hats must be of a quiet shade; the Persian youth who ventures on headgear of a vivid colour may find himself in a dark cell. BLIND MAN’S ENTERPRISE i WORKING AT AGE OF S 4. Although he is blind and SI years ®‘ < L Mr. William Cook, of Chichester Hoad, Kilburn, London, goes daily to "ork and thinks life "not at all bad.” He walks alone to and from his work, which is at the London School for the Blind—nearly a mile from his uOQ3f\ I have been sightless since I was Jour,*’ be said in an interview. “At jae age of 11 I was working in Brisfrom 7 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. In my S s are t * me * managed to acquire some e aucation. Four years later I was apprenticed to a basket maker at Oxlord, from whom I learnt epiough to Enable me to open my own business. now a qualified craftsm«m at tlie *<*hool. At home I have a dozen rtaicken runs, which I made myself, I feed my own fowls. Once I an open-air occupation — tree- j Tiling in British Columbia- They J'pre great times out there, although 1 did not think so then. I couldn't i those forest giants crash to earth, 1 hearfl them.” Mr. Cook has eight children, some j them married, but they all pay him 1 Hftular visits.

“SAVE THE FORESTS” ALARM FELT IN CANADA. A "Save the Forests” movement has arisen in Canada. So extensive has been the lumbering and disposal of timber in tho Dominion that a conference of all the Premiers of the Canadian provinces is suggested to find ways and means of preserving the forests. One expert advises discontinuance of the sending of settlers out to clear the wooded lands. “We have already cleared too much land in Canada for farming,” he says. "There is a surplus of farm products.” He adds that the paper-pulp making industry “is grinding up a raw materia! that is on the verge of exhaustion.” MESSAGE-BOY’S CAR PERTH CLAIMS A RECORD Perth has probably the only messenger boy in Australia who goes for the mail in his own car. His name is Bert Read, and he is employed at the Defence Department. Ordinary bicycles are usually associated with messenger boys, but in these modern days even the lads are looking for faster and more convenient transport. Hence young Bert's car. His stepfather gave it to him. He does not see why a man with a car should not use it, so he drives up to the G.P.O. every morning. Other messengers look enviously as they pedal their traditional machines. CANNIBAL SNAKE 3? VICTIM RESCUED FROM MAW There was an exciting scene in the reptile house at the London Zoo, when a Oft Corais snake swallowed another sft 2in long. The victim was rescued without having suffered any. harm. Both snakes seized a dead rat which had been placed in the cage as food. Wheu their snouts met, the one with the larger gape seized the other, and being unable to relax its hold, carried on until it had engulfed its rival save for a few inches of the tip of its tail. Keeper Budd, noticing what had happened, fetched a paper knife and promptly prised open the jaws of the swallowing snake. The victim was then hauled out of the gullet without difficulty. As the teeth of snakes curve inwards, the reptiles have great difficulty in relinquishing hold of prey which has once been gripped by the jaws SECRET COCKPIT CURIOUS FIND BY WORKMEN While engaged in demolition work on the old Bush Hotel, Dudley (Wores.), workmen discovered what had been a secret cock-fighting pit at the rear of the building, entrance to which could only be made through a hinged panel in the floor. The pens for Harbouring fighting cocks still remained, and dark stains on the floor gave evidence of fierce battles in tbe past between spurred champions. The former proprietors of the hotel were entirely ignorant of the existence of such a pit on their premises, although, of course, it was generally known that in the old days cock fighting and pugilism were carried on at this famous old coaching house. LONELY STRAPHANGER BACKWOODSMAN KEEPS IN TOUCH! An ingenious method adopted by a Briton in a lonely outpost of the Empire to keep in touch with English life and customs was revealed by the Rev. P. Stacy Waddy in a luncheon talk before the London Missionary Society. He said that in a log hut in the backwoods of Canada he noticed a leather strap hanging from one of the beams. “When I asked the settler what it was for, he continued, he said that every morning at 8 o'clock and every evening at 6 he luing on the strap for 20 minutes to refresh his memory of home habits.” “FORGED” FOR ROYALTY SOME INTERESTING STAMPS Two Euglish penny stamps were sold for £43 at Harman’s Bond Street auction rooms. These stamps were printed for four young Royal collectors. King Edward VII. (then Prince of Wales), the Duke of Connaught, the Gorman Emperor, and Princess Clementine of Belgium. They were Government "forgeries.” The post office had no specimens of the English black penny stamp so they used a plate of the; red penny to produce them. The stamps were printed on the wrong paper, with the watermark upside down and presented to the young philatelists with a sheet of 240 each. It was from one of these sheets that the pair sold came. CLAD IN THE NEWS A NEW NOTE IN SUITINGS. James Cavanaugh burst into the news on a recent evening wearing nothing but early editions. Cavanaugh was robbed by four men who took his money and all his clothes, leaving him in a predicament. He dashed into a dark alley, stopping ever and anon to snatch up vagrant newspapers. Thus attired, he went home. But there he had no more clothing. s 6 he snatched up a sheet, and after the manner of a Roman senator, set forth to the police station. On the way, whom should he sea but the robbers. They guffawed as ' he passed. He did not deign to notice ' but the police subsequently ar- ! rested two men, one of whom was wearing Cavanaugh's socks, and the other his shirt. Other articles of the wardrobe adorned their two companions