From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 798, 19 October 1929, Page 19

From Many Lands

TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END.

A BOUNCING BABY fell twenty feet, unharmed Peter Rolph, aged ten months, of Church Kim Lane, Dagenham, Essex, fell 20ft from a bedroom window into the front garden. He was picked up unconscious, and was thought to be dead. A woman doctor was examining the child when he started to cry. He was found to be unhurt, and the only treatment needed was a sleeping draught. TESTS FOR TRUNCHEONS •‘OTHER PEOPLE’S HEADS” During a case at Epsom, Surrey, it was stated that when a constable struck on the head a man who attacked him his truncheon broke. Inspector Bright said that dry rot had settled in the -wood. A policeman could always exchange his truncheon. The Chairman: The only chance of testing them appears to be on other people’s heads. LONELY TRAPPERS WIRELESS IN POLAR REGIONS For the benefit of trappers in Polar regions, the Soviet Government is planning the erection of a short-wave station at Turukhansk, Siberia, on the edge of the Arctic circle. The transmissions will include news bulletins and weather reports. SELLING A TOWN 2/8 BID FOR COTTAGE! Half-a-crown was bid for one cottage when the town of St. Blazey, near St. Austell, Cornwall, was offered at auction. Many other cottages w ere withdrawn from the sale at £25 each. The highest price paid for a private house was £SOO. The Pack Horse, an ancient inn, let at £75, was sold for £2,000. The old town hall, formerly a wool factory, now a cinema, was withdrawn at £l,lOO. Forty-one lots realised £8,890. There were no bids for 78 lots.

FEIGNED DEATH AND AVOIDED ACTUALITY C. -Hughes, of Vancouver, engineer in charge for the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, at Octsa Lake district, is lying in Burns Lake Hospital suffering from a severe mauling from a grizzly bear. He has lost one fingei, one side of his face is badly chewed, and he is bruised on the back and legs. He owes his life to having feigned death. The grizzly picked him up, threw him down, and then left him for dead. AFTER 20 YEARS FATHER AND DAUGHTER MEET Sylvester J. Herrington, of Metz, received a letter a few days ago from his daughter. Miss Margaret Severance, of Kansas. The daughter and father had been lost to each other for 20 years. When she was six years old the daughter was adopted by a family named Severance and went to Kansas to live. Sixteen years ago the report reached her that her father was dead. Herrington invented a life-saving device for ships and recently made a deal with an Eastern firm which has netted him a large sum. The newspapers gave the matter a good deal of publicity and the daughter learned of her father’s whereabouts through published articles. CABS RAIDED TALKING DID NOT PAY While 70 Red Cab drivers argued between locked doors at a special meeting in St. David's Hall, Arthur Street, Surrey Hills, Sydney, their 70 cabs, lined up outside, were raided by 200 children. Boys and girls climbed into the cabs through the windows, donned the red-banded caps of the drivers, and honked imaginary pedestrians out of their way to the accompaniment of cheering and yelling. They pulled down curtains, turned on meters, moved everything movable and in some cases let petrol run on to the road. But the cabmen heard nothing—they were too busy discussing the purchase of giant Red Cabs for the spring races. EVEN IN DEATH . . . RECORD SPOILT BY MOSQUITO Even in death a mosquito can be a pest. One of the biggest motor firms in Brisbane has discovered this to its cost. It had a Whippet four on the road attempting the world’s endurance engine non-stop record—l,oos. With more than half the hours behind it, and the engine behaving like a perfect lady, the car suddenly stopped. Why, was a mystery. Only when all the seals had been broken and the bonnet opened by R.A.C.A. officials —they were supervising the run —was the cause of the stoppage discovered. A large mosquito of the iniquitous Scotch grey type, had become wedged into the vent hole at the top of the vacuum tank and as a result the flow of fuel to the carburettor was stopped. Official report by the R.A.C.A. was to the effect that “the car proved to be in perfect order, thus providing definite evidence that the obstruction in the air vent of the vacuum tank was the only reason for the stoppage of the engine.” The Whippet went out on the road after the record again.

“WHERE’S DE LIGHT?” SWEDE'S LITTLE PROBLEM When Charlie Moberg, a Swede, fell into the harbour from a lighter near the Oceanic Wharf, Circular Quay, he carried a hurricane lamp. When he came to the surface he breathlessly exclaimed, “Where’s de light?” It was his only worry. It cost 2s 6d. STRANGE MISHAP CATERPILLAR CAUSES DEATH ' While Mrs. Savage, of Runcorn, j was being driven home by her j daughter from a holiday at Torquay j she saw a caterpillar on her dress, and j opened the door of the motor-car with j the intention of throwing the cater- j pillar out. In doing this she overbalanced and fell in the road. Her daughter j placed her back in the car, severely j injured, and drove her to hospital, j where she died after an operation. j FATHER OF 22 SONS CAN'T AFFORD TO SMOKE Mr. William Robinson, of Truman Street, Nottingham, has registered the birth of his thirtieth child. He has 17 living, of whom three, are married and five are of school age. Twenty-four were by his first wife and six by his second. Twenty-two have been boys and eight girls. Mr. Robinson is a builder’s labourer aged 61. He joined the Army with two of his sons at the outbreak of war and served in the R.A.S.C. till he was invalided out after a gas attack. He has an Army pension of £2 6s a week. He said recently. “I couldn’t keep such a big family if I were not a strict teetotaller and non-smoker. I am happy and never worry.” He used to play professional football for Nottingham Forest. RECOVERED SPEECH AND BURST INTO SONG Sudden shock brought about by jumping to avoid a motor-cycle restored the power of speech to James Richardson, a disabled ex-service man, at Durham. He was on Frammellgate Bridge at the time and in his leap for safety he struck the parapet. “That was a nigh ’un,” he exclainmed. These were the first words he had uttered for over 11 years. Richardson’s war disabilities, including paralysis of the right side, loss of speech and partial deafness, resulted when a shell burst near him at Arras. One of his first acts when he recovered his speech was to sing his favourite ditties. “NOT A CRIME” REFUSAL TO PROSECUTE

A curious situation arose recently at Willesden Police Court. A chaf-ij feur, Ernest Kelly, was charged with' stealing the car of his employer, Mr. B. Leapman, of The Avenue, Brondesbury. Kelly was alleged to have gone to Peterborough, where he was arrested in the car. A detective stated that Mr. Leapman refused to prosecute. He said it was useless, as “it had been held that car stealing was not a crime.” Magistrate: I shall issue a summons against him to appear, and if he fails to do so he will be arrested. JUNE AND JEAN SEASIDE SWINDLES BY GIRLS June and Jean, two smartly dressed girls with frank, laughing faces and new leather travelling bags, have been victimising seaside landladies in England. They have been down the east coast with their smiles and their hags living rent free and enjoying all the amenities of the seaside resorts. This is their method. June and Jean arrive at a town and seek the best boarding houses. They book rooms at one and have their bags sent from the station. They stay for four or five days, meet several young men who are on holidays, and, at their expense, enjoy the fun which the place has to offer. Then they disappear. The luckless landlady finds the beds empty, the girls flown, and their luggage gone. June and Jean are now trying the south coast. They recently arrived at Southsea —«nd disappeared in their usual manner. REPENTANT BURGLAR TELEPHONE CALL TO POLICE The police of the third district of Vienna received an early morning telephone message recently to the effect that a burglar was at work in a fashionable shop of the “Innere Stadt." The clerk replied that his office was not competent to deal with the matter, and advised the caller to inform the police of the “Innere Stadt.”

It was the burglar himself who rang up the police. He had heard noises in the house and was afraid of being discovered. He subsequentiv called up the office of the “Innere Stadt,” but was again informed that another office was responsible for the street in which that shop was situated. The patient man went to the trouble of ringing up the third police office, introducing himself in the following manner: “A burglar speaking! lam just at the shop So-and-So. Please come at once. 1 will wait for you at the door.” At last a little band of police arrived at the place and rang the bell. When the door was opened the burglar almost flew into their arms. He said ho had repented of his intentions At the trial his counsel pleaded for his discharge, since he was only 23 years of age, but the court sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment.