From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 846, 14 December 1929, Page 23

From Many Lands

TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END.

FORTUNATE SMASH UNITES DIVORCED COUPLE An automobile accident in Indiana polis may spell a reunion for George Evans, his wife, and their two children Divorced a year ago, the couple met on a street corner recently. The city truck he drove took a wheel off her coupe, George heard a familiar voice. It was Mrs. Evans demanding damages. He pleaded. She relented. “George, how are the children?’* ••Fine. Come up and see them.’* The children like accidents better than divorce courts. “STRIPED DUSTMEN” LONDON SAFETY MEASURE Cleaning the streets of London it nigh* is sueh a dangerous job that the City Fathers have ordered the sweepers to wear white panels down the backs of their dark blue smocks. Motorists complain that the blue uniforms and black hats blended so perfectly, with tho murk and mist of the London night, that the men could not be seen, and the cleaners declared that they could not do their best work with the fear of being run over constantly haunting them. WESTERNISING TURKEY ARAB TONGUE BANNED Another of the new Turkey’s radical turnings from the East toward the West is Indicated by an order from the Kemali3t Government for the total suppression of all Turkish schools of languages which have been the bases of all Turkish literature. The courses will be replaced by courses in Latin and ancient Greek, on the ground that Western culture, with which Turkey is now to impregnate herself, i 3 based on these classic languages. Another Innovation will be the teaching of English in all schools as a part of the Government’s programme of Europeanising Turkish mentality. VALUABLE STAMPS £IO.OOO FOR COLLECTION The collecting of pre-cancelled stamps as a hobby does not appear, offhand, to possess particular merit as a means, of making money, but Fred Raff, of Chicago, has "cashed in” for £IO.OOO. Raff has passed much of his leisure In recent years in collecting the stamps, often buying them in large quantities and then carefully sorting them over, selecting frolu the batches certain stamps which, for some reason collectors know are worth fancy prices. Adolf Gunesch, a. dealer, paid Raff £IO,OOO for the collection. PRINCE TO PAY A DEALER’S MISTAKE A bill for £BO was included with a set of golf clubs which carne to the Prince of Wales as a “present” from Walter Hagen. The gift, but not the bill, was the outcome of the match between Hagen and the Prince at Sunningdale last May, when, to show his appreciation at having played with “the best sportsman he had ever met." Hagen offered to send a set of clubs and the Prince gladly accepted. ' * There was consternation among Hagen’s friends when they heard of the bill. From America he quickly cabled his apologies and his mystification over the incident to the Prince. It is believed that he ordered the clubs from Scottish manufacturers, who made a mistake in sending a bill. “HOT DOGS” AND TOAST NOVEL SLOT MACHINE It is only a short time since the novelty of the “Cafe de Move-on/* where one could get a piping hot toasted roll and grilled “hot dog” (smoked sausage) captivated the fancy of thousands of theatre-goers in Cape Town. But we progress. “Munching a hot frankfurter is to become a more sanitary pastime through the ingenuity of Alexander Flamm, of Fairfield, Connecticut, who has just been granted a patent on a frankfurt slot machine. The new machine will cook the frankfurter, toast the roll, season the meat, and send it out wrapped in paper, 15 minutes after a coin has been dropped in the slot, according to the inventor. “Mr. Flamm’s invention, on which he has worked live years, is controlled by electricity. The frankfurter is not touched by hands. Five hundred frankfurters and the same number of rolls may be placed in the machine ’* GIGANTIC ORGANISATION SECRET DRUG TRAFFIC Inquiries by the Vienna police in connection with the arrest of three heroin smugglers at Vienna last March have led to the discovery of a gigantic organisation for the drug traffic between Vienna and Asia. According to the newspaper “Stunde”, agents of the traffic state that the centre of the whole organisation is to be found in the entourage of a certain Oriental monarch. Two Polish brothers were detected shipping heroin to the value of £IOO,OOO, manufactured in Vienna, to Egypt, and through other channels heroin was sent to Switzerland, Alsace, Poland, and Germany. All these channels of the trade sink into insignificance, however, beside the traffic revealed throughout Asia. One of the principal agents there, a mysterious Japanese, with head quarters at Tokyo, has been traced as the travelling organiser, smuggling drugs to many European and Asiatic capitals.

DICKENS WAS INSURED VALUABLE “FIND" AT BATH A notable Dicken.a discovery has been made in Bath. Mr. H. G. Griffiths, of Julian Road, was turning over some papers from the estate of the late Mr. J. W. Tranter, a venerable Bath insurance agent, which he had bought for a trivial sum, when he found a declaration form for a life insurance policy for £I.OOO signed by the famous novelist. and dated February 9. 1838. Within a few hours he was offered £IOO for the document. NEVER TOO OLD AVIATION AT NINETY Miss F. L. Lucy, aged 93, has just made her first flight in an airplane. She enjoyed herself thoroughly. Her adventure was not known to her friends and relations, who were astonished when she returned to her home at Sea View, Isle of Wight, and told them: “1 wanted to fly, so I just went out to where people were being taken for short flights, paid my ss, and up we w'ent.” "People say it is dangerous, but there is nothing in it. I enjoyed the sensation, and would like to fly across the Channel to France,” said Miss Lucy. CRIMINAL’S RUSE AN ELECTRIC SPY While the New York grand jury was recently investigating charges of roguery and crime in connection with the Chicago elections, it was stated that the walls of the jury room had been tapped. By means of a special electrical device, people indicted, or fearing indictment, had been able to obtain a full report of the jury’s secret deliberations, and base their defence on the knowledge so obtained. THE WATER BABY FIJIAN MOTHER’S SWIM Escaping from a motor-car which had backed over a six-foot bank into a river, a Fijian woman swam ashore with her baby on her back. Onlookers thought that the baby was drowned. Its eyes were closed, but it was found to be asleep. It had slept through the immersion. UNIQUE RECORD HELD BY N.S.W. PRIEST Surely the Rev. Father John A. Roche, P.P. of Bombala, can claim a record. Recently, assisted by the Rev. Fathers A. Wogan and Bartby, he solemnised the marriage of his sister, Catherine Theresa Roche, with William Henry Goode, both residents of Paddington. He has now solemnised the marriages, with pre-nuptial masses, of his five sisters. KISSING BANNED PURITANISM IN CHINA The wave of Puritanism which has struck Hankow has resulted in the enactment of a new city law to the effect that "outdoor kissing,” even between husbands and wives, is a "crime.” and that those caught at such “immoral practices” shall be fined. The first victims have been Mr. and Mrs. Chen Chang-hang, a newly married pair. They were driving in an open carriage when a policeman saw Mr. Chen kiss his bride. Both were arrested. Mr. Chen was fined £5, and he and his wife were forced to furnish bondsmen who guaranteed that the newlyweds will not again offend the proprieties. The new morality crusade is also being directed against.many Americanmotion pictures, and an effort is being made to force the Russian girl dancers in the cabaret to wear more clothing DANCING MADE EASY A RISING FLOOR A dance floor that rises up to the level of the tops of the tables —at the touch of a button —was “opened” during the dinner and supper entertainments at the Savoy Hotel recently. It is said to be the only floor of its kind in the world. Measuring 44ft. by 25ft., it rises without a creak in 30 seconds by means of hydraulic power. Thousands of gallons of water from the four artesian wells below the Savoy are used. „ . The inventor is an Englishman who has been working on this device for six months. It has cost over £IO,OOO and was installed between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., so as not to interfere with the guests' comfort. WELL INFORMED—but not at own expense “Postmasters are asked to forward copies of our newspapers immediately to our subscribers after having read them, and not to circulate them first among their relatives and friends." The Bukarest paper “Czernowitzer Zeitung.” printed this moving appeal in its editorial column. It referred to a cheap and easy way of following the world's events, which is extremely popular in the Balkans, but unprofitable to newspapers. Budapest editors some years ago tried the device of mailing- newspapers closed so that they could not be read before delivery, but their endeavours were vain. Vienna coffee houses rubber-stamp their newspapers, “Stolen From Cafe So and So” to prevent their patrons from taking them home. But they take them home just the same. Small economies in this part of the world are generally effected at somebody s else’s expense.