From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 857, 28 December 1929, Page 19

From Many Lands

tabloid reading for the week-end.

CHANGED 300 LOCKS i

BECAUSE MAN STOLE ONE William Wilson, aged 17, was at Bristol sent to gaol for three months for stealing a lock, the property of the Postmaster-General. It was stated that men who were repairing a telephone kiosk placed the lock of a cash box on the footpath. The lock disappeared and it was necessary to fit new locks on the whole of the 300 kiosks in Bristol. A BLOW FOR ACTORS SOVIET BANS PUBLICITY "Publicity may flatter the artist, but it is a menace to art," said the Soviet Commissariat of Education in a statement when it placed a ban on publicity for actors, singers, pianists and even lecturers. Henceforth no Soviet newspaper will be allowed to apply to individual artists in reviews or in any notices such complimentary adjectives as "talented,” "famous” and "well known.” The same order prohibits any fulsome wording of posters and advertisements. The instructions have been issued to all editors in the country and also to the censorship branches. MATCH WORKERS ALARMED TOO MANY AUTOMATIC LIGHTERS Match factory workers in Cuba have initiated a vigorous campaign against automatic cigarette lighters, claiming the popularity of the device is seriously threatening their means of livelihood. More than 2,000 women are employed in this industry in Cuba. GEM HUNTERS i RICHES OF UPPER BURMA Fortune continues to favour the native gem hunters of Mogok in Upper Burma, who have discovered a spinel of record size, weighing 58 carats, but have sold it for 5,000 rupees (£300). It is statetd that this spinel, unlike the great spinel in the British crown, which was long supposed to be a ruby, is of a fine red colour. A sapphire and a ruby of unusual size were recently discovered, and fetched more than a lakh and a-half and one lakh, respectively (a lakh of rupees is about £7,300). PIGEON AS POSTMAN AND CHURCH AS POST OFFICE Mr. J. Palastanga, the verger at the garrison church of Holy Trinity, Windsor, has trained a pigeon to take home messages to his wife during the morning services. Mr. Palastanga, who was a machinegunner in the 2nd Life Guards during the war, said that the pigeon was hatched in the tower of Trinity Church, and he began to train it when it could fly. He stated: “I take it with me to church in a little basket, and when I have learned the rector's instructions for the services I send a message to my wife as to the time she may expect me to dinner. DEPORTED 14 TIMES A WANDERER FROM SPAIN "He has been expelled from this country 14 times,” said Detective McCarthy, when-Jose aged 42, a Spaniard, was charged at a London Police Court with being ip the United Kingdom while an order for deportation was in force against him. It was stated that he had been charged many times, usually with begging. Last April he was sent to Spain, but he returned in August. The magistrate passed sentence of one day’s imprisonment and recommended Jiminez for deportation. Detective McCarthy: He will come back by the next boat, I expect. COFFIN IN BELFRY STRANGE FIND BY WORKMEN Mystery surrounded the finding of a small elm coffin in ihe belfry of the old parish church at Thatcham, England. In the coffin was the body of a baby. Experts suggest that the coffin and its tiny tenant have been in the belfry, from which the sweet-toned bells have all the time been sending their music over the quiet evening air, for _pver 15 years. It might well have remained undisturbed for many years more had not workmen ascended recently to carry out repairs. SACRED BABOON AND A LOVING PARENT

A baby Sacred Baboon has been born at the I,ondon Zoo and is to be seen on Monkey Hill.

For some eight or nine months—if it lives as long—it will cling like a leech to its mother. Despite its tiny size and the number of baboon? on the rocks, it is easily seen, as, unlike tbe grey-brown adults, it is jet black, except for its piuk face. The father is a paragon parent; he guards his mate so jealously that he follows her like a shadow, never associating with the other baboons. With the huge ashen-grey mantle which characterises the adult male, he is as unlike his dowdy mate as the baby is unlike either.

Should another male come too close a terrific fight ensues, which may involve the whole troop. in these squabbles baby baboons are often killed, and should one be torn away from the mother she is prone to forsake it.

Only one previous baby of the kind has lived to celebrate its first birthday at the Zoo, and this is now able to fend tor itself.

TAXI-MAN'S SMARTNESS

CAPTURES WOULD-BE ROBBER ] "Drive me to a quiet spot where I can rob this man,” said a taxi pasI senger to a driver in Melbourne rej cently. ' J The driver took him to the nearest | police station, where the would-be robber was arrested and charged. UNROMANTIC BENCH REFUSES BAIL TO MARRY George Stanley and Arthur Stanley brothers, of no fixed abode, when charged at Mortlake, Surrey, with breaking into a house at Sutton and stealing jewellery, asked for bail so that a double wedding arranged for the next week could take place. Two young women broke down when the Bench refused.

FIGHT FOR TREASURE LOCKED IN SEA A desperate fight against time is being made at Tobermory (Argyllshire) in the search for treasure, believed to be worth in the sunken galleon Florencia, of the Spanish Armada. Only a few weeks remain for the task to be completed as the diving rights expire shortly. The rights are held by Colonel Kenneth Foss, who for 17 years has been striving to wrest the treasure from the lonely waters of Tobermory Bay. He believes that at last the wreck has been located, and expert divers are working at top speed to penetrate the six feet of clay under which the galleon is supposed to be. EX-PRISONER MAKES GOOD EARNS £1,500 A YEAR An ex-prisoner, who once held a good position as a secretary, began life again as a clerk at 50s a week when he left prison. He is now, after some years, earning £1,500 a year. This is one of the striking facts revealed in the annual report of the Central Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society, presented at a meeting of the society held at Sir Philip Sassoon’s house, in 25 Park Lane, London. “For the second time in has career,” says the report, “the secretary has acted as best man at a discharged prisoner’s wedding, after an interval of some 25 years. If the second is as satisfactory as the first his heart will rejoice, for the first bridegroom attained a salaried position of £I,OOO a year.” PLAINTIFF REPENTS TO MARRY DEFENDANT > When applying at an English County Court for a committal order against a servant girl a Great Kimble railway porter told Judge Randolph that he did not want to send the girl to prison. He would sooner go himself. The porter added that since judgment had been obtained he had walked out with the girl, and they had agreed to marry. It was explained that the girl bought a cycle from the porter for £l2, and sold it for £3 10s. After the applicant had agreed to accept a reduced amount, the judge remarked: "If you don’t want the girl committed to prison, don’t take out summonses and waste your sixpences.” RURAL VISITOR’S MISTAKE BUT POLICE AND FIREMEN HELP William Hughes, 81, wanted to mail a letter and —with the assistance of the fire and police departments—did. The»old gentleman arrived in Washington from Exeter, N.H., one Thursday night. He wrote a letter and looked for a mail-box. * The only thing he found that looked at all like a receptable for letters, was one of those red boxes i on a post. He opened the door, but still found no solution for his problem. Then he pulled down the hook to see if that would help. To the firemen he apologised and hoped he had caused no one “any inconvenience.” The chief of the police department mailed the letter for him. DOG SAVES MASTER SWIMS RIVER FOR HELP Andrew Synitski, a young man, after injuring himself accidentally while hunting, realised that he could not reach the nearest trapper’s cabin without assistance, scribbled a note and fastened it to the collar of his dog. He then ordered the dog to go to a neighbouring settler’s cabin. It carried the message three miles, swimming a river on the way, to the settler, who, with the dog leading, reached the injured man. The latter was taken to the nearest railway station and thence to hospital at Port Arthur. A CRACK SHOT FOUR LIONS IN TWO MINUTES Four shots, four lions—and all in two minutes! This little record in big game hunting has been set up by F. A. Welthagen, of Louis Trichardt, Transvaal. Recently Welthagen was passing through the Brak river route to Bridgewater. Just after dawn he stopped by the river and sat on the bank of a water hole hoping for guinea fowl. To his surprise seven lions appeared instead. They took their morning refreshment 30 yards from where Welthagen sat. The first he brought down as it. was drinking. The second lion literally got it in the eye. The five remaining lions ran toward Welthagen. who shot and killed a third. They then turned tail, and as they disappeared over the opposite hank the marksman bagged a fourth.