From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 886, 1 February 1930, Page 23

From Many Lands

10,000 TO VISIT EATTLEFIELDS Between 8,000 and 10,000 “Gold ;,tar Mothers,” an organisation of .tmerican women who lost sons in tile war, will visit the battlefields of France and Belgium next summer. The United States Government will bear the expense—about £200,000. MAGNIFICENT DRIVE BY 90-YEAR-OLD GOLFER John D. Rockefeller Sr. almost made a hole in one in his first golf game, of the Winter season in Florda. Making a long drive from the eighth tee at the Ormond Beach course, the 90-year-old player threw his cleb in the air and danced like a schoolboy when he found his ball had come to a stop only two feet from the pin. “Gee, wasn't that a wonderful drive,” he exclaimed. “X am proud of that.” BOW BELLS RING AGAIN AFTER THREE YEARS’ SILENCE After mere than three years of silence Bow Bells will be heard again. One thousand pounds was recently voted to repair St. Mary-le-Bow, Gheapside, part of which will be spent in reconditioning the famous bells, whose peals are immortalised in the legend telling how Dick Whittington returned to London after hearing the bells chime a message and thrice became Lord Mayor. The chimes have a special significance to the London born, only those horn within the sound of Bow Bells being privileged to style themselves true Cockneys. ARTIFICIAL WEATHER NEW ELECTRICAL LABORATORY Weather of any kind, hot or cold, reeking with humidity or absolutely dry, will be one of the chief products of an 11-storey building on which construction has been started in East Pittsburg, United States, by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. The manufactured weather will not be available to the public, however. It will be confined strictly to the building, which will house an electrical laboratory and will be used for tests on apparatus huilt for either outdoor or indoor use. The new laboratory will cost f£3l)0,000, and will house generators sufficient to supply electric light and power for a town of 10,000 inhabitants. COLD AND HUNGRY tramp seeks prison Joe Vrabel, a Kansas City tramp, had no particular grievance against stock brokers, and It is not on record that he has read O. Henry's books. But he was cold and hungry, so he hurled two hricka through the plateglass window in the office of city brokers. Joe’s success was considerably more immediate than that of his counterpart in the O. Henry story, who tried several devices before he succeeded in being arrested. In fact, it was only a matter of minutes before Joe ■was locked up. Ha complimented the police on their promptness. In his pocket was an I.W.W. card, indicating that his dues were paid up. ARISTOCRAT DONS MOTLEY TO HELP NEEDY PERFORMERS A young aristocrat of Barcelona heted as a clown in the Olympia Circus recently for a wager of about [£ 300. The “debut” was announced in the papers, with the result that the theatre was full. The amateur clown took the part of an eccentric musician, appealing during the second part of the performance. He met with great success and was loudly Cheered. A’c the end one of the circus officials informed the audience that the amount of the wager would be given to a society In Berlin in aid of old and invalid circus artists and circus orphans. ' BATTLE WITH STEER AND STRANGE ACCIDENT An echo of the battle several policemen fought with a Texas steer in the centre of Kansas City’s retail district recently was heard in Circuit Court, when a £1,500 suit was filed against the Kansas City Stock Yards Company end the Kansas City Live Stock Commission Company. The plaintiff was Charles S. Davis, who said in his petition that he saw a wild steer at large, contrary to the laws of the city. A policeman, in attempting to stop the steer, fired a shot which passed through the steer uit the pavement, and then struck Davis in the mouth. STRANGE METAMORPHOSIS gamecocks turn into hens How nine tough fighting cocks became as n.any peaceful Rhode Island hens within four days is a source of great mystification to the natives of Pompton Plains, N.J., U.S.A. The birds—the gamecoc-ks—had p«en locked up for “evidence” following a raid in a Greenwood hotel. A justice of the peace, accompanied by an S.P.C.A. agent, broke up a cock fight which was being witnessed by 50 men. Besides the nine gamecocks the raiders found George Fahme, of Paterson, trying to hide a dead rooster in a gradfather clock. Fahme was fined *5. The fowl evidence was locked fiP in the barn of Julius Kurtz. The S.P.C.A. official went to see the birds four days later. He heard them cluck with contentment and verified the metamorphosis. Kurtz expressed astonishment, but said the poultry had beoa inspected the day before.

1 AELOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END. MOTHER PILGRIMS i STUDENTS WANTED

TURKS DISLIKE DRUGS Xot a single student enrolled last >ear for the course offered by the Constantinople School of Pharmacy and only two registered lor dentistry. In face of this situation the school y '7 l3 A or ? e<i to a PPeal to the Ministry of Public Instruction to solve the problem of encouraging sufficient > oung men to follow these professions. - SAFETY SIGNS MAKER FAILS TO OBSERVE THEM Many persons besides Daniel J. Underwood, of Illinois, have been known to preach what they don’t practise, but Underwood’s failure cost him 12s 6d and costs. Underwood sells traffic equipment. He sold the city of Evanston £2OO worth of equipment, including stop and go lights and signs reading "Caution,” “Go Slowly,” and “Speed Limit 25 Miles an Hour.” “What is the charge against this man?” inquired the court. “Speeding,” said the arresting officer. “Why, Mr. Underwood, I’m surprised at you,” said the court, adding the 12s (id and costs. WAR VETERANS j -■ CITY’S UNIQUE CLAIM Haverhill, Mass., lays claim to the youngest and oldest United States veterans of the World War, 26 and S 7, respectively. Commander Ernest Sweeney of Lorraine Post, Veteran of Foreign Wars, now a chauffeur, is 26. He enlisted at 14 and celebrated his fifteenth birthday on the battlefields of France. John Carpenter is 87. As a member of the British Navy he fought Chinese pirates years before the World War started. He joined the American Navy in New York City when 75 by making enlisting officers believe he was only 55, and was sent to France. He is a member of Wilbur M. Comeau Post, American Legion. Sweeney has applied to the War Department for official recognition as the youngest American veteran. ONE WORD SPELLS FREEDOM OR PRISON Because the Greek word “aghrioteva” might be interpreted to mean that the Turkish soldiers during the last Turco-Greek war were “very strong and energetic” instead of “savage,” Mme. Heleni, publisher of “Chronika,” was acquitted of a charge of making an anti-patriotic attack in the Press. The case, which occupied many days in the criminal court, finally rested on a decision of intellectuals as to the meaning of the word. Editorial writers now insist that a Greek court would not have taken such a liberal view If the accused had been a Turk and cite the case as an illustration of the policy of friendship toward the neighbouring nation. A GIFT FROM THE GODS PROVED MOST UNWELCOME The “heavens” blessed a bride in unwonted and unwelcome form in the village of Zvezvan, near Belgrade. As the wedding party was nearing the church a meteor fell into one of tho carriages immediately in front of that in which the bride was seated. One of the wedding guests, a man, was killed, the woman sitting opposite him was badly injured and the bride fainted. The crowd scattered in panic, but after a brief tie la}' the marriage was duly solemnised. The meteor, which was glowing hot, measured forty centimetres in diameter. MANNERS MAKYTH MAN COMPANY’S THOUGHTFULNESS H. E. Ward, president of the Irving Trust Company, mailed 550 engraved letters to occupants of offices In the neighbourhood of the trust company’s new building at 1 Wall Street, New York, where riveting operations are about to begin, apologising for the dill which will be caused by the erection of the 50-storey structure. “May we hope that you will bear with us as patiently as possible during the unavoidable noisy weeks that lie just ahead,” Mr. Ward’s communication says. “Keenly regretting the necessity for it. we are glad to tell you that our builder is pressing at top speed. His schedule and the present season of closed windows will at least minimise your discomfort.” COLOUR OF SNAILS AND ULTRA-VIOLET RAYS For some time ultra-violet rays have been used for the discovery of forged bank-notes, stamps, pictures, the testing of pearls and raw materials, and in the diagnosis of certain skin diseases; now comes the news from the Zoological Institute of Vienna University that these same rays are likely to yield important scientific results in zoology also. The examination, for example, of a number of snails, has Eiveu remarkable results. In ordinary sunlight these snails appear to have a greyish-green colour, intersected by fine, thin lines, but under the ultra-violet rays they become a bright luminous red, looking something like Chinese lanterns illuminated from within. The source of this red light is up to the present unknown: even when hydrochloric acid is applied, which dissolves the shell, the remains continue to shine with a weird light, which does not disappear until all that is left of the snail has been dissolved in the acid. Various species of snail have shown quite different colours under the ultra rays, and it is expected that further experiments will help greatly toward a scientific differentiation of the hitherto little known animal pigments.