From Many Lands From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 19

From Many Lands From Many Lands

tabloid reading for the week-end.

SOUTHERN PASSION , SUICIDES IN BRAZIL. Lore is responsible for many suicides of young Brazilians, in the opinion of commentators. There were fourteen suicides or attempted suicides in one recent twenty-four hours, and most of them, police investigation revealed, were inspired by infatuations. In one case a boy and girl hanged themselves at opposite ends of the same rope thrown over the limb of a tree. FREAK BABY WEIGHS 22 OUNCES A baby, prematurely born in Wolverhampton Royal Hospital, weighed only 22 ounces, and is being cared for in an electrically-heated cot in which she lies wrapped in cotton-wool. She has never been bathed, but is sponged in warm oil. In the first fortnight of her precarious life she was fed on a sip of brandy every four hours, since when she has existed on milk given her through a fountainpen filler. It takes an hour sometimes to give her a spoonful. The nurses call her “Buttonhole." A normal baby weighs between eight and nine pounds at birth, “DON'T SHOOT" THE PARROT’S APPEAL As a prospector 18 miles from Cue, Western Australia, raised his gun to shoot some galahs, he heard a voice say, “Don’t shoot me.” When the request was repeated the dumbfounded man traced the voice to one of the birds menaced by his gun. The prospector, who swears the incident is true, declares he will never shoot another galah as long as he lives. Meanwhile his friends intend to send a written invitation to the bird to discuss De Rougemont’s works, and have suggested that the man should sign the pledge. A BEAUTY’S LEG WORTH £9,000 Lost beauty of a shapely leg from which stylish chiffon stockings are forever barred by an ugly jagged scar, is worth £9,000 to Us charming owner. Winnifred Connahan, a cousin of Mary Bickford, was passing Sherry’s Restaurant, when a piece of plate glass fell across the sidewalk, giving her a gash four inches long. She sued tor' £20,000, and the jurymen carefully inspected the leg and awarded her just under half that. THE ADDER’S BREAST SOOTHED BY JAZZ Soothed by music from a portable gramophone, a 20-inch death adder remained motionless on an office floor, while weapons were obtained to end its life. It happened in the office of the Soansville Asbestos Syndicate, Ltd., in Western Australia, when the accountant, in the act of starting a jazz record on his portable gramophone, saw the snake moving toward his feet. He quietly started the record, and the reptile stopped, apparently absorbed by the music. The accountant then moved slowly out of the room, procured a blacksmith’s hammer and returned just as the record stopped. The snake started for the accountant, and just as it was about to strike the heavy hammer fell, crushing the head of the unwelcome visitor. “GHOST’* SCARE NOISES IN THE NIGHT Weird and strange stories of an unseen “ghost” are reported from the village of Bonsall, near Matlock, England, where villagers have been scared by inexplicable noises. Although no visible ghost appears, it is stated, there are footsteps, house, window, and shop rappings from the outside. The first scare was near the old sawmill on the Via Gellia road. Later, there w r as a knocking at the door of a house close to the Co-opera-tive Stores, and recently a wellknown resident claimed to have come across a “ghost” which when tackled disappeared. On another occasion eight girls on the road were chased by something w'hich none of them could describe, but they all distinctly heard steps running after them. Women have gone so far as to refuse to walk down the road, even in broad daylight. The hours of "visitations” are from midnight until 4 a.m. ALSATIANS FORBIDDEN NORWAY'S DOG TERROR A Government decree has been issued forbidding private people in Oslo, Norway, to keep Alsatian dogs. Only the police are to be allowed to use them for hunting criminals. The new order puts an end to a regular dog “terror,” the victims of which were schoolchildren who had their faces bitten and adults who had their clothes torn to shreds. It went so far that during the winter certain roads in the suburbs of Oslo have been almost impassable to strangers. Much space in the newspapers is occupied by indignant protests from patrons of Alsatians. One w’rites: “This winter eighty children have been attacked by Alsatians, yet not one of them was killed. So why extinguish the dogs? How many times eighty have not been killed by railways, automobiles, and flying machines? In the name of justice these modern evils should be forbidden because they are the real enemy of humanity, while the Alsatians are humanity’s .rue friends.

I ASHES TO THE WINDS A STRANGE CEREMONY t * le strangest ceremonies tnat has ever taken place on a golf course was performed at Surbiton, -urrey. where the ashes of a member or the club were scattered under a towering beech tree. .. golfer, Mr. T. F. Halliburton, c.ied at the age of 78, and in his will asked that his ashes should be sprinkled about the tree which he so ° l 7 < i n e hcountered during his matches. * <£°lfing clothes, halted in their game to W'atch the procession from a car near the clubhouse to the tree at the top of a hill between the first and 18th fairways.

toy policeman INSTRUCTS THE COURT Considerable interest was aroused at Manchester Police Court by the I manipulation of a toy model of a traffic policeman to illustrate points | m a case of an alleged offence against traffic regulations. The model was an ingenious affair I of socketed arms and ball-bearing joints. It was dressed in the conventional policemen’s blue, with white gloves and armlets. HEROIC SERVANT GRAPPLES WITH LIONESS Grappling with a wounded lioness, a native saved the life of Major Matthews, who is employed by the Uganda Government on construction work in connection with the Kagera road scheme. Major Matthews was hunting near Mbarara when he encountered a lion aDd lioness. He shot the lion dead, and the lioness charged him. His second shot failed to stop the animal, which bore him to the ground. His I headman, Abdullah, an ex-soldier, im- ; mediately jumped on the lioness’s neck, and attempted to thrust his spear into a vital spot. Meanwhile, Major Matthews recovered his rifle and shot the lioness dead. The major was badly mauled and is now in hosj pital. RADIO MUSEUM SEARCH FOR TRANSMITTERS Historic radio apparatus will be preserved in a radio museum to be established at the Smithsonian Institution. A worid-wide search has begun for transmitters, receivers and other equipment under the direction of C. !W. Mitman, curator of mechanical ! technology of the Smithsonian. I Immediate action is necessary. Dr. Mitman says, if material of value but unsuited for modern use is to be obtained. A search will have to he made in foreign countries, particularly England, if the collection is to be comprehensive. Radio really had its inception in England, and much of the I original material is there. A TRAVELLED SUIT CROSSES OCEAN THREE TIMES Two suits of clothes for William Gomez, a student at Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., made for him In London, were delivered recently after having crossed the Atlantic three times. On August 9, 1929, the suits were sent to Gomez’s home in South America instead of to Exeter. Back to London they went, then to New York. From New York they went to Portsmouth and were received by George A. Nelson, Collector of Customs, who personally delivered them to Gomez at Exeter. HOTEL “BOOTS” A COVETED JOB A Liverpool hotel manager, who advertised for a night “boots/’ was astonished on arriving at the hotel one morning to find it besieged by a crowd of 500 men. Having forced his way through the crowd to the door, he learned from the anxious staff that all the men were after the “boots” job. The manager is understood to admit that advertising “delivers the goods,” but probably he will use a box number for his “small” next time! HIS GRACE IN TROUBLE DUKE AND KLAXON HORN Wearing a white flower in his buttonhole, the Duke of Rutland was fined 10s at a London Police Court for an unnecessary use of his klaxon Horn in Piccadilly. A constable said when he spoke to him the duke replied, “I have been held up here too long.” The duke complained that the officer had been extraordinarily discourteous :j u the way in which he addressed him. i Asked about this, the constable said: “No, your worship. I did not know his title until I saw his licence. He was very agitated and banged on the side of his car.” BURLY BABIES ELEPHANTS CAUSE STIR Three babies caused a big stir among the crowds in Hyde Park recently. They were only babies —but they were elephants, and they were having a little respite from the circus atmosI phere at Olympia. I The news spread rapidly that the i elephants were in the park, and with- ! in a ouarter of an hour they were surI rounded by a crowd of between 4.000 and 5,000 people. I This was too much for the police 1 and park officials, and the attendant | was politely asked to exercise his I charges elsewhere. He did so. I As far as is known, no elephant had been seen in the park since 1?51.