From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 934, 29 March 1930, Page 19

From Many Lands

TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END.

AFTER 30 YEARS

MOTHER AND SON MEET A mother and son who had not seen one another for 30 years and believed each other to be dead had an affecting reunion in London recently. The mother, Mrs Cousins, was 100 years old recently, and was presented with a hundred shillings and a cake decorated with a hundred candles. Her son by her first marriage read of the celebrations in the newspapers and went to Bury St. Edmunds Infirmary to see his mother. He is *7, and when he mentioned that they had not seen one another for 30 years. Mrs. Cousins exclaimed•‘You make me feel you are old.” 1 THE WRONG MEETING THE LABOUR PARTY VIEW A woman who was to have addressed a meeting in the Co-operative Hall at West Moor, Northumberland, entered by mistake a Wesleyan church on the other side of the road, where an audience was awaiting a speaker. After a hymn she began to explain the Labour Party’s view on family allowances. A VERY WILD BOAR KILLED EIGHT DOGS For two years, damage averaging I £5 a night was wrought to fences and cane crops by a wild boar, weighing nearly 5001 b, which was shot near Cairns. Eight dogs had been killed and many others severely slashed by the tusks of the boar, the last victim being a dog used in the hunt. The skin on the boar's shoulders was an inch and a-half"thick, and it was impossible to pierce it with a knife. Its tusks were over six inches long. One of the hurttrs, endeavouring to cut the pig’s throat after it was ; shot, received a deep wound in the i thigh when the knife struck one of j the pig’s forelegs and glanced off. ALREADY THERE! THE FRUITLESS SEARCH A remarkable search for a man who was believed to have escaped from gaol, but was all the time within the prison walls, occurred in and around Aberdeen. A prisoner named Alexander Ferguson, of Edinburgh, who was serving a sentence of six months for fraud and theft, broke out during the night from his cell. He was unable to scale a 20-foot wall, and entered an outhouse in the prison. In the meantime his escape had been discovered and the alarm given. The city police and the police of the two counties of Aberdeen and Kincardineshire began a hunt for him. A cordon was drawn round a large area, suspicious characters were interrogated, and warnings were issued to cottar houses to report any men asking for food. A thorough search of the prison and grounds followed, and Ferguson quietly surrendered. “FOLLOW-MY-LEADER’ ! CATERPILLARS’ ROUTE MARCH An amusing demonstration of the characteristic habits of Processionary Caterpillars was recently seen at the London Zoo. A large number of these curious larvae had just arrived, and some of them had been started on a march around the rim of a flower-pot saucer, and this they continued to do until reVeved by another batch. Their instinct to follow their leader is so strong that even if food be placed near at hand they will not swerve from the "path of duty.” It would appear to be a case of misguided instinct, but this is not so, as, when the caterpillars were originally placed on the saucer the leader was forcibly directed around the rim, and as he lays an invisible thread as he proceeds he involuntarily follows this when once the circuit has been completed and the remainder do likewise. THE MAYOR’S MISHAP •MATCH-SCRATCHING” DANGERS Mayor G. Glen Toole, of Georgia, claims the distinction of having been injured in one of the most peculiar accidents of recent times. The mayor decided to go to Atlanta by automobile. He enjoys a good cigar, and when he lights one he always scratches the match on the sole of his shoe. It is one of his characteristics. Therefore, while driving through the red hills of Georgia, he went through the ritual. But the match behaved badly. A bit of burning phosphorus detached itself and flew squarely between the eyelashes of one eye. Before it could be brushed aside both eyelashes were almost completely burned away and the eyeball was also badly injured. The i doctor said there will be no permanent injury, and the mayor still strikes j matches oil the sole of his shoe. J A POST OFFICE JOKE * j PUBLIC “NOT AMUSED” Encouraged by the amusement aroused when they placed a mail bag in a baby’s perambulator, and so lost it at Waterloo, the Post Office tried out a new joke at Paddington recently. As a result more bad words were used there about the postal authorities than ever before in the whole history of the G.W.R. terminus. The pillar-box on No. 1 platform was closed, and on it was posted a notice in red ink: “Nearest posting-box No. 3 platform—Southend.” Passengers, naturally supposing that tlie last word was intended to mean the town of Southend, about 45 miles away, muttered their views of postal efficiency. Later it was discovered that the Post Office was trying to indicate the south end of No. 8 platform.

A CENTURY-OLD WATCH

AND A PLEASANT SURPRISE century-old watch iu a case supposed to be of silver was estimated I recently as being “worth os for meltjmg down.” It proved to be of platinum, however, and realised £45 at a' ; London auction. “OBLOMOVISM” DEATH FROM LAZINESS I By lying in bed for a year, William Lritchell, of Poplar, London, brought about his own death. At the inquest the widow said Crit- | obeli was healthy when he first refused to get up. A neighbour confirmed ■ this, and said that whenever she tried to ppisuade the man to get up he : ordered her out of the room. The coroner, recording a verdict of death from natural causes, said Crit- i chell must have contracted some form of mental lethargy. The abscess of the lung which resulted in death was ; due to sores caused by lying in bed [ so long. MONUMENT TO APPLE-TREE PROGENITOR OF “McINTOSH RED” p In Ontario there is a monument to an apple tree—doubtless the only memorial of the kind in the world. It was one of several discovered by an early pioneer, John Mclntosh, and transplanted in an open space in 1796. All the trees died save one, which for over a century bore luscious fruit and became the parent tree of the famous Mclntosh Red Apple, which Canada now grows in millions. In 1892 this veteran tree was badly scorched by fire, but it continued to bear fruit until 1908. DOCTORING A SNAKE KEEPERS’ DANGEROUS JOB Much attention is being devoted to a giant king cobra, or hamadryad, which recently arrived at the London Zoo. Over 14ft long, it is believed to he the largest snake of the kind ever captured alive. The hamadryad is the biggest, boldest and most dangerous of all venomous snakes, and is said to be the only snake which will attack without i provocation. . Yet this 14ft giant is caught by the keepers with their bare hands and held whilst strychnine is injected into its back. This is done periodically owing to the king cobra having caught a chill on the voyage from India. As a rule the hamadryad subsists i upon other snakes, but the newcomer: was said to have been accustomed to j feed on huge lizards of the Monitor : family, so some of these have been ! provided to whet its appetite. MALIGNED PEDESTRIANS AND "AGGRESSIVE” MOTORISTS It has been said, of late that pedestrians are to blame in nearly all road accidents. A nice comment on this was made at the Street Accidents Conference in England, by Dr. Salter M.P. He said: "In my borough, Bermondsey, we have planted a considerable number of trees in the streets. In the last three years we have had an average every week of 12 trees knocked down and destroyed by motors mounting the pavements. “We hear a great deal about the ‘jay walker,’ but trees do not ‘jay walk.’ ” He added that recently pictures had been published showing lamp-posts and electric light standards which had been knocked down by motor-cars mounting the pavement in Birmingham. There was also a statement that every week there were 20 such accidents. DISDAINFUL GREYHOUND m PASSES ELECTRIC HARE The very rare spectacle of a greyhound passing the electric hare without taking the slightest notice of it was seen during trials held at the Clapton greyhound racecourse, London. From the start of a trial between two dogs, Court Picture and Swaffham Imp, the hare had been driven too slowly. Half-way round the distance Court Picture had a lead of nine lengths over Swaffham Imp and had drawn level with the hare. Court Picture, however, ignored the hare and continued to run close to the railings. He passed (the hare by a length, but neither then, nor a few seconds later, when the hare had been accelerated to pass him, did he make any attempt either to leave the inside berth or turn his head toward the hare. TOE SMALLER FLEA BUT NO “AD INFINITUM” So naturalists observe a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey. And these have smaller still to bite ’em, And so proceed ad infinitum. —Dean Swift, 1667-1745. A woman student at the School of Tropical Medicine has found that there is partial truth in this old adage. She is Miss Sykes, of the Department of Entomology, and, according to Dr. Buxton in his report, she ha < made an “accidental discovery of con siderable importance.” In an examination of the early j stages of fleas she discovered what j proved to be the first parasitic j “Hymenopteron” (of the same order as bees, ants, etc., and having four wings) which has ever been discov- \ ered on any flda in any part of the world. This is the first insect parasite ever discovered on a flea. It kills the larvae. So far the "lesser fleas” have not ] been discovered on the “little flea,” ] and there seems little hope of proving i the “ad infinitum.”