From Many Lands

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1064, 30 August 1930, Page 19

From Many Lands

TABLOID READING FOR THE WEEK-END.

THE FEMININE TOUCH LATEST IN AUCTIONEERS Pretty and vivacious Muriel Francis Davies, a 19-year-old English girl, was granted a general auctioneer’s licence at North Sydney Court recently. She told the magistrate that she was going to assist her father and brother-in-law in a general auctioneer’s business. Her father said tha-t he believed she would be the youngest auctioneer in Australia. Mr. Catuphin had to look up authorities to decide whether sho was old enough to hold a licence, hut he found that she was. 39 YEARS LATER ENJOYING A HOLIDAY An American, Hiram O. Burbank, jun., just arrived in Berlin to enjoy a holiday which his father hooked 39 years ago. Burbank, sen., bought a ticket from a German shipping company for the trip from New York to Hamburg in 1891. He was forced to postpone tlie trip indefinitely, and forgot the ticket until 1911, when he arranged to use it again, hut once more was forced to postpone the pleasure. His third attempt, in 1914 coincided with the outbreak of war. Eleven years after the war lie died, and his son found the ticket among his papers. He asked the company, which is again operating, if it was still valid, and they agreed to honour the obligation.

HUMAN QUADRUPEDS HEALTH CRANK’S THEORY The human mce leads a. wholly unnatural existence, according to a wealthy American who says that man should not walk erect, sleep all night, or eat so much. The erect attitude does not allow the organs to function properly. Overeating and over-sleep-ing cause early death. In the proper existence one should walk on all fours, sleep 12 times daily in half-hour stretches. and eat a slice of banana. flavoured with tomato juice when rising, but. nothing else. Believing in testing out his theories, though not personally, the American has hired a. Russian couple who have contracted to spend a year following out his ideas. They are receiving £4O a month, plus board and lodging and a servant to wake them if necessary, twelves times a day. . The wife objected to walking like a giant ape, so it was decided instead to allow her to spend her walking hours in a swimming bath. O ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER REFORMERS ROCKED The Rockford reformers, New York, who sent the cable to Queen Mary, saying they were shocked to hear that she smoked, have received something to talk about for a long time to come vrthst is, if the subject is not too painul. ' Perhaps her Majesty is too much occupied with what is expected at Glamis Castle, but some kind frie'nd sent a cable collect from London which the reformers duly paid for. . “Soap and lemon remove nicotine stains,” it stated, ‘unfortunately they do not extract Chicago gunmen’s bullets. Now charge ahead!” NOBLESSE OBLIGE. VKEYs LEFT ”1 SAFEe Safe-blowing has reached such extraordinary proportions in Melbourne that many businesses are leaving the key in the safe rather than risk damage to the office by gelignite explose was. As a. result of that practice, thieves secured £36 from a flrm’s safe, in Richmond East. By a mistake the £36 was left in the safe instead of the few shillings which was the usual amount. , In a foundry in Brunswick thieves secured only a few pence when they blew the safe, but considerable dam--386. was done to the office furniture. ‘ t TO SPITE FACE? A DRASTIC ACTION Josef Toth, a. 65-year-old farmer, living in the village of Atanay. HunEBI'Y. was noticed by his family to be in a state of excitement. After disappearing for an hour or two he was discovered in a barn with his nose lying before him in a pool of blood. When asked by his terrified relative-3‘ What had happened, he replied witni calm that the point of his nose hadi itched to such a degree that he had; decided not to endure it any longer and had cut. off the offending feature. Ifieedless to say, his mental condition is being inquired into. . “WHOSE BABY ARE YOU, DEAR?" SCIENCE COMES TO RESCUE It was a busy day for the three‘Weeksold Watkins and Bamberger intaut boys, what with having their lontanels pricked for blood tests, their linset-prints made, their craniums Measured, their knees hammered for reflexes, and pictures made under blinding lights by movietone cameras. It was also a, busy day for their Puzzled parents, who hovered in doorways worriedly watching their GXperts try to open tiny fists to make fluser-prints, and six other dctors, scientists and criminologists who ondeavoured to be' charming to the intents as they thumped, tapped, measured and examined them in the Process of deciding whose baby is ,Whose. At the end of the day Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bamberger and Mr. and Mrs. William Watkins returned to their aEliarate establishments, each with their infant or the others'. Both babies were born in Englewood HosDltsl on June 30, and it was not until they were home that it was found that the \Vatkins baby was labelled Bfimberger and vice-versa.

CANINE POLICEMAN ATTACKS SUSPECT A police dog saved the life of a guard on the Danish-German frontier at Padborg. A German named Grossman, who is wanted for various offences at Flensborg, was endeavouring to cross the frontier to evade arrest. He made an attack with a knife on the guard who tried to stop him. whereupon the dog flew at Grossman and gripped him by the throat. The wounds may prove fatal. AN EARLY START \ HOMICIDE AT FOUR YEARS “Rose stole my rag doll, so I shot her,” cried four-year-old Gloria Utter, of Colorado, U.S.A., over the body’ of Rose Etheridge, aged six. The tragedy occurred in the backyard of the Utter home, where the children quarrelled, and Gloria ran into the house, bringing out a revolver', which her father had told her never to touch. BEQUEST OF A CASK j A FRIENDLY ARCHITECT 1 A 10-gallon cask of whisky was beI qucatiied to his “old and dear friend,** George M. Muir Wood, by Mr. Kdward

Percy Thompson, of Elstree, England. architect, who left £5,122, He stated: “It is my desire, bu: without imposing any condition, that he shall from time to time. when the contents of the said cask shall reach the level of the tap now in the middle at. the end of the cask, refill the said cask with five gallons of Scotch whisky. so that the said cask shall not from timé to time be tilted to draw ofl’ the contents." Another of his bequests was a copper wash-bowl from Newgate Prison, which was pulled down in 1903. He ordered it to be polished “before it. is handed to Charles Grifiiu Lawson. It is meant for use as a rose-bowl." PEAL WITHOUT BELLS A NOVEL EXPERIENCE Residents of Stoke Poges (Bucks), England—the scene of Gray's Elegy—had a novel experience one night recently. One after another they heard: The bells of St. Margaret’s, Westminster; Loughborough’s carillon; the strokes of Big Ben, and the bells of York Minster. The bells were heard from the tower of Stoke Poges Church, and the peals sounded as clearly as any bells could. Actually the sound came from gramophone records made specially by the Gramophone Company, Limited, which were being tried out for the first time. They were played on an electrical gramophone. and the sounds were amplified and distributed by means of loud-speakers. The experiment was made to demonstrate the possibility of churches without bells making good the deficiency through the records. Any church where electrical power is available could in this way provide itself with a peal from some of the most famous beltries in the land. THE HILL OF TARA HOME OF ANCIENT KINGS Investigations are still proceeding‘ at. Hill of Tara, Co, Meath, the home of the ancient Irish kings, and these show that much still remains to be done toward the elucidation of the mysteries of that famous acropolis. Numerous sites connected with it and known from literary sources have not yet been guessed at. The sites inspected lie between the Dublin-Navan road and the grounds of Tara. Hill. The first one visited is a ruined stone building, the local name for which is The Mill, and though it is impracticable as the site of a. water mill, it may well indicate that the famous water mill. reputed to be the first in Ireland, built by Cormac for his mistress, Cearnait, was in the immediate vicinity and not a neamhnach on the Hill of Tara. The second site consists of a knoll 3 (dumha). Leading from it is a stone‘lined passage over 66ft long, and toward the end diving underground to follow the slope of the ravine. Below this spot is a regular subterranean cave, hewn out of the friable rock.‘ CHILD ADMINISTRATORS UNIQUE TURKISH CUSTOM I For one week recently children were allowed to be the masters of Turkey. April 23 is the day of the sovereignty of the nation. It was decided that it should also be the day 101: the sovereignty of the children, a‘ lsovereignty which lasted one week, every year. 1 For one week they share the prero—| gatives of their elders, and take over‘ the external signs of power. All the‘ elementary schools were asked to. designate two of their cleverest pupils for the highest functions. One of them was elected Governor-General of Stamboul, another Inspector-Gener‘l of the People’s Party; others were ap pointed to such functions as those of Prefect of the Town and Rector of the University. They had explained to them the elements of administration. In a Press interview one of the infant rulers took a strong stand against the project of suppressing the Bridge of Galata and replacing it by a ferry~ iboat service. . ‘ The “Aksham” welcomed in its ‘offices a few collaborators, and pubiished in its columns some of .. their ‘ contributions. ’" I At the end of the Week the children . were convened to a conference, where every one of them had to give an account of his administration. This innovation has been introduced in order to acquaint children with public servxce.