NEWS OF THE WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 313, 1 July 1912, Page 4

NEWS OF THE WORLD

TOO MUCH LOYE,

An 'extraordinary case has just been brought before the Court ofDomesti* Relations in Chicago by Mrs John Rackinger, who complained that her husband left her for no adequate cause. The ku»band told Judge Goodenow that kit wife showed so much affection fur him. that it became embarrassing. Not eontent with repeated declarations of loy» at home she followed him to hia oflfiew and interfered with his business. Tk# continued display of affection 'became totiresome that lie was obliged to le&rs home. The judge said that lie could not compel the husband to return to hi* wife. The delinquent was ordered to pay his wife £0 a month, and as they left the court-room together Mrs. Rackinger clung upon her husband's arm nml told the judge that she would try t« "win him back." .

FELT THREE YEARS YOUNGER. A woman of Zurich has been fined £1 4s and costs for "coquetry." Sh« was about to be married, and duly presented her birth certificate at the Town Hall, where it was found that the figures of the year of her birth, 1883, had been changed to 1886 'by the bride, who thus became three years younger. As it is a serious matter in Switzerland to tamper with official papers, the police were informed, and the young woman,, who belongs to a good family, had toappear before the magistrate. She explained that she felt at least thre# years younger than lier age—2!)—and therefore changed the figures. In pronouncing sayitence the magistrate smilingly remarked, "All, mademoiselle, you must not be so much of a coquette.""

FOOTBALL IN GERMANY. Germany now possesses 137,G33 football players, who are formally associated with the National Football Leagat. These, of course, are practically all" amateurs. The number represents an increase of 25 per cent, over the total registered a year ago. The game flourishes most in South Germany, but is making rapid headway in all parts of' the country. Popular interest, as manifested by the attendance at the matches, is also substantially oil the increase. The record is 10,000 at the match between Germany and England, and 8000 at the Crown Prince's Cup-tie match last year. Encouraged byi thje Kaiser and th* Crown Prince "Fussballspiel" is making daily progress in the Army, and regimental matches are of regular occurrence.

A CURIQXIS JNSULT. ( How a dish of fried potatoes were regarded as an insult was told to a German court. The wife of a coal miner at Dortmund put a pan of fried potatoes on the window ledge of her kitchen to cool. Their odour was wafted down the street just as a band of strike-break ers passed along. They had been forced to foe idle, and they had not the advantage of receiving strike pay. They were thankful to get a crust of bread for their ■ families, and to have delicious potatoes, fried in oil, thrust beneath their noses by the wife of a man getting regular pay for doing nothing from his union, was intolerable. It was, moreover, clear Jly a studied insult, carefully planned >by a purse-proud woman. They decided ! to prosecute her for insulting them. She I was duly arraigned before the local justices, whom (says the Standard) she in- ; formed that fried potatoes cannot be eaten red hot from the pan, that her husband was waiting for his meal, and, that, therefore, she put the pan in the window to cool. It was argued for the; prosecution that it is not the practice in Dortmund to eat fried potatoes with the midday coffee. The lady declared that her husband had a passion for potatoes; Tile court was not satisfied with the explanation, and, although the presiding magistrate stated that the case was npt a very grave one, the good woman was fined £l. ,

A TWENTY-FOUR HOURS CLOCK. The twenty-four clock system has been introduced by two French railways, the Nord and the Est. That is to say, that the time-tables, instead of reading from mid-day onwards, 1, 2, 3 o'clock, etc., will read, 13, 14,15, 1(1 and so on until midnight or 24 o'clock. Thus the train which English travellers are accustomed to call the 4 o'clock afternoon boat train from the Gare du Nord to Boulogne will in future leave the Nord terminus at 10. arriving at Boulogne town 18.51 and Boulogne harbor at 18.38. Nevertheless of course the train is shown in the new time-tables as arriving at London at 10.45 in the evening, as for the English lines the ordinary, time scheme must he used. In order to facilitate the change, the companion hare had the clock faces in their stations altered to suit the new system. The old 12-hour face is still kept, but beneath the figures 1, 2, 3, the figures 13, 14, 15, etc., have been painted. CHEAP WINE EXTRAORDINARY. •Thirsty souls at Muelhausen Alsaee —the Manchester of Germany—are able to satisfy their requirements at the cheapest rate on record. Good wine can be obtained from the hig stores known as "zum Globus" at the nominal price of %d per litre, or about %d per pint. This is practically free. This wine fountain is the result of a contest between two local stores, the Louvre and the Globus. The former began with 5d a litre, and was undercut, .until now the Globus is selling it at the mere amount of the local octroi. Hotels, wine shops, and delighted householders are storming to the Globus with watercans, bedroom jugs, kettles, and every avail-* able contrivance which will hold the fluid. The, police controlling the crowds outside the stores eagerly await the hour of relief themselves to hurriedly fetch the largest possible bottles.