Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 27 January 1938, page 63


PARADE

A New Alloy.

LONDON, Jan. 18.-The discovery of a new alloy nearly one and a half times as heavy as lead and correspondingly more effective as a protection against X-ray and radium radiation, has been revealed by Mr. E. Liddiard, of the Bri-tish Non-Ferrous Metals Association. The alloy ls composed of tungsten powder mixed with nickel and copper powders. It is subjected to considerable pressure, and is heated above the melting point of copper and nickel.

Giant Sunspot.

LONDON, Jan. 19.-The "Daily Tele-graph" states that one of the largest sunspots observed since 1875, when re-cords were begun at Greenwich Obser-vatory is now clearly visible in London to the naked eye on the upper right hand of the orb as an elongated dark speck with an area estimated at 3,500,000,000 square miles. It is believed that recent difficulties with Empire broad-casts, especially Canadian, are due to this cause.

Killed at Pozieres.

CANBERRA, Jan. 21.-The Prime Minister (Mr. J. A. Lyons) has been ad-

vised by the Defence Department that

inquiries have been instituted by the Im-perial War Graves Commission with a view to ascertaining if possible the Iden-

tity of an Australian soldier whose body has been exhumed from a spot in the northern outskirts of the village of Pozieres (Somme), France. A wristlet watch engraved "from M.P. to CP. 3/9/15" was found on the body of the

deceased soldier.

Any person who may be able to assist in the identification of this soldier is asked to communicate with the Offlcer in-Charge, Base Records Office, Depart-ment of Defence, Melbourne. S.C.1. A Fifth Suit.

VIENNA, Jan. 22.-A young Austrian, Dr. Walther Marseille, has invented a new game of bridge with five suits, under the rules of which he has a match in pro-gress with Dr. Paul Stern, captain of the Austrian world championship team.

Each of the suits in the new game is of 13 cards, the new suit being called greens and ranking above spades and below no trumps. Sixteen cards are dealt to each player and the odd card, which ls turned up, may be exchanged by the declarer for one of his own. Apart from adjustments and the introduction of a super-slam, the rules are the same as for ordinary bridge. Dr. Marseille claims that there are more freak distributions, that scarcely any hands are thrown in, and that there are two or three tunes as many slams. New Finds.

LONDON, Jan. 23 .-Seeking the sub-sidiary graves of the servants of Aha-menes, the first king of the first dynasty of Kings of Egypt, Mr. Walter Emery has found at Sakkara a massive limestone portcullis guarding the entry to the intact tomb of a second dynasty noble which was sealed 5,100 years ago. After clean-ing a shaft, the entrance, 50 feet deep, was discovered, and Mr. Emery sealed up the tomb until after the wedding of King

Farouk.

Mammoth.

MOSCOW, Jan. 23. -An expedition will leave for the Arctic in the spring to ex-hume a mammoth discovered embedded in the ice last November.

A steamer, fitted with a huge refrigera-tor, will go to Wrangel Island and rail-way cars are now being designed at Vladivostok so that the carcass may be transported to the Moscow Museum in-

tact.

"Goose-step".

ROME, Jan. 24.-Signor Mussolini, who was most impressed by the "goose-step" of the German army when he visited Berlin last year, will attend a parade of a blackshirt battalion tomorrow, which will exhibit the progress lt has made during the three months in which Italian troops have been drilled in the "goose step" by special instructions. Italian sol-diers will "goose-step" In a great Fascist parade, which will be a feature of the welcome to be extended to Herr Hitler when he visits Signor Mussolini in May

next.

Hitler as Artist.

VIENNA, Jan. 25.-Described as "artist-tically very poor and amateurish," sev-eral of Heir Hitler's water-colours painted before the Great War when he was an unemployed house-painter and decorator, were purchased by an art dealer and sent to Berlin. Some of the canvasses, which were bought under instructions from a German whose name is not known,

NORTH-WEST NEWS.

BROOME, Jan. 10 -The funeral of Captain T. H. Owen, a well-known Broome pearling identity, took place in the Anglican portion of the Broome cemetery on December 31. The late Captain Owen was born in North Wales in 1861 and first came to Australia in 1882. He went to Broome many years ago and was closely connected with the pearling Industry, conducting his own fleet for several years. At the time of his death Captain Owen was the oldest member of the Broome Masonic Lodge.

ONSLOW. Jan. 11. - A military plane in charge of Squadron Leader Lachal, landed here Thursday at 7.45 o'clock, picked up 66 gal-lons petrol and took off again at 9.45 for northern destination. The mail plane, two days late, arrived the same day at sun-down, the pilot and two passengers staying here for the night. Three overlanders, Messrs, Perry, Ross-man and Lee, arrived here by car on Saturday, en route to Darwin to go buffalo shooting, they left on Sunday. The protecting wall built by the P.W.D. to stay erosion of the embankment by high tides is having the opposite effect, the action of the current caused by this wall is stated to be washing the sand bank away to-wards the town very rapidly. A visitor to this town recently is Mr. Nat Campbell, late of Yardie Creek station. Mr. Campbell took up Yardie Creek as virgin country with only £15 to his credit, and Improved it to the value of £14,000. Depression and the drought hit him so hard that, two months ago. he abandoned the station. He now intends to go prospecting up the Ashburton. - Whilst fishing off the jetty, Mr. S. Stevenson, had a king fish hook caught in the tendons of his arm. So thick was the hook, that the doctor had no appliance capable of cutting it, wire cutters had to be got from the Transport Co. garage before it could be extracted.-The sports com-mlttee met on Saturday to accept the resigna-tion of their secretary. Mr. J. Welburn, who is leaving to take up a position at Yelbeni.