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Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 670, 22 November 1909, Page 3

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/INTERESTING ITEMS ' ""■"'■;'■;;v.;'7'- '■;■■.'■ ;'.'■ 'fi 6-! '< ■An important'attaouncamontt has Wn made * in'tho House of Com'niflris'by Mr-Sydney Bnxton^(Poitmastcr t General)\fb; ; thof.effect that arrangements. Vhavo:. beon : completed with Iho ' Jlarooni Cpriroany for tho transfer & the Post Olhco of all, their, coast statioWfor conunumea.i noli with ships, including all plaot, machinery, buildrngs, land; : leases,,; etc.. as well as , the! right of using free.'of royalty Uar-i '■ com patents .and* any futnto ' patent* or im-i ■ provemonts: for a term/of- fourteen years. "The ,' inolusivo consideration-to bo paid.: to tho company is ,£15,000," said, tho .Ifinisfer. "Arrangement9..have also beenmade vdtk Lloyd'a > i for the transfer to the Post Offioo-of their wirc■it M f nt i onB ; ' In TO t»ra Uoyd's .will receive tho plant value of their, stations and will liavei .transmitted, tp.. them-,information; teocned at, tho Post Office, stations ;iii"; regard to tho posi-i tion and movements'of ships and -other man* 1 time intelligence."'.' r, V-γ; Y;v.:: :: ■ i Romance:of Wesley's Diary; , "/ i ;?'.v- ;: ' UAn interesting chapter,in ;■the •■ history of j literature is the; story of the finding of Johix ' Wesley s diaries; . which/ are . i<j be., published under tho editorship ;o£ .the E«v., N.| Curnock. 1 Having traced', these considerable * task in itself—Mr.'/Curnock was: confronted by ' the difficulty that , tho diaries "were irrittcn la * , three scripts: (1) A"most: extraordinary and Highly complex system, im abbreviated longhand,- (3) a system x)f ehorthand inVonted by John. Byrom : (the .of "Chrislwns, ,4 awake, saluto tho happy- niorn'-')', : of winch. -Wesley was •.a master. Ifc.took.- Mr, Curnock; four years to complete tho liork of deciphonng Bneffy, it inayvbe explained! that'one vowel was found to be the key to all thp-.yowcls, and. one, consonantv.the" key -to all- the cottsonanU. Day and night; Mr. , Curnock; toiled mth tho cipher, which: consisted of arbitrary signs, but .tho same sign, did not'always -mean" tho samo 'letter. Then , at'last,, a strange inspiration, the missing, letter came to , him in. a dEcara. ' Ho diecovered that,a frequently.recumng sn>n, ,—namely,- ":"' meant and could! only hiean. 12, but thie, it-is j.explainedi-proved, useksss as > a clue until in his dreamjofternighti-of thrnking and racking of-brains, .he fouid that the 1 .ttgure 2 6tood;for'fa.":; l lhi6 .was'.the.first ray^ 'Of-llght. ■ ■• ./ ; ~:'■■/'..■,.„■ ; ;'':':^;|

Treasure-Seekers. v Another search is to ba made for the tieasure, of the famou-> Tuscanj 'galleon Admiral ot l'lorence, which was one of the ships of the Spanish Armada and which, aftei flecuig north, from the English 'ships, was blown Up , m lobermory Ba) ,m the Isle of Mull tradition tajs that she earned 30,000,000 pieces of eight and a crown for the Spanish pnnco who waai intpnded to oocupy the throuo of England. The first attempt at salvage was made in 1070, when a Swodi-.li engineer w brought o\ei bv Archibild Maiqu'-s'i of Argyll, Admiral of the \\ ostern Isles In 1730 a second attempt was made, resulting in tho recovcrj of a num- , bor of coins and fine gun dated 1554 Tne 3 ens ago a search for tho treasure was made with considerable success, swords, pig. lols, and cinnon balls being obtained Legends say that the galleon was blown up by one of tho Macleans ill revenge for the kidnapping ofv ' the head of tho clan. , Fashions for' Fruit Pickers. 1 If. n«t fruit season, it should'be noticed that the pickers are all appaicntly very fat* *' men, tho lact'aeed cause Ho surprise; the explanation will bo that they aio wearing Aβ ""• new "fimt-picker's jacket.' This , garment consists ofu blouso of largo capacity, with , sleeves of the opii-copal variety, except that they am not gathered at the wrist. Equipped - ' with the jacket, tho picker simply ex- V tends his hand, picks the trait, and lets it fall down his sleeve, where, it settles 'above tJi»> ' tight waistband. Ho continues this operation till ,the weight of hie distended blouso indicates that it is time to get down the ladder. Hβ then opens 'the jacket, empties his juicy burden into the pvopor 'receptacle, picks out tho little ones-that have got inside his neck, ' and is ready to stall all over again. Tbo'jacket should hold from'half a bushel to a bushel, and may bo made at home. > • , c Revenue and the Budget, - ■'• A somewhat disquieting situation is revealed by the Treasury figures tor tho half-year which havo just been published. ■ 'To provide the additional £15,000,000 budgeted ip V ,it «as,an. , ' ticipateithat the half-year's realisations would roach at least six'millions "The actual in- •-, creaso is only ,£1,803,000,' mid,' on tho basis of ' , previous half-ycar't realisations, il is osti- - mated that the total returns , in April next '-> will fall short'of the estimate by nearly eight ' millions The Excise levonuo has decreased by «£1,33(i,000, instead of increasing by .£1,500,000 '' during, the half-year, The bulk of the short. ' ago is due to , tho enormous falling-off in the consumption of whisky under ,tho enhanced > duty. There is also a gTavo shortage on tho income-tax returns, tho figures showing u do- ■ * cline of jC"3i,OOO, instead of the anticipated increase of .£1,750,000 for tho half-year. Stamp .' duties have fallen short by nearly half a mil- , lion, and but for the fact that death duties are up to the tune of .£2,878,000 tho position would be very disastrous, especially in view of \ ,t the fact that expenditure has increased by neaily six millions for the half-year. ,V ' I '- ■ ' Strange Bonbons. > The most remavka'blD brand' of chocolate creams ever offered for salo has just been ' placed on the market. They 'are nothing less than a .British bacteriologist's daring solution of the problem sot by Professor ,Metchniioff, of Paris, who urged the taking ofllactib acid. \\ for arresting old age, but who' omitted to say ' '"' how the nauseating effects of "health iniß?\ to thoso with delicate organs could bo avoided. 1 Every bonbon is guaranteed to contain at least ' 10,000,000 carefully isolated lactic acid or mas-i -> sol bacilli in the highest state of activity. The blue massol bacillus, 'as Professor Metdinikoff* pointed ont, is'not only the sworn foe'of the,' ' ' rod bacillus pntrofaction microbe, but its un- > disputed maslor, The" bluo bacilli' havo• noi sooner been .liberated in tho human« system ' ■ by the bwallowing- of a bonbon, than they bo-' ' gin ftt onco to deolaro ; war on tho red putroV ta"ction microbes, until at tho end of a few) weeks, by tho swallowing .of three bonbonir daily, tho "reds" have been routed. . . "Variety Exchange." v ~ , •It is understood that'the schomo' for i j proposed working arrangement, or combine, bo-* ' tiveon the leading music-hall managers in Lon-I don and the provinces is now practically 'coni-i plctcd. Tho main object of tho scheme is loa leducc expenses m many ways, and not—aa/ has been" huggested in somo quarters—to - cut > down 1 artists;, salaries. Tho business of a I modern music-hall is a very complicated oncj Ihero aro now, printing, advertising, electrical' departments—to namo only a few—in which* ' it is intended, by means of tho combine, lo\ reduce expenses. t One effect will be to regu-1' -' late the 'buildimj ,of new halls. TTnder ' tho / ; regulations of.thp, nc«v combine any manager ' *' belonging to jt '\yho desires to erect a now* , music-hall in a. town already supplied in this/ ' respect will lay his plans beforo the coinbino'a .' board of directors. Similarly, i where rival hallei' ' . now exist the managements will agree to limiti their bill-posting to a'cortain quantity.- >Tho name chosen for, the new combine is , '"Tho Variety Exchange.". Tho principlo of tho com-1, i bine has nlroadyiboon agieed upon by the five' ■' big. music-hall business interests:—Moss and)" Stoll circuit, Walter Gibbons's circuit "Thtf Syndicate" halls, Barrasford's circuit, and DeJ Preco circuit. Cunard Chairman's" Death. . { Mr. William Watson, chairman of (ho Cun*;' ' ard Steamship Company, has! died at Spital ,' Cheshire. Hp. contracted, a .fatal chill while motoring to Fishguard through a fetorm, in order to sutiervise the opening of tho port as a port of call for Atlantic lmors. Ho was born, CO years ago, and staged his .business career ', ju. a cotton merchaniMii Choricston. SoutK Carolina lie: afterwards, settled in Liverpool, , and founded tho firm of' William Watson mi - Co.. cotton merchants. Ho lotircd from the . cotton business in 1902, in order that ho miphti . succeed Invcrclydo as chairman of,-the , ! 'K W" W It was ho who car- > I nod through tho agreement with the Govern- >H linont, which rpndcml tho bnildingi of the * " Lusilania and Mnnretania possible, and lo put an end to the- disastrous Atlantic ralo war" , j Traoedy in Wolfe's Church. ' , ' 'i sce "°. wns witneaod in St. Alphogo '' Church, Grecnwroh-wJrcro General Wolfe was ; buncd-when Canon Koith, .vicar of St AndrcVs, Watford, died m tho pulpit during iW 1 S c^ n tow prS j nig tor a fow minutes, and had lost uttored lha , '. ? Spirit of God "wJ.cn ho SpseJ ' > into tho well of the.pulpit., A hush fell on the wholo consrcgation, who realised that some! tiling was wrong,, and roso to their fool. .V doctor was summoned', and it was found thav 1 tho canon was dead. Tho body romained in '' the church vestry thronghout-tho night, and vigil wasi kept by a number of tho clcrgv. Tn™ ' ' '' cnnon J s JicaH has been affected by a roceni ', attack of rhoumatism.-"Standard of Empire "