NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1913, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES.

[The following items of intelligence have been selected from files received by tho latest mail.] The French Ministry of War has adopted a new type of gnn for horse artillery. Since 1900 French experts have been searching for a 75mm. (about 3in) gun light enough to be serviceable with cavalry. After many experiments in the_ State arsenals it was decided in 1911 to invite the services of private industry, and two types of light guns from the Creusofc works were tested at the last manoeuvres in tho West. It is one of these which has now been adopted. The new gun will weigh about half-a-ton less than the present 75mm. weapon. Orders have been placed for eighty guns of the new type, and they are to be ready in July next in time for the grand manoeuvres of 1913. At an auction sale of fafc stock following the York Show in December, Mr. F. Lockwood's Irish ox, Pat the Giant, which took four first prizes at Birmingham and first in its class at York, was disposed of. The bullock was 6ft high and weighed 214 stone. Bidding started at £100 and rose rapidly to £185, at which price the beast was knocked down to Mr. Gould, a Hutt butcher. The price is said to be the highest on record for a fat beast. One of three exhibits by the King, a two-year-old Shorthorn ox, which took third prize in its class, was sold for £36. Cattle generally sold at prices ranging up to £50. Sheep fetched up lo 81s each. A champion pig, weighing 82 stone, sold for £29. I It is reported from Lisbon that the corporal of the Portuguese military post at Kango, on Lake^ Nyasa, Portuguese East Airica, who, in November of 1911, killed the Rev. A. J. Douglas, a British missionary, has been tried by courtmartial and sentenced to one year's detention in a military prison, or, alternatively, to sixteen months' service at a military disciplinary depot. The circumstances of the case v/ere as follow : — A dispute arose with regard to the de; tention by the Portuguese of a boat belonging to the mission. The Bishop of Nyasaland and Mr. Glossop, missionary in charge of Likoma, went to Kango to secure the release of the crew. While the Bishop discussed the matter with the Portuguese corporal Mr. Glossop released the men. Some excitement ensued, and after it had been calmed the corporal went on board the Bishop's steamer. After returning to shore he fired shots at the missionary college. The steamer sent a boat to bring off Mr. Douglas, and as he was walking down to meet it the corporal turned and shot him dead. "A bronze memorial tablet will be affixed to No. 5 Hatton-garden (the Holborn Corner), where the great Italian, Maz7.ini, held his conferences and classes," says the Westminster Gazette. "It contains a bust in bas-relief, and an inscription which says : 'In this house Guiseppe Mazzini, the Apostle of Modern Democracy, inspired Young Italy with the ideal of the unity, independence, and regeneration of his country.' " The great charm of a Governor's life is, according to Lord Chelmsford., its many-sidedness. At the official opening of the A.M.P. buildings in Sydney on the 21st, he expressed his regret at being so soon to leave his manifold interests in New South Wales. " One day," said he, "a Governor is expected to open, say, the A.M.P. premises; on the next he may open a church bazaar; and after that he will perhaps, attend picnic races. In this way every side of his character is as far as possible developed. So I think that anybody who has the good fortune 'to hold the position of Governor can never be grateful enough for the opportunity ; ho must be a better man when he gives up the appointment than when he entered upon it." _Tho t newly-published diary of Queen Victoria repeats a story pf Napoleon and Mme. dc Stael. The Queen says that Lord Melbourne knew Mme. de Stael well and thought- highly of her, although she "had a great deal of folly." Then Lord Melbourne told the Queen that upon one occasion, when Mme. de Stael had been nmking a long discourse to Napoleon, he interrupted her suddenly with the question, " Est-ce que $ous nourissez vos enfants?" ("Dou you Buckle your children?"). Probably, says an, American' writer, the question wps a precise, expression of Napoleon's opinion of Mme. de Stael and of the legitimate functions of women in general. Hearing a voice from the bottom of the village well, 100 ft deep, at midnight, crying, "O Lord, help me," a constable named Garrett, at Boughton Monchelsea, near Maidstone, obtained assistance and was lowered, into the well, At the bottom he found a young_ woman, Minnie May Smith, standing in 4ft of water. She was seriously injured. With great dimcnlty the two were raised. At tho Police Court a charge of attempted suicide against Smith, who said she "didn't know how she got there," was dismissed. T2ie Magistrates recommended Garrett, who served in South Africa with the Ist Royal Dragoons, for the Carnegie award, describing his act as the bravest they ever remembered. . "Ifc is interesting to watch the very continuous progress of Sir John Simon towards a commanding place in Liberal politics," says the Nation. "He is in the front rank of debaters in the House of Commons. He has a very clear, wellbalanced mind, a great talent for exposition, and, to his opponents, an embarrassing habit of meeting, instead of evading, arguments. With conspicuous tact and a conciliatory, almost suave manner, ho deals blows which are deadly because they are ably and rightly aimed. His legal training is, of course, a great part of his intellectual equipment, but it does not handicap him, for ho has imagination. Ifc is much to be hoped that his future will be in the Cabinet, not on the Bench. His speeches in the country are very good— excellent in form, fresh in matter, closely and fairly reasoned." The first women's jury in Idaho (U.S.A.) interrupted a case at Twinfalls recently by going home to cook the dinners for their families, ignoring tho Judge's declaration that ib was impossible for the jury to leavo the custody of the Court. Tho women answered his refusal to adjourn the case by putting on their hats and filing out of the* jurybox. The Judge found nothing to say in regard to this gross* contempt of Court. The jury duly returned and quietly resumed their places without a protest from the Bench. A case against a woman charged with threatening to shoot a Max i cab they decided in two minutes 'trinity," said the forewoman, "bub wp recommend the defendant, who is a neighbour of mine, to the mercy of the Court.' 1 Famished wolves yesterday devoured four persons in the neighbourhood of a village in the Province of Beira, Portugal, on 13th December. Large packs of the starving animals had come down from the gorges of the Serra da Kstrella, whence they had been driven owing to the deep snows, and they w«re terrorising the low country. They attacked lonely farms at night, whilo persons travelling along the roads were in constant danger. A great hunt was organibi'd l>y the country inhabitants in U±» J-'joviuco o£ Bjcy^i More. than. £0.0,

men participated, and they succeeded in .rounding up and killing over one hundred Wolves, but eight of the hunters were badly bitten. In Baltimore. Maryland, a new employment has just been found for the blind. • Very recently jn experiment was made with a blind girl as a telephone operator at one of the exchanges. Her work was so good, and she was so accurate and careful, that the telephone company decided to secure other girls from the Maryland School for the Blind. There aro now over twelve of these sightless operators being employed in Baltimore, and they not only give satisfaction, but are declared to be superior to girls possessed of their sight, and the managers believe that the field of work can be opened to many others. It is almost pathetic (says a New York telegi'am) to see the eagerness with which the blind girls take up this work. It puts them into touch with the world, and large numbers have applied for the privilege of being telephone girls. The Abbe Marie Pujos dn Coudray, military chaplain, died in Paris on 15th December, in circumstances which entitle him to the name of hero. He was summoned on the 12th at the Versailles military hospital to the bedside of an artilleryman who was dying of an infections fever. Although aware of the danger, for the doctors warned him, he remained with the dying artilleryman until the latter succumbed the following day. The same evening the chaplain, a robust man of 35, was taken ill with Similar symptoms of infectious fever, and within forty hours lie ako expired, a martjr to duty. His funeral took place at Fontainebleau. A romance in the Habsburg family became known a few weeks ago. The Archduchess Eleanor, aged 26, daughter of the Archduke Carl Stephan, has for several years been in love with Naval Lieutenant Alfons yon Kloss, aged 29, the son of a bourgeois official, but their betrothal could take place only in September last, when the Emperor and the bride's parents had given their consent. The wedding is to take place at the end' of January. All the rnesilliances in the Habsburg family so far have concerned men, and this is the first case of a female member quitting the Imperial family. In renouncing her rights as a member, the Archduchess loses not only all chances of succession, all titles, and all privileges, but also all claims to an appanage and dowry out of the family fund. Built of rough-hewn cak trees split into halves, the ancient Saxon parish church of Greensted, near Ongar, Essex, reached last month its 900 th year of active service. It was erected before the Norman Conquest. The desirability of a special celebration of this unique anniversary is being urged by the rector of the parish, which the church still serves. One of the most widely quoted and certainly _ the most authoritative of journals in the country dropped out of existence at the end of the year 1912. Everyone knows its name, yet it is never seen on the bookstalls. The title is the Court Circular. King George, says the London correspondent of _ the Yorkshire Observer, is of opinion that its cost outbalances its usefulness in these days of modern journalism, and official communiques will probably take its place. The Court Circular was founded by Prince Albert. An anonymous gift of £25,000 for hospital purposes in London was announced recently by Lady Bertha Dawkins, who presided at a meeting in support of the proposed South London Hospital for Women. Lady Dawkins said that the committee had received, and had most gratefully accepted, a munificent offer trom some friends of medical women, who preferred to remain anonymous, to give . a site at Cla^ham Common and erect there a hospital at a cost of £25,000. "Give an Albanian an opportunity, and the speed with which he develops is extraordinary," s?id the Times. "In London to-day there is a man who arrived about thirty years ago from one of the wildest holes in Kosovo vilayet. He was almost penniless, and knew no English. By dint of hard work and natural intelligence he now owns three flourishing restaurants in the city. And Albanians by similar skill and industry have absorbed the bulk of the trade of Montenegro." In the ccheme for providing additional facilities for Thames shipping the Port of London Authority has accepted the tender of Messrs. Perry and Co., amounting to £105,466, for the construction at Tilbury of a deep-water riverside jetty for the use of cargo steamers needing deep-water for their discharge and desiring to leave port quickly. The jetty will be 1000 ft long and 50ft wide, and will have railway connection. It will be equipped with the most modern type of cranes for the rapid handling of cargo between vessels and barges, and by the provision of double decks 50,000 superficial feet of transit shed accommodation will be available. Another extensive raid on 'pillar-boxes took place in London on the evening of 17th December. The South Eastern portion of the metropolis appears to have been especially selected, and in Deptford and Lewisham some hundreds of letters were damaged. Putney also came in for considerable attention, and one or two boxes in the city were attacked. The police arrested three women, all of whom are said to be suffragettes. The materials employed in different cases were ink, tar, gum, and black paint. The two taken into custody at Lee-road Station were seen near a pillar-box at Blackheath by a paity of Salvation Army carol singers, who thought the action of the women, one of whom was riding a tricycle, somewhat suspicious. They followed them, and eventually informed the police. When the box was examined it was discovered that tar had been poured over tho letters, Mr. John Redmond, M.P., speaking at Ipswich recently, denied that the House of Commons had been "gagged" with regard to the Home Rule Bill. In the i debate the Unionists had spoken 3,000,--000 words — not words of wisdom, mercy, charity and liberty, but for the most part words of ignorance, prejudice and hatred. Ireland rejoiced that the Com- | mittee stage of the Bill had been passed, and on behalf of Lis countrymen he thanked the rank and file of the Liberal party for the devotion with which they had borno the labours of tffe past few months. llow a man. who took refuge from the indignation of a whole mining village in a culvert, was extracted in a state of collapse through a hole dug in tho roadway was told at the Bridgend (Glamorganshire) Police Court a few weeks ago, when Henry John Hooper, alias Enoisburg, a carpenter, was accused of misbehaviour, and remanded. He escaped from an infuriated crowd of miners' wives by entering a small culvert. After watching the entrance for two and a-half hours, tho police, assisted by some colliers, dug a hole in the main street, about 70 yards from the entrance U> the tunnel, and near this point n nririet. who descended found iloopei crouching, so overcome by the bad air .thai lua. hfja jvas. at^fitst despaired,, oft