NEWS AND NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1913, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES

[The following item* of intelligence ta.v« been selected from files received by the latest mail.] The children of the late Lord Peel have presented to the nation velics of Captain Sir William Peel, who commanded the Naval Brigades throughout th Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. The > relics consist of a flag which was carried at the head of both brigades, and the bugle, also Captain Peel's sword, telescope; and Victoria Cross. The gifts have been accepted by the Admiralty with thanks. Sir William Veei was an elder brother of the late" Lord Peelf Lord Deaborough, chairman of the I Thames Conservancy Board, stated re- j cently that tlie board intended shortly to bring forward a scheme whereby they could remove some ,of tho corners and angles of the river and, cut out two or three weira. Tho effect of this change would be that there would bo a greater fall in tlie river, and it would be possible to bring the volume of water to the sea more quickly than was the case at present. When completed the scheme would be submitted to those interested whether as riparian owners, or as members of the various local bodies concerned, and if they thought improvement worth the very large sum it would cost it would be for them to consider, the best means 'of providing it. The proceedings brought by the Admiralty against the owners of the steamship Amerika in respect of the collision on 4th October last between that vessel and Submarine 82,. as a result of which the submarine sank with a loss of fifteen lives have been settled by the owners df the Amerika agreeing to j pay 95 per "cent, of the Admiralty's claim with taxed costs ; acknowledging that those on board the submarine were in no way to blame for the collision j ( <and, agreeing- that all other claims arising out of the collision (such as life claims) should be dealt with ih exactly the same way as if the Amerika had been adjudged alone to blame. Referring to statements "recently made in regard to apple-growing in England, Mr. J. EJ. Redmayne, manager of the British Columbia London Agency, states that the excellence of American apples, including those grown in Canada, is chiefly due to (1) superior climatic con* ditions and (2) greater care in cultivation as compared with England. In the ]?ar West apple culture approximates to a skilled industry^ with a technical training like that given to electrical enj j*ineering. In Washington, Oregon, and I in British Columbia apple-packing and grading is taught in continuation schools, while the young American fruit-grower does not hesitate to spend a year at places like the Pullman College, in Washington State, learning the technics of apple culture before starting to grow fruit. A distressing Christmas Eve tragedy is reported from Todmorden, Maggie Louisa j Rohrer, aged 23, the daughter of a local I jeweller, having teen accidentally shot | dead by her 14-year-old brother, Geo. W. I Rhorer. The brother and sister had been krking, and had kissed under the mistletoe. Miss Rhorer ran to another part ! of the room, and the lad pioked up a ! breech-loading pistol, and -pointed it at I her in fun, not knowing it was loaded* j The pistol went off, and Miss Fohrer I was shot through the head and killed instantly. The boy, who was overwhelmed with grief, has been arrested. j The assassination of Lord Mayo, reI called by the Recent outrage at Delhi, s figures in a curious coincidence recorded }by Grant Buff. On 19th September, 1874, the diarist "apent most of the forenoon with Dr. Birdwood, in the India Office Museum. We were looking at a I most exquisite little piece- of Jeypore ! enamel belonging to Lady Mayo, when i he told us the following story : 'I was,' he said, 'some time ago showing that* cup to the Archbishop of York, and as I turned the spoon about in it that he might see the reflection of the emerald bowl on the gold, I said "Now you can realise what it is to be a> Viceroy." Just at that moment one of the servants of the Museum came up, pale as death, and said, "There is a telegram downstairs to say that Lord Mayo is assassinated." " A terrible accident occurred on 2.2nd December at a kiuematograph theatre in the village of Baraquea, near Manin, Flanders. The film, caught fire during a performance^ and, .although tho operator succeeded in' extinguishing the flames, a panic occurred, and twelve persons lost their lives, some twenty others being injured. Most of the victims were children. In this season; writes a Chronicle Scribe on Boxiilg Day," when the undelivered missive ie more or less a calamity, one recalls how Dickens took measures to minimise the risk of letters straying. When ab Gad's Hill his notepaper was headed "Higham by Rochester, Kent." And Yates, the postal expert, tells of a protest and a sequel: "'Why do you Lave "Kent" on your notepaper, sir?' I asked him. ' Post, Office sorters always look for tho name of the post town, and "Rochester" ia quite enough.' 'Because, sir, there might be two Rophesters, and because some people write so badly it might be taken for something else.' His delight may be guessed when one day a letter of mine to him was mis-senfc to Dorchester." The fair sex 'in Geneva aro anxious, says a message from the Swiss town, dated 23rd December. The police ac- i corded them until Christmas Day to buy and wear protectors to their batons or' pay the penalty (8s), mounting for repeated offencuß to £4. So far the matter is ' not serious, 'but there are no more hatpin protectors in Geneva, 10,000 Lav- | ing been snapped up, and the shops are I sold out. Some women are wearing bits of. ordinary cork, and others wili have to follow their Example temporarily. The sterner sex are greatly pleased with the new law. > -It has long been tho practice to take the finger-prints of thieves and other criminals. The 'superintendent of pojico at Buffalo (U.S.A.^ now proposes' to take 'the finger-prints ot chauffeurs and motordrivers who are convicted of offences against the motoring regulations, particularly of those "Who have "been the cause of serious accidents. A woman's leap before a Metro politan train at Westbonrno Park Station with a baby' in her arms, was described at a London inquest on 20th December, on Violet Maud Alltrob, aged 26. The husband said his wile had no trouble except that she had been worried by the continued crying of the child. A railway inspector said, that the child was taken uninjured from underneath the woman after the train had passed over them. But for her body being raised by its presence the mother would also -have been untouched. "During sermon time the other day," says the British Weekly, "a baby began to cry, and its mother carried it towards the door. 'Stop 1' said the minister, 'the baby's not disturbing me.' The mother turned towards the pulpit, and made the audible remark, 'Oh, 'c ain't, ain't 'el But you're a disturbin' a£'imt' v

"In France a Bill has been introduced which proposes that a percentage of the increase in price of a picture sold in the lifetime of the artist shall be paid to the painter," says the Westminster' Gazette. " The origin of the proposal may be found in the recent sale of a painting by M. Degas for £17,400, for which only £20 was originally* paid. The artist himself lives in a fifth-floor fLit in Montmartre,, while his pictures are competed for by millionaires. There will be a good deal of human sympathy with the idea embodied in the Bill, but a commercial world will not find its working very practicable. For what of the pictures which deteriorate in value?" "It seem§ to be the fate of SeTvia to 6tand in the way," said a Servian' to the Morning Post correspondent. "When the Turkish invaders poured into Europe five centuries ago they followed the natural route from the Sea of Marmora towards Vienna and trampled Servia flat on their way. Now, it -would seem, the German, host is determined to flow down towards Asia Minor ; and again it is Servia that stands as a barrier along the natural path of the new invasion 1 " '^There were no daily papers published in England on Christmas Day. thanks to a movement initiated by Mr. G. E. Stembridge, the ' manager of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. "The non-publication of the morning papers will," says The Times, "directly affect on Christmas Day very large number of people who are en* gaged in the great and widespread business of newspaper distribution. With no evening papers to supply to the public, Christmas Day has hitherto been for them a half-holiday; but this year they willi be free in the early mojning also, and will greatly appreciate a rest such as, in the tqwns at least, not even Sunday brings. The trader will be under no necessity to open his shop ; nor will the newspaper boy creep unwillingly from door to door in. the cold, gTey hours of morning. This from Zadlriel's Almanac for 1913, published 22nd October, 1912 :— "Winter Solstice, 1912.— Calcutta. — Some plotting m India against the supremacy of Great Britain. . . . The Viceroy should be strictly guarded." Now is that cause or effect, a long shot at futurity, or a suggestion of present discontents? asks a writer in the Daily Chronicle. The French officials on the Ivory .Coast, West Africa, are in future to 'make their official journeys in wheelbarrows. This is announced in the official gazette of the French African Colonies, which points out that the natives are showing an increased disinclination to carry either baggage or travellers on their heads. A one wheeled vehicle of light and elegant structure, capable of carrying one passenger and his baggage, has therefore been devised. Having had a foot crushed in a bootcleaning machine at Waterloo Railway Station, an engineer named Sollis recovered £21 damages against the Metropolitan Shoe Shine Company, Limited, in the City of London* Court. The defandants said their machines had been used by 140,000 persons without fiom|.laint. The Italian Government is about to adopt measures for abolishing lotteries, which have hitherto been a State monopoly, bringing, in enormous sums of money every year. As a kind of advertisement of their intention they are going to hold one more great lottery, in which anybody may take part in any quarter of the world. The diawing will take place in Rome. This last lottery will carry prizes amounted to more than £80,000, and each ticket costs half a crown. The first prize is Ho be £60,000, and the Bank of Italy will pay tins sum to the lucky possessor of the ticket bearing the winning flnmber. There are also 8882 other prizes, ranging in value from £4800 downwards. The Paris journal Matin states that, notwithstanding the bad weather, the submarine Volta. recently made a trip from Groix to Brest and > Cherbourg, some 800 miles, without a stop. ' She travelled under water for a considerable way, and fired a. number of torpedoes. The Excelsior says : "The tactical defence manoeuvres of torpedo boats and submarines carried out in the North Sea have given excellent results. Even in the heavy storms the large offensive submarines had the better of matters. The manoeuvres established the fact that the guarding of the Channel is assured, in spite of thd departure of the Brest squadron." How the gigantic total of 400,000,000 stamps required under tho Insurance Act were printed between 19th May and 30th June last was described by Mr. W. A. Wateriow at the annual meeting of Waterlow Bros, and Layton, held last month. The Insurance Act, Mr. Waterlow said, came into force on 15th July. They had under their contract to deliver by 50th June 400,000,000 stamps in nine different values and colours. Up to 19th May they had not received a single plate for printing the stamps— they were made by the Government. There was only one thing which would have delayed the' Act coming into force on 15th July, and that would have been if the stamps were not ready. There was no hitch, and the stamps were ready for delivery on the day stipulated. By 27 votes to 14 the Brighton (England) Town Council decided to grant seven-days licenses for Cinematograph theatres, but to impose a condition that one day's holiday per week should be given to all employees. Four legal members had persuaded 'the council to decide against granting Sunday licenses, but tho Watch Committee took the opinion of tv«-o eminent counsel, which was to the effect that the local authority had no power, to enforce such conditions. By 43 to 17, the Middlesex County Council decided that Sunday kinematograph shows were not desirable, and the Licensing Committee was instructed to take proceedings against offenders. - The Count de Franguoville, a- member of the French Institute, has sold the historic chateau of La Muette at * Passy, close to one of the entrances to the Bois de Boulogne, to M. Bloch Levallois. The chateau with its extensive grounds was formerly a hunting-box of the Kings of France. It was rebuilt by the Regent Orleans for his daughter, the Duchess of Berry, and it was there that the shooting patties of Lpuis XV. used to assemble. After having been constituted national property at the-Revolution it was bought by M. Erard, head of the great piano firm. The late proprietor, the Couut de Frangueville, entertained at La Muette the second meeting of the Bishops of France after the separation of Church and State. A portion of the grounds attached to the chateau was sold some years ago, and is now covered with residential flats, as the city of Paris iB rapidly encroaching on all .unoccupied land in Passy, _ and is obliterating its numerous beautiful private gardens. In the Course of a recent report Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, Chief Engineer of the London County Council, says:— "At the present time, owing to the 'diminution in the number of horses in large towns, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get manure for market" gardens, and if this difficulty becomes accentuated the time may arrive when it -Avil] be worth while to consider the manufacture of fertilising material from tho London «ew§£o s " - " -