GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2057, 7 December 1907, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS.

In some parte ol Brittany an old custom still survives that permits an on gaged couplq, attended by their friends, to .visit tho village, shops, and themselves select what shall be their wedding presents. - : The Sydney Trades Hall Board has received £IOOO. from tlio Eight Hour Committee, which resulted from the tho profits of last year’s demonstra-

tion, ' Tho money, spoilt in slum-buying in England, in other words, on tlio endowment of slum landlords, lias amounted to about £6,000,000. About £-1,000,000 has been spent on erecting new dwellings. Ail extraordinary instance of tho retention of consciousness in spite of terrible bodily injuries is reported from Colne. A plate-layer, named John Sliaekleton, was knocked down by a light engine, and one leg was completely severed, and the other was so • badly -out that it' had to- bo amputated; his right arm was also badly crushed, and there was serious injury to an eye. Tho poor icllow was still conscious when admitted to tho infirmary. The head of the hoot department

at the Savoy Hotel, London, says he gets green, white, grey, 'blue, bioiize and gold and silver colored boots, boots made of kid, silk, satin, and cloth of gold, sandals from Morocco and Central Asia. “1 have cleaned 40 pairs for one guest alono in a day,” he says, “and even then the half-dozen trunks were not emptied' of their contents.”

At Nottingham a live crab was

found embedded in rock-sand 10ft below tlio surface, A workman employed by Mr. W. Everard, builder, wus getting out some foundations in Haydn road, when, in breaking off a large lump of rock with a crowbar, lie saw something move. Closer examination revealed a I’ve crab, the shell measuring 3in. by 2in. It icsembles the ordinary sea-crab, except that tho shell lias sharp, ru-'£g';d -d----ges. It is'“thought” that the crab is three or four thousand years old Sir James Crichton-Browno says

that lobsters, like human beings, are right-handed and left-handed. The right claw of the creature is its right hand, and! is armed with sharp teeth, whereas the left claw lias teetii which arc short and - blunt. While that arrangement of tlio teeth is the case with about 0G per cent of'the lobsters, there are about 2 or 3 per cent, in which the conditions are reversed, and the sharp teeth are on the left side and the blunt teeth on the right. That is exactly the proportion of left-handed persons among human beings. Visitors to tlio Falkland Islands see a number of what appear to weather-beaten, moss-covered boulders of various sizes scattered here and there. On attempting to turn one over, they are surprised to find it is anchored io the ground by roots of great strength. These -are not boulders- —they are trees 1- The Fain

land Islands are exposed -to a strong Polar wind, which renders it impossible for trees to grow in t ile Pro--per form. Nature ljas consequently adapted herself to the prevailing conditions, and'produced this strange form of plant life. ' The greatest gift, you can make 'a

blind man.is the ability to" earn liisown living. ' Denmark extends that boon to the halt and maimed, as well as • to the blind.-'“A wdrknu/h crippled in a Danish factory knows precisely wliat to do. ' He goes to the School for Disabled “Workers, andlearns to support himself without the lost arm, or leg, of finger, as the case may be. The'school has made

an exhaustive study of trade chances for crippled folk. It provides tools, food, medicine, and free orthopaedic treatment for its unfortunate pupils, buys their work as soon as it is saleable, and once they know a trade finds them positions. The Pennsylvania railroad is up to date in many respects, and one of the most remarkable instances of the desire to save .time is afforded

by the. method adopted for filling the tenders of locomotives with coal and water in five . minutes’ - time, as

against half an. hour under the old system. A bridge is built across the tracks,, fitted with coal-alioots and water-pipes; The coal waggons discharge their contents. directly into ■the tender from above, while .. the ta'nks are filled at the same time with water delivered at high pressure,' the result being a net saving of five-and-t'wenty minutes for every engine so supplied. Little Gertrude Edellioff, a child of four, has recently made a journey of 7000 miles all alone. . She wasput 'into a railway coach at Oregon, booked and labelled for Germany, via New York. At New York she was put on a steamer bound for Germany. 'The railway people undertook the charge of her, and saw that she was' properly looked after; and the steamship company took up the responsibility at New York, and delivered her safe and sound at her destination. Her mother lives., in Oregon, and -is very poor. Sonic rich relatives in Germany- offered to adopt the little girl and to pay for her ;ticket over, ail'd little Gertrude started off on lier journey across tlio world all alone, without a soul she knew; but, with- the blessed optimism of childhood, she thoroughly enjoyed'every episode of the'journey, and'made friends with everyone. She was so popular that when she left the boat she was laden with presents, and was quite sorry to part from her many friends.

SUNDAY SERVICES. ! Wesley Church —To-morrow: Morning, 11, Rov. C. Griffin, subject, f‘Refuge in Tipublo” ; evening, 7, -Rev. C. Griffin, subject, ‘Tim Faith and .Gratitude of a Heathen ’ ; afternoon, 2.-15, United Bible CLxs; Ormond, 3, Rev. O. Griffin, strangers cordially invited.' ! St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. (Sunday School Anniversary).—ll a.in., Rev. E. W. Walker; 3 p.m,Rew Wm Grant, “An Acrostic” ; i inn., “Greater than the Greatest General.” The. Bible Classes, senior and junior, will attend the iuteriioon service. , , 1 Baptist Tabernacle.—Morning, 11 a.m., Rev. Williams; evening, 7 p.in., Rov. Williams