Here and There.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 16 January 1911, Page 4

Here and There.

0 - — .— ICING ALFONSO'S GIFT. King Alfonso has just sent a present to the widow of a Paris policeman, which recalls the bomb 'incident in the lino de Hohan during nis first visit to Pan's. " One of the policemen, it may be remembered, was injured at the time by a fa.ll from his horse. He died recently after retiring from the service, find someono sent a cutting from a newspaper reporting tho ex-policeman's death to King Alfonso. He answered at once in a touching letter through the private secretary, and enclosed a cheque for the widow. VANISHED j HIDE. The disappearance of an intended bride under peculiar circumstances is reported from Gaterliani. The girl had been engaged to a young mechanic for two years, and a certain date had 'been fixed for -the wedding. ! Having taken a cottage at Gaterham, the couple visited Croydon and selected furniture to tho value of £80 for their new home, paying a deposit of £10. Early in the week the bridegroom, it is said, handed his sweetheart £70 to pay the furnishing firm. She left to visit Croydon for that purpose, but has not since been seen. The matter has been reported to the police. TREATMENT OF RHEUMATICS BY BEE STINGS. Dr. F. n. Maberley relates Jus experience with a number of severe cases of rheumatism which refused to respond to any of the usual methods of treatment and in which beestings gave relief. In elderly people he starts with about six stings for the first three applications, and then increases the number gradually to a couple of dozen. The stings should remain in for a few minutes before removing them. Ho concludes from his experience that this remedy, if it does not effect a complete cure, gives relief in almost hopeless cases. FLORIDA'S WONDERFUL TREE. ''There is a tree in Jacksonville which has a history as interesting as that of the charter oak, although it does not seem to have gained the fame of the historic tree of the north. It is a giant Jive oak, and it stands in Dixieland Park," said a Florida native to the Washington Post recently. "The branches of this remarkable tree extend 160 ft," he continued. "When the sun is low it casts a shadow almost an acre in extent. The great age of the tree js shown by the fact, accepted as historical by many people, that Ponce de Leon once rested beneath it. It is known that Osceola, the chief of the Seminoles, camped 'in its shade while negotiating the treaties that followed th© Seminoles, camped in its shade while negotiating the treaties that followed the Seminole war. The directors of the park have decorated the giant branches of the tree with incai.ides.cent lights, and the sight at night is very impressive. WANTS PAY FOR APPENDIX. Miss Jose fa Schneider, a Turkish subject, resident in Constantinople, has brought a suit for damages against the State which throws a vivid light on conditions in. Turkey under Abdul Hamid 11. According to the Paris Eclair one of Abdul's daughters fell seriously ill in the days when he was still padishah and the court physician recommended an operation for appendicitis. Abdul refused to give his consent until the operation had been performed on someone else, to prove that it was not dangerous to life. Miss Schneider, who had recently spent some time in a Constantinople hospital, was handy, so she was forcibly taken from her house and deprived of her appendix. Abdul Hamid was convinced, his daughter was cured, and now Miss Schneider's suit is part of his successor's troubles. MYSTERIOUS VISITORS BAG OF GOLD. Anonymous gifts have been made to Llangollen Welsh chapels. A few days ago a mysterious visitor, whose identity is unknown, left a bag containing a large quantity of gold coins with tho deacon of'Rehobotb Church, instructions being also given as to their distribution among the various denominations of the town, the amount to be given to each being set forth. Acting on these instructions the deacon has given sums of £/5 to a large num'ber of religious bodies in the district, but die still holds a heavy sealed packet containing a considerable sum in trust for Rehoboth Church, the largest in the town. It will be opened- in the presence of the congregation on Sunday at service. LONG DRAWN-OUT LAWSUITS. The great lawsuit, .. yler, v. Lewis (to give its short title), which came to an end in the House of Lords recently, though it had lasted 57 days in its various stages, does not rival other famous cases in length. The Tichborne civil trial, lor -instance, occupied 103 days, the Parnell Commission 128 days. The criminal trial of the Ticbbofn > claimant was begun on. April 23 <-,nd was not finished, until February 28 of the following year. This was the longest trial known in England, and it is likely to remain so. The tew proceedings in the Tichborne case are said to have cost the estate £92,000. It is quite likely that the expenses of the case just ended may exceed that sum' Counsel ■alone have pocketed clcve to i' 10,1" HABfi'S IF OR'-BS Some interesting investigations in regard to the movements and habi's o: the edible crab ore being carried out by the Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee. Fishery Inspector Dennason informed the committee at the half-yearly meeting at King's Lynn that during the last few months 900 crabe had been labelled and returned to the sea of tlie Norfolk and 1 Lincolnshire coasts. It is ihoped to be able to trace their movements and to obtain other data which are likely to lie of use to the fishermen. During the season just- ended 1,281,000 marketable crabs and 46,000 lobsters were caught along the coast. MRS RIP VAN WINjyLE. After an unbroken sleep extending over thirty-two years Caroline kronboeck lias awakened to find the world changed considerably. This extraordinary case of somnolence has occurred at Oknoe, a village near Moensteras, Sweden, and •is described by Dr Frederstroem of the Stockholm Hospital. Caroline Kronboeck fell asleep when she was 14, in the winter of 1877-78, and remained mntil recently in a comatose condition. Consciousness returned to her suddenly. She did not know where she was; didn't recognise .her father or the room where she had lain for thirty-two years. Presently she felt hungry and asked for a -haked .herring—her favourite dash when, she was a young girl. She said she felt tired, and somewhat dazed. Her memory came hack by degrees, how she walked half a mile to school, the name of the teacher and those of he.r, school friends and ■what the' local parson' looked I 'like.' She remembered having a toothache but could not whether she tlmrt Jierhead. AsTo 'her long

period of suspondod consciousness, her mind is a complete blank. It took her a month to learn to walk again, and her eyes remain very sensitive to light, hut her appetite was excellent from the time of her awakening, and she has since slept normally every night. Strange to say she' has forgotten nothing of what she learned at school and "at once wanted to go on with her lessons. She showed _ good mental aptitudc_, and has just boon confirmed by her Lutheran pastor. NEW KIND OF COAST LIGHT. The adoption by the €fc)vcranient of acetone gas, acetylene-dissolved in acetone for use of lighthouses, beacons, lightships and light buoys, will soon revolutionise ihe_ -whole system of coast lighting .in this country, and the .lighthouse keeper and buoy tender will be forced to. find new vocations. Acetylene in its various forms is the only commodity yet produced that will give ;i light next in power to that of the sun. By its use inventions have been perfected to produce lights for a continuous period of from one to fiye years or more, according to the amount of fuel installed. The most' wonderful light in the world ajicl, now in use by the United States Government is the one invented by Delan, the Swedish scientist. Jt is produced by acetone gas and has a "human working" sun instrument containing a glass tube of several rods of varying reflective powers which automatically opens and closes the valve in accordance with the light absorbed. Tn other words the light burns continuously until' affected by the heat of the sun. when it goes out, only to he revived at dawn. Tt also contains a flashing apparatus in the lantern.