General News.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 June 1911, Page 4

General News.

It is 'Understood thflt the New Zealand Government lias commun;catcd the TUawarra Dairy Cattic Association, to the effect thai they are desirous of securing enlarged photographs of the Jllawarra breed for exhibition in leading centres in. tho dominion. Mr H. T. Gibson, headmaster of the "NYaihi Somtli school, 'has offered- a gold medal to the .boy or giirl who writes the 'best ossay on "The ITnion Jack." He-does this as a "protest against tlie insult from tlvo president of the Miners' Union to the British flag." In a letter the other day, the latter said he neither feared God, honoured the King, nor saluted the piratical flag. It is a poor heart which never rejoices. but the Tillage of Dufton, near Appleby, Westmoreland', does not appear to be very joyful over the Coronation. They propose to purchase a hearse as a. suitable moans of celebrating the Coronation. Tt is not definitely settled vet, but the hearse was first favourite when the final decision was adjourned. . A great explosion involving awful loss of life occurred on May 30 in Managua, tlie capital of Nicaragua. All that is so far known is tlhat the fortress of Lalonia was blown up, and that on fewer than 150 persons were killed. The. palace buildings near the fortress were considerably damaged 'by the explosion. A remarkable instance of longovitv in a. family is given by Mr William Westen,'of Kaiapoi, wilito savs:—l was born in 1834, iand have four sisters, born in, 1821, 1831 a,nd 1838, respectively, and two brothers, one born in 1826 and tho otiher in 1828. They are all alive, and were all 'born at Hailsham, in the County of Sussex, England. The ages of the- members of this family total 575 vears, and are 90, 87 _, So, 83, 80, 77, and 73. Several sharp passages at arms, in which counsel did not always luave the best of it, relieved the tedium of tho proceedings at tho Nelson Supreme Court. In one instance a comment by counsel upon the clearance of-'a. witness' recollection of a previous Court case caused the deponent to reveal his acquaintance with legal battles in which the barrister figured twenty years ago. In reply to a question, the witness confessed to some pretensions to being regarded as a public man, having throe times stood for Parliament. I '"Three times," queried counsel, "a.nd you are not in yet?" "Not yet,' was the response, "but I was nearer it last time than you were when you last stood." To tho witness' evident disappointment the barrister let the cross-examination rest at that.—Nelson Colonist.

A Ba'llance dairy farmer (says an. exchange) who is 'a supplier to a butter factory near Pahiatua, furnishes some particulars of the value of by-products for the past season. The settler nilked 43 cows iand from the skim milk reared 50 pigs, valued at £2 os each, which brought in £112 10s, and 12 weancr calves at. 355, making a total return of £133 10s.

Messrs Waring and Gillow, of London, have received from Turkey, a wonderful ea'rpet, manufactured for a Peer, which was copied from the seventeenth Persian example in the South Kensington Museum. It contains 22,500,000 stitches, and took eighteen months to make.

Some American 'hens are alleged to have been induced to produce coloured eggs for Easter by the if owner's simple expedient of substituting coloured electric light globes for the usual ne.st eggs!

A quaint American shop has been started in a certain main street. Only the main article is for sale, and the window is filled with specimens of it and its work. This past week it has been a knife that peels and cores and shreds in the most wonderful manner. Inside the sihop stands a man who pours olut a never, ending flow of eloquence, and he generally has a large audience. He knows no full stops and scorns commas. and has the most wonderful command of language, including some rjuaint American expressions. He is willing to let yon take the knife on trial, and will give yoni back the shilling if it proves not all that -he says it is. In this connection he tells of a youth wllio took his mother home the knife. Next day, wanting a shilling, started to take it back to the shop. He was stopped by his mother, who, when_ told what he was after, said: "No, my son, we can't spare that knife. Tf you want .a. shilling, take the piano. Xobodv uses that."

A learned Parisian lias been telling the world that it ought to yawn, early and often, but nccording to strict scientific ideas. It's no ; use yawning in a lazy position, as most people do, say, i" churih, or at a political meeting. Of cuius:'. in the latter case, you may be "airing" your real feelings; but it isn't as beneficial an exercise a.s you can get out of the same process if you do it scientifically. The yawn must be done in such a way as to set in action all the muscles of tibe throat and chest; the arms must he outstretched, and there must he a series of six to eight successive yawns, "care heing taken to swallow between each." It isn't mentioned wliat you are supposed to swallow, but this is presumably left to one's own discretion. The exercise, is likely to prove very popular with people Who happen upon someone who will stand the something, to swallow.

How many of the thousands wlio travel by excursion trains to-day know that tlhey might not have heen able to do that had not Thomas Cook wanted to go to a temperance demonstration. Seventy years ago llie walked from Leicester to Market Harborough to attend a temperance meeting, and as he went he read about the newly-opened railways in the Midlands. Why. not attends temperance meetings 'by train? lie thought. There was one in a few days at Loughborough, and, short as was the time, it wa ssufljcient for this man of prompt action, wl% <m July 15, 1841, conducted his first hatdh of tourists 750 strongs—to Loughborough and 'back, Three yeans later excursions 'had become immensely popular. On Easter Monday of 1844, no fewer till an 37,736 passengers travelled by the Greenwich railway, ancli 1100 passengers to Brighton, in a train consisting of 40 coaches, drawn by four engines, all of a total length of 300 yards. On "WMt Monday of the same year the Brigjlrton. 'Company put on a train of 59 carriages, drawn by six engines. Hie idea of dividing a train does not seem to have been conceived.