General News.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 March 1915, Page 4

General News.

A policeman, whose evidence was taken on commission, deposed: "The prisoner sat upon me, calling me a precious dolt, a scarecrow, a ragamuffin, and an idiot." And this being the concluision of his deposition, his ?isnature was preceded by the formal ending, "And all of which T swear is true." A man who thought the moon was disposed to fall upon him jumped 40ft from the top of a tower and broke iis right thigh' and elbow, and considerably battered hie head, at Garfield, Victoria. He was CEarTes H. Gregory, 35, and being interested in astronomy he climbed the weight tower of the air gas plant there. After remaining for eome time he saw the moon fall, and thinking it wouM fall upon him "lie made for firm earth in a hurry. In connection with the proposed sculling match for £200 aside, for tlio championship of New Zealand in Hay. the articles have not been signed, nor will they he until ilaiinon iiu-reasos his desposit from £25 to £o(). Hannoi) is in solid training, hul AVcbb is in Gisborne, where he is engaged on a big pipe-laying contract, and he will not do anything in the way o) training until articles a,re signed. A Yorkshire officer, writing home from the front, gives a vivid and interesting picture of the bursting of the 11-inch howitzer shell. He says.—"l don't believe there is a man living who, when first interviewing an llin. howitzer shell, is not pink with funk. After tlie first ten, on© get quite used o them, hut really they are terrible! They hit a, house. You can see tn"e great shell—a black streak—just before it etrikes, then, before you hear the explosion the whole house simply lifts into the air, apparently quite silently; then you hear the roar and whole earth shakes. In the place where th??* house was there is a huge fountain-spout of what looks like pink fluff. TT?s pulverized bricks. Then a monstrous shot of black smoke, towering tup a hundred feet or more, and, finally, there is a curious willow-Ifke formation, and then—you duck, as huge pieces of shell and house, and earth and haystack tumble over your head. And j yet it is really remarkable how little damage they do against earth trenches. With a whole morning's shelling not a single man of my company was killed, although not a single shell missed what it had aimed at by more than 50 yards. That makes all the difference"**Ehat i 0 yards. If you only keep your head down, you are as safe as houses: exactly, you will remark, 'as safe as houses.' "