AMERICAN ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1923, Page 2

AMERICAN ITEMS.

tCSTUAI.IAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. THE 12-MILE T.IAIIT. fßeceived this tl.iv at 5.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, (let. 31. President Ceolidge informed a correspondent that upon official inloruuition continuing the British acceptance ol the 12-mile search proposal, steps will be taken to draft a treaty under which, despite On- Supreme Court's ship ruling. British vessels will be permitted to bring liquor stores into American teiiitorial waters and iu return for this concession the United States is to have the right to search, anil the seizure of rum smugglers under British registry within 12 miles of the American shores. President Coolidgo holds that a treaty ratified by the Senate becomes the highest law in the land, superseding the Volstead Law whose provision- the Supreme Court declared affeeted ships liquor. A Al EX IGAN Al 1 X-l.'P. MEXICO CITY, Oct. 31. The Huei'ista and C’allista factions fought in the lobbies ol the ( Iminbcr ol Deputies while the House was rising for the lack of a quorum. The galleries added to the disputants and cam's, list- and revolvers were used freely. The police fired into the mob, dispersing it. One dejutty, Zwiua, was killed, and another deputy- a German, was arrested and charged with murder.

T.H.D. writing in the Dominion of October 20th. says:-The death is recorded to-day of a misshapen little man. slightly over four lent in height, who arrived in the United States thirtt -rears ago a penuileis cripple. with everv prospect of becomng a public charge. This was the great Dr Steinmetz, consulting engineer to the American Ocneral Electric Company. recognised head of his prolessiou in America, and drawing for his services .•111 annual sum estimated at £ll’.<>o9. The career of Dr Steinmetz probably matches that of any man of the present generation in the matter ol early struggles against desperate odds and overcoming obstacles through patience and hard work, but lie said id himself “Any boy can achieve as much as | have achieved if he has the right opportunity." Little was heard ol Dr Steinmetz until within the last ten years, and one reason for that was that he was a Socialist, and for a long time set dow n in American public opinion as a freak. It is only a few months ago that Dr Steinmetz in the course ot his experimental work at Schenectady let loose an artificial thunderbolt of a million volts for the first time on record. Some years ago near Schenectady, when a mirror was shattered by lightning it occurred to Dr Steinmetz that il he could piece the fragments together ha might he able to understand how lightning did its work. Alter days ot eftort 0,1 this jig-saw puzzle he pieced the fragments together, and this was the .i-crin of his recent sensational experiments with high voltages at the Sehencetadv laboratory. Although so painsPikimr Dr Steinmetz has been quoted as saving: “Work is a curse The chief aim of sneictv should he to aWih-di work.” The doctor added that he had Site-ceded in reducing his own working time to thirty minutes a day. and so had eighteen hour.* n dn\ left to to engineering!- Perhaps some ot us would prefer to stick to work-