NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1925, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL.

THE PRINCE AND THE TOASTMASTER. LONDON, December 9. Speaking at the annual dinner of the. Kitchener Scholars’ Association at the Hoihorn Restaurant last night, the Prince of Wales said: “In the stress of modern life the true test is, and will always he, character. Character was the backbone iff Lord Kitchener’s career, though he "tis never given the opportunity which, through his memory, is being offend to von.”

Referring to this year’s scholarship awards, the Prince said: "Though 1 pm somewhat pained to find that 15 new Kitchener scholars are going to Cambridge, whereas Oxford is only l- 1 have 12, 1 am glad to see that one of the latter—Air Roome, from Uradliekl —has won a scholarship at my own college, Magdalen, and I cannot c.o better than wish him as happy a time as I had there.”

The affecting scene of a distingusllcd soldier being so filled with emotion that he was obliged to wait for some time before-proceeding with his speech was witnessed when General Sir John Maxwell (the chairman) was proposing the toast of “ The .Memory of fiord Kitchener,” and was referring to ike monument in St. Paul’s to the great soldier.

The Prince, proposing the ton it if the Kitchener Scholars Association, said: “ I look on this evening as a gathering of Goth, old comrades of the war and university friends. As f can claim to be a little of both, 1 can assure you L always find such an atmosphere a very pleasant one. In fact, it is only in this atmosphere that I can get a message such as this from the Oxford Kitcheners’ Association, presenting them compliments and requesting that the toast-master be ‘sconced’

—(fined)—for wearing a red coat in tie Hall. “ I don’t know what the toastmaster thinks, hut I look upon it as a slight reminder of the old days win n we did not always go into the Hull properly dressed: hut 1 think that T, for one, never went in a pink coat.” (Laughter.)

FARES WAR. LONDON, December 0. The London General Omnibus Cr mpany are ignoring the operations o f three separately owned omnibus companies which on several routes have reduced fares by approximately a third.

The private companies declare that while their action is in part due to the fact that the L.G.0.C.. with the reopening of the City and South I.onoou Tube, has introduced omnibus-tube j season tickets, it is chiefly because they have found that with a gene-.a! reduction in running costs they aie able to give the public esactly the

make a reasonable proht, “The fact is,” said an official cf one 1 of the private companies, “that fuel London General waste money in mulling omnibuses to chase us oil Hie streets.” On the Southgate-Yietoria route, where the private . companies have reduced the fare from Is to . c d., the L.G.O.C. at one time ran I3S omnibuses, but now have 140 in service. The fare-cutting companies are not members of the London Omnibus Proprietors 1 Association. An official of the London General 0111nibus Company said yesterday that there is no immediate intention of reducing fares in reply to the private companies. sen. VPPIXG Ttt AMW A VS. LONDON'. Dec. 3. The town council of Walsall, .•.car Birmingham, yesterday decided to substitute trackless vehicles for the I >esent tram-way cars. It was stated that miles of track >c(juired renewal and that it would he cheaper in the long run to scrap the system and -introduce trackless vehicles which had been so successful in ithvr parts of the country. Other authorities which have recently realised the tramway systems are out of date in comparison with more modern methods ol transport include Leeds, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Sunderland and the London United Tramways Ltd., so so far as the section from Richmond Bridge to Twickenham - which has been losing heavily—is cimeorned. DAY AND NIGHT TENNIS. LONDON, December 3. So popular has lawn tenuis proved in Edmonton that if an experiment tomorrow night is successful, devotees of the game will he able to play both day i and night oil the dozen hard court ' owned by the Edmonton Urban Distinct Council. | The Council Engineer, Mr Culhbert Brown, has devised a scheme for night j electric lighting of the courts, from I live to ten each evening. If all g. j well, an official stilted yesterday, the j public will be allowed to start play ! next week. There will he a charge for j the use of a court based on the cost of the current consumed.

By using specially focussed lamps. Mr Brown believes that the difficulty of the i layers’ shadows being thrown in the lino of play will lie overcome.

TESTS ON STUDENTS. LONDON. November l"i

Eighty Guy’s Hospital students arc voluntarily undergoing experiments in the physiological laboratory of the hospital's .Medical School to test the inlluenca of physique and exercise on digesi ion.

“It is not pleasant for the subjects,” said • one of three physiologists conducting the investigation, explaining that rubber tubes arc passed into the stomach and into the intestine in the course of the experiments. “We have already established some very interesting facts,” ho said. “All sorts of variations which used to he regarded as signs of disease have been found in these healthy students. “ One fact demonstrated is that a low degree of acidity occurs more frequently in men leading a sedentary life, and below the average as regards liitnoss. In men leading an active life mure than the usual amount has often been found.

“ hi broad-chested men the stomach is high and in narrow-chested men i( is lower than usual. There is no doub. of the connection of the amount of acid and the position of tiro stomach with physique and fitness. A tendency to develop certain gastric disorders is probably due to these anatomical and physiological variations.” On .laniiury (i Guy's Hospital celebrates its anniversary, and it is hoped to raise L 200,000 to celebrate the event.

THE STORY OE A STOVE. PARIS, December 8. A uell-kowu Parisian architect lias roicnllv been renovating and bringing up to date the interior of a very lamous and ancient baronial ball near Paris. This included much new sanitary work, and naturally the modernisation of the kitchens, into which were introduced the latest electrical and gas stoves. On the appointed day iho staff of the Erencli nobleman whoso home this reallv is, returned from another liouso and took over the remodelled home. When the master of the house arrived later in the evening lie found Hie female cook, an ace of her profession and a woman of (10, who had been with the family for more than 40 years, awaiting him. Her speech was short. He could do as lie liked, hut if “ those instruments of the devil remained in her kitchen she wouldn’t.” So the architect was called in again, and he had to reconstruct the old French kitchen stove with its coal fire and charcoal burners, and the cook continued to reign in her little kingdom.