NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1926, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

GERMS IN PLANTS. ARE THEY FEVER ORGANISMS? LONDON, Feb. 10. Microscopic organisms similar to those which give rise in man to certain fevers have been found living in plants of the milk-weed family. The insect which acts as host to these parasites bites the plant, it appears, and a colony of the germs .may establish itself in the plant as a sequel. Professor H. B. Faiitham, D.Sc., F.Z.S., exhibited some of these microorganisms at last night’s scientific meeting of the London Zoological Society. They had been found in a species of South African fig and in the Euphobria. The one type of vegetable life in which they have been discovered is that which, exudes a milk-like juice or latex,, such as we are tamiliar with in the case of the dandelion. The particular organism shown at the meeting was very much like that which causes a. dangerous fever round the shores of the Mediterranean. It is a not very distant cousin of tho germ of sleeping sickness which is carried by the Tse-tse fly. Tho organisms found by Dr Faiitham did not appear to cause any particular distress to the invaded plant, but in other infected plants examined in Mauritius and Central America the organisms arc reported to liave caused local fading, loss’ of chlorophyll (the green colouring matter in vegetables), and a thinning of the latex. A new and most interesting lino ol thought and research seems to be openjpor up in connection with tho matter. I„"the present state of our knowledge it is not suggested that, the organisms found in latex are capable of convoying disease to man. By L.G.M.: in Dnilx Mail.”

I 410,000 MOTOR- LICENSES. LONDON. Feb. 0. Figures furnished by the Minister of Transport of the number of motor licenses issued from December 1/ 1924. to November 30. 1925, and of the tax collected show that the total gross receipts amount to £17.233,238. The total number of motor vehicles, excluding tramway-cars and trade licences in respect ol which licences were current on November 30. 1025. may be taken as 1,410,000. including 566.000 cars taxed on horse-power, 491.000 cycle, 232.000 commercial goods vehicles, and 84,C00 motor-hackneys. Tn comparison, the gross receipts tot the venr ended November 30. 1923. amounted to £13.313.334, against £11.523,831 for the previous year, ana the total number of 1 ice nee s -was given as 1,066.000, against 033,3 the previous vear. CHILD LEFT TO DIE. LONDON. Feh. b.

An account of alleged desertion by the parents of a dying child has been told to the police at Cardiff, .where, it is stated, a man and a woman were given unfurnished rooms in a bouse on saying that one of their two children was ill. . Some time after their entry, it is said, tho man and woman left the house “to see about furniture.” and during their absence the youngest child died,, its body being taken to the mortuary.

"When tho woman relurncd in the evening and learned of flic death, it is further stated, she disappeared, and nothing has since been see of her or the man.

EARRINGS AGAIN. LONDON, Feb. (L Since the shingle became fashionabfe earrings havo returned to favour. Pearl drops, real and imitation, art* favoured, and because they are not all real there is a greater variety. Tt is the variety which has largely helped to make earrings popular again, and this example should prove a valuable help to the jewellery trade in carrying out its scheme to revive the fashion of wearing jewellery. Mr Neville Chamberlain. Minister of Health, who supported the scheme at a recent meeting of the Jewellery Trade Protection Association in Birmingham, said that l>y means of a concerted combined co-operative scheme of advertising a measure of prosperity might lie restored to the jewellery trade. It is suggested in the current issue of the journal of the National Association of Goldsmiths that women’s costiiUK's could be enhanced in value and beauty by the addition of jewelled ornaments such as adorned the black velvet robes ol tho Middle Ages.