INTERESTING ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 308, 2 November 1910, Page 2

INTERESTING ITEMS.

It is reported from Western Australia that a pearl of perfect shape, valued at £6OOO, and weighing 90gr., has been brought into Broome by a pearler named Challenor. The largest anchor ever forged, which weighs 51 tons 5J cwts., measures 19ft in length and 10ft in width, has just been turned out by Messrs Hingley and Son, of Netherton, near Dudley, for the Olympic, now on Messrs Harland and Wolff's stocks at Belfast. The new twopenny postage stamp, which was ready for issue at the time of King Edward's death, will not be issued to the public. The Post Office authorities have destroyed the entire stock, with the exception of a few specimens, which have been placed in the museum at St. Martin's le-Grand. At a cost of nearly £2,000,000 it is proposed to build ten new liners for the development of the South American passenger and cargo trade. The scheme is under the consideration of three of the most prominent shipowning companies of Great Britain, and though nothing definite has been fixed it is considered probable that London and Liverpool are the ports which will be benefited by the new enterprise. A remarkable breach of promise case, brought by a young peasant girl of Debreczin, Hungary, against her fickle lover, has just been decided against her, the judge holding that the lady would, in the course of years, probably grow very like her mother, and that the defendant's fear of being afflicted with a wife who resembled her mother that its to say, a future mother in-law, was sufficient case for jilting any girl. Queen Mary is a great theatre-goer. She rarely loses the chance of seeing a new play. She has, quite a reputation, too, for, being able to judge the merits or otherwise of any new production, and it is said that the Royal Family await her verdict before they decide whether a new play is worth seeing or not. King Edward, who was himself such a keen playgoer, is said to have styled his daughter-in-law "our dramatic critic." Every country has its legends and its superstitions which are handed down from father to son as interesting relics of former time, long after folks in general have ceased to believe in them. Not the least interesting, perhaps, are those connected with the various Royal Houses of Europe. The Courts of the great rulers of the white races teem with an abundance of old legends, ai curious and extraordinary as any we can hear of in a peasant's cottage.

Sir Arthur Conon Doyle once sat at a dinner beside a lady who asked leave to consult him about some thefts. "'My detective powers,' he replied, 'are at your service, madam.' 'Well,' said the lady 'frequent and mysterious thefts have been occurring at my house for a long time. Thus, there disappeared last week, a motor horn, a broom, a box of golf balls, a left riding boot, a dictionary, and half-a-dczen tin pie-plates.' 'Aha,' said the creator of Sherlock Holme, 'the case, madam, is quite clear. You keep a goat.'" Not long ago King George was explaining to his third son, Prince Henry, what he and his brothers would be when they grew up. He pointed out that, Prince Edward would be a soldier and Prince Albert a sailor. Then the young Prince broke in: "And when I'm big enough I'm going to drive a big motor-car and run over dogs and things." On another occasion he was driving with his father thorugh the gates of Marlborough House, when the sentry came to the salute. Prince Henry 'turned to his father and inquired: "What do they always do that silly thing with their guns for when they see you? Is it to show that they have a gun?" Lord Kitchener's pitiless contempt for anything which savours of effeminacy is well illustraetd in the following story. Shortly after his return from Egypt he was accosted in a friend's house by a young lord, whose zeal (or impudence) in soliciting celebrities' autographs is the cause of constant vexation. "Do honour me by pencilling your name on this, Lord Kitchener," he gushed, producing a very flimsy lace handkerchief and laying it on the table. "Then I'll have the the autograph worked in silk and keep it for ever in memory of the hero of Khartoum." Kitchener picked up the scented handkerchief and sniffed it. "Your sister's, I presume?" he questioned, fixing the gilded youth with a scornful eye. "No, sir; my own. A very pretty pattern, isn't it?" "Very." was Kitchener's dry response, as he passed the ' handkerchief back unsigned. "What is your taste in hairpins, by the way?" The American newspapers report a remarkable piece of luck which has befallen a Washington family named Marsh. In 1874 a wealthy and eccentric lady bequeathed to her nephew, John Marsh, an old family Bible which was never opened by the disappointed man. Recently an argument concerning one of the Psalms took place between Marsh and his daughter Daisy, who, opening the book to prove her point, ;:ame across bonds to the value of eight thousand pounds, which had been stuck between the pages. An indication of the attitude of leaseholders to the Land Bill is given by some amendments which Mr Witty gave notice to move in committee. He proposes to omit from the clauses relating to acquisition of the feesimple of lease-in-perpetuity lands all references to instalments, and to make payment spot cash at the present unimproved value. In consonance with these proposals, he will move to omit the clause enabling the apportionment of the purchase money among several sub-divisions. Mr Witty also proposes to reduce the value of land precedent to compulsory lease from £40,000 to £30,000, and to eliminate the provision'granting the owner land in the block leased up to the value of £SOOO.