Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 17 April 1894, Page 3

Notes and Events.

* The Siraplon tunnel, the construction of which has been sanctioned by theJia-liart Government;, will connect Italy with Switzerland, and take the place of thei'oad. which was • constructed, for military purposes by 1 Napoleon in 1801-7. The road was j a great work employing from 30,000 to 40,000 workmen, and winds up passes, crosses cataract?, and passes J by galleries through solid rock, and has eight principal bridges. The bequest of £60,000 to a Wanganui lady is thus mentioned by the Wellington correspondent ot the ' New Zealand Herald : — There is a good deal of speculation here about a disputed will, the validity of which is likely to occupy the Supreme Court for some time in the next sitting. The amount of money bequeathed under the will is very large —over £60,000. There is a large firm of merchants carrying on business in Wellington. The principal in this firm was a young man, who, falling into bad health, went to live in Wanganui with some friends. His health did not improve. He died some time since, and when his affairs came to be examined it was found he had left the lady of the house in which he lodged £60,000. It is said that the testator, previously to his death, required constant care and most assiduous nursing; that bis health had long been broken down, and that be was only kept alive by the close attention paid to him. What attracts a good deal of curiosity is the general statement that the relations of the testator — brothers and sisters — have been left in poor circumstances. I am informed that everything possible has been done to arrive at a settlement, but such negotiations having failed there i 3 nothing left to decide between the parties except a trial by jury in the Supreme Court. Still more wonders. A Swedish artisan has constructed, after three years' work, a new kind of phonograph, which speaks so distinctly that it can be heard through two or three rooms without any receiving tube whatever, The American who gave to Strat-ford-on-Avon, Shakespeare's birth place, its beautiful fountain, and to St. Margaret's, Westminster, a memorial window of Milton, was a Philadelphian newspaper proprietor, who died a millionaire, and yet began life as an errand boy in a I book store.