GENERAL ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 848, 4 June 1910, Page 3

GENERAL ITEMS.

liven in ihe world of aviators there are few men who have had a. more romantic career than that of M. Paidhan. M. Paulhan, now one of the world’s leading Hying men. not ,so very long ago was earning something less than four pounds a. week as an ordinary mechanic iu an aeroplane factory. He began life as a performer in a travelling circus, touring round the smaller (owns and villages in I'ranee. His lot, as lie puts it, “was one long, dreadful line of routine labour, performing during the day and travelling at night.” M. Paulhan himself combined the work of a general engineer and that of a, performer. lie- was a hare-haeked rider, and an expert tight-ropi', dancer. In the latter capacity, he ri marked re ccutl.v. lie lirsl learnt the art of balancing, which has proved of the utmost value- to him since.

.Says tht' Grey River Argus: —“A most unpardonable piece of discourtesy was perpetrated by the deputation on behalf of (lie Rnnanga miners that waited upon Sir Joseph Ward. Throughout the interview they addressed him as ‘Mr Ward.' It. is n<• part of democracy to lie deliberately ami olVen.dveiy rude, ami the depula I ionists referred to seemed to deJight, in purposely omitting to address Sir Joseph by hif» proper title. This was a piece of very bad manners and not to be expected from even the most ignorant worker. Vet it_\vas of a piece with the singularly boorish taste displayed a. few days before by speakers at Rnnangu in llieir references to the deceased Monarch. It becomes every man to be independent and .-elf-respecting: but there is no excuse for such ostentatiously coarse vulgarity as we have reluctantly felt called upon to draw attention to and designate in proper terms.” A prominent Sydney inoiori-i was driving along one of the city Mrecls a few da\> ago when hm car Mopped. A' UMial. when anything happens, a crowd surrounded 1 la*, car, and the motorist was kepi bus\ replying to ipiestions. in hi> replies he said tmmellmig to the billowing effect (records the Sydne\ l)aily Telegraph): "it is a motor car. it has not brok hi down; only lost a spark. It was made in England. It weighs 18cwt. M costs undo- £IO.OOO. don’t all lean on me The I vrn are blown up with air. Do yuu mind me walking round to the box to get a spannerY They are acetylene gas lamps. I know .-.ome Use kerosene. She will climb any hill. Please don't, crowd in, as i don't feel too w.-li to-day. Yes. she'll be all right, directly. She does anything between 1 yard and S(J miles per hour. Don’t •scratch jour name on tin* enamel, there's a good boy. Don't go; someone has gone to fetch some chair-", so you can all sit down No, it can blow up/* Then he turned tin' handle and breathed a sigh of relief as the engine Marled. Putting in his clulch with a bang, be raced awa-r from the interested crowd.

A lady who was in England two or throe years ago tells of a rather amusin'* encounter between her small son and King Edward. Brighton had been falling oil as a resort, and the King had kindly dropped in in response to a piteous petition praying his Majesty to freshen up its popularity with a Royal vKit. On the afternoon of the day alter the King's arrival, a small boy who had been walking impatiently up and down the sands, approached an equally solitary elderly gentleman in grey, ami said: “Will you please toil mo the lime, sir?’’ The gentleman looked at his watch. "Ten to four, ' he said. The youngster gave an ejaculation of impatience. “I’ve been walking up and down for two hours thinkin' (o see the bloomin' King," ho said. “Well, my boy. lake a good look, replied the gentleman in grey. "What !" gasped the youngster. “are you the King?" “1 am." The boy gazed for a, moment. “Well, I’m blessed,'' he said. “Have they stolen your crown? They •stole our umbrella. Von have to be careful in Brighton." The buy after telling Ids adventures wanted to know why the King sat on a seat to laugh. The Health authorities icport that the first patient- who contracted bubonic plague at Auckland lias quite recovered, but the second victim is still seriously ill. There is every reason to believe that the outbreak can be confined to its present dimensions, and that further cases will nut occur.