NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 968, 18 March 1911, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

The latest idea is that the flyingman shall be inside a steel wire cage when on his machine, so that if he falls he will remain surrounded by the ball and protected by it. Experiments were made with a model of the device, a guinea pig in a bag taking the place of a man. The ball, attached to a plane on a flying machine, was dropped from a height of 65 feet. The steel cage saved the guinea pig from all harm. Whether we like it or not, the Canadians and Australians and New Zealanders, and South Africans will grow up, each with national aspirations of their own, quite resolved on the fullest exercise of self-government, but wisely inclined to avail themselves of those advantages which spring out of unity of aim in self-protec-lion, They are nations, to all intents and purposes. In the matter of geographical situation they stand aloue. In extent and opulence of resource they have all the concomitants of nationhood. It would be just as impossible to make them parts of a federated Empire as it would be to bring all the adult members of a family under a common rooftree. No wise father would dream of such a proposal for his married children. No wise Imperial Mother will think of any such proposal for the Greater Britains which lie scattered over the surface of the globe.— Melbourne Age. A remarkable incident was witnessed in one of the New York thoroughfares one night last week (states a cable message in the Sydney Sun). A lady, Mrs Bragdon, was walking along the street, when she was suddenly and rather ferociously assailed by a large dog. It was noticed that the brute centred its attention on Mrs Bragdon’s right hand, and it soon became evident that a purse which she was carrying was the object of Its attack. The animal finally gained possession of the purse, and then made off. The police thought they saw in the occurrence something more than was apparent to the superficial observer, and they accordingly set about investigation. As a result of their enquiries they made the startling discovery that there was a gang of thieves in New York that actually trained dogs in the trick of purse-snatching, and that Mrs Bragdon’s loss was not the first of the kind that bad occurred, A jury in Vienna has returned a surprising verdict in a case that has just concluded. The wife of a railway official, after reading the accounts of the famous Hoffrichter chocolate poisoning case, conceived the idea of anonymously sending poisoned bon-bons with the object of getting rid of her cousin, an aged woman. The latter had lent the accused on the understanding that she should receive interest on the loan until her death, but the accused had tailed to pay. The jury’s sympathies were swayed by the story of the accused, which showed her to be an exemplary woman driven to desperation by her hurband’s conduct, and thus brought to ruin., A pathetic incident in the case was the reading of a Christmas letter sent by the woman’s 15-year-old son to his imprisoned mother, in which he said: —“Mr dearest mama, never fear the verdict. Twelve men will only act on the laws which condemn, but will consider those which elevate, raise and rescue. They will not send my mother to death.” The jury acquitted the accused.