NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1005, 10 February 1912, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

The new ferry buildings to be erected at Auckland will cost close upon ,£75,000. It was remarked at a meeting of the Harbour Board that the new and costly buildings would not provide as much accommodation as could have been secured by the expenditure of, say, ,£4OOO to proper advantage.

The Governor of New Zealand has been asked to collect particulars for publication in due course of all memorials of whatever description, at Home, in the colonies, and abroad, to His Date Majesty King Edward. A request therefore is made to all local bodies having memorials to the late King to forward information on the subject to His Excellency.

A suicide club has been discovered by the police in Kursk. The club had for its motto, “ Death is the cure for all ills,” but as set forth in a little book of rules, candidates for membership had first to show that they had a substantial cause for wishing to die. A would-be candidate who presented himself with the weight of ten or more years of unhappy married life was received with open arms. Loss of fortune, incurable disease, and a record of ill-luck all round were also excellent qualifications for membership.

The following story (says the Daily Times) is told to a clergyman not residing a hundred miles from Masterton. He had recently bought a bicycle, and went out tor his first ride. To make it a little easier, as he thought, he selected a road with a slight gradient. All went well until he came to a bend in the road, when, failing to turn, he was thrown from the machine, and went sprawling in the mud. A little urchin, with his hands thrust in his pockets, and a smile upon his face, who had been waiting to see the result, exclaimed as solemnly as he could, “ Here endeth the first lesson ! ”

Dr Maitin Magill, senior medical practitioner at Moree and Government medical officer, appeared before the Moree (N.S.W.) Police Court last week to answer an information alleging that he unlawfully failed to give notice to the municipality of a case of diphtheria. Miss Roberts said that she was treated at a private hospital of diphtheria by Dr Magill by a hypodermic injection of anti-toxin. On arrival at Gunuedah she had kissed her brother, who had since died from diphtheria. Dr Cleland, of the Department of Microbiology, stated that kissing would be the most likely method by which diphtheric baccilli would be transmitted. The defence was a categorical denial of Miss Roberts’ statements. Dr Magill denied that she had been treated for diphtheria at the hospital, The case was dismissed.