NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1806, 26 March 1918, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

There are some things that are particularly difficult to discover. For instance, it would lie difficult to ascertain how many lives have been lost through the vagaries of intoxicated motor car drivers. facts be ascertained, they would be interesting and surprising.—Eltluun Argus, . A.kinemntograph picture of the war area was recently shown in Wanganui, and was attended by a brother of Mr Alex. Campion, of AVaikanae, who recognised the name of his brother’s boy on the headstone of a grave in the rocks. The proprietor of the show at once agreed to an enlargement of the small film, which came out with remarkable clearness. “I read a letterthe other day from a boy of It) years, who said he had just come out of the trenches after 49 hours duty, without a wink of sleep,” said Mr A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P., at a Wellington gathering a couple of nights ago. “Think of that for a boy in his teens; and here we are, comfortably at home and very annoyed if a train that was wanted to take us to the races is taken off.” (Applause.) 1 With a population of just on five millions, Australia has seven*’Parliaments, Federal and /S, f :.'A, ‘ the members of which number 657. Excluding railway passes and what were called “other expenses of members,” yearly allowances to members of the Upper Houses (Federal and State) total £143,477, and allowances to the members of the Lower Houses to £143,732, or £273‘7s Gd per member. This is in addition to their salaries.

If. A story is being told of a reply givob by a student to a question in an examination paper. “If 20 men reap a field in eight hours,” ran the question, “how long will it take 15 men to reap the same held?” The student thought long and carefully before setting down the answer, and .when he handed in his paper this is what the examiner read: “The held, having already been reaped by the 20 men, could not be reaped a second time by the 15.” Alexander Kerensky, once hailed as the saviour of Russia, and, for a brief period after the revolution virtually Ihe dictator of the new republic, has disappeared from the ken of the world. He has been reported as having been seen here and there since his flight, and at one time was said to be dying, but Mrs Vladimir Baranovsky, his sister-in-law, who arrived in San'Francisco, with her husband early in January, believes that the former premier is lying low, awaiting the psychological moment to move against the Lenin-Trotsky'Government with a new blow for the liberty of Russia as he conceives it. “You come from the place where it is always raining,” remarked Mr H. IV. Bishop, S.M.» (chairman of the North Island Railway Appeal Board) (o a West Coast witness recently. (Laughter.) “Oh; that is a libel on the district,” replied the witness. (Laughter.) “Well, I was down there for a fortnight, and it rained all the time,” said Mr Bishop. “Circumstantial evidence,” interposed Mr J. Carnacton, counsel for the appellant. “The sun does shine on the West Coast,” said the wit-' ness. “Remember that you are on your oath,” warned Mr J, Macdonald, who appeared on behalf of the Department. (Laughter.) Witness: “I am aware of that) but I stand to it all the same.”

Medical men the world over are agreed that one outcome of the present war will be an astonishing addition to surgical and medical knowledge and experience.. In surgery particularly (says the Adelaide Advertiser) some extraordinary achievements have been recorded. A case in point is Corporal C, Merrill, who served on Gallipoli with the Ninth Light Horse, and, while there, was wounded by a bullet in' the head. The missile entered the forehead, passed through the left eye, which it destroyed, and lodged in the antrum, a little under the surface of the skin.'lt remained in that position—meanwhile having caused Corporal Merrill almost constant pain—until a fortnight ago, when it was skilfully extracted by Colonel A. M. Cudmore, at the Keswick Hospital, South Australia. The bullet might have been removed by making an incision in the face, but that would have involved leaving a scar. Consequently the operation, which proved to be eminently satisfactory, was done by wtfy of the mouth, and now Corporal Mcrril has an interesting souvenir for the decorutkm of his ivatchehain.