NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1867, 22 August 1918, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Paid Jd a day when the war began, then 2Jd, and afterwards lOd, the French poilu will now receive half-a-crown. Of this amount, 5d will go direct to the soldier and 2s Id to his savings fund.

Five o’clock tea has been abolished in Holland. The Government has prohibited the serving of tea in cafes, restaurants, tearooms, hotels, and similar places. This action was taken because stocks of tea were disappearing fast and imports are at a complete cessation. “Invalids’ special ration cards” are to be issued in England to people suffering from diabetes and tuberculosis, giving each ‘2All), of butchers’ meat and 11b. of bacon or other meat per week. Diabetes patients will get also 1 AH), of margarine or butter, and tuberculosis patients 111), per week. A novel copyright suit was instituted recently by one New York widow against another to require the removal of a statue from the head of the grave of the latter's husband, which, it is claimed, infringes copyright in a similar statue over the grave of the husband of the plaintiff. Not content with the mere removal of the figure, plaintiff asks damages.

The gift of a dog was made in a will tiled the other day. Mrs Lucy Lee, of New York City, who died in Home, Italy, bequeathed her “beloved dog Daisy” to a servant, and directed that her executors pay £2O yearly in quarterly payments for the dog’s support. She also increased the bequest to the servant, Luigi Fedeni, to whom she left the dog, from £2OO to £3OO. The ex-Tsar’s church ims been deprived of its root. The Hessian authorities at Darmstadt have ordered the removal of the roof of the Russian chapel in that town. The roof is entirely of copper, and is now requisitioned for army needs. The chapel is the private property of the ex-Tsar. The requisition has taken place at the special request of the Grand Duke of Hesse, the exTsar’s brother-in-law. The Royal Artillery shares with the Royal Engineers the peculiar distinction of having served in every campaign in which the British Army has fought since the regiment was raised, for while there are many batteries there is only one regiment. The ancestor of the R.A. was the Train of Artillery, first raised in Henry Vlll.’s reign. Its guns were known as culverins, casks and faleons. The culverin was dragged into action by a team of draught horses, [he drivers were civilians, and the gunpowder was labouriously poured down its muzzle by means of a ladle.