GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1927, 16 January 1919, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

THE MANITOBA POTATO CROP. The Manitoba Provincial Department of Agriculture estimates that, the potato crop for that province for 11)18 Will be well over 10,000,000 bushels. This is the largest crop the province has ever produced, and shows an increase of almost a. million bushels over the crop of 1916, which has hitherto been, the record. COAL ON PR ARIES. According to estimates prepared by experts there is enough soft cjpil in the four Western Provinces of Canada to supply (lie world tor a couple of centuries. The mines of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia have scarcely been tapped, -but have produced a total in one year of 6,000,000 tons, to the value of over live millions sterling. The coal is of a very.good grade, and is efjually serviceable for steam purposes and household beating. The Canadian Dominion geological survey has estimated that the coal beds contain a total of .143,490,000,000 tons, covering an area of 87,000 square miles. OUR DEAD ON GALLIPOLI. Should not immediate steps be taken to arrange with the Turkish Government for the transfer to the British Empire of the rights of ownership over Suvla Bay and the other cemeteries of the gallant British and Dominion troops who fell in Gallipoli? asks a writer in a London paper. The cost of acquiring the Dardanelles batllelields cannot be excessive, and it will be a consolation to the relatives of the dead heroes that their remains mingle not with alien but with British soil, to be regarded as sacred for ever to their memories. GENERAL MAN GIN THROWN. When General Maiigin was inspecting the French troops in readiness for the solemn entry into Metz his young thoroughbred charger took fright at the noise of (he bands, and ladled. Though he did all he could to hold his horse in, it fell, with himself under it. lie was picked up senseless, with wounds on his head and legs. Taken into hospital at Metz, he remained unconscious for twelve hours, but afterwards progressed favourably. GERMANY’S BLACK HOUR. The fates seem to have displayed a, remarkable sense of artistry in decreeing that the Great War sho- | aid cease at the moment ■ when it did, for the hostilities came to an end at the. eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In pre-war Germany the eleventh day of the eleventh month had a rather mirthful .significance, for on that day was always inaugurated the carnival season, which avus celebrated, especially in the Rhineland and South Germany, by weekly festivities, and increased in intensity of jollification until Shrove Tuesday. ATLANTIC AIK POST. “Our overseas commerce will be vastly improved .by aviation. Within a reasonable period of the end of the Avar avc shall Had all the principal mail liners tilled with seaplanes.” This is (he view of Mr 1). 11. Bernard, expressed in the current Merchant Service Review, of which he. is a co-editor. “A liner leaving New Zealand Avith urgent and important letters will be able,” he Av'ritcs, “to discharge them by seaplane, 300 to 400 miles Avest of the Irish coast; within a few hours they can be delivered in London, I bus affecting a saving in time of 34 hours. The same procedure can be carried out by a vessel bound to Ncav York. It is quite Avilhin the bounds of possibility that letters posted in London can be delivered in New York within four days.” At (he outset Mr Bernard thinks this service will, no doubt,, be Subsidised by the Governments of both countries. He points out that it could be developed on routes to all parts .of (ho world. CIGARETTES FROM THE AIR. 1 Hoav an air pilot in France made a little present to some of (he infantry is revealed in the folloAving letter: —“Just as we reached our final objective on the 35th, one of our airmen came over, flying very low, and dropped 500 cigarettes, Avhich contained this noted Cheero —just a few smokes to pass aAvay the time, from Squadron.’ It bucked ns up no end, and the airman took no little risk to do it. In spite of German machine-gun (ire, our men stood up and cheered him. We had been lighting solidly for three days and nights, and had no cigarettes left.” NEW SOTS WANTED. Hoav are avc to clothe our men Avhen they come home 'from the Avar? The problem will not be easily solved, for I hear, says a Avriten in a London paper, that the shortage of avool is becoming greater, and 96 per cent, of the available supplies are still being taken up for army needs. When they are demobilised our soldiers will Avant mcav* civilian suits. A great many of them Avill hud their old stocks of clothes unsuitable for wear, and there will be a rush on the tailors." It is probable, however, that thousands will have to keep in khaki for a considerable time.