GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1939, 13 February 1919, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A DOUBLY FAMOUS DATE. A correspondent, writing' to the London Morning Post, remark's that the days of November which saw the surrender of the German naval power to that of Great Britain saw also the anniversary of the day on which Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth on that expedition which laid the'foundation of the naval empire of England, It was on November 15th, 1577, as time was then reckoned, but ten days later as wo reckon now, that Drake sailed from Plymouth in the Golden Hind, a ship of 120 tons, on that voyage of discovery and conquest round the Avorld, from which he returned eighteen months later, KAISER A “MAKESHIFT.'-’ There was no mincing of words by Father Bernard Vaughan in his reference to the ex-Kaiser, at a meeting of the Guild of Glaziers, lie described him as a man still free who had boiled like a rabbit, leaving his wife and family anywhere in order to save bis own skill. That man was responsible for throwing fifty or more millions of Ids fellow creatures in the terrors of war. There were some Englishmen who said that we must not hit a man when he was down. The Kaiser was not a man; be was merely a makeshift, and there should lie no foothold for him on this planet. AN EXPENSIVE LUNCH. Food pj'iees in Paris are now very high. As an illustration of this, Mr Arthur E, Towle, who is arranging the catering for the British Peaee delegates, stales that lie took a party of nine to Inmdi at quite an ordinary restaurant. The meal- consisted of a little soup, lish, chicken,' a bottle of white wine, and coffee, and (he hill came to 310 franes for the ton hmehevs —nearly twenty-live shillings a head. People, lie said, complained of rationing in London, hut it was very much more severe, in Paris, and there are long intervals during the day when no food of any kind is obtainable. A BIG WAR FORTUNE. In all parts of the world huge fortunes have been made during the four years of war, and some, of these have been built up on very modest foundations. One of the successful men is a young Norwegian, a shrewd, energetic, and enterprising shipowner, who has an ofliee in the City of London. His gains have' already enabled him to present an opera house and many examples of the genius of Norway’s great sculptor, Gustav Yigeland, aggregating, it is estimated, about £OOO,OOO in value, to liis native city of Christiania. Shortly after the. outbreak of hostilities he became a motor-ship owner, and subsequently proceeded to Canada and the United States, where lie began operations on a huge scale, his numerous enterprises including the reorganisation of old, and the opening of now, shipyards. Last .July he bought Krupp von Bolden’s yacht Germania, one of the finest vessels of her type ever built. He lias handed tier over to the American Shipping Board fur the instruction of merchant officers.