GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1968, 24 April 1919, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

THE BISHOP’S CASTLE

SOLDIERS’ GRAVES

Tho Graves Registration and Inquiries Department at Home is receiving inquiries at the rate of 1,500 to 2,000 a day. Every request for a photograph 'of a soldier’s grave is carefully noted, and copies are forAvarded to the applicants. Since November Ist, 1918, 14,000 photographs have been issued to relations. VOTES FOR BABIES. Tho French parliamentary group Avhieh occupies itself with the interests of large families, has decided to support a Bill for giving the parliamentary suffrage to every French subject without distinction of ago or sex. In the ease of children, the vote Avould be exercised during their minority by parents or legal guardians, so that the political poAver of ev'cry family Avould be in accordance Avith its size. RESPECT THE WHITE ARMLET. In order to prevent risk of injury to disabled inen, the British. Ministry of Pensions asks the public to remember that the Avearing of a Avbite armlet on the left arm sifiniMos that the AVearcr has been fitted with an artificial limb, and is unable to move quickly. It is requested that men Avearing this armlet should receive the consideration due to them in vieAV of their services and disablement in the Avar. FROM BOMBS TO BABIES. Many of the big English industrial firms, employing thousands of avomcn for making various Avar implements, have converted their vast machinery to the manufacture of toys. Women Avho Avere employed in milking real aeroplanes noiv are making toy ones, and for them the period of transition is proving pleasurable. HOTELS FOR BABIES. Tavo hotels are shortly to be opened in North London Avhicli Avill be run entirely for babies. One will la a first-class establishment for residential babies belonging to the professional classes, such as actresses on tour, and the other an hotel of the second-class, Avhere babies can “put up” for a few nights during periods of domestic emergency athome. RETURN OF THE “KNUT.” The “knut” in all his gaudy glory is coming hack (says the London Daily Chronicle). Disgusted Avith the drab monotony of several years of khaki, tho demobilised officer and man is buying clothes of the most striking patterns and colours. For suits, tweed of the patterns favoured by pre-Avar tourists is in groat: demand. What little check cloth there is in existence is being eagerly snapped up. Evening dress is noAv almost invariably worn' at the theatre and in restaurants. ARMY AIDS GERMAN MOTHER. A German Avoman recently arrived at the American Army Headquarters at Cablenz and requested permission to see her son. An officer explained to her that the only German soldiers Avith in the occupied zone Avere those on special duty in connection Avith the turning over to the American Army property of the German Army, and that her son’s name did not appear on the list of

these men. “Apparently you misunderstand me,” said the woman. “My son is in Company 8., 11th Infantry, United States Army, which will soon be stationed in the region of Treves.” Permission to visit her son was granted by headquarters.

“Ought I to live in a castle?” is the question which confronts Dr. E. H. Pearce, the new Bishop of Worcester. The official residence of the Bishops of Worcester is Hartlebury Castle, which is a very large mediaeval mansion, surrounded by a moat, in the centre of a very large park. The Master of Corpus Christ! College, Cambridge, says that the democratic spirit of the age is against castles for bishops. No bishop really wanted to live in a castle, but did his people require him to do so? He suggested the people in the diocese should decide on the principle of local option. BIG GUNS DUE TO CHANCE. The Big Bertha guns that shelled Paris last spring were born by acci- | dent, according to a report. Tests j| were being made on the Baltic coast | wilh guns which then had a maxi- \ mum range of from IS to 25 miles. ! Torpedo boats were stationed 25 to i 30 miles out to sea to watch fordropping shells. They saw none, and were mystified. That afternoon several boatloads of fishermen came in and told how they were fishing GO miles from the coast when shells began falling around' them. They couldn't understand where they (mine from, and they scurried for (‘over. Then it was discovered that the guns had been trained to a higher altitude than ever before, and that the shells carried so much further because of less air resist-. nnee at (he high elevations. Immediately thereafter the guns wore (alien to Prance and the plans for shelling Paris were worked out.