GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1989, 12 June 1919, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

'SNZA costs £120,000 ; »hjo. r Kinyslev Wood meo! .oiled at ■_ NaiAmui Health Conference at, Westminster Unit the recent influenza epidemic had involved the country in economic loss amounting to £{20,000,000. FORCE OF HABIT. Charged at a London police court with exceeding the speed limit, one motorist stated that he had been In France, where the faster lie drove the more lie was appreciated; while another said that he had been in the Air Force, and accustomed to travelling at 200 miles an hour. Both defendants were fined 40s.

BACHELORS WOULD NOT PAY. After vainly trying to collect a tax of 29,500* dollars ■ due from bachelors who arc liable to the impost, Montreal has decided to forego this form of taxation, finding that the cost of collecting is more than the receipts. Out of the total due, only 11,072 dollars were paid into the city.

CARDINALS TO ASK FOR RISE,

A curious sign of the times is to be seen in the petition presented to the Pope by the cardinals residentin Rome. The cardinals are asking for an improvement of their financial status to meet the very heavy increase in the cost of living. It is undoubtedly the case that some of the cardinals have been obliged to give up Hieir carriages or motor cars. ESCAPED PRISONER'S THANKS. A young German officer, who escaped from an English internment camp by a tunnel during a snowstorm, managed to get on board a ship talcing repatriated Germans homo. He. wrote to say that lie arrived at Rotterdam after a pleasant voyage, and expressed thanks for kind treatment received at the cam)), of which he would ever have lively recollections.

“THE SINS OF THE FATHERS.” The fact that his father was a convict, a bigamist, and a deserter of five wives, caused the Nottingham magistrates to send John Warren, a youth of 16, charged with stealing ehinaware valued at £6, to sea instead of prison, the chairman remarking that with such a fa 1 her Warren had been handicapped through life.

MURDER FOR A CIGARETTE. A one-armed man will ho tried shortly in Baris for murdering a corporal. The pair quarrelled for Ihe possession of a cigarette, which is almost as rare'as a diamond nowadays. The corporal floored his adversary, who rose and slabbed him through the heart.

£SOO EUR SAYING “ROCHE ” Mile. Gabridle Dorziat, the Parisian actress, has been awarded £BOO damages against Mile. Blanche Toutain, another celebrated eomedi-m'-uo, who, in conversation, had described Mile. Dorziat as a German. J'le.r.'c-’/ia' was bern in France of Alsatian oamem. .

GBLIGED THE COURT, biftc’cii imre. were brought in;.. : : ' T ’ : rkcr,iicad f Li*n*.v.>M * '—.mil- in connection with n case ■ their, nr.-ri- the iv .-ruio. remarked •ci be pr- -u-ued that any eggUN woo:.; gf. (], e property of the

C'-.-rt. Shortly afterwards one oj I ’’ .wrc, ■>bile still m court, loot him at his word.

PRECOCIOUS GAMBLER. Li connection with a recent Londun bankruptcy case, the debtor, who returned liabilities £4,000 and assets to realise £IOO, came of age hist October, and attributed bis failure to extravagance and gambling, Ho slated that he had gambled 01 the turf since he was sixteen years old, and had lost belwecu £2,000 and £3,000. He was dependent on an allowance of £4OO or £SC3 per annum from his father, but lived at the rate of £2,000 a year.

A DIG FOR STATUES. A tradition has been current in the village of Millbrook, Bedfordshire, that 60 or 70 years ago two life-size stone effigies were removed from the altar tomb in the church, as they were heard to make dismal and disconcerting noises. The tradition (jointed to a certain portion of the churchyard as the place of burial, and some archaeologists recently decided to test the story. After a lot of digging, the two statues were found, rather mutilated, and garbed in costumes of the Elizabethan period. They were removed to the church.

FRONT-DOOR AEROPLANE. Captain d’Annunzio, son of the Italian poet-airman, is making an aeroplane with a wing spread of less Mian 20ft, capable of landing in streets. It is to be sold at £240. The machines are guaranteed to fly two and a-half hours, to do 50 miles an hour, and to carry a man

A BRIGHT WELCOME. Two huge electric signs, each flashing a welcome from 800 lamps, as the returned soldiers arrive in Montreal, are now in operation every night. Every soldier returning to the city receives a civic welcome in the form of a souvenir card.