GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2048, 30 October 1919, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

We can get nothing jn this world for nothing—even death, for it costs a man Ids life. This is the meaning if not the wording of an old Hebrew proverb, and it is pointed nowadays by the fact that the cost of living and tlie cost of playing have their equalisation in the cost of burying. An inquiry in the undertaking business leads to the statement that an average sort of funeral, which before the war cost £ls, cannot now be carried out at less than about £25, and even at that appreciable increase the profit is reduced, for outgoings have increased enormously—timber, wages, feed, and coffin furnishings. In witness of the advance in furnishings, we have seen a bill from an English firm in respect to a £OO order. Five years ago these goods could be landed at the cilice for £BO, whereas the total charges now are £152. Bearing in mind the fact that undertakers frequently have to give long credit, they can be believed when they say they are not making fortunes. — Dunedin Slav.

Shortly before the ferry steamer Manuka left the Lyttelton Wharf on Thursday evening, says the Sun, an excited individual rushed along the wharf, calling out for someone to stop his wife from going .aboard, as she bad robbed him of all his money. “But she is not your wife,” hazarded an interested bystander. “Nevgr mind, 1 have been living with .her, at any rate," retorted the disconcerted one, as he hurriedly threaded his way through the crowd. He chanced to intercept the woman just as she was about to step on the gangway. Threats of handing her over (o the police not having the desired effect, be ultimately begged of her to give him 2s to pay his train fare back to town. Having relented so far, she was in theVact of extracting the coin when lie snatched the purse and made off. Her yell of “Stop the thief!” quickly attracted the attention of two male passengers, who unceremoniously belaboured the unhappy man until he lost all interest in the “treasure hunt,” and the purse was restored by his assailants to its owner. Later he deplored the fact that all be had gained by his perilous adventure was a “shirtful of sore bone,” and, as he had even failed to commandeer the 2s, there was nothing left for him, he said, but to take “the broad gauge” to Christchurch.

Considerable conslernaliun was caused at the port by a bull, which broke away from the breakwater, where it was to be shipped (states the Napier Telegraph recently). The animal, which appeared to have an ugly temper, cleared everything movable oft'-the roads in double quick lime. A gig, containing a well-known local citizen, was hurriedly abandoned, the owner seeking safety behind a convenient fence. The bull got find of the gig. and did a certain amount of injury before the horse took to its heels. The infuriated bovine then made up Sea Point Road, scattering peaceful pedestrians in all directions. An old-time farmer who saw the boast rushing at him, quietly Availed until the bull was a few feet away, and (hen the man from the country quietly side-stepped, and the bull kept on running. Some dainty morsels in ,thc garden of Tvlr Pussell Duncan attracted the bull there, and the inmates immediately became prisoners, and nobody dared to make an attempt to reach the premises. The shippers, in the meantime, were scouring the city for all the stock agents, but of these none could be found that knew anything about mad bulls, and the search was extended to the country. A drover was secured, and brought to town in a ear, and he had no difficulty in 'getting the animal back to the breakwater. It is slated that the lirm of shippers concerned is to he asked to foot a pretty substantial" bill of damages. /" No other race of animals can show such a history as the black oxen that draAv the funeral ears of Japanese emperors. They are of a special breed, and for centuries have been kept for the sole use of the Imperial family. The most famous collection of stamps is that of the lat e*Mr T. K. Tapling, M.P., which he bequeathed to the British Museum, and which has reposed there for 28 years. Its estimated value is approximately £IOO,OOO. One of t'he rarest specimens contained"..therein Avas removed from the shoAvcases and placed in a locked room. ( . There are several men living today Avhoso trumping has cove hundreds of thousands of miles. Among them, Mr W. Moore, a lettercarrier, walked 270,000 miles in 32 years over Yorkshire roads, and Mr Richard Williams, in six years more, placed the enormous journey of 415,000 miles to his record "as a Shropshire postman.