GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2068, 16 December 1919, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

.Diamonds have been discovered in shallow quartz gravels of the Aboma Stream and adjacent ridge, (15 miles to the north-west of Accra, the capital of the Gold Coast, the Colonial Office states. The stones are small, averaging approximately 30 to the standard carat, but are of good quality, (dear and colourless, while many are perfect crystals. Some of the largest are worth from 70s to 80s per carat. Not enough has yet been done to prove the economic value of the discovery.

Mr John L. Cope, the leader and organiser of the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition, interviewed regarding his projected flight to the South Pole, stated that the prepa-

rations were well advanced, and experts were now engaged'in designing the plane in which the flight would be made. “We have,” he said, “received a terrible blow in the death of Brigadier-General Lee, who had signed on with Iho expedition as chief of the aeronautical stall’, and would have piloted the plane to (he South Pole. I am now in negotiation with one of the most famous airmen in the world, who, I think, will take the place of General Lee. I cannot disclose his name just yet, but this much 1 can say: he has won the V.C., as well as the D. 5.0., for his magnificent exploits as an airman on the Western front.”

The story of a man who earned from .CO to £!) a week by leading a blind man about was told at Marylebone, when a labourer, aged 25, was charged with disojjderly conduct and assaulting his wife. A police constable who witnessed the assault said the man thumped his wife about the body, and then gave her a tremendous .smack —a stinging blow —in the face with his list, declaring that he would kill her. The Magistrate; “What is this horrible man?” The Policeman: “He goes about with a blind man, asking for charity, and 1 am told he gets 30s to £2 a day. He had a pocket full of silver on Saturday. He is an habi--tual gambler, and' won’t do any work. When in drink he is like a madman.” The man was sentenced to two months’ hard labour.

Keepers at Sing Sing Prison, U.S.A., say that the use of a dummy to aid a prisoner to escape is as old as the prison. Cleverest of all the dummies that prisoners have left to represent them was the one made by John McAllister, a burglar, who escaped from Sing Sing recently. .McAllister moulded a head from dough mixed with soap, producing a clever copy of his own features. He decked the crown of the dummy’s head with hair cut from his own, using a coarse, artificial crop only for the less-conspicuous sides and back. Another ingenious dummy was the creation of .Jean Kirsher, who escaped from the prison three years ago. Kirsher was not able to build a head and face to his double, but he stuffed a pair of trousers and shoes, propped up his Jay figure with legs crossed, and laid a newspaper against them. From outside the prisoner appeared to be reading quietly.

Since the armistice there has been a steady increase in the number of English babies. “The present figures,” says the Registrar-General, “seem to confirm the theory (hat after a great war or disaster Nature adjusts the balance between the sexes by increasing the number ofTuale babies in proportion to the female. Male births in England and Wales were persistent throughout the war period, starting in May, 1915. For 40 years before tire war the average male excess was in the proportion of 1,038 boys to 1,000 girls. Since May, 1915, the lowest proportion has been 1,043 hoys to 4,000 girls, and at one period it was as high as 1,059 hoys and 1,000 girls. In Berlin during the war the same thing was observed.” The French newspapers are full of stories of the extravagantly high prices being demanded in the Provinces for local produce, such as eggs and butler. A correspondent quoted by the editor of I’fEuvre maintains that it is a common thing to tind peasants making- £1,200 a year who live on their small farms and pay no income-tax. The champions of the peasantry, on the other hand, maintain that they arc being neglected by the Government, which shows no hurry to re-establish in the country districts the means of communication and transport suppressed during the war. M. Emanuel Brousse, a deputy, alleges that the consignments of foodstuffs which the peasants send to market by train are systematically pillaged on the way. For children’s Hacking Cough at night, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6 and 2/6. To prevent a cold “getting hold of you,” take NAZOL on sugar, or inhale it at intervals. Its effects are simply marvellous.

The New York Times, in an editorial article, says: “Captain RossSmith has done a wonderful thing for the prestige of the British Empire. He must be hailed as the foremost living aviator, for he hover blundered or faltered.’’ The following were the crew of the Vickers aeroplane in which Captain KossSmith made the journey to Australia from England: Captain RossSmith, Lieut. Keith Smith (brother), Sergeants W. M. Shires and J. M. Bennett. .On the plea of the mother of the slain boy, Judge Charles J. Dodd discharged Irving Dezendorf, seven years old, of Brooklyn, N.Y., arrested for killing his playmate, Joseph Murphy, eight years old, with an arrow made from an umbrella rib. The boys were playing “Indians” in front of their homes. “I do not wish to make a complaint against the little fellow,” said Mrs Charles IT. Murphy, the parent. “I realise that it might have been my own boy who stands hci’c.” For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.