GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2098, 4 March 1920, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

H.M.M. Hawkins, a new cruiser, is the lirsi British warship (o ho lilted With a harbor's shop and a roereal.ion room for the crew. There aro barbers’ shops ami denial surgeries in American men-a’-war; but Jack’s barbers have hitherto worked in anv § convenient corner (hey could tind. Owing- to fog the Fowey drifter Clara ran on to the rocks near Batten breakwater, Plymouth, recently, and was badly holed. The inrush of water was checked by one of the crew, who forced his body, hound with sail-cloth and old clothing, into the lade. For four hours before the boat was towed to harbour' he remained up to his waist in water. The famous library of the Vatican is the most sumptuously housed of all libraries,, and contains some of the rarest and most valuable manure ri fits in existence. For several’ centuries the collections have been constantly added to until to-day the printed books number over 20,000 voluntas. In addition there arc 30-, 000 manuscripts. Among- the rarest and choicest items in the collection are volumes issued in the lifleenth century. Mr Kdwin Drew, who claims to he the oldest impromptu rhymer in Fleet Street, recently made the fol-* lowing statement to a London paper: “1 have composed over 100,000 verses-, have never required alcohol or tobacco for inspiration, never been lost for a theme, and 1 am not gloomy. lam ready with a rhyme at a moment's notice," Who is the unknown donor of ,(.'20,000 cheques to large infirmaries badly in need of funds? The treasurers of Guy’s Hospital, and of the JI ova I Infirmaries at .Manchester and Liverpool, are unable to identify 1 lie person, who in the course of a few days, presented them with .€20,000 each. In ouch case the gift was made by cheque sent through Messrs Glyn,. Mills, Currie, and Company, London. The will of Lieut. Kirkley, of Sunderland; “I leave all to her. Frank 11. Kirkley. July 131 Ji, 1917,” does not hold the record for brevity. jt solicitor of Lincojdn’s Inn .Fields points out that in .May, 1905, lie executed a will which staled briefly “All for Mother,” and was signed with two initials only. The will was that of an old man Frederick Thorne, of Amesbnry Avenue, Sirealimm. He was too ill to write more than that on the back of an envelope. • "At last tiic British naval millennium lias come. The Admiralty lias announced that as a Christmas present to the British'Navy every battleship and cruiser will he furnished with a supply of cosy armchairs, so the jack tars ' will ho thoroughly comfortable. The press has some good fun over the announcement, one . writer declaring: — “Kelson, when interviewed in Trafalgar ’Square this morning, said he regarded this as a. deplorable sign of luxury, which was eating- its \yay into national life, hut lie nearly fell off his pillar when he was told that electric food heaters and radiators were to he placed in all messes and reading rooms.