GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2230, 25 January 1921, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

A new prison had just been opened in Alabama when prohibition came into force, and, no prisoner having entered it, the gaol has been turned into a school.

A part of a mummified skeleton is said to have been found in Pennsylvania which must have been that of a man Oft. high. He is supposed to have belonged to a race inhabiting the country before the Red Indians arrived.

A noted man of science, Professor Max Margules, has died ii£ Austria at the age of 65 years of starvation. He was too proud to beg, and his pension was worth only £5 a year in English money.

Four George Robeys, four Wilkie Bards, and four doubles of four other leading comedians, were seen parading the West End, London, recently. The “doubles” formed a corps of sandwichmen to advertise tiie Variety Ball, held on December Ist, ill the Albert Hall, in aid of the Variety Artists' benevolent fund. In their wanderings the procession of 2-1 doubles encountered the six originals in full make-up. The last link with the great Duke of Wellington was broken last November by the death in London of J)r, Henry Frederick Holland, ol (lodaliniug, at the age of- !>.L He was summoned to Aspley House in 1851 to attend J he “Iron Duke” for an attack of bronchial pneumonia. Enjoying good health during his long life, Dr. Holland, at the age of !)(.), competed in a fiat race on. the occasion of the peace celebrations.

While it is possible to detect the location of a defect in a lead-cover-ed cable, it is impossible to remedy ihe defect and recover the cable at that point without recovering the entire cable. It is sometimes necessary to strip the lead covering from a cable in order to reach a delect that has been discovered during a test, and make the necessary repair. Then the bare cable is again passed ill rough the lead-coaling machine in order to replace its covering. This work necessarily involves a great expense, but it seems to lie part ol the business of making huge cables. The Austrian Government has decided to dispose of all artistic treasure in the palaces of the Hapsburgs to English and American bur - ers, in exchange for food, .wheat, and raw materials.

Spanish troops have entered, probably peacefully, the Holy City of Shesinuin, in the savage Kil country in the Spanish zone of Morocco. Built: in 1471 by fanatics, this secret city had never previously been trodden by the feet of white men. Samuel Rzeszewski, the eight-year-old Polish chess genius, met twenty chess experts of the West Point Military Academy, New York, recently. He scored nineteen victories, and one draw, playing all the games simultaneously. Adrian Wells Beechnut, the son of Sir Thomas Beecham, although only 15 years of ago, Ims composed two operas, two' symphonies, with full orchestra scores, and one,ballet. Lady Beecham described the way in which Adrian’s musical genius was first discovered. He had a music-box with discs when he vas 17 months old,” said Lady Beecham, “and although he could not read lie could tell tlie names of every one of 30 classical tunes bv ear. ’

At last a Royal Commission has settled the various claims for the invention of the Paravane, the ingenious device attached to ships for releasing mines in their paths. The

chief inventor of the paravane was Commander Burney, who has received £350,000 for his patent rights. Admiral Villiers has £2,000, Captain Usborne £IO,BOO, Mr W. G. Moore £6,500, Dr. Haigli £1,250, Commander Bucknell and Lieutenant Pliillott £250 between them, and Mr C. W. Kav £IOO.

. A becpiest of 1,000,000 dollars (£285,000) has been refused by Mr Charles Garland, who is aged 21, because lie prefers to work for his living. Mr Charles Garland, who is married and living with his wife and infant daughter at his mother’s summer home at Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts, is planning to become a motor mechanic. He says: —“I believe that in refusing to accept the money I am placing myself on a Christian basis. Private property is the main cause of our unrest and unhappiness. It saps the meaning £ro,m life.” Why bother making cakes when there is such a good assortment at Perreau’s 1 *