GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2243, 24 February 1921, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

When a mailbag, scaled in Manchester, England, on December 3rd, was ' opened at the post office at New York, it was found to contain a kitten. The animal was taken care of and fed by the officials, and is stated to be thriving. An avalanche of sugar stocked in the depot at Brigue Station, Geneva, occurred recently. A large number of sacks fell 20ft., bursting on four workmen, who were buried in the sugar. One of the men was mortally injured. It is believed that I’ats, which had undermined the pile by eating the sacks at the bottom, started the avalanche. A prortest against Sunday golling witlj a reference to the Premier as a bad example, was made at a Sunday evening’s service at the Aberystwyth Welsh Congregational Church recently. Dr. Peter Price laid some of the religious institutions of Wales were in danger, and among them was that of Sabbath observance. The reference to Sunday golf was followed by ;i show of hands in protest.

On condition that a prisoner refrained from entering a public house for nine months, Sir Robert Wallace, at the London sessions, agreed not to pass sentence. Sir Robert warned the man —Robert Woods, charged with causing grievous bodily harm —that if the compact was broken he would be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Woods, who had offered to compensate the other man to the extent of £lO, said he would never again cuter licensed premises. The trouble arose in a public-house brawl.

Arthur Mitchell, who, the police said, had no superior as a professional pick-pocket, was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude at the Old Bailey. The charge against him was of' receiving a pocket wallet, containing ill, knowing it to have been stolen. Detective Inspector Mitchell said in 1912 Mitchell assaulted the then Lord 'Mayor of London (Sir Thomas B. Crosby) with intent to roll him. Judge AtJierle.v Jones said it was unfortunate that the Stale had no agency for the reformation of men of advanced years. Voluntary agencies were <iuitc in a de< piatc.

A professional conjurer, fallen into evil ways, who applied his dexfevily lo shop-lifting, was cleverly ■catighl by a woman detective al Harrods Stores, London. Going l<> the leather goods department, the. conjurer (Henry David Davies, of Walworth), caused four pocket wallets to “disappear’’ one after the other with lightning rapidity when the assistant’s back was turned to the counter. He covered his operations by the skilful manipulation of a pair of gloves.. The woman detective, however, saw how the “trick” was done, and caused his arrest. At Westminster Police Court he was sentenced to three months’ hard labour.

Visitors to the reptile house at I lie Londou Zoo may now witness a spectacle seldom seen there, even at the height of summer —two gigantic reticulated pythons a- lively as kittens. In captivity these monarchs of serpent life are seldom more active than a coil of rope, and in the winter, despite artificial heating, they relapse into a stale of semi-hibernation. Romance, however, has entered the dull lives of these two specimens—lienee their extraordinary conduct. The female of the pair, an 18ft. snake, has for the past eight years lived a life of solitude, but she has now been presented with a 22ft. mate. He made a rather undignified entrance in a sack, having been ejected from a neighbouring ease, the plate glass of which he had tried to push from its foundation. Before the monster was bundled into his new home lie was measured, and it was found that, since his arrival at the Zoo in April, 1919, he had added lift, to his length.

An account for the tuning of 23 harmoniums at the infirmary-came before the Marylebone Board of Guardians recently, and, being objected to by several members, was referred back for further consideration. Mr Tooley said that the time would probably come when it would be .an indictable offence to be found in the possession of a harmonium. The cost of tuning the harmoniums, together with a few pianos, amounted to over £1 a week. He suggested ■that they should sell some of the instruments in order to pay for the tuning of the remainder. Alderman Anglim (who preferred a mouthorgan to a harmonium) said he understood the instruments were appreciated* by the patients. Miss Broadbeut‘explained that lady visitors were in the habit of playing the harmoniums in the wards. Mr Tooley: ‘‘Surely 23 Indies, all burning with the desire to play harmoniums, are not going to turn up at * the saUie moment."