GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2258, 2 April 1921, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

To rescue his dog, a collie, stranded on an island of shingle in lhe river Don, Aberdeen, a workman stripped and swam out to the middle of the icy,-cold river, lhe dog had jumped from Bridge of Don, reached the island, and then refused to move until its owner went for it. Three million Italians are awaiting vises and transportations to America. United Slates consulates throughout Italy are overwhelmed with work, and the long lines of those desiring to purchase steamer tickets stretch for blocks outside the principal agencies on days when steerage and third-class tickets are put on sale.

Upon reaching the end of the song, “There is a Garden I Long For,” at a Poplar Girls’ Guild eoncert, Miss Henrietta Brown, aged 22, fell back into the arms of the pianist. She died in hospital. At tiie inquest a doctor said [lie cause of death was heart failure, following upon congestion of the lungs. A verdict to that effect was returned, ' A group of Chicago aldermen re-

eently deflated Alderman Hogan'* : plan for an Ordinance to prohibit j women jiiubu.-liing their cars in their hair. "It’s, an ab.-nlute necessity, - ’ j dcctaled Mr Hogan. “Girt* can'! ' bear the honk of a motor horn. I have tin doubt a large percentage of automobile accidents are due to the ! preseni -tylc of hair dressing.” Alderman A. .1. fisher facetiously argued the ordinance should also prohibit the “sicklelike hooks they wear on the forehead." “When you saw me take the things, why didn't you stop me/ T saw all the-pretty pieces of -ilk, and I wanted some, as I am so fond of pretty tilings,” was the pathetic statement of Kathleen , Dainty, a neatly dressed young married woman, who was charged before Mr (I'Eyncourl at the Mnrylebone Police Court with sioaling silk, taffeta, satin, erepe-de-chenc, and foulard to the value of £l3 10s 3d. Her husband, a Government clerk, testified to tier integrity prior lo this, and she was remanded. The. til's! drawings by prehistoric man discovered in Britain since 187(i were described to the Society of Antiquaries by Mr A. Leslie Armstrong, of Sheffield. During excavations in September last year at Grimes Graves, Norfolk, Mr Armstrong discovered pieces of flint crust hearing engraved drawings of the Cave period. The most important was a wonderfully lifelike engraving of a stag, with one foreleg raised, the bead erect, and grass hanging from iis month. : Similar drawings, said Mr Armsi rung, had been found in France, Spain and 'ltaly, but only one other has been discovered, in 1870, in Britain.

i At (lie West London Police Court ' Albert Edward Raymond was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment i with hard labour i'or breaking into a | house. The occupier, Charles Biuu- : clen, said Chat-at 1 a.m. he was carrying the cat to the back door, with the intention of letting it oaf, when : lie heard a noise. “I had a shock , for a moment,” lie added, "and ; threw the eat in the direction of the noise. It missed the prisoner and went through the window." The Magistrate: Wa- the eat hurt! The witness: Cufortunately no. only

some fur was torn. The prisoner added the witness, told him that he had broken in because 'lie was hungry. After examining his army papers the witness lot him go, but later his wife’s brooch yu* misled.

One of the unfairest of the new Viennese taxes is the taxation of “luxury dogs.” The authorities have contrived this in such a way as fo make a “luxury” 'of the poorest specimen of the canine race. And for that breed the owner is obilged to pay 3,000 kronen per annum—the average annual income of the servant girl. Most: watchdogs will he taxed, and poor people who cannot afford the money have to get their animals destroyed. From this new regulation mongrels nre t exempted, so that many people will get rid of their dogs of good breed and acquire the poorest specimen*. No objections are raised to taxes on lapdogs and similar unnecessary creatures, but the killing of watchdogs will only promote the convenience of burglars, who already have everything in their favour.

Italian police have succeeded in tracking the men alleged to have been concerned in the mysterious murders perpetrated on the slopes

ol llie Alps, bard by (he Grcai St. Bernard Monastery. One night the monks were startled In continuous tiring on the mountain.'. Ai 'tinrise they followed in the wake of their famous dogs, and discovered the bodies of three men lying in the snow. Piedmontese carabinieri were soon aide to ascertain that the ill-fated trio consisted of Me--rs Orignon, La ten and Adscmhi, 'liopkeepers from the neighbouring village of Gignod, who, for sonic reason not satisfactorily cleared up, i were crossing the Alps to Swiss ! territory with a very big sum of i money. An Aosta smuggler named ; Giuseppe Sassin got wind of the ! nature of their expedition, and en- : listed the aid of his two soldier i nephews, to rob them. . | An entirely new category of per- • sons in Italy have threatened a strike, and that for rather curious reasons. Maybe even before these lines reach you, say* a Pome mosces will have put their whistles in sage, the Lombardy football referllieir pockets and have turned their i backs on the players. The reason | for this threat lies in the fact that j the referees consider themselves j “the martyrs of the sport." They j are striking against the “barrack--1 ing” of the crowd, which takes to i heart the fortunes of its own side with more enthusiasm than understanding. Consequently referees’ decisions adverse to the team playing on their own ground are apt. to be violently disputed, while an avalanche of opprobrious epithets is launched at the giver of an unpopular decision. This class oL men even complain that they have had to fear for their personal safety on some occasions, and they state that the authorities do not give them adequate protection.

A dispute iu the small Somerset village of Ashbrittle culminated at Somerset Assizes, William Manning. baker and rate collector, was awarded £175 damages against Mr and Mrs Reginald Blomfield for having maliciously brought a charge against him of maiming aud killing a pun}’. Plaintiff's counsel said there was an unpleasant correspondence over the payment of rates some months before the pony

died. In olic letter Mrs Blomlield said: “It is not for a little village baker to insult a member of the English aristocracy.” After the pony'had had a fatal fall a veterinary surgeon certified the cause'of death to be meningitis. Three days later, continued counsel, Mrs Blomlield reported to* the police that Mr Manning had maimed and killed her pony. The police satisfied themselves that this statement was incorrect, and refused to issue a warrant. Thereupon Mrs Blomlield took out a summons, but the ease was dismissed by the magistrates 1 , Mr Manning proving an alibi.

A costume composed of dyed sacks, and priced at 4s (id. was recently worn at: a meeting of the Economy League in South Africa. Italy’s silk production this year is officially estimated at 59,500,000 pounds of cocoons, an increase of 37 per cent, from last year. France has now built up an extensive industry of making artificial ivory, tortoise shell, and celluloid casein extracted from milk.

In 3020 the London General Omnibus Company’s motor ’buses run 100,000,000 miles, end fatal accidents were one for every 1,250,000 miles.