GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2260, 7 April 1921, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Two young girls living at Ruutzenheim, in Alsace, having dressed as men wouring masks, called on one of their friends to play a I rick upon her. When she saw the visitors the girl, who was in bed, took fright, and shouted for help. A neighbour dashed to her assistance, armed with a hatchet, and hit the two girls, mortally wounding one of them.

“I want to see people laugh in St. Albans Abbey,” said the bishop of that diocese at Luton. “Why should we not laugh in God’s house? We must get rid of the awful distinction between religion and life. 1 want to see the Church helping to bring courtship on a proper level, instead of kicking it into the dark places of the earth. Let young people find their mates at churclu then their lives will be consecrated to the service of their fellows.”

Professor Sir IV. Boyd Dawkins, lecturing in Manchester on “Time and Work,” said he considered Manchester the finest town in England for real, downright, solid work. “When I was at Oxford I'm afraid T was a very idle dog, In London I was in a Government office, and when I started at 10 o’clock and tin - ished at four, with time off - for lunch, I really considered that I wa* working.” It was not "until he came to Manchester that he had any accurate idea what hard work was.

Experiments are to be made by the United States Navy Department for hurling seaplanes front the decks of ships at sea by means of catapults, says a Washington correspondent. This information was given to the House-Naval Committee by Captain Craven, Director of Naval Aviation. He said that tests arc being made at the Washington Navy Yard, where it is planned to shoot a seaplane from a catapult soon, to see if the plan is feasible. Attempts are also being made to construe! collapsible planes. »

In the spring, when airships setting out from Pulliam aerodrome, Norfolk, seriously begin to “blaze the trails” for commercial purposes. the new Civil Aviation Traffic Officer will be the most important man at the station. Major Fuller, who during the war was in command of an airship, is now known colloquially as the Air Slationmastor at Pulliam. Great lighthouses will guide homecoming airships, and searchlights will signal instructions for landing. On the ground lines of lights will indicate the direction of the wind, so that airships may know what to expect.

“Champagne has distinctly fallen off: people cannot; afford it.” This statement was made to a Press representative by the manager of .a large London wine-dealing firm. “As far as the best brands of champagne are concerned,” he added, “the sale is dead. We are not selling champagne to our private customers, who are instead drinking port, sherry, Marsala and claret.” On the other hand, another manager was emphatic in his statement that, so far as his clients were concerned, there was no more hesitation in ordering champagne now than in the years before the war.

There was a flavour of the prison scene in the “Tale of Two Cities" in an incident which was related to tiie Wrexham magistrate's recently.' Fred Perrin had .summoned for stealing‘goods from a railway waggon, and had been remanded at Wrexham in custody. He was removed to the Bridewell, where his brother, Herbert, took him food. While in the cell together (so the Court was told) the brothers elm aged clothes, and Fred, in the attire of his brother, calmly walked out of the Bridewell. Later in the day the prisoner was taken to Shrewsbury Gao], when the police discovered that (hey had the wrong man. The brothers were charged with being concerned jointly in Fred’s escape, and were remanded in custody.

A telegram from Carcassonne, France, reports the daring exploit of a young bandit. A farmer living near Carcassonne was cycling from a village to the town, carrying with him a sum of £OOO. When passing through a little wood he was suddenly confronted by a man wearing a mask, who, revolver in hand, ordered him to stop and to hand over the money. The farmer obeyed, but as the thief was running away with the money an automobile carrying several people happened to pass. The farmer, assisted by the occupants of the car and several farmers, chased the robber for several hours across the fields, and captured him. He was found to be a boy of 17, who is employer as. a clerk at Carcassonne. The stdlen money was recovered.