GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2334, 27 September 1921, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

The number of vipers in the Bernese Alps is causing considerable alarm. Several fatal bites have been inflicted, and tourists intending to visit the region are warned to be careful where they walk. As one of the air expresses from the Continent was nearing the London airport at Croydon, a bottle was thrown out and fell close to where some people were standing. It is against regulations to drop anything from an aeroplane in flight. A tight boot, which caused a sore toe, brought about the death from tetanus of a Sussex boy, named Arthur Page. Some time ago a new pair of boots which the boy had worn rubbed a piece of skin off one toe. The wound became inflamed, tetanus set in, and.the lad was taken to hospital. Owners of some London gardens have been observed recently tending certain half-dead plants with tender care, gathering the parched leaves, and spreading them in the sun. Visitors want to know what it all means. “Tobacco, old man,” is the proud reply. “An experiment of mine, and a. real success. Try a pipeful.” The discerning smoker does not usually accept that invitation a second time. On the sands between Tayport and Leuchars, Fifeshire, a local resident, Mr Alexander Duncan, had a strange experience of being attacked by seagulls. Evidently the gulls, who numbered several hundreds, resented intrusion into an area where their young were running in and out among the grass. With shrill cries they swooped down on Mr Duncan again and again, and he had to take to his heels.

In commenting on the fact that Alfred Williams, of Battersea, the subject of an inquest, had survived coal-gas poisoning for twenty days, Ihe coroner said he could not remember such a case. Williams was worried at having inflicted cruelty on a dog, and he was found unconscious, with the gas turned on. He died at the end of twenty days without regaining consciousness.