GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2341, 13 October 1921, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A “titled Irishman” has bet £IOOO that he will kiss a thousand girls in thirty days during a tour from New York to San Francisco. The conditions of the tour are that any form of conveyance except trains may he used provided that they cost nothing to the tourist, who may pay for his food and shelter, but for nothing else. A heavy-weight club, known as the “200 pounders,” which was in

existence before the war, has been

reorganised in Paris. The former members and all new applicants, all

of whom must turn the scale at 200

lbs. (list. 41b.) at the least, have been invited to send in their names and to attend the first post-war meeting in Paris. William Baker, an elderly labourer, who admitted that he kept a mongrel Irish-Airedale terrier on a very heavy trace chain attached to a tree night and day for twelve months, was sentenced at Midhurst to a month’s imprisonment for cruelty. He fed the dog chieHy on oatmeal and “crammings.” An inspector of the R.S.P.C.A. said that it was impossible to describe the animal’s weak and emaciated condition. Baker produced a purse of gold, and readily paid 30s c6sts. Sixteen hundred convicts serving “life” sentences in the Central Austrian prison at Stein have been in revolt. They armed themselves with their working tools, and, having overcome the warders, tried to break out of prison. Military assistance was telegraphed for, and two companies of infantry were sent to the prison. The convicts bombarded the troops with everything movable, and used their tools as weapons of offence. When it was seen that the convicts were get-

ting the upper hand, the troops were ordered to fire on the rioters. Six convicts were killed and thirty others wounded.

The bridegroom whose friends

throw rice at the bride and himself after their marriage in the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, New York, will henceforth have to pay a 25s line. Father McGrath says that rice-throwing is a heathen custom, by which it was hoped to propitiate the gods or goddesses of illluck, and as such is not fitting for a Christian church ceremony. A deposit of £1 5s will be asked for at the time arrangements are-made for the wedding, and if the rice is thrown, the £1 5s is forfeited; if none is thrown it will be returned. The line, when it is retained, will he used to pay the cost of cleaning the church and the steps. Described as the most eccentric resident of Leicester, Joseph Cave, recently died at the age of 83. He emigrated to the United States many years ago, returning in 1913 a rich man. He found all his friends dead, and had little to do with his money. Se he spent several hundreds of pounds on the handsome mausoleum, designed by himself, in which he has been laid. While it was being constructed he watched every step, from the cutting of the first sod till its completion. He then entered the vault, smoked several pipes, and subsequently sang “Poor Old Joe,” in the presence of the workmen. The war is over at long last in Munich —Munich may once again drink the beer for which it is famous. The return to the status quo of the beer-drinker, after six years, was celebrated in Munich in true German fashion. The mouth of the gigantic statue of Gambrinus, th* beer-god, was connected with the cellars of the chief Lion Brew hall, and poured forth a continuous stream of beer for an hour, druing

which no charge was made for the refreshment. Numbers of welldressed men and women, and even boys and girls, provided with mugs and vessels of all kinds, filed in and out of the building, and, tilling their vessels with the foaming liquor, drank to the god Gambrinus while they danced round in their joy.