GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2361, 29 November 1921, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

When Ladier Waite, proprietor of a small Boston paint shop, lit his pipe for an after-supper smoke, a spark- ignited his overalls. Running to a lire box on the" corner, Waite sent, in an alarm, and then, with his clothing ablaze, stood fast until the firemen arrived. An extinguisher promptly put out the fire. Waite’s burns were not serious.

President Yrigoyen, Argentine, signed and promulgated, on September 20 th, the new law that forbids landlords for two years to charge rents higher than those in force before January Ist, 1020. This means a widespread reduction in rents in Argentina, although the 1910 rents were much higher than those before the wdr, and comprise about 40 per cent, of the cost of living. Four masked bandits held up a train near Texarkana, Texas, one night recently. They covered the enginecrew, forced the disconnection of the mail car, an dcompelled the engineer to pull to within two miles of the city, where the bandits escaped in a waiting automobile. The use of a gas bomb to force the mail clerk to open the mail ear leads to the belief that one of the robbers was an ex-service man and had been in the chemical section of the army. A German airman, Herr Klemperer, who has been making gliding experiments for several years, is reported to have “taken off” fn a motorless monoplane from the top of a hill near Gersfeld, in Prussia, and glided for 13 miles, during which he flew more than six miles. This, it is claimed, is a world’s reeo'rd. Herr Klemperer’s machine is so lightly constructed, on the cantilever principle, that it weighs only 125 lb. The span of the wing is 30ft., and the wing area 172 square feet.

Some excitement was caused in Regent Street, W., London, recently, by the appearance of a. tall woman wearing stockings through the dia-mond-shaped openings of which her bare legs could be seen. In the centre of each opening a little black spot, had been painted. The stockings were black, and on the white shoes little black diamond squares were painted. By the time the woman had reached a crowd was following her. Then, hexnerve deserting her, she called a cab and drove away. Chinese naval authorities have been asked to take steps to cope with an alarming increase of piracy on the watex-ways in the district about Shanghai. This action was taken following reports that several junks had been held up near Wenchow, while en route to Shanghai. When notice was l-eceived that a man had been taken from one of the junks and held for ransom, the Shanghai Lumber Merchants’. Guild asked that a warship be sent to patrol the district and rescue the captive. The request also has been made that gunboats be sent to Dien Sun Ho district, near Sunkiang, and to the Talio and Whangpoo districts.