GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2368, 15 December 1921, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

To have the lampshades fashion.ed in the forms of animals is the . very latest idea in household decoration. All sorts of animals sci\c as models for the shades, but one of the most spectacular is in the form of a peacock, with the black plumage stretched out m magnificent array. Another model is in the form • of a fish. This shade is.frankly a burlesque on the finny tribe, and is guaranteed to make anybody smile. Perhaps the most faithful representation of an animal is a shade made in the form of a lap-dog in a begging attitude. Ballon shooting with shot-guns from aeroplanes was voted quite good fun by those members'of the Royal Aero Club who tried it at Croydon the other day. It requires not only skill with the gun, but proper co-operation between the pihA., and the gunner, and good judgement by the pilot while he hangs his machine stationary on its airscrew to give the gunner his chance. Some of the resultant manoeuvres at Croydon were funnier to watch than any “stunt” dying. It is a form of sport which ought to become popular, and it is by no means expensive. Two children, Mary and Anna Chapulas, aged five and three years respectively, were crushed to death at Bridgeport, Connecticut, when a 20-foot brick- wall of the Ideal Coal Company gave way under pressure of coal on the inside. The collapse was accompanied by an explosion which was heard for blocks. Firemen and hospital attendants, assisted by civilians, began digging to rescue the children from the coal and bricks piled high over their bodies. The home of the Chapulas children adjoins the coal yarl and the gills were playing in their own yard when the brick wall separating the properties collapsed. , ( The Bank of France lias begun the distribution of 20,000,000 francs in new bronzed aluminium coins which are to replace the paper money issued last year by the Chambei of Commerce and which was condemned by the Health Board as insanitary. Although the public is rejoicing over these new coins, economists are calling attention to the danger of France** small silvci reserve, which already greatly diminished by international speculation, may be still further reduced by boiling down the present silver coins which offers a chance for 5 per. cent, profit if the person making the conversion is not detected. “Give us our daily radishes and strips of sardines or we’ll throw down our crutches and will not attend morning parade.” This was I he ultimatum sent to the head cook of the Involutes Hospital by 300 incapacitated poilus who arc pensioned there by the French Government. During the war the wounded convalescents were given hors d’oeuvres as a mark of the nation’s gratitude for their heroism, but with the return of peace methods it was decided to reduce rations to a daily pound of beef and half a pound of vegetables, with a small bottle of pinard to wash down each meal. Strange screeching noises in her bedroom awakened Emily W inter, a maid at Eversley, Hampshire, during the night recently. Opening bet eves she saw a large badger lying at the foot of lie)' bed. It was ravenously eating the remains of a chicken, and the feathers which had c\ i* dently been discarded as an unsavoury part of the meal were scattered about the room. As the terrified girl watched the badger in the dim light, it appeared to her, she said, to grow larger and larger, until unable to stand the strain any longer, she ran screaming from (lie room. When the alarmed household reached it, the unpleasant visitor was surveying itself in a looking glass on a dressing table before making its departure. A strange creature is coming ip the London Zoological Gardens as a gift from the Jam Sahib ofNawanagar (whom England knew as Prince Ranjilsinhji). This is a “lion-tiger,” the offspring of a mixed marriage between the two great cats. Once in a decade such a. union results in cubs. A litter of three “lion-tigers” is now in possession of the Jam Sahib, and one E to come to London in the spring. ' Thirteen years ago a “lion-leopard’ was deposited at the zoo by a wellknown dealer, and was locally known as the “What-is-it?” Years ' before that Hagenbeck secured a “lion-tiger,” but they seem to be remarkably rare. Some other princely gifts" of animals are coming to 1 the zoo from Indian rulers, includ--1 ing N 'two young elephants from the Gaekwar of Baroda, and two lionesses from the Maharajah of May- ■ urbhanj.