GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2427, 11 May 1922, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A Belgian mission sent to the Katanga district of the C6ngo is said to have found extensive rad-ium-bearing deposits. During the war a Belgian sold in London colcolite rich in radium. He refused to divulge its source, but the Belgian Government immediately instituted a search that led to the Katanga country. Aged cows which “frisk like young heifers” after . a dose of serum extracted from the glands of sows, are described in a report of the Pennsylvania State Bureau of Animal Industry. All the animals are grandmothers, but, it is stated in the report, after treatment they regained their milking power and all the attributes of youth. Eleven cows have been treated with equally satisfactory results. Harry Summerfield, who lives on the Alligator River, Port Darwin, was standing on the bank when: a large alligator seized him by the leg and dragged him into the water. He jammed his thumb into its eye, and forced it to release him, but it then seized and broke his wrist He poked his thumb into the other eye of the alligator, blinding it. He then escaped, badly injured, and was. taken to hospital.

Experiments are being made with a new form of steel helmet which will have a movable visor for the use of the French Army. When the troops are on the move and there is no danger the visor, which resembles that of an ancient knight in armour, will be kept up. The moment the men enter a danger zone the visor will seal the face as far as the mouth, slits being left through which the soldier may see. After mourning for his soldier son for four years, and receiving the decorations won in the war, Mr T. Parry Jones, of Old Cohvyn, Denbighshire, has been informed by the War Office that his son is in an Indian Military hospital suffering from loss of memory, and will be home next month. The lad when 18 enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and served in the Dardanelles, Egypt and Palestine, and it was when in the latter country that he was reported missing. Two Algerian girls, Adele Carty and Nelly Ferdonil, disappointed in love, determined to commit suicide at Bordeaux. They soaked their bed clothes with petroleum, and when they were in bed the elder set a liiajch to the bedding. They bore the flames for some time without making a cry, but the pain became too great, and finally they screamed. Neighbours ran in and dragged them off the blazing bed, but the girls died as they were being taken to hospital. Anna Bragg, lit, pretty, in men’s attire, and showing a rather inartistic result of trying to bob liei ; own hair so that she would more close] y resemble a boy, reached Cincinnati from Charlestown. But a Chesapeake and Ohio railroad detective penetrated her disguise en route, and gave her into police hands. Miss Bragg said she tried to be a manicurist, but made a failure. She was turned over to social workers and by night had employment and a dress. In her. overalls she carried a. powder puff and rouge. Her father, now dead, was a Baptist minister in Virginia, she said. Some of the most important steamship companies, including the Cunard, White Star, and UnionCastle Lines, have sent a petition to the principal London licensing Benches, asking that no attempt be made to make West End duller than it is at present by restoring the ten o’clock “cui’few.” They point out that the number of people visiting London from abroad will be reduced

enormously if the war-time restrictions are enforced again. Kingstonon- Thames county licensing magistrates have extended the closing hour on. week-days from 10 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. This ruling does not apply to Kingston itself.