GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2529, 13 January 1923, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A scythe, which has been in service for 80 years, having- been brought out to New Plymouth in 1843 b.y the late Mr H. Barribnll, has been presented to the New Plymouth museum by the only surviving .son, Mr S. H. Barriball, of Hillsborough. A Wanganui resident who spent a portion of the holidays in the Rongotea district, tells the Herald that he was surprised to note how the rabbits increased along the coast. A very good instance of how numerous they are could be gathered from the fact that recently a well known medical man shot 000 near the mouth of the Rnngitikei River oif his own gun in a day. British India returns showing the mortality from wild animals and venomous snakes during 1921 place the total number of persons killed by wild animals at 3,360 against 3,330 in the previous year. Tigers were responsible for 1,454 deaths, leopards for 560, wolves for 556, bears for 69, elephants for 70, and hyenas for 10. The loss of human lives from snake bites fell from 20,043 in 1920 to 19,396 in 1921. The pilot of a big red Daimler air express flying from Manchester to London with four passengers was approaching Rugby when lie saw the maroons which announced the Great Silence hurst in the air. He throttled down his powerful engine and glided silently through the air. Anotherman —an America n —who had never heard of the war until a few days ago has sailed from Cherbourg with 160 American exsoldiers. He is a student named Jnrgenson, who before the war was sentenced by a German Court to 10 j years’ penal servitude as a sequel to a duel. He heard the first tidings j of the war on his release. i The Prince of Wales drew a ■ small dressed doll (golliwog var- j ietv) in a “lucky dip” at a bazaar ■ lie opened in aid of the Victoria

Hospital for Children, Chelsea. He deputised for Princess Lonise, Duchess of Argyll, who could not be present. He bought a big box of chocolates but the doll, which was the outcome of a penny dip at the bran tub, outshone his other purchases. The Prince packed up the doll amid laughter, and sent it to his car to be conveyed to his home. While badger hunting on the outskirts of Belfast Samuel Humphries 60 years of age, a shipyard rigger and naval reservist, was accidentally shot dead by a companion named McNieee. Accompanied by three members of the special constabulary they were descending a slippery hillside towards a hedge when there wins a shout of: “Your trigger’s down,” and MacXiece’s gun immediately rang out a charge of heavy shot, severing an artery in Humphries thigh. McNieee, horrified, was prevented from turning the weapon on himself. Tie was placed under arrest until after the inquest. Two Selby men travelling t<» Howden Market by an express train were horrified when approaching Wiressele Station, to see a hull kneeling down and goring with his horns a lad of about nine years of age in a field. The train was travelling at about 40 miles an hour, and they were uncertain whether to pull it up bv the emergency cord. They decided', however, to write notes on pocket-book leaves a message which read : —“Bull killing boy in field near Wressle Station.” These they threw out of the carriage window when passing over a road crossing. Shortly afterwards, however, the train reached Howden, and a telephone message was sent to Wressle. The station staff at once raced to the rescue and the bull was driven away. It is doubtful if the pigmy hahv elephant which was X-rayed for in-, .jury to the shinbone at the University College Hospital in London will ever return there for-“.further treatment,” although it has been given an out-patient’s card. When it arrived from the Zoo the casualty entrance to the hospital the students named it Tso Kay, the daughter of Glee. A less gleeful looking elephant could not he imagined than Tso Kay. when she left, heavy with bananas and full of hatred for hospital* and humans. As soon as Tso Kav saw the X-ray she kicked a learned professor oil the ankle. She ate a dozen bananas, and when no more were forthcoming she tried to eat the X-rav operator and his apparatus. 'l'he X-ray photographs showed that a small-piece lnuLbcen chipped off her shin-bone.

silk scarf .-lie had been knitting was left for a few minutes on her doorstep by Madame .Machenaml. in the village of Charante. A row came along and ate the scarf. The cow died. The farmer sued the woman for the loss of the cow, and the woman sued the farmer for the loss of the scarf. After hearing long legal arguments a judge lias decided that neither wa- to blame.

Losing her way in a. I hick fog which suddenly formed over the marshes, Miss Constance Moore, of Kensington, London, sank to her waist in mud near Southwold. After a desparate struggle she managed to get out and reach firm ground, where she remained fearing

«.uee again to step into the mud. She called for help without success until four hours, cyclists passing near by heard her. With the he.li> of men with a knowledge of tlie marshes and the tides and carrying lanterns the search party found Miss Moore 'benumbed'with cold and drenched to the skin with water. Miss Moore was carried to her lodgings, and after doctors’ attention, was reported to lie recoveing from shock. Strange articles of diet can lie bought in some of London’s shops. For instance edible birds’ nests are sold at 30s an ounce. They are obtained from the islands around the coast of China, where they arc regarded as a. great luxury. They are cat up into small shavings and made into soup. Another article of diet which is only within reach of tlie well-filled purses is eavaire. Pressed and treated with olive oil it costs 30s a lb. Real caviare obtained from flsti is almost unobtainable. Dried seaweed. known as “beelie de mer,” for making soup costs 7s Od a lb., while strips of dried turtle from Jamaica are sold at 15s a lb. For the same amount you can obtain a pound of sharks’ tins. A bottle of kangaroo soup costs 4s. There are other things which even super-grocers do not let, is one of them. It is a favoursupply. The roe of the grey audit e dish in Greece. Seventy-three anxious young men, accompanied by an army of relatives, waited on the pier at Brooklyn, New York, with photographs in their hands while the steamer King Alexander docked. The vessel came from Constantinople, and brought 73 Greek, Turkish. Armenian and Syrian girls, who also had photographs in their hands as the steamer made fast. They had come to he married with all speed to the young men on the [her. Neither party had seen the other before, their courtship having been done by correspondence and photographs. As the vessel was making fast there was much gesticulating by the brid-es-to-be, while their swains ashore waved umbrellas and hats. A rush was made by an excited young Greek who had recognised his girl, and he was closely followed by his relatives. The “attack” was, however, repulsed by the Customs men, and then down the gangway tripped the girls, holding aloft (lie photographs of the men they were to marrv. The 73 voting men came in a body, followed by their relations, and as they charged the Customs barrier and fence were smashed.