NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2721, 15 April 1924, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Wireless licenses in England now number nearly 600,000, A small 'box of English-grown strawberries was sold at Covent Garden Market, London, for 48s a pound in February last.

It is stated that one Justice of the Peace in Wellington had often eo sign as many as 100 documents in a day. At the last' census date in New Zealand there were 22,000 childless couples over three years married, and 24,600 married couples with no children living. The Bruce Trustees have promised to donate £l7O towards the cost of purchasing a scenic reserve at Upper Tutaenui provided the public of the district contribute a similar amount.

There are 270 furniture factories in the Dominion, employing over 2000 hands and the total.production is valued at more than £1,000,000 a year. "Experts from Great Britain have expressed surprise at the size and activity of many of the firms, several of which employ from 60 to 70 men. Three Damascus swords in the British Museum are so finely tempered and flexible that the point of each blade can be readily curved until it touches the handle. These weapons were in use long before the Christian era, and the secret of producting their extraordinary flexibility, toughness, and keenness is lost.

“The alarming increase in the use of wine arid stimulants at dances by young people in both city and country, with the inevitable lessening of the moral tone, calls for more vigilant work in the cause of purify, stated a passage in tlie-re-port of the social and moral department, which was presented at the annual convention of the W.0.T.U., at New Plymouth.

A proposal to form a baseball club in Christchurch, principally as a means of enabling cricketers to keep their eye in on a winter pastime, has been made by Mr W. J. Heslehnrst, who is satisfied that two teams of twelve men each can be got together, as has been done in Wellington. Baseball, he points out, is ideal practise for batsmen, bowlers and fieldsmen, and provides more exercise in. the field than is associated with cricket.

For some days prior to April Ist, an advertisement appeared in a Whangarei paper, announcing that a sale of samples would take place in a certain building, when wonderful bargains would he offered, including cigarettes at 4d per packet. Loewe pipes at 3s, and benzine at 11s a ease. A large crowd waited for (he opening of the doors at nine o’clock, and il was some time before someone realised the day and date.

“To live long, you must Im contented. To he contented, yon must have n smoko, and that moans a pipe. All women should smoko a day pipe/’ “Grannie’’ Webb, of Ross, Herefordshire, who oolobrates her 102nd birthday this month, gave this prescription for longevity. She added: “I would rather go without' my dinner than my pipe. I recommend shag, but some women may prefer a different brand.” A. fall of plaster in the Wanganui Magistrate’s room recalls an incident at the court during an earthquake a few weeks ago.(says the Herald.) The business before the Court was in connection Avith a launch, and Mr Cohen was examining a witness. -Just then the building began to rock, and proceedings were suspended for a few seconds. The Magistrate broke the silence by remarking: “Come on, MV Cohen; let justice be done though the heavens fall.” Like a flash Mr Cohen replied that it was not the heavens falling he was so much concerned about as the plaster, on the Courthouse ceiling. The question of glasses of liquor being left on hotel bar counters at closing time was much discussed in the Magistrate’s Court at New Plymouth during the hearing of some charges of alleged breaches of the Licensing Act. The barman said there was nothing strange in such a happening, and added that sometimes whole glasses of liquor were left untouched, as it was a strict rule in the house that at <i o'clock everybody had to go out, and if liquor had just been drawn they had to leave it “I don’t say that is common, but it does happen,” said the witness, to which the Magistrate replied: “It would be lull’d to believe that such a thing is common.”