NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2832, 10 January 1925, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

The death occurred at Sheffield recently of Nathan Xapatniek, a Polish Jew, aged 111. His wife, who is still living, is over 00. After giving the alarm of a fir* iii a house at Reading, London, a. Cox terrier was burned before it could be rescued. Nine alligators from New Orleans foi the Auckland Zoo were shipped on board the steamer West Nilus, which arrived at Auckland last week from .San Francisco. Only three of the reptiles survived the voyage, the other six dying on board the steamer. A cable from Madrid states that a widow named Colila, learned that her husband bought a fifth share in a lottery ticket which won six thousand sterling. Failing to find the ticket the widow obtained an exhumation order and found it in the pocket of the waistcoat in which her husband was buried. Death overlook a starling living o\er it Napier suburban section in sudden and curious fashion (says the Teh graph). Several sum!! buys were playing cricket and a juvem!.batsman hit mil lustily at a shortpitched ball. The Lit. was well-timed and the ball whi/.zed away almost dead in its course, there was a Hurry of feathers and a starling that had Jjeeu living across the course of the ball dropped to the ground, stone dead. ■

A deaf and dumb Maori girl, Ibinera Waikare, pleaded guilty at Tokomaru Bay and was committed for sentence for forging a cheque. She had received a cheque for ft) 12/- for work done during shearing, and had altered the figures to £OO 12/-, and cashed the cheque. The gill took a lively interest in the ease, and bv reading the depositions was able lo attest the accuracy of the evidence. Curiously enough, she had no knowledge of Maori (states the N.Z. Herald). When the document relating to the committal -to the Supreme Court was handed to her lo read she intimated that, she had nothing to say, but desired to plead guilty. The sum of £7O 12/was recovered.

A remarkable discovery has been made by a Spanish scientist. He lias found a species of water plant, the Clnira Lispida, which keeps the water free from mosquito larvae. The discovery opens up wonderful new possibilities of freeing certain malarial districts from the dreaded disease carried by mosquitoes. Many of these districts are difficult and more or less inaccessible and in any case the spraying of the breeding pools with paraffin to kill the larvae is costly. Chant is a hardy plant, seeming to grow in all kinds of conditions, and if its introduction into the breeding haunts of the mosquito will destroy the pest, a greai boon will he conferred on the world.

The old Chinese custom of paving the doctor to keep one well and deducting from his fee in case of sickness has been revived in America by thea'tricnil producers (states a London paper). It has been converted into a system under which girls in musical comedies and revues must observe a set of rules prescribed by physicians regarding diet, exercise and sleep. Dr. Jerome Wagner. of New York, whose work it is to keep fit about a thousand young women employed by a large theatrical syndicate, thus explained his duties: —“The girls have to keep fit physically in order to he able to stivid the strain of performances every night with two matinees a week. They are encouraged to engage in outdoor sports, and many girls excel in some branch or other of athletic activity. I am engaged by the season to give them periodical examinations, and they agree implicitly to follow my instructions. It;'any of the girls f it Ul ill, a deduction is made from the doctor’s fee for each day of the illness.