GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3679, 18 August 1927, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

The owner of a motor lorry was fined £2O in Auckland for having failed to take out a heavy traffic license. The first whitebait of the season to reach Dunedin market came to hand at the week end from the Mataura and realised the fancy price of 11s per quart wholesale.

Writing to a friend in Invercargill a Southland resident now in America states that in one building in New York, there are 20,000 — practically equal to the whole population of Invercargill. The theory that a man is “too old at 40” or even at 60, is discounted by the fact that the driver of the train which a few days ago made a world’s record for a non-stop run, was a man of 63. He took the train from King’s Cross to Newcastle, a distance of 268 miles in 329 minutes, arriving' a minute ahead of schedule, the speed averaging 48.8 miles an hour.

A Wanganui lady Avalked home from an auction saje the other day Avith a painting by a New Zealand artist tucked under her arm (says the Herald). After it had been • cleaned the picture Avas recognised as an original of extreme rareness. Subsequently the lady Avas offered the sum of £4OO for the picture by a collector. The lady has decided to retain the painting until its full value can be appraised. No doubt it Avould command a larger figure in England. A Thames (Auckland) resident, Avho has a small orange tree groAving on his section, recently picked the ripest of his crop. In all he gathered 250 oranges, and he left about 100 on the trees as not being quite ripe enough. The flavour Avas good and sweet, although the skins Avere inclined to thickness, but the size compared very favourably with /shop-purchased fruit. The tree has received very little attention and under proper cultivation should bear an even greater crop next year. “The edible rat Avas the currency of Easter Island,” said Professor Macmillan BroAvn in a. lecture at Lyttelton. “The rat Avas a vegetarian and Avas roasted whole Avith all its vegetarian parts, and Avas supposed to be very like a sausage. If an Easter Islander wanted to buy anything, he Avent to the rat burrows at night and collected as much money as he needed.” It noAv transpires that the doe which had to be killed at the rear of the Post Office Hotel on Monday had been hunted in the Matakarapa sAvamp and to evade its pursuers, had SAVum across the river near the pumping station. The animal was badly shot in the neck, which necessitated its destruction. Oxygen is the latest lure for seasickness recommended by German physicians. When the gas is inhaled for three or four minutes, they say, the seasick person is imlnediately relieved, and even nausea ceases. Explaining the remarkable cure, the doctors declare that the illness is caused by an anaemic condition of the brain —a condition that oxygen is said to remedy. Interest in the theory of 13-year weather cycles in Australia has been revived by the present dry spell generally (Avrites a Sydney correspondent) . The year 1888, it is pointed out, Avas exceptionally dry; 13 years later brings one to 1901-2, which Avere disastrous seasons. The period 1913-14 Avitnessed the failure

of the wheat crops, and the present year of grace, another 13-year cycle, is marked by a shortage of rain, which in many parts is causing grave anxiety. One press correspondent recalls the fact that his father used to speak of 1850 as one of the w'orst years experienced by the then colony. According to the old man, the opossums and goannas were too weak, owing to the conditions prevailing, to climb the trees. That year would fit in with the 13-year cycle. Apparently there is at present at large somewhere in New Zealand a mysterious soldier who, according to his own statements, has had more than his fair share of the horrors of Avar. Moreover, he is evidently determined that the country' shall recompense him for all he is supposed to have gone through, and to this end has been making a practice of seeking admission to hospitals throughout New Zealand. At a meeting of the South Otago Hospital Board the other day a letter Avas received from the Pensions Department which Avould appear to indicate that this “Captain King,” as he terms himself, should be watched carefully by hospital authorities, and that his statements should be taken with a grain of salt. Supporting the letter from the Department was one from the clerk of the Court at Oamaru, Avhieh shed i a little more light on King’s history. A t Oamaru he had asserted that he was in the late Avar in France, that he blew up Messines Ridge, that he was a captain in the Black Watch, and that he had served in the Boer Avar. The clerk pointed out that King was 28 years of age, so that he must have commenced his soldiering career at the early age of tAvo years.