MISCELLANEOUS.

Otaki Mail, Volume 27, 12 November 1919, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

In Chester (England) tho man who fails to raise his hat when a funeral is passing becomes liable to an old law to be taken before a magistrate and imprisoned._ The Mayor of Dunkirk, while at Dover, presented the Mayor of Dover, on behalf of Dunkirk, with a medallion forged from a German bomb dropped on Dunkirk as a souvenir and a link between the two towns. The Gorman National Assembly adopted by 123 votes to 117 a motion by tho woman deputy, Frau Agues (Independent Socialist), according to which members of any families that 1 liave at any time ruled in Germany may not be elected Imperial President. »£.. A rope of 315 graduated pearls of the finest Orient recently fetched £41,500 at auction in London, after an opening bid of £20,000. A four-row-necklace of 192 pearls was sold for £10,200; a brilliant tiara with large eentre stones, £10,100; another tiara, £9200, and a necklace of 53 pearl* £9OOO. Nearly 1000 civilians have returned to dwell amid-the ruins of Tpres, says the Paris "Daily Mail." Some 54 auberges and cstaminets aro open, nearly ail temporary wooden structures, which do a thriving business with British soldiers and with tourists, of -whom on one day there-were 9000. A waterspout which burst about Tobermory, Argyllshire, on a recent night, spread a shower of herrings over tho town and part of the Sound of Mull. They fell in heaps on pavements and roofs. The gulls were quickly eating them up, and later these were assisted by liens, ducks, and cats. People were awakened by the screaming senbirds. An extraordinary suicide is reported of a soldier who was accused of stealing bacon from the army storo at Chateau Thiery, France. He jiersuadcd his wife to die with him, so they collected 170 melignito cartridges weighing twenty-eight riounds, and exploded them. Portions of the bodies wero picked up half a mile away. Tho united age of the pair was forty years. One million pounds worth of bullionin ingot« has been salved from tho line* Laurcntic, sunk during tho war OffLough Swilly, Co. Donegal. This is only part of the Laurentic's bullion. Salvage operations aro only possiblo in calm weather, as the wreck lies in an exjjosed position. Tho Laurcntic, serving as an auxiliary cruiser, was sunk by a mine or submarine, in January, 1917. She was a 15,000-ton White Star > liner.

Wearing mourning for her husband, i Private Morris, who was officially reported killed, Mrs Morris, who was employed in a Brighton shop, saw a soldier glancing at the goods in the window, and recognised her husband. Sho ran out and embraced him. Morris, who was a victim of shell shock in tho last stages of tho war, was discharged from a Mons hospital suffering from loss of memory, his identity being completely lost. He recovered with the recognition of his wife. A strange variety of fish was recently caught by two fishermen at the mouth of the Waipaoa river, on the East Coast. The variety is stated to be similar to the Australian flathcad. In size it equalled that of a full-grown gurnard, but tho stranger wa3 highly coloured and had what is known as a ; suction mouth. On testing its edible 1 qualities the finders wero greatly dis- ; appointed. It ifc stated that it is the first occasion on which a fish of this variety has been caught on the East Coast.

The police of Japanj it"appears, do not approve of kissing in public, and accordingly cinematographed "stars" aro not permitted to kiss on the screen. In the six months ended March Ist the police censors removed no fewer than 2350 kisses from various films. The only kiss permitted to remain was that granted to Columbus by Queen Isabella, and was shown in Tokyo exclusively, the censors deleting it before permitting the film —which was entitled "Columbus"—to be exhibited in the provinces.

Bunny rabbit catching is apparently very remunerative. A local resident has received word from his brother ill Central Otago that the rabbit industry is fairly on tho boom in that locality. He says: "Babbits have gone up to an extraordinary price this year—something like £lO per 100, and the boys have made very big cheques. People are falling over one another to get bloeks for next season, as they are expecting prices to continue. T-he biggest return I have heard of yet is two chaps cleared £ISOO each for the season, and one man made £9O for one week." "When a young man says 'not to my knowledge,' he is generally lying," remarked Mr T. A. B. Bailey, S.M., is a reproving manner to a witness in the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court. A defended affiliation case was being heard, and was causing a good deal oi worry to the magistrate, counsel and the witness. The solicitors kept snapping at each other during the erossexamination. "I am here to see that justice is carried out, and I will do it no matter what happen?," declared one solicitor, with the proper degree of emotion vibrating in his tones. "I wish you would learn the rules of crossexamination," was the more commonplace retort of the legal pilot for the other side.