NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9411, 3 April 1909, Page 2

NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST.

i ; The marriage of Lady Mabel, soeond daughter of the EarlofLiver- ' ■ pool, is to take place at Easter. The bride elect took a warm interest an v - the County Hospital, York, and there fell in lovo with ihb resident house ' nhysioian, Hr. Wooohm>■. The latter holds the Scotch record icr 1000 runs ; and 100 wickets in one season. v It is said that women who hustle may be divided into two classes—the brainy ones, who, with an objective point over before their mental .. . vision, collect their forces, and eventually come out winners, and those who, while perhaps as gifted as the former, are what might be termed “general hustlers.” These are always in a hurry, always pushed for rime, their minds are in a , perpetual muddle, and they manage to keep things in a corresponding state of perplexity.

The dairy export season, for which * contracts are made by the dairy companies, expired on the 31st March, and those companies who sold outright have been fortunate ' (says the Taranaki Daily News). Dairymen are rather anxious concerning the prospects for autumn batter, and we understand the National Dairy Association is conveniag a meeting to be held at i \ Stratford at an early date to consider the position and endeavour to arrange for concerted action on the part of the producers. “The average duration of the fashionable Woman’s hat,” a leading modiste stated to a representative of the Paris Daily Mail, “is one month. If she wishes to be up to ' date each hat costa anything from £l2 to £4O. Ido not mean that she has only twelve hats a vear. There is the motoring hat, the restaurant * hat, hats for the theatre, for travelling, for the Riviera, and for every social function. ’ In the course of a year she would have as many as thirty hats. ” During the second week in February Niagara Falls presented a remarkable sight, being icebound. Only a mere trickle of water flowed into the gorge below. There are only two known occasions on which a similar state of things has existed—in March, 1848, and March, 1903. The phenomena, save the London Telegraph, was attributed to heavy winds driving back the waters of Lake Erie, and to the accumulation of an enormous icebarrier on Goat Island, which divides the river just as it plunges towards the Falls. A curious statement was made by the borough valuer before the Assessment Court recently, observes the Hawkes Bay Herald. In supporting an assessment which had been increased from £l2O to £220 annual he is reported to have said that the owner, Mr Gleeson, had more land than he required, and that it was desirable to acquire the excess for closer settlement. If this statement is correct (comments the paper) it is obvious, that it can only mean that someone interfered with the valuer’s exercise of his duty, and that the. valuation was raised, not because the circumstances of the case warranted it, bat because it was desired to force the owner to sell. In Capetown a gun is fired at noon by means of electricity. One day the inhabitants found their clocks and Watches were ail twenty-five minutes slow. There was nothing ' ready for the folk who, hearing the gun. had gone home for their midday meal. Complaints and answers and quarrels led to an inquiry. Then it was discovered that a spider while spinning its web had dropped upon the delicate instrument that set free the current that fired the gun. It was felt that the spider had made history and should be preseived. So it was captured and put in a bottle 1 ’ of spirits and it is now shown in the Capetown Museum as an interesting specimen. The principal reason why the Paris dressmakers have decreed the suppression of the Directoire fashion is that the past season has been disasters for the Rue de la Paix. Directoire dostumes, it is stated, can be made with half as much material as an ordinary gown. The dress, also, was easy to copy, and instead of going to leading couturiers for all their dresses many women ordered only two or three, and had copies of them made by small dressmakers or by their maids. The dressmakers in revolt were speedily joined by the lingerie dealers. The only (people who made money out of Directoire fashions were makers of the special undergarments worn with the dresses. , After a brief trial of the Directoire costume the complaints of dressmakers, lingerie outfitters, and manufacturers of cloth, silk and velvet were so lond that it was unanimously decided to abolish it. It is proposed to form a small syndicate to exploit the brooms and brushes made from New Zealand flax fibre by a patent of a local man, says the Riverton correspondent of the Southland Times. If the industry is a success, the result should 'be a good thing for the Dominion in general, and give employment to many hands in Riverton, All that is necessary for manufacturing the articles the district has in plentiful supply. The intention is to export the fibre, which is duty free, and manufacture in Sydney or Melbourne. This should open up a a: market for flax fibre, which is at present a drng on the market. It is said that after selling under anything that can be imported, a good margin of profit, equal to 25 per cent, will be available. The Government, who are large users of the articles, have promised support.

The history of the Brititsh Navy takes ns far.back as is shown by the following historical notes on No. 1 Dock at Portsmouth, which is now being lengthened so as to make it available for the larger destroyers. This clock, says the London Times, ' ' is generally understood to be the first one built in the yard. Its orighiai construction, probably of wood, dating back to 1540. Boraething resembling a dock appears to ■, attempted as far back as «■■■ : 1495, but the year 1540 may be ao- >. cepted as the time when anything '• approaching to the present idea of a V drv dock was first began. The dockyard Itself is much odder, aa in 1213 a decree of King John ordered a ' ! v‘ wall, probably of mud, to bo built T' round "what wore then called docks, ami sheds to be erected for the (. - preservation of rigging and ships 5-f stores. The to-called process of : docking a ship in those days con- ' sisted of gc-Eting tho vessel, at high J. water, as lar up on the mad as possible allowing her to bed herself, ’and then surrounding her with a Itp'/ fence of brushwood, the space so |||iK enclosed being termed a dock.