GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 4, 8 December 1915, Page 7

GENERAL.

The "St, Helena Guardian" ox-1 ses the willingness of the island to become doubly historic as an imperial prison by "keeping behind her outer cordon of precipitioug cliffs in safe seclusion a man whose head is much too small for Napoleon's hats." ! | According to a return laid before the House last session 3337 head of cattle and 20 pigs were condemned by the Stock Department during the year' ending March 31st last for which tho ( 'sum of £1486 17s 2d was paid by way' of compensation. i r~ ' Dardanellea and Lily Louvain are' among the names, that, the Rev. T. J.j Me'Kitterick, the Vicarage, Trimdon Colliery , Durham, has found in hisI baptismal register. "Is a clergyman' Ipowerless' to protect a baby from being 'burdened through life with Lucy Tania?" be asks in the Manchester Guardian. ; The "Bird of Death" is the only venomous feathered animal known to ornithologists. It is found in. New, Guinea, and persons bitten by thecreature ai'e seized by maddening, pain, which rapidly extends to every part of the body: Loss of sight, convulsions, and lockjaw are symptoms' which follow in rapid succession. , . I In a long one-storey, one-roomed! 'building, sheltered behind a fine old .country house in the outskirts of Oxford, England, they are making the | greatest book; in the world. For fifty - 1 eight years that book has been in the making, and within the year the last 'volume of it will be finished. This work, the New English Dictionary, is> |not only the greatest dictionary, but' it i s said, the greatest book man has j written, in so far as scholarly labour is concerned. It will bo the great • treasury of the English language, containing as it does every derivation that it was humanly possible to discover, and nearly 6,000,000 uses of current and obsolete words.

Private llaine, of Spring Street, Melbourne, who is one of the Army Medical Corps men on the hospital ship Kanowna, had a, stirring story |to tell of how a.batch of Australian nurses narrowly escaped being killed by Zeppelin bombs quite recently. Privalte liaine was in a restaurant when he heard a loud crash, and on running out was met by several Australian nurses. It appeared they had got into a wrong ■motor-' bus, and on finding out their error, hailed the driver to stop. Just after leaving it a Zeppelin bomb fell, killing the driver and several passengers. The "bonnet" of the 'bus was thrown up three flights on to a building. Private Rairie said the coolness of the Londoners in regard to these/aids was remarkable.

Captain Holme, of the Japanese steamer Kwanto Maru, gives an interesting story of the origin of the word "Maru," so generally applied to ships of Japan. "In a sense," said Captain Holme, "the word 'Maru' as applied to vessels means nothing in particular. There is, however, a beautiful little story, a sort of legend, from which, a Japanese professor told me, originated the name 'Maru' for ships. Once upon a time" he said, "the Sun and Moon got married, and they had a baby in heaven, or wherever it was. This child fell down on to the earth, and landed on a lotus flower. He was picked up, and went on growing and became a big warrior, who came across in a vessel called 'Maru' and conquered Japan. Subsequently, about 0000 years ago, or something like that, he became Eniperor of Japan. Since that time every vessel (fishing boat, steamer, or whatever it may be) has been called 'Maru.' That," added Captain Holme, "is how the name 'Maru' came into existence."

Particulars of the loss of the auxiliary schooner Polenia at the Marshall Group show that the vessel, which formerly traded in th e New Hebrides, was destroyed by fire while at Jaluit. At one o'clock one Might, while ljiug at anchor, an explosion suddenly took place on board, and in a few minutes the vessel was a mass of flames. The hatches wore blown off by the explosion, and several natives, who were sleeping on deck, had narrow escapes. When rescued they were found to-be badly burned. Assistance was sent oil' to the vessel by the Japanese Gov* eminent officials, and every effort made to get the fire under, but all to no avail. The Polenia was burned to the water's edge. She had on board 40 tons of copra, and this was also destroyed.

At Perth the other day, a libel suit, arising out of a trotting case, was decided by the Chief Justice and a jury. The plaintiff (W. A.. Noad) sued the Perth "Truth" for comments on the Dudley Orphan ease. The horse, which, according Lo witnesses, was pulled 10 times in 17 races, was owned by Noad, wluncomplained that the defendant paper included him in censures on the trainer and rider. The Chief Justice said that if Noad was an innocent person the jury should give damages commensurate. The jury returned a verdict of Is dama-

ges. The Chief Justice decided that the verdict was contemptuous. Jt might be that the jury had given plaintiff a shilling more than he was entitled to, but his Honor's duty was clear. Judgment was entered for one shilling, without costs.

Mr L. Robertson, a steward aboard the hospital ship Kanowna, and formerly of the Sydney Civil Ambulance, 'was a member of the crew pi the Argyllshire when that vessel was ;.t----tacked by two German submarines in the Jjiugiish Channel on May 27. "it was at 8 o'clock in the evening that we first saw the submarines, the nearest of which was only 500 yard away, ' Mr .Robertson. "Both vessel! sank as soon as they saw us, and one launched a torpedo, which passed about thirty yards in front of us. About three-quarters, of an hour later the other submarine, winch was on the other side of us, had a 'bang,' but the torpedo passed about t«hi yards aft, disappearing beneatn tiie stern. We were not troubled again after that, and eventually readied port salely. it was only the skilled manoeuvring of our ship uy tlie skipper whicn saved her from uestructioir;"

Sj;ae rcmurLabie piicco ..ere realioeu ixt October at th«j dispersal salt 0.. tne Seaitaiu liar bur (.ccocfanu) (Jlycicodaie.Scud. Bonnie Buchlys'ie, a liine-year-old stallion, by iiaron of Buchlyvie, out of Queen of Beauty, and a Cawdor Cup winner, was bought by Mr Kilpatnck, of Craigie Mains, for 5000 guineas. Phillipine, another prize-winning stallion, by the same sire, went t 0 Mr Ferguson for 2300 guineas. Freed Master, a two-year-old colt, by Bonnie Buchlyvie, realised 700 guineas.- Saucy Queen, a two-year-old filly, by the same sire, sold for 050 guineas; Silver Bangle, a four-year-old 'mare, 625 guineas; Silver Queen, by Silver Cup, 510 guineas; Queen of the East, by Bonnie Buchlyvie, 435 guineas. The sale of 101 animals realised £19,542.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph comments iu the following light vein upon the recent raid on uninformed men in the city:—lncidentally, in spite- of the tact and gentleness of the pickets, there .were some offended people. When you happen to be at the theatre with (say) your sister, and you go out at the interval to sec a man about a section at Narabeen, and while you are out you meet a picket and, as the man at the corner.put it, "got pinched," so that you don't go back to the theatre, and your sister (so to speak) waits as pateiently as possible till the middle of the fourth or fifth act and then goes home knowing she will never, no, never, so long as sho lives, not if you were to, and so on Well, it is a bit rough. And when you are able, eventually, to prove that you really had a reasonable excuse for being at large, and that the theatre arrangement with your sister (let us say) had been standing and looked forward to for over a week naturally you feel a bit chippy about it. However, one gets ovor these litful fevers in due time, remembering that, after all, one's personal convenience has no right to bo weighed against the best interests of an army that is getting ready to uphold all the things that really matter.