GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 39, 21 January 1916, Page 7

GENERAL.

The Keel Cross Day at Harrod’s (says a writer to the Australasian * was an unqualified success. Well-known society women and actresses were the saleswomen, and Lady Diana Manners was warmly congratulated on her triumph in selling a pearl necklace for £IOOO. Lady French had an artificial flower-stall,’ where she also sold her autograph, and was besieged the whole afternoon; in fact, so popular were many of the counters that would-be buyers had to pay a fee, giving them the right to purchase. Sir George Alexander acted as shop-walker, and declared he liked the work so well that he had serious thoughts of giving up the stage and taking to it. Everyone wont away early, of course, for all the big shops arc closing much earlier than they did, and, because of the new liquor restrictions, people who dine at restaurants are dining much earlier, if they wish to have spirits or liqueur 'with their meal. It is a very dark, early-to-hed London now and one meets many folks who are obliged' to be out after dark carrying little lanterns or pocket electric ' lamps. These arc nhs-iit a necessity if there is any fog, a., the street lamps are so dim, and so few and far between. Intense excitement prevailed ,at Shanghai while the E. am] A. mail steamer St. Albans, which arrived at Sydney last week, was in the China port, owing to an outbreak of mutiny among the crews of the. Chinese warships. China had a big ileei of small gunboats at the. port, and suddenly some revolutionaries amongst the crews mutinied, and turned the ships’ guns on the town. One of the gunboats steamed close to the St. Albans, firing at the forts and shore batteries, without, however, doing much damage. The shells, according to tan .eyet witness, seemed to land everywhere hut where the gunners intended, and a couple exploded in the French .settlement; but no European was killed oi injured. The greatest excitement prevailed along the water-front, but there was no return of shots from the shore This, it is explained, was due principally to the fact that only half tlia men had mutinied, and the authorities wished to spare the loyal men on hoard. There was no actual streetfighting while , the St. Albans was there, hut just previous to her arrival a Chinese admiral had been shot dead iu the city. Canton, it was stated, was seething, with rebellion, the Cantonese being almost all Republicans and supporters of Sun \ at Sen.

The Kltham Argus stfW? ,; l/r conI versation with a local resident, who ; came from Wellington the. other .clay, this gentleman said: “ItAsurprisevtne \ that there are not more accidents on trains through some of. the antics of. some of these soldiers, . Their, dr.unkeh j antics are sickening. If if unis’’ just i whole hearted fun one would not mind. At a station near Ofaki. t]ip, migih'c'. driver had opened steam, and the preliminary puff from the .engine had Been given, when a shout went up and the driver immediately shut off steam. A soldier, in a well sodden condition, who had been behaving disgracefully all the way from Wellington, had ' crawled in between the wheels of the engine in a spirit of bravado. He I was, of course, pulled out.” 1 During a heavy thunderstorm (says the Melbourne Ago), Alfred dames ! Hall, 55, living at Balaclava, was I struck by lightning while in the Kedoral Government House Garuens, where he was employed as a gardener. He was found lying dead under a pine tree in the gardens where he worked. Apparently deceased had been sheltering from the storm under the tree, j which showed signs of having been struck from the top to within about 5 ! feet from the g'roiuuT, just about the place where deceased’s head would have been. He had thrown his coat over his shoulders, and it still lay in •that position. His pipe and gardening tools were found near by. The suddenness’ of the man’s , end can be* gauged from the fact that be had one hand in his pocket.'' 1 ii\ V 1 ;-jV;Swedish inventor,, according to the ■ fijc;j.£vp,ti|icn dl'uKGidcfHi.,'l h«i,s a-yleviped a ; ruost.-itufqiie system of electrical heatfin g for houses of from lour to- 10 j rooms, ami'which is especially intendI ed for localities where electric current jis inexpensive. The system consists of two tanks, a motor-driven rotary ( -pump, and the necessary radiators aiid piping. One the tanks is placed in the attic of the house, add is ther--1 mally insulated. In it are placed the heating units which, normally, arc only operated at night when the rates for electric current are low. Tn the morning the heating units are discon-j * needed from the supply circuit and the motor-driven pump started. The water Hows down the piping. and through tlie radiators by the forc e of gravity, and is collected in a receiving tank in file basement, from where it is pumped out and returned to the tank in the attic. It is claimeed that the cost of heating a house hy this system is about 12 cents, per room, with a current rate of 1 cent per kw. I hour.

Tlh' Xiirserymeu’s Conference mi Wellington discussed tlu* question of tl;c number of varieties of apples advisable to use for export purposes. Mr Campbell, of the Department of Agriculture, said tho Department had made a list of fifteen varieties suit a hie for both islands.. Mr Kirk said tin' list void ht! published shortly in the Depart nient ’s journal. Represent atives of the Fruitgrowers’ Conference, orchard instructors, and the Nurserymen's Assoeiatioij will consider tho matter. B\ the recent death in Alnwick Workhouse (England) of Charles Richardson, one of the chief figures. In (die sensational Edlitigham Viearage burglary ease of dti years ago, has pa.-s d a wav. Tiro nun, named Braunaglmni and Murpliy, were then convicted for this ciimc anil attempt to murder, and was sentenced to penal servitude for Ilia. 'Jen years later Richardson confessed that he and a man named Edgell were the perpetrators of the c-rimo, and those two men were sentenced to five years’ penal servitude, Hrannagham and Murphy being released each receiving CBOO as compensation. Four policemen who were tried for conspiracy against the wrongly convicted men were acquitted.

An airman tells the following story; “1 refused to fly with lady passengers at first because they always talked and fidgeted. But one day a couple of sisters persuaded me to take them up. promising to sit still and be very quiet. They kept their word I didn’t hear a sound behind me—and so'! looped tho loop once or twice as a little treat for them, and then started to conu> down. Suddenly there abas a touch on my shoulder, and a .soft little voice said, ‘May 1 make a remark, if you please?’ ‘Oh, yes.’ f answered. ‘Then.’ said the soft little voice ‘my sister Kathleen is no longer with us.’ ” At a meeting of the “An/.ae” and “C.D.S.” sub-section of the Queen Election Committee on 1* riday evening, at Christchurch, the chairman (Mr Nat Woods) suggested that, as a mans of raising money, permission should be obtained to erect an effigy of the Kaiser in tho square, and lor the sum of sixpence to allow passersby to drive a nail into it (says tbo Press). At this Mr A. C. Maxwell rose in indignation; “1 hope this will nevr lie done,” he said ; ‘‘l strongly deprecate such Gorman methods.” Mr J J. Donga 11, ■ however, thought the idea rather good, “ft would, at any rate, bring in money, and -that's*what we want,” he said. Our new experiences in military affairs are attended by interesting novel incidents (writes an Australian correspondent). For instance, there is the ease of Michael O’Doimrll. This man, a great enthusiast i' l military work, was fit the beginning of the war a captain in connection 'with the cadets under the compulsory training policy, and held tho position of area ‘officer. Ho wanted to enlist for the front, and, according to his own statement, iesigned his captaincy and, joined for the irpnt as a private. He "as soon put .to the work of drilling other iceruits, and found to hi s chagrin that he was being kept at this job, as a mere private.,, while men, whom he had drilled went ahead, and gained promotion. So he left 'Western Australia, mid wont to South Australia, where ho enlisted again under the name ol MTherson. His aptitude and ability quickly came under notice, and he had been made a sergeant-major and was getting along nicely when he was recognised by a West Australian officer, who gave information to the authorities. He was tried by court-martial on a charge of having enlisted under a false name, but was acquitted. However, on the application of the West Australian authorities he has been sent from Adelaide to Perth for another trial by court-martial on the charge of having absented himself without leave.