GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 45, 28 January 1916, Page 7

GENERAL.

Mr Rudyard Kipling prefers the night hours for work, frequently sitting up until 2or 3. He is most elaborate in his methods, and pronounces aloud every word that he writes in order to test its fitness. i

It is noted as an astonishing and unprecedented fact that the British navy has now afloat no fewer than two admirals—Jellicoe and Colville—nine vice-admirals, and 23 rear-admir-als, each, of course, flying his own flag on his own flagship.

A guide named J. N. Lippe was absent from his hut at the Hermitage for a couple of days from January 9th to 11th, and left a purse containing £23 and other valuables in the pocket of a coat hanging up. He did not look at it till his second return on the 11th, and the purse was then gone. G. H. Mchauchlau, engaged as a porter at the Hermitage, was charged today with the theft of the purse and contents, and pleaded guilty. He was arrested at Fairlie, and after denying, confessed the theft.

Mr Bartholomew, S.M., gave deferred decision in a case in Oamaru in which a chemist was charged with keeping liquor, to wit, molendo wine, for sale within a no-license district. The magistrate said the prosecution had raised an important point as to the position of chemists in. no-license districts, a point that had not previously been tested. For the defence, it was claimed that a chemist in a. no-license district had the same right as one in a district where license existed, but the Chief Justice had decided against that view,, and the magistrate convicted defendant. As it was a test case, defendant was merely ordered to pay court costs (7s). Notice 7)f appeal iva s given.

The unusually hot weather which has been experienced in "Wellington of late has caused some people to revert, to almost primitive conditions at night time, reports the Post. In one quarter of the city at least several young men have been sleeping under the stars in paddocks adjacent to their residences, many others have been sleeping on verandahs and balconies, and all the inhabitants have felt the heat to a considerable degree. A man who has resided for years in

Australia told a Post reporter that Wellington in warm weather is worse than Sydney, and took far more out of him. Others compared it to Auckland—with the advantage on the side of Auckland.

"Even in a serious business like this there is a comic element sometimes," writes an Australian soldier to a Melbourne friend, in describing how an apparently lead soldier raced his stretch-er-bearers to a trench. "Two stretch-er-bearers were bringing in a comrade seriously wounded," he states. "On the way to the trenches lie gave a gasp, and to all appearances died. Just then the shells started playing around them. 'We cannot do any more for him,' one said; 'let us get to shelter,' and they dropped their burden and made off. Imagine their surprise when i figure passed them on the Way like :i flash. They got to the trenches, but the corpse got there first. The poor fellow was badly wounded for all that, and is now in hospital.

Mr Webb, M.P., for Gi'eymouth, Now Zealand, is in Sydney paying special attention to State health matters (remarked the Sydney Sun on 18th inst). He is one of the six Labor members in the New Zealand Parliament. Ho said that democratic, legislation had made ' great strides in New Zealand because the Liberal Ministry of the past had Labor and democratic leanings; but he was sorry to say that trusts had begun to be active again. Referring to tuberculosis, he said that it appeared as if the Dominion thought more of combatinn; the disease when it attacked cuttle, or phylloxera, when it appeared in than it did of tuberculosis in human' beings. Directly a sick cow or a diseased vineyard was reported, inspectors were hurried to the scene, but it was a strenuous light to get the Department of Health to show the same activity with regard to the treatment or prompt segregation of a tubercular person.

It is st ■'■' ' that in Wellington there are now , :«' found young people with names such as "Dardanelles Smith," "Hamilton Kitchener Jones," ( "Anzac Holland," "Alsace Loraine Jamieson," "lan Hamilton Joffre Johnson," and "Joffre French Sanderson." Quite ii sensation was caused at the Kaupokonui general store one day last week (states a correspondent of i the Hawera Star), when an unexpected visitor in the shape of a bull made his appearance at the counter. He made a tour of tlie store, but did no damage, and was finally uiaxed out.

The absorption of men who have been discharged from the forces alter a period of active service is already going on. The Prime .Minister stated at Auckland that ov.er 800 soldiers have already notified the new Department that they have returned to their former business occupations or employment.

Mr H. A. Foyster, a well-known resident of Hawera, met with a painful accident while riding his horse along Princess street on Wednesday evening (states the Star). The horse slipped on the wet tarviated road, and fell upon Mr Foyster, breaking the bone near the ankle. Medical assistance was summoned, and after receiving attention in Mr Potter's private I hotel, Mr Foyster was removed to his home, where he is doing as well as can be expected under the trying circum'stances.

! Speaking at a recruiting meeting held in Christchurch, the Rev. P. N. Knight made a fervent appeal on behalf of the soldiers when peace allows • fcheiri to return home. He said that i after the Boer War many Australian I soldiers were forgotten and neglected, some, within a year of their return from active service, being reduced to actual want. They found their billets taken by stay-at-homes, and after the first receptions the Australian people seemed to forget the sacrifices made by the volunteers. Mr Knight added that he hoped that scandal would not recur either here or in Australia after the present great struggle ended. The

children and dependents of the men must be looked after, and the Patriotic Fund should be subscribed to as generously as possible.

! To find the location of a £l5O diamond ring which slip had accidentally swallowed, Minnie, a trained elephant at a Cincinnati zoo, wag compelled to submit to being X-ray photographed. The elephant was eating peanuts out of the hand of a man wearing the valuable ring, when playfully she slipped the siliva-covered end of her trunk over flic hand, and off came the ring. Seven X-ray plates were marked to correspond with the numbers painted on her side. One after another the photographs were made of her interior in an effort to find the exact location of the missing ring. It showed upon plate No. 1. The ring has become firmly lodged in th,e throat of.the elephant, and she could not cough it up, nor would it go down. A veterinary surgeon ,wa s summoned, and he probed the animal's throat for ithe ring. The valuable gem was soon recovered, and the elephant was none the worse, for her novel experiences.

| A curious industry which has arisen within the last throe years is that of washing paper money. The idea is, of course, American, and one that the average parson would gladly see established in New Zealand, for, especially since the war, the number of greasy, dirty bank notes is very great. If it were not for what they represent they would be burned as insanitary, and never admitted to any decent pocket or purse. A Miss Thomas is in charge of the United States laundry for paper money, and has handled as many as 75,000 dollar bills in one day. It is said that the expert counters who handle the notes can detect counterfeits while the bills are under cleansing more easily than in any other way. The machines, which are worked by electricity, are in charge of girls Jmown as -washers and ironers. One girl feeds soiled money to the washer, and another catches it as it leaves the ironer. All notes are, ironed as soon as washled. Some bankers declare that those [which have been cleansed on wet blankets, passed over rollers of soapy suds, and sterilised, then ironed with heated rollers, sifted, and scrutinised, are more readily counted than even new 'issue. One result of the war is a shortage of bottles of all descriptions, particularly aerated waters, beer, ale and stout bottles. Belgium was the home -of the glass trade and from Belgium in the past have come enormous quantities of bottles, and New Zealand used to draw large quantities of glass bottles from this country. Brewers aud others who use bottles in large quantities are feeling the shortage severely, and are now doing what they can to get back their bottles where in the past they never bothered much about getting the empty bottles back but were buying new ones. A certain class of bottles is being made in Japan, and jshipments have arrived in New Zealand. These are fairly expensive, and the small shipments which have arrived have not in any way relieved the shortage. Some manufacturers to get I back bottles have been forced to make a charge for all the bottles sent out, .a refund to be made when the empty bottles are returned. The public will probably find that in the near future they will be called upon to pay for bottles in connection with some articles where in the past bottles have been given in free. This shortage is likely to last till after the war, and in the meantime it is seriously interfering with the class of trade which uses bottles.