GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 75, 4 March 1916, Page 2

GENERAL.

Almost every woman in France is becoming "ma'rraine," or godmother. to a soldier. She does not pick and choose, but takes the man allotted her hy the' Central Committee. Henceforth he is her soldier, and she writes to him, orays for him, sends him gifts, and interests herself in every ,vay m his welfare. A well-known orator and peer much attached to the good things or this world was at a dinner party in London where lie found to his consternation that his host was following the King's example and banning drink during the period of the war. Someone asked the host what they would do if a Zeppelin raid occurred. The host said: "Oh, it's quite simple. We can all go down to the cellar.", The peer asked: "Need we—ah—wait for the Zeppelin?" Eugene Sandow. who posed as the strongest man in the world, has, according to the statement of Mrs M. A. Harper (head of the Harper Institute of London) to an American newspaper, been executed in the Tower of London as a spy. "There can he no doubt that Sandow was shot." said Mrs Harper. "I know all the leading physical culturists of London, many of them close friends of the athlete, and despite the silence of the authorities and the censorship, we • have obtained indisputable evidence lof the execution last June." Another instance of the danger of the indiscriminate use of pea-rifles is furnished by the following incident (says the "Auckland Herald"), which was reported to the Ponsonby police on Saturday morning. A married lady was walking up Wallace Street, Ponsonby, at about eleven o'clock, on her way to do some shopping, when suddenly she felt a stinging sensation in her left arm., Glancing down, she noticed a trickle of blood coming from the place. She at once went to a neighbour's house, and a medical man was summoned. Later she was removed to a private hospital, where, with the X-rays, a small pellet was located and subsequently extracted. The police are making enquiries. In the gazetted list of clergymen licensed to officiate at marriages appear the names of ten Maori members of the ttingatu Church. The Ringatu form of religion is (.says the Auckland Star) practically the jrlauhail form of worship, of which' the high priest at one time was Te Kooti, ami later the wily Urewera recalcitrant Rua. The scheme of worship is "■ continuous uplifting of th P hands, and the rapid chanting of a mixture of Old and New Testament phrases interlarded with native ideas regarding the Deity. The ten men who represent the church have now the right to claim the prefix of reverend to their names, and their right to that title of honor ha s already been accepted by the Government Printer. "The sooner corporal punishment is abolished in the schools the better," said Mr G. J. Garland (eharrman of the Auckland Education Board) in the course of an interview on Thursday. He added that he had held the opinion for the past 30 years, and had =een no reason to change it. Corporal punishment, except for very grave offences, such as lying, thieving, or grave misconduct, should not be tolerated in the service, as a teacher has a remedy by securing the expulsion of the offender from the school. He knew of schools where corporal punishment has not been resorted to for 13 years, and of others in which it had never been inflicted. The work in such schools had been shown to be I excellent.

"Tlie whole of the front in Fiance is one vast cemetery—a 'Cod's acre' hallowed by prayers, if unconsecrated by the riles of the Church," writes I'rofessor J. 11. Morgan ill the "Nineteenth Century." "The French Government has shown a noble solicitude for the feelings of the bereaved, and a hill has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for the expropriation of every grave with a view to its preservation." States the Otago Daily Times: Miß Tat rick Marshall gave some of the younger members of her sex in Wellington some good advice when she said: "We want to spread such a .spirit among our girls that they would scorn to do as we hear has been done in Wellington. Some girls have actually been taking the pay of men. and sometimes of more than one man. and living on it. rather than do honest work to keep themselves."