GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 122, 21 June 1909, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Tiie end ol Amy Bock's escapades ha lint yet Iwcu reached (remarks the O'or Standard.) The latest sturv Jms i that a. certain Southland girl, who r ceived a term of imprisonment, becam icquainted with Amy while serving ne lentence, both being'incai'cerated at l.i lame period uliout sixteen years ag< t'liey became fast friends, which is an ither testimony to the fact that on ouch of nature makes the whole wul'l in. ! After being released from g he girl from the South took a silnn ion us cook in a southern district, an, lie proved an adept in the culinary ari Vliile there slit; became intimately at iiaintcd with a yuiuig man, wlio after raids went to Sydney. And tllis i I'hcre Amy comes in. She came Sout! o spend a long noliday with he riend, and learned that the latter wa orresponding with her young limn ii lydney. Confidences were exchange nd Amy learned that the young nia l [esired his sweetheart's consent to mar iage, but she would not give it. Am; aw her opportunity and stepped int lie breach. Obtaining the address o he young man in Sydney, she wrote nia letter consenting to marriage on cei ain conditions that she received a stat d sum of money, of which she was i; ore need, and signed her friend's nam o the letter. The writing or the criom ms so well imitated, and the style o iiction so well copied, that the you,., nan was overjoyed and sent tile uioim 111 a recently-published novel the s'.i iety villain forges the name of a lad; 0 a telegram in order to deceive he lusband. He discovers subsequent!, hat h,v the law of France such condue 1 punishable with imprisonment, am ii order to avoid the wrath of the hu., iand he is glad to get out of the coim r.v. A case has just been decided ii \ estern Australia that illustrates t.n act that as far as telegrams are coil enmd the laws of Australia and Franc .re identical. A youtii who resides ii •ertli was ( cliarged before n judge it he western state witn having appc:ide< o a telegram, sent to a bank manage t Bunbury, the name of a well-lcnowi urn of solicitors. The culprit pleadc Unity, jalle'ging that what jliad )*sr one was done as a. joke. It seeinei h|it a story had been circulated to lleet that lie had come into it lar"' mil of money, and lie had, to keep ui lie spirit of the thing, telegraphed ti • bank manager at Bmibury, usiii" t'h tame of a legal flnn. The judge le lini oil with a fine of £5, pointing ou hat lie had rendered himself liable t< . long term of imprisonment. The Oamaru Mail states that a Toko lady, whilst in the execution of he louseholil duties the other day, wa Teatly startled by the noise of'a lou nd unexpected explosion. She ha •laced a shovel of coals on the fire i: ■he range and had gone outside, Wie ''boom" from the vicinity of th :itclien made investigation necessan )n re-eniering the apartment she foun luit the kitchen range had been literal)' J o .™ to pieces, some of the fragments t is stated, having been forced throiutf he iHndow. fortunately, help was al iand, and danger of fire was spepo.'t;" hecked, no damage resulting bcyoitf the feed of a new range, ft is surmised hat a dynamite cap had found its wav nto the coals.

The New York correspondent of the London Times telegraphed on April 23''Mr. Patten, having performed the patriotic ditty of pointing out to his country that it lias lqss wheat than is supposed, has left Chicago in search of seclusio'i on a Ntnv Mexico ranch. To the last lie denied manipulating the niarki't; what he did was merely to buy all the wheat he could when it was cheap, anil to sell when the price was up. He confessed, however, that lie had plenty oi money, and thinks lie deserves a rest." Somewhere about .£3OOO per month is paid in wages at the Mataura Freezing Works (Otu'go). Tlie statement was recently made that the sum of £BO,OOO , was annually paid in "wages by t.ia freezing works, paper mills and foundries at Mataura.

One of the. most striking speeches made at the patriotic meeting at Xapier was that delivered hy Captain Sandtniann, wlio, in referring to the New Zealand volunteers, spoke us follows:—" I may claim to have some personal knowledge of the stamp of men serving in the armies of European countries, and 1 have no hesitation in saying that til? young men of Xew Zealand are the finest raw material for a national defence foi'i'c that I have ever seen. (Jive'i efficient instructors and time I feel confident that they would hold tm-ir against any foreign army of e<jual numbers. But there's the rub. It is impossible under a voluntary system to impart the instruction required to convert this excellent raw material into a useful part of the complicated organism of a modern anuv."

The Otago Daily Times understands that tlii' police are investigating a case in a country township where ii is alleged that a corpse lias been buried by two men during the hour* of dark lies.-:. Xll ccrlifcite of burial has reached ilie registrar of deaths in the district. It is furtlier alleged that when tlie voiliu was being lowered into the grave one of the two men requested the other to oiler up some kind of prayer. This request was not complied with, and both men hurried away from the cemetery, taking with tlicm the lantern, hy the llim light of which the burial had taken place. .Railway travelling in China, apparently, has dangers 111 1U pm. Of late complaints have been rife as to the failure.' of the authorities to afford proper protection to passengers on tlie NankinShanghai line. It appears that when some irresponsible Ciiiuamati meets with an accident through trespassing 011 the Hue, or not exercising proper caution at a level crossing, it is customary for his fellow-villagers to stop the next train, bomhard it with stones, and extort compensation from the unlucky travellers, who are fortunate if they reach their journey's with their heads unbroken. Such attempts at repression as have been made have proved entirely inadequate, and these outrages are said to be of frequent occurrence. Near Chinkiang recently a 1110b hurled through the windows of a trwu Heavy jagged pieces of granite, any one of which might have caused serious injury to passengers.

Berlin ivas laughing recently over the pranks of a messenger lioy, who has just been dismissed from service at the Reichstag for indulging ill practical jokes hy means of tlie telephone. On one occasion lie rang up the Lord Mayor of Berlin. A private secretary answered tlie call. The hov announced that lie was l'rince Bulow, 'and haughtily dismissed the secretary, who excitedly culled Ijis employer. To the Lord Mayor! wlio respeetfullv said, " I am at ymir Serene Highness'disposal," the boy said: '' I simply want to ask you about your health, 'lluw are things going?' Before being dismissed he confessed to having ordered by telephone quantitis of champagne and baskets of (lowers for the Reichstag restaurant, and caused the tire brigade to turn out by giving tli° alarm, '"Fire at the Reichstag!"