NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 85, 19 July 1910, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL.

THE OLDEST lliittSE. DEATH OF A POLO POXY AT THE AGE OP FORTY-FIVE. New York, May 23. The famous polo pon- Punch, the property of the late Mr. ' ,'oodbury Kane, at one time a promint.it figure in thei American po.o field, luis died at the age! of forty-five. I Punch, which had carried its master! in many strenuous games and displayed as keen an interest as the players themselves, is believed to have been the oldest horse in the world. According to Chambers? Encyclopaedia, the greatest age on record for a horse is sixty-two years. OIL FOR TURBINES. STEAMSHIP TEST SHOWiS GREAT SAVING IN COST. New York, May 22. An instructive trial of oil as fuel for ship 9 was made on Thursday by the triple-screw turbine steamship Yale, of the Metropolitan Line. The test, says the Herald, was a complete success. Representatives of all the transportation companies and several naval officers watched the trial with interest. It is estimated that there will be a saving of £IOO monthly on fuel and labor by using oil in each ship in the service between New York and Boston. QUEEN OF SPAIN. HER CHILD THAT DID NOT LIVE. Madrid, May ,22. Queen Victoria Eugenie gave birth to a dead child at the palace at 2.30 yesterday morning. The doctors had been in attendance throughout the night, and the Prime Minister and other high dignitaries arrived in the early hours of tho morning. The Queen's condition continues to be satisfactory. When, however, her Majesty was informed that the little Prince was dead she wept bitterly. About an hour afterwards she fell asleep. When she awoke some time later, she drank a glass of milk. She was attended by j English nurses. Tin infant was formally presented to the Infanta Teresa, the Infante Carlos, and the Infanta Louise—the members of ! the Royal family who were present—by ' the iPrime Minister. j A special message was at once sent to King Alfonso, who hastened his depar j ture from London. , The body was placed in a bier this morning and conveyed to the Escorial, where it is to be buried in the presence I of the high dignataries of the Palace. 1 No case of this kind has occurred before in the history of the Royal family. Queen Isabella 11., however, bore a child which died immediately afterwards. WONDER OF ROSES. FLOWERS WITH A PEDIGREE-OF OVER 2300 YEARS. Paris, May 2fi. President and Mme. Fallieres to-day opened the finest flower show that Pari*] has seen in the .conservatories of the Coiirs la Reine, behind the Champs Elysees. The principal exhibits are varieties of j geraniums, including blooms of mauve | ■and orange, and a historic display ot« roses from all parts of the world and of all stages of the rose's history. There are roses from Persia, California, Turk eetan, the rose of the Chaldeans, the rose of the Madi, and the hundred leaved rose, which dates from 400 B.C. The vegetables are also remarkable, and M. Fallieres was particularly impressed by radishes as large as oranges, < and some tomatoes as large as small j melons. j SON'S TERRIBLE ORDEAL. FORCED TO TAKE PART IN HIS | FATHER'S EXECUTION. Berlin, May 23. I An inhuman tragedy is reported to have taken place in Albania in connection with the shooting of a rebel. According to a message from Constantinople published in the Morgeupost, an Albanian of good family who had joined the insurgents was captured and wus ordered to be shot. Among the firing party from Uskub was the son of the condemned man. He demanded to be released from the duiv,, but the Turkish commander forced him to remain with the squad. But when the order to tire was given the son aimed high in the air, and his father fell shot by the remainder of the firing party. The commander thereupon ordered the arrest of the son, and he was marched oil to the military prison, where he hanged himself. The officer in command was subsequently transferred to another garrison. AIRSPRTNG FOR MOTOR CARS. INVENTION WHICH MAY WORK A REVOLUTION. . New York, May 22. Mr. George Westinghouse, the inventor of the air brake, will in six weeks place on the market an air spring for motor cars. This, the Times states, will take up all vibration, and supersede the pneumatic tyres now in use. The original idea was not Mr. Westinghouse's, but he perfected the invention. The air spring consists of two brass tubes, which work into each other like a piston, replacing the springs on motor cars. Four sets are used. An upper tube is attached to the chassis, and an under tube is attached to the axle. The upper. tube is fitted with leather pacing at tke lower end, while oil is placed in the tube to prevent the escape of the air past the packing. Any leakage is taken up by a small interior pump. The two tubes working into each other permit play of seven inches. Mr. Westinghouse, who experimented with the air springs on a 40001b motor car, fitted with solid tyres, declared that they were in every way successful.