NEWS BY MAIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 209, 13 December 1910, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL

TENANTS AROUSED TO ANGER. STINGINESS OF HER GRACE OF NORFOLK. I London, October 28. I Next week there will be a scene of . gaiety at the beautiful little town of Arundel, in Surrey, where the Duke of Norfolk, the premier peer of England, reigns supreme as feudal lord of the ' manor. A tradesman of the town intends to give a big tea party and a general treat to all the children of the district, and behind this apparently tame announcement is a story of almost incredible stinginess on heartlessness which aroused the little town to a wild state of indignation. Some 'weeks ago the Duchess of Norfolk celebrated the birthday of her baby son, the Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and requested that all the school children of the district be given a half-holiday. The liberated children were then invited to spend the afternoon at Arundel Castle. Many of the youngsters came long distances to attend the promised rare treat. After the children had played on the grounds for two or three hours the Duchess appeared and remarked: "Now, j you can all go home and have tea and then come back here and run races." The wretched children, tired, hungry and thirsty, were not offered even a glass of water. Of course, many never returned, but the few who did ran races. The Duchess, who had sent a footman to j the bank to change a half-sovereign into | coppers, distributed the prizes, the first 1 being sixpence. The affair created such indignation in the town that the Mayor of AruifQel, a j tradesman, invited all the same children to a party winch cost him £SO. This rather deliberate hint appears to have had no effect, hence a second tea party is organised for next week. The Duchess was a daughter of the late Lord Herries, and was raised in such genteel poverty that her friends say she cannot even now realise she is the wife of one of the richest peers in England at the present moment. The Duke, who is one of the simplest of men and very kind-hearted, supports several of his wife's relations. It is believed he knew nothing of the arrangements of his wife's famous children's party.

SHIP THAT CAUSED A WAR. SPAIN TO WATCH THE RAISING OF THE MAINE.' Beverley, October 28. President Taft has approved plans for raising the battleship Maine, which was sunk in Havana Harbor prior to the outbreak of the war with Spain. The plans require the completion of the work before February 5, 1911, the thirteenth anniversary of the disaster. The work will be under the direction of army engineers, and in accordance with his plans. Mr. Taft believes that the raising of the Maine will settle definitely whether the explosion which sank the battleship took place inside or outside. Spain has been invited to send a representative during the raising. , The Maine was sent to Havana to protect American citizens while the Spanish were trying to put down the Cuban insurrection. The ship, which had cost £1,000,000 to .build, was blown up by an explosion in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, when two officers and 270 men were killed. The cost of raising the vessel is expected to be £IOO,OOO. SCHOOLBOY'S TRAGIC END. I London. October 28.

At Oxford an inquest was held on the body of Theodore William Meyer, the twelve-year-old son of Sir, William Stevenson Meyer, Financial Secretary to the Government of India, who died in extraordinarj' circumstances at Summerfields School, where he was a boarder. He was found unconscious near a window in the schoolroom with a ventilator cord round his neck tied in a slip-knot. He had not been seen by any of the other boys. The boy's feet were touching the floor, and it i 3 believed that the slight pressure of the cord round his neck, had induced a condition of semi-consciousness, and he had rolled off his seat and become partially suspended. The marks on the neck proved that it was an accident, and a verdict to that effect was returned. NIGHTINGALE MEMORIAL. London, October 28. National support is asked for the fund to be raised to the memory of the late Miss Nightingale, to render pecuniary assistance to aged nurses or those incapacitated through ill-health from continuing

their nursing career. It is not generally known that there are yet four survivors, who accompanied Miss Nightingale to the Crimea. One of these women is in the workhouse, through no fault of her own; others there are who entered the calling when it seemed to hold .out little pro- | spect of adequate payment, but whose J early and devoted services are reflected in I standards of modern liursing. while manv lof those now advancing in years will /stand very near this perilous position unless they ean be provided for. Even at middle age, it is pointed out, there are few appointments open to nurses who have spent their time in public service. A nurse's career is necessarily short, as the public demand the services of a youiKand up-to-date woman.

THE SURVIVOR OF NAVARINO.

London, October 28.

Naval pensioner Henry Cox, the last survivor of the Battle of Navarino, interviewed recently by a Daily News representative, told some of his most interesting recollections of the days of old. Pirates and slave dealers he had come across often, and he remembered well an exciting time he had had with a bloodthirsty gang of pirates off Nova Scotia. "I had joined the naval schooner Fair Rosalind, and one day we gave chase for many miles to these fellows, who had captured a British barque. When we got up to them the crew of fifteen had mutinied. The mutineers hit the first mate over the headi with a belaying pin and threw him into the water. They brought up the captain from below by shouting, 'Man overboard!' and he was served the same way. The ship's carpenter's throat was cut, and in the end only six of the crew were alive. We made these prisoners, and took them to Halifax, where four of them were hung."

DEADLIER TORPEDOES. London, October 28. A new invention which, it is claimed, will increase enormously the effectiveness of torpedo warfare, was tested in the great basin at Birkenhead' the other day. By the new plan torpedoes will pierce the nets hung round warships as a protection, by means of a new and highly powerful explosive, instead of by the cutter with which they are at present fitted. Indeed, if the new invention is approved, these nets will be rendered obsolete. During the test a torpedo cut clean through a net placed some distance away. The inventor of the new device is >(Mr. G. S. Hazelhurst, ex-Mayor of Birkenhead.