GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 284, 24 April 1911, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS

The Association of Medical Men at Magdeburg, in Germany, a combination ■ of all' the physicians of that city, has J made Sunday a day of rest for doctors.' It has been arranged that one doctor in ten remains on duty on Sunday, and that his name and address, and telephone number are communicated to the other nine doctors whom he represents on that particular day. If a patient should summon any of these nine doctors, the patient i.s immediately informed that the substitute for the day is the tenth one, who is doing duty. In this way each physician in Magdeburg will work only one Sunday in ten. "The most amusing story of an American in Prance that 1 ever heard," said a recently appointed attache of the French Embassy, "is this: A well-known French actor became involved in a discussion with an American, grew heated, drew his card from his pocket, threw it on the table with a tragic air, and stalked out — this being the usual intimation that he intended to seek satisfaction in a. duel. The American regarded the card for some moments, then took out his fountain pen, wrote 'Admit bearer' above tht engraved line, and went off to the theatre." Sir William Lync has returned to Aus-. tralia from America deeply impressed with the high cost of living in the land of the Almighty Dollar. He was, ten days in San Francisco, and only had his boots cleaned once, because it cost 10 conts a time. Sir William explained that at the hotel where he stayed he gave his •boots to'a boy to clean. Three days after th.ey were brought back. To his astonishment, "boots" demanded 10 cents. The knight had to pay, but as he had two or three pairs more with him he decided to pay for no more "shines." He had a tin of polish, and each morning he rubbed up his boots himself. Sir William thinks the high wages in San Francisco do not nearly compensate for the cost of living. "You can't get a decent meal for less than 65," he said. A recent letter received by a resident of Palmerston (says the Standard) from a relative in New York places that city and its environments in a very lurid light. Probably in ho city in the whole world is life held so cheaply. Deaths from violence averaged over three hundred during the year 1910. The alien population is an ever-present menace, and one that is fast assuming serious proportions. The community as a whole —that is, the average New York citizen —is believed to develop the characteristic of intense selfishness to a greater degree than the residents of any other city in the world. Life proceeds at such an intense pressure that there is no leisure in which to cultivate the amenities or ordinary social intercourse. "Worship of the Almighty Dollar" is perceptible in every phase ' of the hourly doings of the social fabric) where poverty and wealth are met side by side, and where the ' hatred of capital is possibly more intense than in any centre on the face of the ! globe. The writer earnestly warns New Zealanders not .to be tempted to leave the Dominion by any reports concerning the alluring prospects which New York may offer to strangers. New Yorkers have no time for persons from elsewhere, i seeking to improve their fortunes, while they worship with such slavish adulation at the shrine of imported artists of either , sex if heralded by exaggerated journalistic interviews. For New Zealanders New York is about the last place in the world where they should seek to find a home and a livelihood.