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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 313, 29 May 1911, Page 3

HOME NEWS BY MAIL.

THK TICIII'ORNE "IX)hK." Some *3O people assembled .tin other Saturday afternoon in the village of Tichbornc, near Alresfonl, in Hampshire, to receive among them 701) gnlli>n« of flour —the historic Tichborne "dole." Before the distribution the Rev. Fiitner O'Flynn, chaplain to the family, blessed the Hour and explained the history of the "dole," for the continuation of wliicli the late Sir llenry Doughty-Tichborne made special provision in his will. The origin of the "dole," he said, was somewhat vague. An old ballad related how in the time of the "wys and vertuous Prins llenrye II'" the Lady of Tieliborne just before she died crawled round a square of land still marked out, which she said should be devoted to the needs of the poor. She prophesied that male heirs would cease should the dole not be fulfilled, and it is told of one knight who grew "sorelye svke of the dole" that the prophecy was fulfilled.

INVALID'S RUSE. A remarkable case of obtaining, money nul goods by false pretences was- dealt with by the Maidenhead magistrates recently. The plan adopted by a young man named Arthur Weston, of Connaught Road, Reading, was to purchase a bottle of some invalid preparation. He would consume the contents, fill the bottle with water, take it back to the tradesman, and ask to have some, other preparation of loss value in exchange. He would also ask for the difference in cost. Weston pleaded guilty to three charges. He asked for clemency on the ground that he was consumptive and was unable to earn the money needed to purchase the foods recommended for his complaint. The court bound him over to come up for judgment if called upon. POLICE DOGS A SUCCESS. According to the report of the Chief Constable of Nottingham, the police dogs which were recently introduced have been a great success. "The dog," says the Chief Constable, "is a distinct acquisition to the force, particularly in connection with the night patrolling ofoutside districts. One dog has already proved himself most useful in finding persons secreted in out-of-the-way places,and has followed and stopped others at ionic distanco away whom tho police were desirous of overtaking but would have failed to get into touch with had they been without the dog's assistance."

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE. Lord Justice Cherry, in dealing with the case at Belfast Assizes recently of . a youth named John Jenkins, who plead- I ed guilty to throwing an explosive cartridge on the night of the declaration of ' the poll in the West Belfast parliamentary election, said that titled ladies had been writing to The Times endeavoring to show that violence was the only means of obtaining what they considered political improvements, and it was not to be wondered at if headstrong youths like the prisoner put these principles into practice. Having regard to the fact that the prisoner was merely actuated by a desire to create political excitement he decided to pardon the prisoner under the Probation of Offenders Act. FIFTEENTH CENTURY CHUROII BURNED DOWN.

The old Church of St. Michael, Ifotiiton, Devon, which dated from the fifteenth century and was one of the finest pieces of architecture in the county, has been destroyed by fire. The tower and the main walls were the only portions saved. The church, which stood on an eminence outside the town commanding a view over the Vale of Honiton, is supposed to have been built by Bishop Courtenay, the "haughty prelate" of Shakespeare's "Richard lit." The most striking feature of the interior was the magnificently carved oak rood screen, as old as the church itself. The screen, the organ, and the rest of the valuable contents were reduced to ashes.

341-YEAR-OLD FIRM. Soutlnvark Cathedral will now lmve a full peal of twelve hells, the last of the apostolate number having been dedicated recently in the presence of a large congregation. The bell, a tenor, is the heaviest of the peal, weighing oOcwt 201b, and an interesting point for students of campanology is that the founders succeeded in casting it perfectly true to tune, its note being H-flat. It was wrought at the Whitechnpel Road works of Messrs. Hears & Stainbank, church clock and musical bell founders, a firm which has the remarkable record of commencing business in 1570, and continuing to this day uninterruptedly in supplying not only Great Britain, but distant countries, with bells. BURNT IX A TRANCE.

Death by slow torture was the fate of a twenty-eight-year-old servant named Mary Williams, on whom an inquest was held at Hackney. Her clothes caught Are while she was smoking in her bedroom at night, and—said a medical witness —fright caused her to fall into a cataleptic trance, in which she was quite conscious, but un: fible to move or cry out. She was terribly burned from head to foot, and lay in the same position for some hours before cold and exposure caused her death.