NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 132, 25 November 1911, Page 8

NEWS BY MAIL.

JOKING- TO DEATH. FATAL ENDING TO MOCK RESCUE ACT. London, September 20. The tragic development of a practical joke led to the death by drowning at Bedford on Sunday of George Ramsey, aged twenty-one, of Boundary road, \\ althaiusUnv. Ramsey and a cousin named Mills were on a visit to Bedford, and were joined by two London friends, one of whom was named Jordan. On Sunday they put oil' in a punt, and it had been previously arranged that Jordan should fall into the water and that Ramsay should rescue him. ; In the presence of hundreds of spectators on the embankment, Jordan fell over the side of the punt, and Ramsey jumped in after him. After making two or three strokes Ramsey disappeared, and lie was dead when his body was recovered. At the inquest yesterday it was said that a cousin of the dead man had arranged to photograph the intended rescue from the punt, and had, in fact, taken a snapshot of Jordan falling over. A verdict of drowned" was returned.

CRIPPLE PILGRIMS. Lojdon, September 27. There were someijwthetic scenes at Holborn Viaduct railway station yesterday morning, when 300 Roman Catholics, led by Dr. Amigo, Bishop of Southwark, left oil a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Among the pilgrims were a number of erippled and paralysed people, who are making the long journey in the hope that the water of the famous Lourdes spring will work miracles on their behalf and cure their afflictions. There was a girl who had been paralysed from birth, and who had to be lifted 011 a stretcher into her special compartment. Others were carried to the train in invalid chairs. Two quite young men. with woefully twisted bodies, hobbled iij) on crutches under the guidance of a priest. Several of the pilgrims took large wicker-covered flasks in which to bring back Lourdes water.

£50.000.000 MADE BY SPECyLATORS. New York, September 2fi. Great fortunes liave been made in Wall Street within the past week. According to the Evening World, less than twenty \\:ill Street operators have cleared £0,000.000 between them in three days, owing, to the slump in shares caused by the uncertainty whether the Government intended to prosecute the Steel Trust. pool of speculators who sold "short' just before the slump cleared Ci'.OOO.OOO. A furious coincidence is that a dead man--the late John W. Gates—made 1110.0110. His executors found that he had .-old 'short," a large number of Steel Trust, shares just before he died, for undent, delivery, at almost the top market price. !h> executors have just completed the ! '";!!i-;ic!.!<m. which adds materially- to till' a.--ets of the' Gates estate. It is estimated that since the first of the m;u' the bcar -peculators in Wall Street have approximately. £50.IMMh'IOO. diiastjc sentences. Yii una. September 24. I lie Provincial Criminal Court vesteray imposed the severest possible seti- ;. ncc mi the participants in the recent rood riot-. There were twenty-three l«-:i «:l:nit<. nio-l Iv under twenty years received -eillelices amoimt--111 1 1"' lo ten years and nie mart ial charge,. against them v ii - i-lit v.-iiimxl jo a policeman's ' ii'- -"nd Ihe 11r< aing of lhirsteen street lamp-. I'll.. .-iviTK'j.. penalty for stone--IHi -.',, iii::' ..a.. e:ir'< hard labor. A ' 11 1 1 .-ii.i -hoiiic.l "Hurrah f Ol - iIM . " -i ' • v.'a - .-ii!. ii'. i d to 1 lii'ce months' 'i'd -■' i. and a fen-yea r-old lad. it I;i|>p«!i!r up a policeman, to two i.kit e.-.!:u:s hit \o wrLL. <>!•' Cl.'iltMMiO GIYKN' BY SOX. Bradford. September 2(i. Mr. .John Shaw, of Welburu Hall. Nrrby Moor-ide. ink-hire. colliery proprieiur. who wa< three times the unsuc- ' e.--1!11 <-:> !iiiiilai <• for I'ontefract. and v.'lio died on Aiign-t lii at. the age of lis. left, c-tale of (he gross value of C510.J75. but failed to make a will. l.etl er- of adininistrat,ioii of his properly have been granted to his son. Colonel John Reginald Shaw, of Elmsall Lodge. I'ontefract. Colonel Shaw lias had to Ii ml bond in 1'1.010.000 that he will administer the estate in accordance with the law.

INVISIBLE AIRSHIP. PATENT HOI! A REMARKABLE INVENTION. London. September 25. Patent rights have been granted in Knsland for an "improved airship," which at a distance of a thousand yards will he invisible. The envelope of the airship will be made of chrominhim, a metal possessing such a highly polished surface that it will be equivalent to a mirror. As the metal will always reflect the color of its environment —bright or murky, according to the atmosphere—the airship will be indistinguishable. To prevent the lower part of the airship showing a reflection of the earth — which would make the vessel stand out prominently in the sky—there will be a special keel running the whole length. The keel will taper to a point, so that there will he no surface from which the earth could be reflected. The inventor, Baron Adam Roenne, intends to utilise the silencing devices now common with the best motor cars in order to make his airship noiseless at a distance.

PRTNCE'S MISSION. P.RITATX'S REPRESENTATIVE AT SIAMESE CORONATION. London, September 27. Prince Alexander of Teck will represent the King at the coronation of the King of Siam in December. The Prince will he attended by the following gentlemen:—Lieut-General Sir .1. M. Orierson. K.C.8., C.V.0., C.M.G.; Vice-Admiral the Hon. Stanley Colville, C.V.0.. C.8.: and Mr. Bielby' Alson, of the Foreign Office. Prince Alexander is a younger brother of the Queen and an officer of the Royal Horse Guards. This will be the first occasion on which he has undertaken so important a duty as that of representing the King at a great Court function, but the probability is that, by reason of his close connection with the reigning house and also because the Royal Princes are very young, he will often be selected to represent his Majesty.

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE 'PRESS HIT BETWEEN THE EYES. MR TAKE'S CRISP ADMISSION OF DEFEAT. CANADA'S NEW ERA. New York,-September 24. "When you're bit between the eyes the only thing to do is to sit still. Reciprocity is a past issue. Let us forget it." fhi.s was the only statement Mr. Taft would make when asked for a further cxpre.-sion of opinion on the defeat of reciprocity with the United States by the Canadian people in their elections. He declined when questioned to make any reply to the statement of Mr Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House of Representatives , that the President's speeches had helped to defeat reciprocity. The President's phrase, "Let's forget it," accurately sums up the attitude of the people of the United States. They want to forget as soon as possible how woefully they misjudged the loyalty of Canada to the Empire. The newspapers to-day give only the briefest space to the elections. Only here and there the dep chagrin that is felt openly manifests itself in bitter words. Thus the New York Times, in expressing its disappointment, to-day says:— "The loyalty which has triumphed is not the generous loyalty of kinsmen "bound toiiethcr for better and for worse, in prosperity and adversity. It is the sentimental irrational loyalty of Canadians to Canada, based on an un-British and decadent theory of economics. When Canada makes up her mind that she suU'ered enough in the name of loyalty she will change her mind. It is beyond human power to make Canada's primary commercial or social interests stronger with the distant Motherland than with her near-by cousins." . Such comment, however, is rare. After making allowance for America's disappointed hopes, this country has never taken a defeat in bcter part. In spite of America's chagrin, there is an undoubted general feeling of admiration- for Canada's independence.

KITCHENER IN EGYPT. SPEECH IN FRENCH. Alexandria, September 28. Lord Kitchener landed from the cruiser Diana at nine o'clock this morning, and proceeded to the British Consulate, where he received the Premier and four other Ministers. At elevin o'clock he visited the Khedive, and after lunch proceeded with the members of the Diplomatic and Consular staff in slate carriages to the Ras-el-tin Palace, where his Excellency presented his credentials to bis Highness. Speaking in French, Lord Kitchener said:—

"His .Majesty the iving, my august master, charges me in handing to your Highness these eredcntials to convey his highest esteem tor the person of your Highness and his sincere wishes for the well-being of Egypt, I need not add that the sentiments of the King, my master, in regard to your Highness and Egypt arc tlmsc of Ills representative. f am proud of the mission with which his Majesty lias seen fit to honor me, and happy to renew the pleasant recollections I have always had of this country. I am particularly pleased with the prospects of lieing called ou to maintain the deep sympathy which animated my predece-sor in his relations with your Highlit ss. and 1 dare to hope 'that this sympathy—added to a friendship for Egypt of long date -will facilitate for me Uie ta-L ! nave al heart - namely, watching over to the best of my power and wnii lii. approval of your Highness the prosperity of Egypt. During the sixteen years 1 previously passed here 1 was able to watch with'pro-' found pleasure the steps of progress made by the country to which 1 am attached hy ties of deep "affection, and having returned to this country, my wishes and eH'orts »ill always be towards the maintenance and development of that progress." At. four o'clock lie left by special train for Cairo with the members of Jfritish Agency.

TiIiMI.LLNII ESCAPES FROM CREAT FLOOD. New Vork, October 2. The rniii-, of the luinlier town of Austin, Pennsylvania, which was swept away !>y the bursting of a. great dam on Sat unlay a lb moon, present an appalling spectacle to-day. Thrilling stores of rescues cll'ccted duriii'j- the progress of the Hood and lire are told to-day'. There is no doubt that many lives were saved by two heroic telephone exchange girls,' Lena JJinckey, aged nineteen, and Kalherine Lyons, aged sixteen, who received tile warning of the bursting of the dam over the telephone. They called up over a hundred subscribers, to whom they gave the alarm, and then escaped themselves. A young girl wasj pinned by a falling structure, but freed herself except one leg, which remained caught between two .stones. All attempts at rescue were unsuccessful, and as the water was creeping on her she begged the rescuers to take an axe and cut oil' her leg. No one had the nerve for the task until a boy seized an axe and severed the limb with half a dozen blows. The girl was carried up the hillside to a place of safety, and will live. Another girl was llceing with .her parents when she turned back and entered the house to recover a coat. Her parents were overtaken by the ilood and drowned, but as the girl was in the house it fell. She clasped a feather bed. and was carried on the flood for half a mile, when she was rescued. A night watchman who was asleep when the ilood came heard the roar and went to a window. The same instant the water struck the house. The watchman was pitched through the window over the top of the opposite building, and landed in the water, which reached his waist, lie was fished out with a broken jaw and a dislocated shoulder.

MILLIONAIRES TO PAY. NEW YORK'S FABULOUSLY RICH CITIZENS. The millionaires of New York arc to be made to pay considerably more to municipal enterprises in the latest assessments. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who volunteered to pay on £1,000,000, has been raised to £2,000,000, and his wife is taxed on £40,000. Mrs. Russel Sage, who paid last year on £l,O0O;000, has been raised to £2,000,000, and in a large number of other cases assessments have been raised 100 per cent. Assessment* on individual members of the Vanderhilt family have been doubled. Mr. Pierpont Morgan, who paid on £BO,OOO, has been assessed on £160,000, while Mr. Joseph Pulitzer has been raised from £IOO,OOO to £200,000, and others proportionately. The estate of the late Mr. John Gate has been assessed at £200,000 just by way of experiment. As compared with last year, the assessment of valuations of land in New York shows an increase of over chiefly attributed to new buildings. Skyscrapers pay most, arid several on the way to completion are nearly 50 storeys high.