GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 161, 25 November 1912, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS

What is believed to be the most wonderful cavern in the world bus been dincovered in the foothills of the land Mountains, near -the head waters of Fox Crock, in Kentucky. Two or three exploring parties have ventured into its vast subterranean passages, but none lias ever readied the end. , The searchers report immense rooms and chambers, and innumerable transparent stalactic courts of wonderful beauty. One room has a iloor as level and as smooth as a dance hall, while many ttkers have fathomless pits. Evidences of the visit of human beings to the cave were found—it is 'feared, only to lose their Jives in trying to iind their wav out. Old kettles, fragments of dishes, rusted lanterns, and other utensils of modern usage were found scattered throughout the inner caves. Organised exploring pavties are now preparing to make a thorough search and investigation of the wonderful new caves, whicli are believed to be vaster than any known iii history.

Some amusing stories of his experiences in the Australian backblocks were related by Bishop Long, at a meeting of the Bush Brotherhood in Sydney recently. On one journey he met a woman who had been waiting 10 years to have her children baptised. She was a Boman Catholic, and her husband a Primitive Methodist, so they had agreed to have the children baptised according to the rites of the English Church, by way of a compromise. In one village, devoid even of the usually inevitable "pub," an impromptu service in a billiard-room held representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Church of England, Presbyterians, Methodists, a Salvationist, and a Lutheran. When, after much difficulty, they agreed that they could sing "Abide with Me," a painful effect was produced by the Methodists singing it to one tune, the Salvationist to a second, and 1 the Biihop and the rest of the congregation to - a third. "However," the Bishop triumphantly remarked, "I think .the Church of England fairly came out on top."

A six-hour journey by sea from Marakopa to Kawhia in .a 14ft racing dinghy is a feat not everyone would venture upon without serious misgivings, so that the following from the Kawhia Settler will he read with interest:—Last Wednesday morning Mr. P. W. Bell, accompanied by his brother and Mr. J. Forbes, again accomplished a feat which his previous successful attempts have, to some extent, robbed of its abnormal character, hut it is none the less a further instance of daring seamanship. Leaving Marokopa river about (> a.m. in his racing 14ft dinghy "Goblin,' which hag already taken part in a regatta here, a light leading wind up the coast brought the intrepid voyagers to the rocky Muff off Harihari Run. Here the boat was completely blanketed by the high coast land, and oars had to be resorted to, to make an offing. Having gained a good seaward position during a flat calm by dint of an hours' rowing, a freshening breeze sprang up, which enabled the tiny craft to make Kawhia safely about noon, encountering nothing beyond a slight 1 jcggle off Albatross Point, to make the trip anything but an enjoyable one. Chatting to a representative of the Patea Press recently, Mr Len. E. Bassett, who has just returned from a trip to England, gave some interesting particulars with regard to the narrow escape of H.M.S. Thunderer, at Plymouth, when a live lyddite shell fell whilst being conveyed to the magazine. Mr. Bassett happened to be on board when the accident occuned. It appears that the shell, which weighed llcwfc. 281b5., fell from a sling a distance of 30 feet whilst being loaded into the magazine, which was almost filled with similar shells. It fell fuse downwards on to the deck, and in falling struck the foot of an officer, crushing it to a pulp. It was this breaking of the fall that is believed to have saved the ship and all its crew. Experts declared that the fuse was only prevented from acting by the 1000 th part of an inch. By all accepted notions the shell should have exploded, in which case nothing could have saved the ship and those on board. Mr. Bassett vividly de-' scribed the situation which reigned for some moments after the shell fell, everybody expecting the explosion to occur. Some rushed away, whilst others stood transfixed with horror. So great was the effect on the nerves of the crew that work was completely suspended for some time. As a result of the accident live shells are in future only to be loaded at sea.