GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 159, 5 January 1914, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS

A sensational bolt occurred in GiiI borne on Tuesday.morning, when the / horses attached to the T« Ami coach took fright in Gladstone Uoad, and careered madly through the town, striking and damaging several vchielesc, Tho driver was unseated, and fell to the ground, and the reins were grabbed by a boy of ten, who elambcred through from (he back of the vehicle to the . box-seat, and pluckily endeavored to control the frightened animals. Two lady passengers and three children jumped out, and were severely shaken, but the. boy stuck valiantly to the reins until the horses, after narrowly escaping going oven the wharf, smashed into a wharf shed. There was a terrific impact, and the boy was thrown of)', but wag unhurt, in fact, be fared better than those who bad jumped off. The polo of the coach was broken and three of the horses were, severely injured, one having to be deestroyed. A paragraph was published recently in ninny New Zealand papers stating that a stoat had l>ecn discovered in the wool on a ram's back, eventually causing the animal's death. This caus-d Mr. G. liranigan, of Ashburton, to make inquir. ics as to the truth of the statement, and he journeyed to Rangitata Island and interviewed Mr. Miller, the owner of the ram. Ha discovered that it was true that a stoat had been, discovered in the wool on a ram, but Mr. Miller stilted i that its presence, there, had nothing ! whatever to do with the animal's death. | The injuries to the ram's eyes had e.vii dently been caused through fighting or through the animal forcing its way through gorse fences. It wis evident that the stoa't bad not Itccn in the wool very long. Mr. Branigan states that the stoat has been of great benefit to the Dominion; before its introduction wheat stacks in some places were sometimes almost destroyed by rats, but the presence of one stoat keeps it absolutely clear of these rodents. The .stoat has also done much to keep down rabbits. Hundreds of people witnessed an unusual funeral oil' Portland, Maine, when a yacht belonging to the late Mr. James Bush, a millionaire manufacturer, wa.s sunk in the Atlantic, having on board the remains of its former owner. Mr. Bush Was passionately fond of yachting, and when he realised that the end was near, he expressed a wish that bis body should be cremated, and the as'hes sunk with his favorite, yaehht. Accordingly the yacht, with her strange burden, was, escorted by -another vessel, conveying members of the family, left Portland Harbor, and .hove to just outside the three-mile limit. There it short funeral service was conducted by a clergyman, and the plugs in the yacht's hold having been removed, the crew pulled off to the other vessel, which stood by until alio disappeared beneath the waves.