GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 3 September 1914, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS

One result of the Awapuni camp has been a considerable increase of business in Palmerston (says the Standard). Just* after war was declared trade slackened' off, but since the encampment started a recovery has been apparent. One est!•mate is that from fifty to sixty per cent, of trade done 'has been through the oamjv

There ,is money in prize Carpeiltier is his light with "Gunboat" Smith in London recently started with tiie certainly tnat win or lose ho would earn £4OOO, while Smith was guaranleul £3IUO I'or a win and £2IHSO for a defeat. Jack Johnston got £20.000 for the picture rights of his fight with Jeffries, and as a result of his success he received about £40,009 more. About ..Jy/iW was received from spectators of the famous light between Burns and Johnson at Sydney.- Burns' share on that occasion was £GO!>O. fn the recent contest between Welsh and Ritchie, the bargain made before the light resulted in the winner getting nothing, after Ritchie, the loser, had taken the .£3OOO stipulated for. Perhaps the fact that James Carney once fought for five hours and received 15s lias taught prize lighters to make exacting arrangements beforehand.

Tor a weeks or so after the Australian Navv had taken in stores at Sydney, there was a scarcity in tinned "moats And various other kinds of tinned foods. The s.s. Inga, whioli arrived from Sydney and Newcastle- at Gisborne the other day, was unable to get all the tinned stores that were wanted before the vessel left Sydney. Captain Bull told n Gisborne reporter the other day that it was a remarkable sight to view the loading of stores, coal and oil into the warships. One Xavy contractor in four hours had delivered £2oooworth of r ( >. quisites on board a vessel. One night the captain saw the 11.M.5. Australia quietly move away from her moorings, and. witli all lights extinguished, slip down the harbor out to sea. Commercially, things were pretty dull in Sydney and Xewwistlc.

"Many unkiml tilings have been said about the bagpipes," said Professor. J. C. Jolmson, in a lecture given at the Levi* Institute, Auckland, the other evening. "It lias been seriously suggested by the archaeologists that the Israelites walked round Jericho with bagpipes, not trumpets. Those carping critics wilo find fault with the in.4r.ment will, no doubt, see a perfectly rational explanation of tihe collapse, not onlv of the walls, but of the inhabitants as well." The lecturer proceeded to state that the bagpipe was referred to tn old Irish manuscripts as a typnianum, and shared with the harp and trumpet great, popularity in Treland. He pointed out that .the Irish form of bagpipe was played With a bellows attached inside Hie arm. and deflated by pressing against the side of the body. Tt had a softer tone than the Scottish bagpipe, inflated from th? lungs.

There appears to be some color in the rumor that was going the rounds of Wellington some two weeks ago to the effect that code messages were being received in the Dominion which were > not understood. At the time it was thought that German cruisers were somewhere off the coast of New Zealand. It is now alleged that a naturalised British subject of German descent, who held a responsible position in a Government department, was responsible for the messages, and that the. -authorities have effectually prevented Win from sending out further messages. It is alleged.' too, that a brother of the person in question left New Zealand before the outbreak of war for an unknown destination, and that he also was connected with a Government department.

A moat unusual accident occurred to n i"«tf>r<'.ar driver named Louis Wixon, of Wellington, on Wednesday. He was coming in from Pctone, and when about a mile from Ngahauranga lie leant over from his seat and struck a match on the front portion of the car. Tile flames from the match somehow ignited the benzine in the car, which was travelling at about 20 miles an hour, and the machine burst into flame. Frightened ■by the flaming vehicle, and acting on tiie impulse of the moment apparently, Wixon jumped from the car. and fell on the. road, where he lay. It is understood that the. car eventually collided with an obstacle, and was reduced to cinders. Wixon was conveyed by the amlmlanee, to the hospital, where he was fonml to be sulfering from a wound on the head.