GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7981, 8 March 1906, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

TfIEiiARGEBT fiLOA'UNG DOCK IH TM&'WORLD. In America Bomo anxiety is being ielt for the safety of the Bieat floating dock Dewey, which ia on ita way from the United States to the Ph'lippineß Owing to the recent galea and to the a baence of newa it ia feared that disaster may have overtaken the great dock, and the cruiser squadron of vhe Atlantic flftftfc have been instructed to eearoh for her and render any assistance that m she may require. The Dewey weighs m .twenty thousand ,toua and is the WL largest floating dock in the world, She left America towed by three power Jul tags. GERMAN OFFICERS MUST BE READY WITH THEIR SWORDS. ;In reply to an interpellation in the German Riecbatag on the subject Of duelling, the Minister for War read a statement to the effect that in officers* corps duelling has been effectually combated by the Emperor's order, and further remedy could only be hoped from a corresponding modification of the provision of the law. .Nevertheless, so long as duelling ia widely regarded as a. means', of redress for injured honour, officers' corps cannot tolerate the presence in their ranks of .anjone who is not prepared in a given case to defend his honour with this sword This declaration produced considerable sensation. - ABDUOriNG AN ACTRESS. " A young man, believed to be the son (it a well-known manufacturer, forcibly carried off in a motor-car ;Mme. Ratzy. a star,artist at a suburban music-nan in Paris. He had been paving tier pressing attentions for a ipng time, but she refused his proposals. Recently he waited outside the stage door with a motorcar,; which ne had filled with choice , flowers, and when the lady came out he, with the assistance of a friend, forced her" into it. She took the whole thing as a joke, but when the bar stopped at the door of a. night restaurant in Mbntmartre she protested and threatened to call the police. The crestfallen young man 'then released her. Mme. Ratzy'declined to prosecute him: While the two elfler sons of Prince Waldemar were out walking near Copenhagen recently night came on before they Cuuld return home, and finding the roads very heavy they kept a look-out for a conveyance. The only vehjcle that passed them •was a coal-cart, and into this the two vounc Priucea climbed. Ou arriving at outskirts of the town the driver refused to take them any fur- « ther, and demanded payment. The ■ < Princes explained that tbey had no money with them, and told the man who they were, bidding him take . them to the palace. He refused to believe their story, however, until apoliceman airived, and, recognising the Princes, lent them some money so that they could return to the palace in v a tramway oar. MITES IN CHEESE. A professor of the Swiss Dairy i School at Sonntal has completed statistics of the number of micro-organ-isms found in cheese. His experiments lead to the conclusion that , every gramme (one thirtieth part of an ounce) of fresh Emmenthaler (Swiss) cheese contains between 90,000 and 100",000 living germs. After two months the number has increased to 800,000. Cream cheese contains a still larger number of aninialoulae, a gramme harbouring after three weeks 750,000, rising to two millions after a mouth and a half. These figures apply only to ■ the centre of the cheese, while close to the rind families numbering five and a half million bacteria may be found in every gramme of cheese. In about l%lb of cream cheese, the profeasor estimates, there are as many germs as there are human beings on the face of the globe. It is supposed that nil, or most of, these microbes, are "friendly" ones, and assist in the digestive process. Wenowawuit with interest a computation of- tbo number of microbes in equal portions of ripe gorgouzola, and to the famous German Limburger, which, at its highest perfection,, can be detected by ordinarily developed olfactory nerves, it ia said, within a radius of a quarter of a mile. TREMENDOUS FIGHTING POWER OF H.M.S. DPvEAiJNOUGHT. « Remarkable illustrations are given of the immense fighting power of H.M.s. Dreadnought, the now type of battleship now under construction. "Ten years ago tbo 'Majesties were the finest ships in the world," says the "Engineer." "To-day there is no question thattne Dreadnought could lie at 10,000 yards and sink an entire fleet of the Majesties as easily ap the Japanese fleet sank the Russians at Tsqshima. "■ Indeed, the Majesties would practically be unable to reply, their guns not being really effective " much more over 5,000 yards. Later ships would, of course, be better off, but it is probably no exaggeration to say that the Dreadnought could fight a [couple of our latest King Edward VII. type, aud come out best. Incidentally, she could * probably tackle the entire German battle fleet singlehanded, and so is a guarantee Of peace. It should be remembered however, that Germany , ia preparing to build similar ships, that Japan has two in hand, that the United States contemplates a couple, and France has plans forthree. When these ships are all ■' afloat, existing battleships will hardly count."