GENERAL NEWS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10149, 20 December 1910, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS

£20,000 A YEAR FOR KING MANUEL. Only the property of the State has been confiscated, and King Manuel's private possessions, including that known as the house of the Duke of Braganza, will be respected. After the Royal debts have ben paid, it is calculated that King Manuel will receive an annual income of £20,000. THE HOBBLE GARTER. The "hobble garter" in connection wih the hobble skirt is the latest feminine invention. "This precious contrivance," says the Draper's Record, "than which nothing has gone further in the direction of y exhibiting the lavisliness of fashion, is nothing less than a shackle for the legs, just below the knees, made in the usual garter matrials. It is a pair of garters joined togethr by a third, and its purpose is to 'warn! the wearer in walking so that the narrow skirt dfftes Tint get unduly strained out of j shape." v ARMADA GALLEON TREASURES. Two more stone cannot L.:lls, a long rapier, and a fine piece cf African oak have been recovered from the sunken Armada galleon Florencia in Tobermory Bay. The sand and silt • have been cleared from the large mound containing the ships, and large quantities of shells and stones and masses of iron have been disclosed. These are supposed to have formed the ballast of the vessel. A diver approached so close to the mouth of the powerful suction pump that his heavy knife was drawn out of its scabbard and up through the 150 ft of piping to the deck of the salvge ship where it was flung against the iron screen of the discharge pipe with such a force that its point was broken. CREWS AS MAKESHIFT. A novel method of saving a warship from sinking was adopted in Portland Hrbour recently. The destroyer Penchet, while taking up her berth in the pens, crashed into the stern of the destroyer Boync, owing to her engines failing to go astern at the right moment. The Boyne was forced into the pier. Orders were immediately given to clear the lower deck, as she was found to be taking in water rapidly. Men from six other destroyers were therefore ordered aboard the damaged ship, to stand in her bows, so that the stern should be raised out of the water while collision mats were put over the hole. NEW MOTOR CAR MODELS. Earl Russell presided at a lunch given by the directors of Humber, Ltd., at their works, Stoke, Coventry. The guests inspected new models, of motor-cars, motor-cycles, and cycles, which are being constructed for 1911, and which will be shown at the show at Olympia. Motor car bod- : ies in various stages of construction were also to be seen; a characteristic feature was the covered in dashboard. The latest department to be opened at the Humber works is that for the construction of aeroplanes. There are separate shops for the fitting of engines into aeroplanes and for the putting together of the various parts. Adjoining this department is a hangar, for the housing of complete aeroplanes when ready for delivery. TRAGEDY OF THE SEA. It would require the pen of a Joseph Conrad to do justice to the tragic voyage of the sailing ship Persimmon, which arrived at Hamburg recently from Taltal with a cargo of saltpetre. Shortly after the vessel left port three men fell from the masthead during a storm and were killed on the spot. Off Cape Horn a wave crashed on to the ship and washed another sailor overboard. The vessel was brought to,'and, in spite of the tre'mendous sea that was running, eight volunteers came forward to make an attempt to rescue their unfortunate comrade. They failed to reach bun in time, however, and just as their boat got back it was capsized, and the entire crew were thrown into the raging sea. Three men managed to clutch the ropes that were thrown down to them, but the remaining five were swept away and drowned.