GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10277, 4 July 1911, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

'CELLO SOLD FOR £3OOO. A 'cello made by Stradivarius in 1709 has just been sold by a dealer in Berlin for £3OOO. The purchaser is a wealthy amateur, the son of a well-known Berlin merchant. It is said that the varnish of the instrument is orange-red in colour and of remarkable brilliancy. AUSTRIA'S LADY DOCTORS. Austria has eighty lady doctors. Eight years ago there were only nine. As might be expected, there are more in Vienna than in any other town, the capital providing more or less adequate career® for thirtynine. Like their sisters in this country, they find their occupation principally in the treatment of the diseases of women and children. THREEPENNY DISPENSARIES. Reference was made at the Hackney Coroner's Court, during an inquiry regarding the death of a child i to the "fatal" habit of mothers tak- j i ing children with high temperatures of 104 and 103 to doctors' dispensaries. The mother of the child mentioned that she frequently took the little one to a dispensary where she was charged "threepence a. time." DIK.tL ENGINE-DRIVER. King Alfonso returned to Madrid recently by the Su Express, the train leaving San Sebastian 2 hour® late. It arrived in Madrid; however, at the scheduled time owing to the efforts of the engine-driver, who is none other than the Duke of Saragassa. The Duke is a descendant of Parlafox, the celebrated defender of Saragossa during its two sieges. Don Alfonso is the only European monarch boasting a ducal engine-driver. "DEAD" MEN RETURN. [ After being mourned as dead, and having a monument erected to their ' memory, nine fishermen of Gredx (Brittany) have returned. Their boat ( (the Narval) left last September to' fish for sardines off the Moroccan coast, and nothing more was heard of them until their unexpected return. They had travelled ,up and down the Mediterranean, and even to the Canaries, in search of fish. Meanwhile, thinking them dead, their wives and families had gone, into mourning, masses were said, and a handsome monument to their memory was erecsfced in the local churchyard. ■