GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 11 February 1913, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

"TO MY BRIOGE FRIENDS." The will of Mr .Richard Matthews, lute of Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, solicitor, who died on .December 18th, has bee:) filed for probate. The testator left real estate valued at ! £IBB3, and personal property valued !at £4956, to relatives and friends, I with bequests to former employees. A j clause in his will states .—"To each of my bridge friends" (whom ho names) "the sum of £2l, with which to purchase some little present to remind them occasionally of our many friendly but strenuous efforts to beat the other side." MAGISTRATE AND DRIVER. A French magistrate, celebrated for his punctuality, overslept himself one morning lately (says the "Eclair") and jumped into a cab, telling the driver to "go like mad." The driver obeyed, and reaching the court in time, but narrowly missed several foot-passengers, nearly overturned I two carriages, and upset a greengrocer's cart. The magistrate, in paying tho fare, added 12s Gd "for the reckless driving for which I shall be obliged to fine you to-morrow." | DINNER THIEVES RUSE. How two men with no money but a spurious £2O banknote made an excellent dinner and swindled a restaurant keeper for £lB was related to the Paris police recently. When the men had finished their meal one of them | purposely collided with and upset the I table, which was laden with costly ' glass. The propietor claimed £2 for tho damage, but the man protested that he had no money. "Search him," 1 advised the accomplice. The proprietor did so, and in his purse found a banknote for £2O. .Deducting the amount . of tho damage, he handed back the change. It was only after the men had disappeared that is was discovered that the banknote was a clever imitation.

THE SALVATION ARMY AND PROFIT SHARING. The last issue of the English "War Cry" to hand contains the announcement that General Bram well Booth has decided upon the introduction of a method of profit-sharing which will give customers a share in the profits .' received from certain departments of tho Salvation Army trading operations.. The new arrangement was to como into operation on January Ist, and the departments affected by it included uniform and outfit, books and brass band music, musical instruments, furnishing and general. These will constitute and be known as "The Salvation Army Supply Stores." The whole of the net profits in each year up to £SOOO will be divided amongst the customers whose purchases during the year amount to £2 or more, and half of any further profits up to £IO,OOO will be divided in the .same way. Tho net profits will be arrived ' at aftercharging 5 per cent, interest. The profit-sharing arrangement is in | no way to interfere, with the management of the business by the General, who wil] still have absolute control.

THE MAN OF FIFTY

"The man of fifty" is the subiect of a. Christmas symposium in the "Tageblatt," and medical experts, business men, and artists agree that a man of fifty is no "older" than a man of forty and in numerous instances is decidedly more useful. Professor Krauso asserts that it is absurd to describe a man of fifty as even "growing old." Only, in exceptional cases, duo to special causes, does he reveal ".decreased elasticity." Professor Krauso recommends "sane sport" as the best insurance against okl age for a man of fifty. I)r Leppmann, another eminent specialist, declares that a man of fifty is of "highly superior intellectual worth,-" and on account'of his reliability, steadiness, experience, and rational living, possesses countless physical and moral advantages over a younger man. Professor Arthur Kampf. President of the Royal Academy, claims that great artists of all times have done their best works between tho ages of forty arid sixty. Dr Leon Zeitlin, secretary of the Berlin Retail Trades Association, blames the "Americanisation" of German commercial life for the increasing prejudice against men of fifty, which manifests itself in the "ruthless casting out of employees who have reached a certain age and their supersession by younger men."

FLIGHT OF "WHITE SLAVERS." "White-slave traders" had a rousing in London as soon as the new Act came into, force. "The moment—11.20a.m.—the Royal Assent was given to the White' Slave Bill in the Hon.so of Lords yesterday," reported the Daily Mail of December 1-ltli, "The special force of Metropolitan police who have been appointed by the Commissioner to deal with the white slave, traffic had a new and potent weapon in their hands. Until yesterday a warrant was necessary for the arrest of a supposed procurer. Under the new Act an officer, on reasonable suspicion, can arrest at sight Yesterday, there was a further exodus of the foreign procurers and bullies. In London more than 50 per cent, of the procurers and bullies are foreigners., Many of them left by the midday and night trains for the Continent, while others, to avoid conviction, are seeking situations either as tailors or waiters. Seldom has an Act of Parliament had a salutary effect so immediate as in this case." In the same issue of the paper a despatch from the Paris correspondent stated: "The procurers who have left London to escape Hogging under the new Act are apparently transfering their headquarters to Paris. M. Joseph Denais. one of the city deputies, has written to the Minister of the Interior, asking what measures he has taken to prevent the arrival nf these undesirables.