GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 26 March 1913, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

Ha.irbrcadth escapes must have been tho topic of conversation with' the Glasgow Suffragists who placed ink, tirea-clo and phosphorus into pillarboxes tho other night (says tho "Glasgow Xovm"). Several se-emed to have been scared in the act, as. the bottles, fully corked and unbroken, arriving at tho G-.1'.0. seemod to suggest; while another h;ul jut-it placed liters, in the box when a, .young man appeared, and, .is he had probably ih-eard tho noise, in some confusion she -explained that she had dropped he-,- pur.v by mistake, but a-i' the box would be cleave,d in i-oa iuinut-e:vs -Ikuv ould. jtisfc wait. Sho didn't, however. There, is a touch of the comic in

Mm .•mnounoc-m-cnt that the tolographic ad-dress of tho to the Oommandcr-in-Ohi, f m Indie, is "Reni-Uam," seeing that the tornier holder once said that his principal duty wa.s "to keep as many people away from tho C-ommamkr-in-Ohief as possible." Tho General Officer commanding in South China. is in future to bo addressed a?. "Fervour, Hong Kong." Very careful spelling will be necessary in tho case of a- telegram destined for A.A.G. at Cairo, to whom tho code word T 'Adu!tness" has been allotted.

it is not given to every arbiter fco •cut tho Gordian knot. Two customers in a Pal-is restaurant disputed, as customer*! will, whether to have th.> window open or shut. 'i ho apostle of ventilation had dined; tho other was a, fresh-comer, who had brought his stock of fr.'sh -air in *\vith him. Appealed to hv the waiter, tho rostara--a.tour decided for the monsieur who had not yet dined, and tho decision of ytii'-ico uid business nt a dn -,le stroke ami if one client hod a <*riov-a-ncD it was open to Irm to ventilate it (and his lungs) outside. It is a dilemma. which cc.iurs in our railway carriaco. - . and trains a thousand times •a day, a.nd wo wish the solutions wore always as happy and prompt.

It ig reported that vepresentat : v?s of the Turkish Government arc endeavouring to replenish the impoverished Ottoman war-chost by pledging in Paris, among other treasures, an old throne. Details' are lacking, hut there is, at any rate, one throne in the Turkish regalia which is worth a considerable sum. Tins was the throneof the Shah Nadir of Persia, and was part of the tribute he had to pay when conquered by the Turks,' It is as opulent a piece of furniture as can bo imagined. Its fpet. arms, sides, and canopy are thickly encrusted with precious stones, .some of them uncut and unusually large. They are principally omwaWs, rubies, and pearls, a.nd the number of tlieui i>s more than ten thousand. The value of this gorgeous throne is a t two million pounds sterling. It was on view at an exhibition at Vienna forty years ago.

Specialists in nervouy and mental diseases in' Philadelphia are amazed at the remarkable powers exhibited l>y a fourteen-year-old child, Margaret Varloy, who, wliilo in the Roos-ve-lt Hospital, lias sbmvn that when in an unconscious state, she possesses ability to sing like a prima donna. While Margaret was aslee.p one day three years ago, she was suddenly awakened by a negre-s?. standing over her, and through fear the girl went into a hysterical lit wlrch ended in a state of coma, in whiph condition she continued for wesks. Every month since she lias suffered attacks of this character. She was sent to the -hospital, and s."vcral specialists have heard the girl sing, and agreed that this almost uncanny -cVspla.v of jwwers reveals a talent, which will undoubtedly develop at maturity, providing that she is able to withstand the present strain on her nervous and mental condition.

A Frenchman lmy boon interesting his compatriots lately by swimming at the speed of sixteen miles an hour in one of the waterways near Paris. To he strictly accurate, however, states' tho 'Philadelphia Record," lie does not swim at all., but merely operates ti ycrew—propelled apparatus that goes through the water with him lying upon it. A plank about six foot long has metal floats at each end. At the rear end is a screw propeller of the type used on motor boats and driven by means of pedals. The swimmer liesflat on the plank and pedals, as if he were riding a bicycle. He uses his arms chiefly to direct his course and to maintain his balance on the plank. The revolving propeller provides all the impetus necessary. An advantage of the apparatus is'that the user need not nccesairilv know how to swim without it. l)r Arthur Maude made the flesh of his audi?nce creep at the annual dinner of the Association of Public Vaccinators in London last month by prophesy as inevitable a, great-and world-wide invasion of what he called the "red terror." It i s perhaps bardlv lieci'swnrv to invent a luri<l and picturesque cliche of this description and to hurl it across the walnuts and the, wine. But the warning is badly needed (says the "Pall Mall Gazette-"). There are cities ni which more than one-half of the inhabitants are unvaccinated. Tho "conscientious objector" lias not been conciliated by the modification of the compulsion to which iho was formerly subjected Since vaccination remains the one and only prophylactic against smallpox, the value of which is proved to every unprejudiced mind, wo are probably, sooner or later, doomed to a devastating epidemic, when the present national immunity gained from its past ravages luvs worn itself out. As an Irish doctor once said, "The wise vir- i gins are those who protect, their own I children." I