GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 15 April 1913, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

CURIOSITIES OF SURGERY. A brewer's drawman who went to a hospital in Berlin suffering from acute abdominal pains was examined by Rontgen rays, which revealed the presence of- a foreign body at the seat of the disorder, An incision brought to light a pair of artery forceps, which must have been left behind at" one of two previous operations, carried out respectively, seven and three years ago.. For at least the shorter period the man had been following his strenuous- occupation with the instrument in his abdominal cavity. SAILORS' UNKNOWN WEALTH. Mr Edward Stanley Gibbons (founder of the firm of Stanley Gibbons-; Ltd., stamp dealer*), who has dieti at the age of seventy-two, used tOtJ say that one of his most profitable transactions before he left Plymouth for London, was with two sailors, who brought him a kit-bag full of-stamps which they had won in a shilling raffle at a Capetown bazaar. The men were delighted to take £5 for the lot. Mir Gibbons made quite £SOO out of those stamps, which turned out to be all triangular Capes, and to-day would be worth a very considerable sum. RATTLE OF THE BIRDS. A Dover correspondent reports a curious incident which was witnessed at a farm at Elms Yale, on the confines of the borough. A flock of seagulls, flying inland, had taken possession of a newlv-sown field, and were pecking away contently, when a still more numerous flock of rooks swooped down and attacked the gulls. The •rooks being about two to each gull, flapped and rushed the gulls until they withdrew to a field some distance off." The victorious rook* then proceeded to enjoy themselves in the newly-sown field, having first set what wcr? apparently sentries along the side of the field. It was amusing to watch these sentries hustling away any gull which strayed too near. It has been noted by naturalists that this setting of sentries is in accordance with the habits of rookij.

A MODEL MILLIONAIRE. Mr Vincent Astor, aged twenty-one, America's richest young man, and now in absolute control of his.father's millions, has sought the advice of ivi,. qi;i--.r. th? democratic Governor of the State of New York, regarding the best way in which he can serve the community. They sat almost the entire, night (says the Telegraph) disou sing various departments of public service—the law, medicine, politics, journalism, mercantile organised philanthropy, mechanics, finance and agriculture. Mr Sulzer was great ly impressed by the youthful millioiir aire'-s desire to shun a life of idleness and pleasure, and congratulated him upon having done one useful act recently, in joining a volunteer fire brigade." "Finally," M r Sulxer said, in describing the midnight conference to the reporters., "Mr Astor decided that scientific farming would be his role. He already possesses one of the finest farms in New York State, and this he declares he will develop by experiment, and have in trust for the people. The idle rich nave had their day, and Mr Aster -h r,.i- the right track to pn.ve himself a worthy citizen. ,