GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 12 June 1913, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

"INTO THE HIGHFB LIFE."

Tlie New South Wales Si&U> Treasurer in his mail one day last week reoeived a post office order for 25s from an anonymous correspondent, who stated that some years ago he obtained a doctor's certificate that he was unfit for military service, and so avoided,a drill. He was not at all unfit for drill', and "whacked" the proceeds of hia military pay, £l, with his dootor, and the pair went fishing. In the course of time, spiritual influences prevailed, and the young man, in his letter to Mr Cann, states that "Jesus has lifted him into a higher life; hence he encloses £l, with 5s added as interest." The present or futuro regeneration of the doctor is not referred to.< Much as the Treasury is in need of help v at the present moment, Mr Cann has been reluctantly compelled to pass the 25s along to the Commonwealth. A STORY OF FISH.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the Amateur Fishermen's Association at Sydney last week, Dr Burne, the president, told an anecdote. He had been, he said, on a fishing expedition. The stream was well packed, and he was having a merry time of iti In a short space he had landed a neat little haul of over thirty—(applause and laughter)—exceptionally big—(more applause and laughter) —fish. Feeling perfectly happy, he made for home. (Continued applause.) When he reached there he found several visitors. He was a proud man that night. (Laughter.) He grouped the visitors in a circle around; a table, and holding the bag he prepared for a dramatic climax. He turned the bag upside down, and out fell —a shark. (Loud laughter.) Hia friend, iMajor Spain —who was also present at the banquet—had exchanged tho shark for the fish.— (More laughter.)

MAKING THE .KING RIDICULOUS

Nothing is Tnore likely to make European monarchs commonplace than some of the newspapers. The Daily Telegraph, reporting the visit of King «* George and Queen Mary to Orewe, sets out the following conversation , between the King and Mr Manning, the Mayor:—"l understand that you are a signalman?" said the King. "That is so, your Majesty," was the reply. "How long have you been signalman P" questioned his Majesty. "For over thirty years, sir," Manning answered. "It is* responsible work," observed the King, to which Manning assented, and added modestly that up to the present ho had been "clear" of accidents. "Very good, indeed," was King George's comment. One lias no qxiarrel with what the King and the signalman said to each other (writes the London correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph). Little I else could be expected. The deplorable thing is that such a conversation | should be reported in tho most prcmi- ' nent'columns of a new.spn-r>r like the i Daily Telegraph. If a King must i make commonplace observations like everybody else, the public might at i least bo spared the verbatim report of theii.

"J9KY-LEASING,"

• ''Sky-leasing," originated in America, has appeared in Australia. Tt is the leasing of the right to add a storey or two to a standing building. When a would-be tenant in New York seeks' a tenancy in a building already ' full, he casts his eye to the roof, and offers to run lip an extra Storey or two at his own expense. This is what lias happened in Melbourne, and to ! distinguish it from "ground leasing." the practise has been termed "skyi leasing." It is the last word in the - 1 expansion of city realty investment. I The example has occurred at the new , Auditorium Building, erected in Coli lins- Street on the site of the old Assembly Hall. The building was erectI ed by the Presbyterian Church, and | leased—offices, concert hall, and all—to J. and N. Tait. It was fully sublet before erected, and rjeople have been scrambling to get into it. A disappointed tenant offered to put up an additional story on the roof, to pay rent as a lessee for a number of years, and then to let the superstorey fall into the possession of th« owners. The offer was taken, and the enterprising lessee is no-' - in occupation of a sky lease. The tenI ancy is for, a tern of eight years, j The lessee, a woman, i s to establish n ■unique business of sun-bathing, massage and other homeoeopathio cures.