GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 4 August 1913, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

THE SPINSTER OF BOURNEMOUTH. Bournemouth, according to the latest census returns, contains a larger proportion of spinsters than any other town in the United Kingdom (says the Chronicle). It used to be thought that this distinction belonged to Torquay. "Go whore you will among the villas of Torquay," writes Mr W. E. Norris, "you will lind the great majority of them are toranted by women. It is quite the exception to find made landlords." Thh is the utterance of one speaking v ith authority, for Mr Norris has 1: -jd at Torquay most of his life, and ir-;es the local atmosphere largely in his novels. An ill-natured statistician once declared that the proportion of females to males in Torquay is as twenty to one—the one being either a cabman or a loclginghouse-keeper's husband. WAGNER'S "DOUBLE." The bioscope firms of England, the Continent, and America are continually on the look-out for people of our own generation who, in face and features, may be regarded as "doubles" of the heroes of tin* past. The firm which ha» been producing the "Life of Richard Wagner" at Home has been particularly fortunate in the discovery of a man to play the part of the great composer. He is a young Venetian, and his resemblance to Wagner is really remarkable. Among the audience the other day was a gentleman who knew Wagner well, and he was. not only struck: by the extraordinary facial resemblance to Wagner of the ma-n who played the part, but said that it seemed as if he had been born with all the great maestro's curious mannerisms and attitudes.