NEWS AND NOTES

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 501, 17 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEWS AND NOTES

Betting is not allowed on the Isle of Man. A visitor from Manchester made some wagers an at athletic gathering and was promptly arrested under tho Vagrancy Act, which forbids betting, and sentenced to ten days' imprisonment, the law not providing for a fine. • • •

Mrs Mackay, a wealthy Chicago lady, was stopped by a highwayman whilst out for a walk recently, and com pelle* to part with a pair of diamond earrings of considerable value. The robber then held a pistol to her head, laying, " Put yonr arms around my neck and kiss me." She protested, but on the man threatening to shoot her she kissed him twice.

A correspondent of a Japanese paper calls attention to a remakable occurrence. At breakfast the other day, he writes, my friend had three boiled eggs on hio plate and I two. In this there were two eggs with each a double yolk. In one of mine there were three and the other two. Thus in five eggs on the table at one time there were ten yolks. The eggs were boiled to a turn, and all the yolks were .separate without beingbroken in the least. The eggs were purchased by my cook in the usual way. Mr Edison, the great American inventor, is still engaged in perfecting his invention in respect of crushing and grinding rolls, and by last 'Frisco mail Messrs Hughes, Rayward and Baldwin, patent agents, have received instructions to apply for Letters Patent to protect his latest improvements in thia class of machinery. _ Edison's ability and originality of mind is at once apparent when it is seen that he can introduce radical changes into such old and well-known machinery as crushing and grinding mills. Auckland Star:

At a meeting of the Thames Prohibition League, held on Monday evening, the following resolution was carried unanimously :—" That, having regard to the fact that all shades of •political opinion are represented in the membership of this League, we do hereby resolve not to run any candidate nor { to identify ourselves with the Candidature of anyone for the forthcoming general election, but express the earnest hope that all will do their utmost to secure the carrying of no-license at the coming local option poll." A strange poison tragedy occurred (learns the Leader from Rome) at a little village near Genoa recently. A parish priest said mass in the chapel of . the seminary at Serravalle Serivia, assisted by bid nephew. Shortly after the " elevation, when the celebrant had drained the contents of the chalice,; he •was*seen to sway on his feet and fall down. In a few minutes he died in the greatest agony. It subsequently transpired that his nephew filled the chalice with nitric acid, which was kept in the sacristy to polish the braos chandeliers, mistaking it for wine. The young seminarist, who is almost distracted with grief, has been arrested. The town of Kos, the capital of the small Turkish island of that name lying off the coast of Asia Minor, posses- . eel the oldest tree in the world. Under its shade Hippoorates inculcated his disciples in his methods and views concerning the healing art two thousand years ago. Tradition carries the age of the tree baok to the time of ,®sculapiun (of whom was a lineal dascendant), whioh would add some four hundred years to its age. A great part of the trunk is built round, and there is a fountain known' as Hippocrates' Fountain. The ciroumferenoe of the trunk is thirty feet,' and there are two main lower branches, which are supported by masonry columns, the higher blanches being helped by poles. The tree Bhows the greatest vitality, being covered with fruit/ and forms a vast leafy canopy for several open-air cafes which are established beneath.

Thp Koyal Engineers (says the London Daily Telegraph) have been testing the value of wireless telegraphy, not only as a means of maintaining communications between the different portions of an army, but for the purpose of dropping explosive charges within a given area. It has been found that by means of balloons and an elaboration of Preece's or Marconi's systems of wireless telegraphy large quantities, say of dynamite, could be released from a balloon over three miles away and made to drop and explode inside any fortified work, killing the garrison and dislodging the guns. The Hague Conference, however, condemns such methods, but possibly an enemy Bore pressed in real war would acarcoly hesitate to break through such restrictions. At Aldershot they have found that explosives can be dropped into a space of little over an acre at great distances, and with rare precision.

A lawsuit brought before Mr Justice Steven and a jury in the Sydney Courts the other day came to au unexpected ending owing to the action of a juror. Mrs Armour, one of the plaintiffs, received injuries in April last through falling in tho darkness of the night into an excavation which was intended for a telephone wire tunnel. One of the jurors, it appeared, had gone to the works and asked a certain question there, with a view to coming to a more complete understanding of the whole case, and this reached tho ears of counsel. The matter was mentioned to the presiding judge, and His Honor, while expressing his certainty that the action of the juror was prompted by the best of motives, felt that any verdict based,

perhaps unconsciously, on something of which the jury might have obtained cognisance cut3ide the evidence would not be sustained. He therefore discharged the jury without asking them to consider a verdict.

The sermon, entitled " The Degradation of Dancing," with special reference to a fancv ball at Barman, and a farmers' ball late'ly held at Nathalia, was delivered at the State school in Barmah, Victoria, on the 15th inst., by the Rev. G. Gladstone. The usual attack on these amusements with which his name has been associated, was made by the preacher, but was resented by the audience, expressions such as " You're a liar," and some even stronger being employed. Interruptions became so frequent that the rev. gentleman found it impossible to proceed, and made references to " the low Irish " as being the cause of a great deal of the trouble. These remarks were hooted. Barmah, Mr Gladstone said, was the worst place he knew of, and could not be compared to any place within 100 miles of it. As the conclusion of the sermon the audience was so angry that when Mr Gladstone was leaving the building they attacked him, and serious violence mignt have been done to him had he not been quickly taken to a farmer's " trap " and driven off.

The Morning Post, Paris correspondent says : A working man, living in the Rue Perceval, has been the victim of a disagreeable misadventure. Unknown to hie wife he had economised, after ten years of Baving nearly £6OO. To put this sum, as he thought, in safety he had sewn it up in a cloth bag in a mattress. His wife, who, as has been said, was unaware of the existence of the hoard, decided that the mattress needed cleaning and to this end undid it at both ends preparatory of taking out the stuffing. She hung the mattrass thus opened up out of the window, with the result that the precious bag fell into the street. It was picked up by a little girl, who, ignorant of the value of its contents, was induced to part with it to two young rogues to whom she had confided her find. For three days the boys were busy spending the unexpected windfall as fast aa they could, but the workman, who had at last learned what had happened, told the police of his loss, and the two lads whose behaviour had excited suspicion were arrested. The workman, after recovering possession of what remained of his saaly diminished savings, assured the police that for the future he would not attempt to keep his thrifty proclivities a secret from his wife.