Long Odds.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1939, Page 4

Long Odds.

When two American missionaries were taken by rebels near Wuhu in China, some years ago, a small party from a British gunboat on the Yang-tse-kiang River was sent to look for them. Chief Petty Officer W. Glover, who was in charge of six men from the boat, told a 'Christchurch audience that after covering some miles on the mainland the party was recalled. “We later found out that there were about 7800 rebels concerned in the capture of the missionaries,” he added. New Session of Parliament. When Parliament meets in June for this year’s session, 15 of the 80 members of the House of Representatives will be making their first appearance in that Chamber. This will be the initial session of the new Parliament elected at the general election last October. As losses and gains were experienced on that occasion by both the Labour and National parlies, seating accommodation will have to be arranged in the light of the changed complexion of the House, and seats for the new members have already been pencilled-in by the party whips. Pets Travel by Rail. A variety of household pets travelled in the guard’s van of the Limited express from Auckland for Wellington the other night. With the exigencies of train travel demanding a truce in their natural animosities, a cage of more than 20 chattering budgerigars was alongside a box containing a purring cat. while another nearby case housed a sleeping puppy. Speedily reconciled to the strange surroundings, neither dog nor cat stirred during the confusion and only the noisy birds gave a hint of the van’s unusually varied freight. Through the neglect of the Arabs , large tracts of land in Mesopotamia, once among the richest in the world. ; have become barren desert. ;