Miscellaneous.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 283, 16 July 1908, Page 3

Miscellaneous.

A soldier attempted to commit suicide at Batignolles Station in Paris, and set fire to the station by doing so. He threw himself off the bridge on the line, but his foot caught in the metal work of the bridge, and he did not fall. His sword, however, stuck in a grating separating some electric cables and caused a short circuit, ~ which melted the leaden gas piping under the bridge.,. An immense tongue of flame shot up, and set fire to the bridge, the fire being extinguished after some trouble. The would-be suicide was rescued.

The special correspondent of the “Yorkshire Post,” at the FrancoBritish Exhibition, was struck bythe number of detectives and policemen on duty. If it were the Czar of all the Russias who was our guest, instead of the head of a Republican State, he writes, we could not be more solicitous. It is when we take account of the scores and hundreds of French detectives who “ shadow ” President Fallieres that we understand the risks that eternally beset the path of the head of a European State. Yet the President himself seemed to bo—sublimely unconscious of it all.

Great excitement has been caused at Serra Daire, in Southern Portugal, by the discovery of an underground Moorish stronghold, which is said to be rich in treasure. The stronghold consists of a very extensive series of underground passages and chambers, including living quarters, stables and storehouses, and it was undoubtedly constructed at the time that the Moors were being hardpressed by the Portugese, who held the northern portion of the country. Hundreds of skeletons have peen found, and a great store of ancient weapons, including daggers, swords, and scimitars, many of which are studded with precious stones. Great stores of gold and coins have also been found, and large numbers of people are working feverishly day and night. Fresh finds of treasure are reported daily. At the close of the year 1904 ten tons of diamonds had come from the Kimberley mines. This mass of blazing gems could be accommodated in a box five feet square and six feet high. The diamond has a peculiar lustre, and on the sorter’s table it is impossible to mistake it for any other stone. It lopks something like clear gum arabic, says Sir William Crookes in the “ North American Review.” From the sorting-room the stones are taken to -the Diamond Office to be cleaned in acids and sorted into classes by the valuators according’ to colour and purity. It is a sight for Aladdin to behold the sorters at work. In the Kimberley treasure-store the tables are literally heaped with stones won from the rough blue ground — stones of all sizes, purified, flashino\ and of inestimable Drice.

A new kind of fuel will very soon be manufactured in Los Angeles, for which it is claimed that it will produce no odour, smoke or gases, and very little ashes from its consumption; that no kindling will be needed to set it on fire, and that two bricks wil-1 last practically all day in a stove or grate. It is composed of fruit pits from the canneries, mostly peach and apricot. About 1G tons of these pits are to bo used a day at the factory. The shells are broken up by a machine and the inside pits, or kernels, are shipped to France, where they are used in the manufacture of prussic acid. They are mixed with other materials, including crude petroleum, or brea, a - residuum deposit from the oil fields, planing mill shavings, and pulp from the olive oil mills. In connection with this fuel, “ smudge ” fuel will_also be made for producing dense smoke. This will be used in orchards to preserve trees ■ and fruit from frost, and has al-rea-dy been put to excellent service on a number of big ranches.