Miscellaneous.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 311, 22 September 1908, Page 3

Miscellaneous.

Some New Zealand kauri logs which had been lying in the Admiralify pond a£ Portsmouth since 1851 were fished out the other day, and were found to be in a splendid state of preservation after their 57 years’ of saturation. Some of this timber has been worked into the new yacht being built for the King (write a London correspondent): The latest thing in telephone systems is shortly to be installed in Invercargill. The subscriber has no battery at his house or office to be looked after. Neither has he to ring up or ring off. By simply unhooking his receiver he calls up the exchange, for his action in so doing lights a lamp on the switchboard there, and by hanging it 'up again when he has done talking the exchange are similarly notified that he has finished. The Kaiser, during his stay in Swinemunde, had an amusing experience, being treated as an inferior civilian by a sentry at the fortress. The Emperor, in mufti and with a broad-brimmed Panama hat drawn over his face, attempted to enter a battery, but was stopped by the sentry, who-did not recognise the War Lord. The Kaiser, lifting his hat, smilingly said, “ I certainly must be admitted,” whereupon the sentry, seeing his face, presented arms and gave way. Before leaving Swinemunde the Kaiser ordered the sentry, whose name is Reichert, to come on board the Hohenzollern. His Majesty expressed the highest satisfaction at the man’s strict military behaviour, and gave him a sovereign. The visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada recalls an amusing incident that occurred during one of his previous visits to the Dominion when he was a lieutenant in the navy. His ship had put into port to coal. A colonial visitor of some importance had occasion to board the ship while this work was in full progress, and was shown round by a young officer. As the visit concluded, the officer was called away and another was asked to show the stranger off the boat. 11 By the way,” remarked the latter, “ you have Prince George of Wales on board, have you not ? I would very much have liked to have a look at him.” “ Had a look at him,” laughed the officer. “ Well, seeing you have been talking to him for the best part of an hour, I don’t quite see what more you want.” “ What ! ” almost shouted the astonished colonial. “That black young chap the Queen’s grandson I Why I was on the point of offering him sdols for the trouble he had taken showing me round ! ”

According to the officers of the H.M.S. Cambrian, which returned to Sydney a few days ago "from a cruise among the Solomon Islands, Mr Jack London, the ■well-known American novelist, and his wife, who aie making a tour of the South Seas, were selected by the natives of Malaita as a dish for a cannibal feast, and narrowly escaped with their lives. They joined the recruiting schooner Minota in order to pay a visit to Malaita, and were wrecked on a. reef just off the island. Mr and Mrs London were on the reef for two days and two nights, and during the whole time they were surrounded by cannibals in their canoes. The man-eating tribes from the interior of Malaita also assembled in large numbers along the foreshore awaiting a favourable opportunity to secure their prey. 1 The Americans had a most anxious time, and were continuously on watch day and night fully armed] Their escape was due alone to Mr Caulfield, one of the missionaries of the Queensland Evangelical Mission, who exerts a remarkable influence over the natives of Malaita. Mr Caulfield armed all his mission boys, and they were placed on guard. Mr and Mrs London were thus protected while ths work of re-floating the Minota was being carried out. Mr and Mrs London, whose yacht Snark is undergoing repairs in the Solomon Islands,/ propose ' to visit Sydney by , the next steamer from the group. .