PROPOSED NEW MAIL ROUTE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12683, 22 December 1906, Page 9

PROPOSED NEW MAIL ROUTE.

Fresh particulars are being brought out (says our London correspondent) regarding tlio suggested now mail route between London and Sew Zealand via iSalina Cruz. Mr E. F. Wright is still interesting himself actively in the matter, and is in active correspondence with tho promoters. According to the latest statement put forth in this connection, passengers and mails could be conveyed between Now York and .Salina •Cruz by rail in four days, and thenoe to Auckland in thirteen days by 20----knofc steamers constructed to steam 22j_ knots, in, caso of time requiring to be made up. It is reckoned thai under this timetable only two steamers would be reeded, and__each would liav© five ckar days in each terminal .port. This is, of course, assuming the service to b> a three-weekly ono. Tho suggestion is that the New Zealand Government should negotiate with tlie Mexican Government, with a view to tlie new mailline via Mexico being adequately subsidised by the latter country, which Mr E. F. Wright expresses confidence as the result of enquiries on. tho spot, would be arranged without difficulty, as it would be the means of vast benefits accruing to Mexico through the influx of tourists and otherwise. It is estimated that the through fares between London and Auckland by this route would be as low, as £50 to LZO first class. ' A STRENUO|S GAME. The raw. big-boneu peasants of the Bavarian Alps enjoy the reputation of possessing the thickest skulls in Christendom. That they need them is clear from a case that came the other day before the court at Haag, Upper Bavaria. It appears that a favourite after-supper game amongst the farm bands is for one to 6it blindfolded on a chair, while the others in succession hit him (or her) on the heed with a pieco of wocd, with the question, "Neighbour, who hit you?'' If the person ou the penitentiary stool gue_ses right, tho individual named takes his seat, but if a wrong name is given he has to submit to further blows until the striker's name is guessed correctly. This innocent pfstirtio had been going on in Farmer Hanselmcier's kitchen, to the uproarious delight of tho farm b anils, male and female, becauso Sabina Wimmer, a robust dairyiraid, had returned 30 wrong answers in suc-ci-ssion, and in consequence had received '60 blows with a bread platter. Finally Sabina was released out of compassion, but then it was found that, notwithstanding her thick skull, she had suffered concussion of the brain, which it took two months to euro. Tho whole company now stood arrniTneed in the dock, but all were acquitted, the rural jury holding that the ancient game had been played fairly, and that there had been no intention of cawing bodily harm to the unfortunate girl.