NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1913, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES.

[Tho following items of intelligence have been selected, from files received by the lateet mail.J According to a White Paper lately issued containing the Board of Trade's new rules for life-saving at sea, all ships carrying over^ twelve passengers must be provided with enough lifeboats to accommodate all passengers on board. The boats are to be properly fitted out, and to be carried under 1 the davits or on deck for rapid lowering. Life-jackets are to "be provided for every person on board, in addition to a, number of lifebuoys (a fair proportion to fit children) according • to the ship's dimensions. The new regulations came into force on Ist March. A French medical weekly records a way of discouraging over-enterprising tradesmen. One of these sent a Strasburg doctor a box of cigars, which had not been ordered, together with a bill for 15s. The accompanying letter stated that "I have ventured to send these on my own initiative, being convinced that you will appreciate their exquisite flavour." In due course, the doctor replied : "You have not asked me for a consultation, but I venture to send you three prescriptions, being convinced that you will be quite as satisfied with them as lam with your cigars. As my charge for a prescription is ss, this makes us quits." The Queen lately showed her interest in the Disr (Norfolk) Lace Association by requesting that a box of lace should be sent to her at Sandringham for inspection, and subsequently by buying several pieces of solid and applique lace. This industry, which was started about eleven years ago in Diss and the surrounding villages, has proved a boon to many invalids and Cripples, who are enabled by it to earn a living in their own homes. The lace made is of the Honiton and bobbin Brussels type. About fifty workers are constantly employed. At Northampton on 10th January Mr. W, B. R. Mooi-hoitse, the airman, was summoned for driving a motor-car without lights at five minutes to 1 on the morning of Christmas Day, and also for refusing to stop on the call of a police officer. The defendant gave evidence that he did not hear the constable call, and that he did not know the lights had gone out, there being bright moonlight. There were eighteen previous convictions, and the Bench inflicted a fine of £5, and suspended the defendant's license for six. months. Remarkable evidence is given in the Rev. J. i(. Harris's "Dawn in Darkest Africa," of the commercial aptitude of some of the West Coast negroes :—: — "There are scattered all down the coast in British colonies native traders pressing on to positions of dominating influence. « . They are up-to-date traders in being able to supply anything which may be demanded of them, or if not in stock they will promise it keep the promise— on a given day. If an order is specially urgent, and has to come from Europe, a messenger will meet the ship, tako off the package, and deliver it to the client within an hour or two of the ship's arrival, Bodmin, the latest addition to the miniature general election, is one of the few towns where one ciin still hear the curfew rung. The custom may have lingered here because of the restless spirit of the citizens. There is a pleasant story of a Mayor of Bodmin named Boyer who was active during the uprising of tho West in 1549. Sir Anthony Kingston went down to settle matters in. Bodmin, and was entertained by the Mayor, who hoped to escape scotfrtfe. Kingston had sent him notice that he had a man to hang and gallows must be ready. After dinner they went out to inspect the gallows. "Think you it is strong enough?" said Kingston. "Yes, sir, 1 replied the Mayor. "Then get you up, for it is for you."- And so it was. Dominique Hoi, aged 71, the Tsar's trusted and personal engine-driver, died I in the hospital at Olten (Switzerland), his birthplace, recently. He had 6ervcd as engine-driver from St. Petersburg via Moscow to Odessa, for 40 years, and was placed in charge of every train in which the Royal Family traversed Russia, and &yefl on short trips. He could have retired long ago, but would not until forced by illness. Hof was offered during hia career large sums to wreck the Royal express, but he always tefused the large bribes. Some of them were mado by the police to 'test his honesty. Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, proprietor of the famous "cagelees" zoo at Hamburg, is to convert the London Olympit- into a natural zoo and up-to-date circ'os next winter. Every kind of wild be'-ist will roam about amid natural surroundings, without bars to obstruct the view, this . being done by erecting artificial mountains and dens similar to those ot Hamburg. The animals will be grouped according to the Continent*. Thus, the animals from Africa will be displayed together amid African surroundings. Ostriches and other creatures will roam over a miniature desert, and giraffes, zebras, and anlelopes will graze on natural-looking plains amid tall palm trees, while lions and leopards will, be at home in their jungle and dens. According to the Vienna Militarische Rundschau, a corporal of tbo 18th Infantry Regiment, apparently in a fit of insanity, recently enot dead three of h's comrades and wounded three others in the barracks at Nevesinje in Herzegovina. He fiuj»equently shot dead another man of the party sent to capture him and set fire to a portion of tho building. The murderer, after offering desperate reeista-Dce, was eventually shot dead. ' The will of the late Mr..J. £, Keens, the New York millionaire, has just becK filed for probate, and it is /estimated that his estate is worth between £2.000,000 and £2.500,000. A curious provision of the will is that Mr. Keene bequeathed his entire estate to his' widow, leaving her to make eucb allowance Be ehe may think .fit to his eon and daughter. The will says :—"I: — "I purposely make no provision for my eon Foxhall P. Keche and my daughter Jeseica Keene Taylor, preferring to re)/ upon my wife to mako sach provision for them as may bo proper, and to enjoin her to be guided by tho other executors." The eon's Christian name recalls the fact that- Mr. Kcene's hoiee Foxhall was successful on tho other side of the !\l!nntir, h twins; woj) .tho Paris Gra-nd Prix iii 1881, follow hij; up this achievenwnl hv carrying oil the Ceaarewjtch and Cambridg«3?'iire Strikes at Newmarket in the sume year A staitlinsj surprise avt< lied several men who viambered ovpv fi" jocUs and entered the cabin nt thtv battered Danish steamer. 0. fvwh, which was lately wrecked near Aiwidci'ii -vitli a loss of seven Jives. As they torceil open the cabin dooi there vv«u a )i<!v&{, of song as if it was summer lime. Birds wen. singing merrily, all oblivious of tho roar of the waves and the crashing of wreckage against the rocks. The party found about a dozen canaries in cage?, their feathers dry and unruffled. Standing in the cabin they found the sliip'a dog, a retriever, which had to be forcibly taken ashore. No bodice 6f drowned aailora were found..

Mr. James Rowland Ward, F.Z.S., the well-known London naturalist and taxidermist, who died a short time ago, left estate of the gross value of £147,167. He left £5000 tot the purchase from Rowland Ward. Ltd., of mounted specimens of stuffed birds and animals for the Na-tural History Museum, South Kensington. Mr. Lloyd George stated recently in the House that the number of farthings coined and issued during the last three years was as follows: — (Joined. Issued. 1910 ~ ... 2,598,400 4,753,920 1911 .., „.. 5,196,800 5,568,000 1912 ... ... 7,669,760 7,036,800 As farthings coined in one year may not bo_ issued until a subsequent year, there is no exact correspondence betweerl the two sets of figures. Since the introduction of bronze farthings in 1860 (the Chancellor adds) the number coined has amounted to 211,701,760. It is believed that, as no withdrawal of these coins has been made, practically the whole of them remain in circulation, the issue to the colonies and de-penden-cies being negligible. j Six Siberian dogs have arrived on the Jungfraujoch (11.140 ft), Switzerland, aud will be employed in drawing sledges Up the Jungfrau mountain and across the Aletsch glacier after they have been trained to the i work by M. Zochokke, a Polish expert. The idea is to give visitors to Switzerland in summer a glimpse of life in the snow and ice-bound districts of Siberia and in Greenland. This is the first time that dogs have mounted to so great a height in Switzerland, and it is an interesting experiment. At Liverpool on 10th January, a man named M'Neil was found guilty of obtaining goods from tradesmen by false pretences. The prisoner took rooms, established a "Red Cross Boyß* Brigade Club/ enlisted the sympathy of the clergy, and furnished the club rooms by false representations to tradesmen. The prisoners record showed 'cbhvictions for fraud, theft, and grave offences concerning boys, and he had served terms of penal servitude amounting altogether to twenty y^ars. He had had to answer grave charges in respect of a mission hall and boys' clubs in other towns. Prisoner was sent to prison for eighteen months. Miss Alice Lever, the charming and wealthy niece of Sir William Lever, is entering the Roman Catholic Church in order to marry the man she loves. The bride-elect is the daughter of the late Mr. J. F. Lever, who with his brother William founded the Sunlight soap business. On the death of her father she inherited a large fortune, and. as Lady Bountiful at Thornton Hough, near Liverpool, whero she has spent all her life, she is greatly beloved. Her fiance is Mr. John Fitzgerald Crean, a member of an old West of Ireland family, long settled in Liverpool. He is a Justice of the Peace, and has an extensive business in Liverpool. Although Sir William Lever is a strict Congregationalism it is with his sanction that his niece has changed her religion. Exciting scenes were witnessed during the rescue by the rocket brigade of the crew of 44 of the Blue Star Line steamer Brodland, which went ashore during a fierce gale just after leaving Aberavon, Glamorganshire, on the night of 20th January. Soon after the vessel struck wreckage began to come ashore, and it was feared she was breaking up, as she was constantly swept by heavy seas. The rocket crew had to wait some time for the tide to recede, but when they got to work, the first rocket took a line right over the ship, and by this means the whole of the crew Were brought ashore. The rescue work, which Occupied three hours, was watched by thousands of spectators. Government agents at New York having intercepted a registered package from • Amsterdam containing smuggled diamonds worth more than £4000, a local diamond dealer named Nathan Green was arrested when he called for the package at the General Post Office. The discovery was accidental, and was the result of some of the diamonds slipping out of a, picture frame in which they Were hidden, while the parcel was being inspected in the Customs Department of the Post Office. Immediately after the arrest the authorities went to ' Green's place of business and seized diamonds valued at £12,000. Owing to the fact that the sixty-four deputies of Soleure, Switzerland, have been in the habit of holding interminable discussions which seldom lead to any action being taken, some practical joker played an amusing trick op them. When they assembled for their meeting in December, each » deputy found in his seat a new dog muzzle. Information has been received by the officers of the Commonwealth External Affairs Department to the effect that several of the leading bakers in Capetown have agreed to the rates of wages demanded by the Union of Bakers' Operatives, which are as follow : — Second hands, 503 ; oven men, 555 ; table hands, 455. The definite grading of the men is to be settled by mutual agreement between employers and employed. Mr. Carmichael, New South Wales Minister of Labour, Recently stated that he or his deputy, namely, the Industrial Commissioner, had intervened in 70 incipient strikes, preventing 44 and adjusting 23, without material loss. Among Iho threatened disputes settled were those between the Transport Unions and Steamships Owners' Association, butchers' troubles, and several colliery troubles. Messrs. Harland and Wolff are engaged in fitting the Olympic with an inner skin and increasing the number of watertight bulkheads, thus enhancing the margin of safety provided in this hug© ship far beyond all previously recognised standards. She is advertised to sail again from Southampton on 2nd April next. Similar safeguards are being introduced into the new White Star triple-screw steamer Britannic, 50,000 tons, now in course of construction at Belfast. While on the pier-head at Liverpool in the early hours of the morning a policeman and two other men heard a noise coming from the river, and one of the men, a labourer named Clegg, slid down a rope to the water 25 feet below. Almost immediately a fine collie dog. scrambled oh his back. There was a swiftly running tide, and the men on the pierhead had to exert their full strength to hoist the man and dog to the top. Tile anirtial was completely exhausted, and its forepaws were torn and bleeding owing to its efforts to secure a hold on the granite wall. Mr. Edward T. Stotesbiiry, the famous Philadelphia millionaire and partner in Mr. J. Pieri>ont Morgan's banking bu c >ine?s. on 6th January commenced a Knit in the Fedeial Court in Philadelphia against Mr. Oscar llainmer&tein for the recovery of the sum of £8000 advanced to the impresario in 1910 for the purpose of continuing grand opera fira«ons in Philadelphia. Mr. Hamnier-r-'ein admits receiving the money, but declares that as it was in response to his appeal for funds from lovers of grand opera he considered it in the light of a gift. The money had been put to the iibe for which it was intended, and us he had not applied it for personal profit he could not admit that it was a.loani, ~" -