DOG SAVES A BABY

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 April 1927, Page 2

DOG SAVES A BABY

DASH INTO BURNING HOUSE.

The incident in which a Newfoundland dog. in a New England city, rushed into a burning house and brought' a baby out, by grasping its clothing in its teeth, draws pointed attention to the fact that this famous breed is now almost extinct. Three generations ago this noble specimen of the canine family flourished in large numbers throughout the United States, the common household pet and guardian. A native of Newfoundland, he was always the resourceful assistant of the housewife. Many tasks were allotted him, such as hauling wood and water and catching fish for food. Visitors from other parts of the world, readily recognising the superlative qualities of the dogs, as well as the fact that they possessed a remarkable gentleness of nature and wonderful memories, eagerly sought for and purchased them. For some time, however, it has been found difficult to find a purebred Newfoundland, so rapidly has been theiv decline. The, origin of the breed is in a cross between the Pyrenees sheepdogs brought to Newfoundland from France by the Biscay fishermen in the early part of the sixteenth century and the black retriever brought over by the English colonists.

Several types of different size and colour were to be found in the early days, but at the present time the survivors are principally the greater or all-blacks, and the white and blacks, or Landseer type, named by Dr. Gordon Stables after the eminent English painter, Sir Edwin Landseer, who so eloquently portrayed the remarkable cahracteristics of the dogs. The Government of Newfoundland has seen fit to accord the Newfoundland dog a most unique distinction by its decision to engrave the head of the Landseer dog on a postage-stamp. As a police-dog, the Newfoundland cannot be surpassed. He is used by the Pari.j police and other Seine towns gendarmes in the pursuit of criminals endeavouring to escape across the river. He is a powerful swimmer and can live for hours in the roughest sea. He will be remembered for his extremely gentle disposition, as well as for his size and great physical strength.

While marriage among foreigners is, as it were, in the melting-pot, international unions have many pitfalls of their own. “Hear the other side,” was never more necessary than at a wedding at Brompton when the Bishop of London’s Register Office was much blamed for stopping a wedding because the bridegroom, who was of German descent, had not obtained a license. Even though banns are read, it is the rule that in all marriages where one of the parties is a foreigner, this license should be obtained. This rule, it seems, is not mere red tapeism, but is of vital importance, because it is necessary that the marriage should be deemed legal in both countries that are represented, also that the children should be legitimate. Instancing the peculiarities of marriage laws in other countries, one official mentioned that the old Austrian law provided that a marriage between an Austrian and one of- another nationality was legal, so long as the foreigner was Christian. This seemed very reasonable, till it was found that under an old, but valid law, members of the Church of England were not Christians.