News From Home.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6835, 27 October 1900, Page 4

News From Home.

THE STATE OF THE LONDON

STREETS

"AVhat with the Twopenny Tube laMn' up the passengers, and the tele-phone-layers takin' up the roads, 'busdrivin's not 'bus-drivin,'" said a 'busdriver, bitterly. " It's a mixture of a military tournament and a circus, with a bit of American trottin' thrown in. Talk about drivin' the guns through posts at the Hagricultural 'All, why there's a place in Newgate street where I 'five to drive between a pillar-box and some scaffold poles, and I'm blessed if there's room for another coat of paint on the pillar-box. There's a lot of little kopjes in the road to drive over, too, and a copper with a note-book kiddin' 'nnself 'c's a judge in a drivin'competition, and watchin' to see if you scrape any paint off."—Evening News. THE SAVAGERY OF SARAH. Sarah Bell is a young woman with pronounced cannibalistic tendencies. When caught by a Wilfrid Hayes in the net of pilfering cheese from the shop of Thomas Jones Davies, in Burdettroad, London, she dropped the cheese and fastened upon Hayes, biting him on the hand and shoulder. She further attempted to stick her hat-pin into his face, and when a constable interfered she fixed her teeth in the calf of iiis leg aud kicked him with great vigor. The men of the district appear to know Sarah, and fear her, for, although a crowd of 200 persons witnessed the scene, not a single man responded to the constable's anneal for assistance. Sarah was finally subdued by one of her own sex, Miss Annie Donovan, the daughter of a police constable. At the Thames Police Court Mr Mead complimented the latter on her plucky conduct, and sentenced Sarah to two months' hard labor. AN ELE'JTION IN THE GOOD OLD TIMES. 'Ihe only election which occurred at Gatton within historic memory was curious enough. Sir Mark Wood, who had been one of its members for several years, had as his colleague in the Par- - liament of 1812 Sir William Congreve, the inventor of the famous " Congreve rocket." The latter resigned in 181 C, and the baronet wished his own son to fill the vacancy. There were only three voters in the constituency—Sir Mark, his son, and his butler, named Jennings ; but as the son was away and the butler had quarrelled with his master, ,an opportunity was afforded for a singular revenge. Jennings refused to second ' Sir Mark's nomination of his son, and [ proposed himself; and a deadlock was 1 averted only by Sir Mark coming to terms with the refractory butler, whose nomination he seconded in order to induce him to act as seconder to his son. Matters being thus put formally in train, Sir Mark arranged with Jennings , that the former's vote should be alone 1 given, and the final state of the poll at Gratlon's only known contest stood thus : — Wood (Tory) ■1; Jennings, (Whig), o.—Westminster Gazette. LIBERALS v. SOLDIERS. Seventy men of the Ist Rifle Brigade, who have been fighting the Empire's battles in South Africa, were struck off 1 the Parliamentary register on the ' objection of a Liberal agent. The men were voters in the Parshurst, Isle of Wight district, and as they went to the 1 front In October last they had been absent more than four months of the ; qualified period, and were thus technii cally disqualified. When the Liberal agent raised objection to their votes, at the Isle of Wight Revision Court ' yesterday, the Conservative agent expressed surprise that such advantage of 1 a technical disqualification should be 1 taken, but the Revising Barrister, in '. view of the objection, had no alternative, and struck off the votes. ; SNAKE-EATING BUSHMAN. ! Major Gibbons, the explorer, who has iust returned to England after traversing Africa from the Zambesi to Cairo, told a representative of Keuter's Agency th .t " while in Marotseland we discovered a tribe of bush men totally different from any I had previously seen. Timid to a degree, they are of slight build, but not unduly short. Tboy haye not thick lips, but rather their lips recede, giving them almost the appeaiance of being toothless, and curiously enough they haye a liuht skin, being little darker than a sunburnt white man. They are armed with bows and arrows and have no habitation of any kind, Their food consists largely of snakes, and at the close of their day's hunting they sleep on the ground wherever they may hapuen to be. They are nude except for a cat skin hanging from the waist. They were quite friendly." HOPPER'S SACK OF BOOTS, About two in the morning a vigilant young constable saw George Davis carrying a sack along OKI Kent-road, The sack looked bulky, and though he had only been in the force a few weeks, Police-constable Carwardine had his wits about him. " What have you in that sack?" he demanded. "It's all right, mate," said Davis, "I'm going hoppiti', and this is my outfit," Not satisfied, the officer searched the sack and disclosed twenty-rive pairs of boots stolen from a Bermondsey warehouse. The unlawful possession of these goods with live blank cheques in hia pocket, induced the chairman of IheNewington Sessions to provide Davis with free board for the next twelve montus, DRAGOONS IN A QUICKSAND. Visions of Redgauntiet, and of the catastrophe which nearly overtook the hero of Scott's thrilling romance, are caL'ed up by a singular occurrence near Dundrum, county Down. Seven troopers belonging to the 3td Dragoon Guards, now iv camp near the Mourne Mountains, were exercising their horses when they got into a quicksand. Tho men were extricated with some difficulty. Both men and horses were more or less injured, the horses indeed so seriously that they had to be shot. BANKRUPTCY OF A DUKE. So far from a proposal having been made by the Duke of Manchester to his creditors, it is now stated that the debtor has consented to adjudication of bankruptcy. The duke is life tenant of Kimbolton Castle, St. Ncots, and Tandragee Castle, co. Armagh, which are both so heayily charged that no surplus remains after the interest on the charges has been provided for. Since coming of age he has received a voluntary allowance of £70 a month from relatives. He estimates that his e.ppnditure has been from £1,500 to £2,000 a year. In addition to liabilities amounting to £15,000, there are numerous accommodation acceptances outstanding. The first meeting of creditors is fixed for September 28SNAKES LLFT IN POSSESSION. The invasion by snakes of a house at Cefn Caean, near Llanelly, anppars less extraordinary. The house, it seems, was inhabited entirely by women, and so terrified did they become at last that they vacated their home and left the snakes in undisputed possession. In justice to the ladieß, however, it should be said that they did not desert the ancestral roof until they had begun a fairlysuccessful war of extermination, twenty-two snakes, as already stated, ' ••having been slaughtered in a single day. The reptiles, however, continued to arrive, not in single spies but in -battalions. They

crawled through the ■walls, curled themselves upon ings, and eorrie of the more aspiring even set! led themselves comfortably in the bi-iirjoDis-It was found one morning that lhree snakes, each nearly 3frTlong, had coiled themselves round a bedßlead. Ihe house is mi old structure, and has now been permanently condemned. | JOTTINGS. The reckless extravagance of the Maharajah of Bhurtpore, who has recently been deposed by the Governmetit. of India, lod him to buy a silver coach costing £10,000. General McArthur states in a despatch from Manila that Capt. McQuiston shot a number of the men ot his company in a lit of temporary insanity. Tin; others in self defence shot and killed him.