WORLD'S NEWS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1921, 15 May 1913, Page 7

WORLD'S NEWS.

FROM LATEST FILES. LIGHTNING DEATH. 4 —mmmm KILLED IN HER BEDROOM. London, April 3. Singular evidence was. given yesterday at the inquest on Mrs Charlotte Oxley a Reigate lady. On Good Friday morning Mrs Oxley was upstairs preparing for church when there was a flush of lightning. Her son heard a fall, and running upstairs found his mother lying on the floor three feet away from the fireplace, the bars of which were broken. Dr. Wilson eaid lightning must have caused death, the current passing through-the body without injuring the skin. The Coroner said death was due to the electric current passing through the lady's brain, and a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony was returned.

LIVING ON BRANDY.

GALLONS FOR POOR-LAW PATIENT.

London, April 3.

The supply of a gallon of brandy to the workhouse infirmary was objected to by Mr Havelock West at the Lambethßoard of Guardians yesterday. He complained that there had boen frequent requisitions for brandy during the past few months. They had reduced their drink bill to 15s a year, but it would soon be raised again to £4O a year. The medical superintendent reported that the spirit was necessary in order to keep one patient alive. She had been taking it since October. The Rev. W. Hobbs: Is the patient not going to have a change in her medicine for the rest of her natural life? Mr West: It is used to keep her quiet. Miss Leaf said the woman would not live if the brandy was stopped. Mi Kinnaird: I agree you cannot keep a person alive on ginger beer, but a gallon of brandy a fortnight is a serious matter. The Board decided to grant the supply of brandy. THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK.

STORY OF ITS ORIGIN.

London, April 3.

The story of the origin of the elephant's trunk was told by Prof. A. S. Woodward (keeper of the Geological Department of the British Museum) at the Royal Institution yesterday during an address on "Recent Discoveries of Early Man." Elephants, he said,- were originally little creatures. For some reason not yet understood, they were succeeded by creatures in which the legs were growing longer whilst the' neck remained the same length, or, in fact, got shorter. They could not reach the ground without lengthening the jaw, and they were going rapidly towards a mechanically impossible position. Eventually they had to increase the length of their face enormoasly. The elephants only saved their career by shortening up the mandible, and survived solely, because the long face took on a new function and became the mechanism by which thev were able to feed.

LADIES' VEILS AN EVIL.

SIR JOHN COOKBURN'S VIEWS. London, April 2. Sir John Cockburn, at the Royal Sanitary Institute last night, said that health was very closely akin to holiness, and their derivation was identical. Moses was the first medical officer of health, and he showed a deep interest in all matters concerning the health of the individual and the community. The ordinary bedroom was quite insanitary, and everyone should sleep with the windows open at night. He wanted to make a crusade against ladies' veils.There was nothing more beautiful than the face divine, and yet these veils had awful spots which made the ladies look as if they had black eyes. (Laughter.) The fearful grimaces that- ladies who wore veils had to nse led in time to the deterioration of the features. (Laughter). He also deprecated sleeping in sheets and the wearing of night attire. No one should despise the hot water bottle. (Laughter). Poets and philosophers might live on a vegetable diet, but it was necessary for those engaged in politics and who had to encounter in deadly enmity their fellow men, and raise the worse passions of which they were capable, to have a carnivorous diet. (Laughter.) CARGO OF 7000 FINCHES. LAST OF AUSTRALIA'S. London, April 3.

No longer can the bright.plumaged birds of Australia be exported to this country, and it is only by an officially-countenanced breach of the regulations that a Bethnal Green firm will receive next week the last consignment of seven thousand feathered visitors—mostly finches—from the Commonwealth. Messrs De Von, the consignees, told a representative of The Daily News that in the past they had been singnlarly fortunate in suffering very few losses on the long sea journey. The fe tfcliered travellers were carefully tended on the voyage by the trapper himself, and their appetite and cheerfulness were maintained right up to the time «? disembarkation. The dry season is the bird trapper's opportunity. He knows the birds' habits perfectly, and can tell in which direction they will travel in search of water. With his nets lie takes up a place near the waterholes, and they fly unsuspectingly into the nets. Large as is the accommodation in Messrs De Von's aviaries, temporary quarters have had to te secured for tiie newcomers, the extent of whose appetites may be gathered from the fact that usually there isn't much left of half a ton of seed at the close of an average day!