SUMMARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 16 April 1910, Page 1

SUMMARY.

It is claimed that Halley's Comet has been seen faintly, through the telescope at Wellington and Auckland in the early morning. The American Steel Trust is increasing operatives' wages by 9,000,000 dollars annually. A libel action against newspaper and a charge of assault against a resident are outcomes of the Powelka hunt at Palmerston North. The inquest into the killing of Sergeant Maguire at Palmerston North allegedly by Powelka, was begun to-day. The Dominion Scouts who went to Palmerston North to help in the Powelka hunt are hurt at local coolness and Wellington newspaper criticism. In the House of Commons in the veto resolutions debate there was an exciting scene when the Government was taunted about Irish support. Three men at Wellington were fined yesterday for playing "hazard." A Wellington district order notifies that Territorial troops will train by corps at present, or otherwise by units. The City Council last evening recorded its condolence on the death of the late Mr Trask, M.L.C., for many years Mayor of Nelson. The British House of Commons will adjourn on 28th inst., for three weeta, six weeks' supply being taken. All the Lords' veto resolutions have ben carried in the House of Commons, and the Bill based thereon has been introduced. The "Times" says that the British Premier, at Mr Redmond's bidding, is drinking the cup of humiliation to the dregs. ' Many Australians in London are surprised at the labour victories ia tho Commonwealth elections. The state of parties in the Fedoral House of Representatives as the result of the Commonwealth elections is Labour 44. Liberals 31, with a Labour majority also in the Senate. Thirty-one earthquake shocks have been felt in Costa Rica, and a million dollars' worth of damage has been done. The New York Senate has appointed a Committee to inquire into means to prevent political corruption. As reported yesterday a severe gale blew in the South Island on Thursday night. A "cold snap" was experienced on Thursday and yesterday at Dunedin, there being a light fall of snow. Some minor damage was done' by the gale at Timaru on Thursday night. The Otway case of smallpox in the Sydney Hospital is mild and no spread of infection is feared. • The Shipwreck Relief Society giveH £IOO towards the relief of the_ castaways of the wrecked steamer Pericles. Owing to the prevalence of cargobroaching m the Sydney quays the Magistrate says that the time for leniency with offenders is past. A singular fatality occurred in the Abermain coal mine, Newcastle (N.S.W.) when a miner was choked by a travelling rope. Brewer's timber yards and mills, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, have been burnt down, involving £20,00 damage. A schoolboy aged 14 burnt down the Flowerdale State school, Victoria, as he did not like having to attend. The Health Department accepts the essentials of Mr Hay's report and recommendations on drainage construction in Nelson. Contrary to anticipations, the wreck of the Koi has not shifted from the upright position, though her funnel and some deck plates have gone. Further, salvage operations at th» wreck of the Koi await the report of the diver. An interesting and important report has recently been issued at Guy's Hospital in connection with the treatment of lockjaw; all the cases which have occurred in that institution during the last twenty years being critically review, ed. Lockjaw, known to medical men as tetanus,"is one. of those terrible maladies which occasion great suffering and baffle the best attempts of the profession to successfully treat them. Commencing with stiffness o fthe jaw muscles, tetanus quickly goes on to .produce violent convulsions', which utterly exhaust its victim's strength, whilst preventing him from taking food, owing to him being unable to open his mouth, hence its more popular designation of "lockjaw." Investigations have shown that this dreadful disease is due to a microbe which commonly exists in ordinary soil and the surface-mud of tho streets, whose habitat explains tho reason why tetanus frequently attacks persons who have been injured in street accidents, and had their wound contaminated with refuse and dust from the roadway. Although no certain cure for tetanus is yet known, progress is being made with injections of anti-tetanic serum."