GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8986, 17 September 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

OUR RECORD ON THE SEA-FLOOR.

Dr. Shaler writes in this month's Scribnw an interesting, article on "The Depths of the Sea." He says : "Itis a" singular, and perhaps somewhat humiliating, fact that the most conspicuous and indelible record which man is making in the strata now forming on the sea-floor is written in the bits of coal and ash which are cast from our steamships as they pursue their way over the ocean. The quantity of this debris is very great, and, unlike the wrecks, it i 8 very evenly scattered along the paths followed by our steam marine. It is likely that already in the tracks of our transatlantie commerce not a square rod would fail to give a trace of this waste from our coal-burning engines. As this material ia not attacked by the marino animals, and U very little affected by the other agents o! decay, it will doubtless be very perfectly preserved in the strata which are to bear the records of our time. In the eventful formation of a deposit containing a notable quantity of cinders it may be that our successors in the far hereafter will interpret our, perhaps otherwise, unrecorded ways of voyaging." It is remarkable how in very trivial ways we leave records of our lives behind us. This is equally true in matters pertaining to religion.

A NEW STYLE OF BODY-SNATCHISC. A strong-looking woman, named Betty Ann Arnold, who tramps from city to city in the United States, relates that one evening, when approaching Cincinnati, she sought for a quiet spot in a meadow and went to sleep, intending to pass the night in the open. She says she knew nothing of what happened, until she next found herself in a Cincinnati medical college, where she had been taken by a body-snatcher, who had chloroformed her and sold her body to students. She was at once released on gaining consciousness, but was warned nob to speak a word of what had occurred. She broke her promise, however, as Boon at she could find a policeman, and the bodysnatcher is badly wanted. ARE OUR GIRLS GETTING TALLER? " Have you noticed," said a gilded youth in Hyde Park, " how much taller the girls have been these last few seasons than formerly The remark was just, and though it did not seem to strike the critic, the reason for the change is obvious enough. These tall girls, with their graceful figures and free movements, have had an education in gymnastics which has developed them to a point of physical perfection of which their mothers never dreamed. A recent critic complained that little woman had "gone out" in fiction, and perhaps this has happened because to a great extent the little woman has gone out in real life. So much the better, for though in stories, and perhaps in courting days, there is something fascinating in the heroine's bird-like fluttering*, in her nestling timidly in the hero's protecting arms, or standing on tiptoe to fasten a flower in his buttonhole, the charming fairy was apt, if you only knew it, to become an invalid in maturer life, and spend half her time upon the sofa. The lady who reclines on a sofa has also vanished from fiction, at leastas an interesting and attractive character, and to die of consumption is no longer romantic. Health is in fashion—in the park and elsewhere. MARRIED HER ASSAIi.ER. A charge of atttempt to murder, brought against a man named Milward, at the Staffordshire assizes, has ended in a strange way. The object of the prisoner's attack was a woman named Hood ; but when the Grand Jury were called on to return a bill the foreman informed the judge that they found themselves in a difficulty—the woman having since the alleged attack upon her married her assailant. Mr. Stokes, a legal juryman, thereupon pointed out that as this was a case of personal injury, the woman could give evidence against her husband, and Mr. Justice Collins observed that the Grand Jury "could certainly have the woman before them." The Grand Jury, therefore, retired to adopt the judge's advice; but when they returned into court matters were pretty much where they were before. They had had "the woman before them," in accordance with the judge's suggestion ; but she had sturdily refused to say anything against her penitent husband. The bill was accordingly thrown out for want of evidence.

EXTREMES OF HEAT. Extreme heat in all lands Bengal, 150 degrees Fahrenheit ; Borgu, Sahara Desert, 153 degrees; Persia, 125 degrees ; Calcutta, India, 120 degrees ; Central American Republics, 129 degrees; Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 105 degrees ; Greece, 109 degrees ; Arabia, 111 ; New York, 102; Spain, Cuba, China, and Jamaica, 110 ; France, Denmark, Russia, and Sandwich Islands, 100 degrees; England, Ireland, and Portugal, 88 degrees; Australia, 80; Scotland, 75; Sweden and Norway, 65 ; Iceland, 42 ; and Nova Zembla, 32 degrees, never above the freezing point. PANIC IN A MUSIC-HALL. Just before midnight on July 31 a serious panic occurred in the Palace Pavilion, Douglas, Isle of Man. The building was filled with 8000 English, Scottish, and Irish visitors. Professor Darling was performing in a cage with four lions when a boy 'cried, " The gallery is giving way." There was a wild stampede for the exits. Other persons cried, "fire," and "lions are loose." Women fainted, and the scene for a few minutes was one of wild disorder. Eventually the panic was quelled. A few slight injuries were sustained, but none of a serious nature. Twenty pounds reward is offered for the detection of the person who raised the false alarm. A MILITARY DIVORCE CASE. Lieut.-Col. Withatn Finlay, of the Army Medical Staff, has sued for divorce on the ground of his wife's alleged adultery with Captain A. VV. Gay, an artillery officer. According to petitioner's evidence, parties were married in 1880, and had three children. In 1890 they made co-respon-dent's acquaintance, and he visited them at their house. In January last respondent confessed to her husband she had committed adultery with Captain Gay, and the evidence of servants showed co-respondent had visited respondent in her husband's absence, and that letters had passed between the pair. The co-respondent had written to petitioner expressing deep regret for bringing such disgrace upon him, and begging that the terrible blow might fall as lightly as possible on Mrs. Finlay. He added, "He that is without sin let him cast the first stone." In a letter to respondent, Captain Gay offered to do anything to atone for the misery he had caused, and expressed his readiness to marry her aftei the case was over. There was no evidence, and Justice Barnes, having heard the dence in support of the petition, granteor decree nisi, with costs against co-respon dent. TEA DRINKING IN BELFAST. The evil effects of tea-drinking in excess (says a Belfast paper) can be nowhere i better seen than in our artisan city oi ! Belfast. The cup that cheers is used most ! extensively by the women and girls ; the men absorb another kind of beverage. I Anyone with a little experience of our i factories and warehouses knows that the female employes look upon tea as an absolute food, and drink it upon all possible occasions. Even smoothers, who use gasirons, surreptitiously brew tea, black and strong, over their irons between meal times. There can be no doubt that the lassitude and pallor of a great percentage of the girls of Belfast is almost directly due to the excessive use of tea. Could they be induced to imitate their Scotch cousins closely ii. the matter of consumption of good porridge, I venture to say there would be more elasticity in , the step, brighter ; colour in the cheeks, and lustre in the eyes, ! not to mention increased aptitude for work and a greater zest for outdoor exercise. SLEEPY BURGLARS. At about midnight on 13th July a police officer noticed that a window of St. Mathias' Church, Nottingham,- was open, and, on entering, discovered two men fast asleep inside the communion rails. When taken into custody they admitted they entered the sacred edifice for the purposes of plunder, but, being very tired, sat down and fell asleep. They are Nottingham labourers, named respectively John Oakley and Timothy Corless. Both were charged before the magistrates, and were remanded. HOW A LADY SHOULD HOLD HER DRESS. There is a difference (says the Globe) in the '■ mode of holding up a skirt that is distinct enough. The generality of women clutch the "gown at the back and drag it round to one side, the effect being extremely hideous. ' The select minority, having apparently studied the result of. this treatment' on others, hold the gown a little out at" the back, so that there shall be no dragging of draperies against the figure. ;■