GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10037, 25 January 1896, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

A MAD 1)00 IN BUNBIJKY. A few day# ago a mad dog found it« w into Sunbury-on-Thamos and bit no f*'' than eleven children before it was destr *" ' The bead of tha animal wag sent to ufj ' for examination, and a? it was found a• had been affected with rabies,the elf' 1 children, about whom the graven an'*" i hensjon? were felt, were conveyed to 1. ' to undergo treatment nt tho is s ltr ' 1 Institute. The little sufferers were CUI conipanied by Captain and Mr;. V T i K , „ a< t Sunbury, and several trained nurses '°j the expenses of their removal unci treat!,, will be defrayed by public subscript;!! 1 Tlijs (a believed to be the largest number "i persons bitten by one dug in one duv in ,1? county of Middlesex for many y,. arß ' number of other dogs and poultry, bitten b the same animal, were killed. ' THE WORLD'S OLUKST WOODEN 8C11.1H.V,, Japan possesses what is probably a. oldest wooden structure in the world, u contains tl)0 art treasures of the Mikado and is situated in which fur some year* was the imperial residence. The biii.d,,, is oblong in shape and is built of triangular logs of wood. It rests on pile?. The wood usod is of witive growth and hliowb h . traordinary lasting power, considering ,| ie trying climate which it had to endure f O , over 1200 years.. A peculiar feature about the logs of which the building is construo te is that, in parti most exposed to the weather the lop are thinner by several inches th atl ' those in a more sheltered position, the * 00( having gradually worn away. The treasures which the storehouse contains arc of great antiquity and have been seen by Europeans during only the last three yuan*. They consist of rare and beautiful fabrics Persian, Indian, Chinese,and Turkish inunu, facture and articles from all parts of tin world.

SHOT FOR STIiALINU A CARKOT. French farmers have apparently com. menced to take the law into their owe hands as regards thefts from their fields. A short time ago a lad who had stolen an apple was killed by the irate owner, Another outrage is now reported from Roubaix. A lad of fourteen,.called Francoii Brice, stole a carrot from a neighbour's field, Tlio proprietor, Henri Delcourt, who waa passing at the time, carrying a shot em, saw the act, and, aiming at the boy, told him to stand still or ha would fire. Brice, instead of obeying, immediately took tc flight, and thereupon the angry landowner pulled tlio trigger, and wounded the lad severely in the arms, back, and head. The assailant, who was at once arrested, pretend) that he did not lire at Brice, but was aiming at a crow that was flying by. A JIIKD'S NEST MADE OK STKIX, A curious gift has been made to the Natural History Museum of Soletta. This gift consists of a bird's nest, constructed entirely of steel, Thero are a great many watchmakors at Soletta, and in the vicinity of the workshops there ore always the remains of the old springs of watches, which have been cast aside. Last summer a watchmaker discovered this curious bird's nest, which had been built in a tree in hi; courtyard by a pair of water-wagtails. It measures ten centimetres in circumference, and is made solely of watch springs. hen the birds had fledged their brood the watchmakers secured their nest as an interesting proof of the intelligence of birds in adapting anything which comes within their roach.

NEWSPAPER TWAINS. At 5.15 ever}' morning, winter or summer, fair weather or foul, a train starts northward from the chief railway termini in London which has a supreme contempt for passengers. Passengers may come if they like, but very little preparation is made t.i welcome them. The porter with a truck of foot-warmers is not visible ; the lender of pillows is absent; the refreshment room blinks with one feeble gas-jet; and thore is no newspaper boy with shrill voice vending his wares in an unknown tongue. It is the newspaper train—the Fleet street expressa model of punctuality, and its chiel carriages are loaded with parcels of all kinds, damp from the press, which are thrown out at all the expectant station!. Some years ago, before the news-agencies and the telegraph made every local paper an organ of European news, these parcels may have been inoro important; bub time lias not roduced them in size or numbers. It is not by any means a " train of pleasure, * and those few who travel by it are moved by necessity rather than by choice, but it is a train that is seen in no other country but England and America.

CYCLING VKRSDS MORPHINE, 01 n Chicago that city of hurrying men and restless women—there were, so a popular preacher said not long ago, no fewer that 35,000 persons who habitually took hypo dermic injections of morphia to save themselves from the pains and terrors o! neuralgia, insomnia, nervousness, etc. Thi British Medical Journal says thatcyclinghiu become the rage in Chicago as elsewhere, and the morphine takers have discovered that a long spin in the fresh air on a cycle induces sweet sleep better than their favourite drug. The result is said to be thai tho number of those in Chicago who take hypodermic injections of morphine is diminishing. Exorcise and fresh air are known to all doctors to be the cure for half the ills flesh—and especially nervous overwrought city-bred flesh—is heir to.

NIGHT ON THE HIMALAYAS. Here is a word picturo of night on the Himalayas, culled from Captain F. S. J. Core's "Afghan and Hindu Highlants of the Punjab"Night closed in with wonderful rapidity, and after our evening meal we strolled out, away from the glare of the camp tiro before our tent, to try and impress the position we were in on our feeble memories. Wrapped as we were in oar sheepskin coats, the marvellous stillness of the air prevented us from feeling any cold at all. Everything around was full of the mystery of night. One great white mass of eternal snow, though scarcely visible in the bright starlight, stood like a giant above us, seeming to crush us into insignificance by the vastness of his ghastly presence. The distant roar of many torrents, set free from the glaciers by the day's hot sun, rose up from the ravine below out of the intenso stillness. It was difficult, when standing here surrounded by the whole majesty of Nature in the heart of the Himalayas, seemingly so far removed from all earthly surroundings, to realise that we still hold in our hands a line that bound us to the hurrying and bustling civilisation, with all the narrowness and littlenesses which form so great a part of modem life. A RETRIEVER'S RAT CATCHING) TRICK. In the Spectator Mr. Maurice B. Adams relates tho following story of a retriever dog belonging to the housekeeper of a wellknown nowspaper office in the Strand. " Rata are constantly caught on the premises, and the dog, fully aware of their habits, evinces such ability that his intelligence is quite worthy of record. Last Sunday he was heard barking loudly, calling for assistance, in the compositors' room, where there is a rat hole in the floor. The dog had watched two fine rats come up through their hole, and immediately they were fairly away from their point of entry he rushed up and sat on the hole to cut ill their means of retreat, barking forthwith for help. Nothing could induce him tc budge till a board was brought and placed over the hole, when he started in pursuit, and soon despatched the intruders. His master assures me that the dog originated this ingenious method of procodure, and that he has practised it with like success on several other occasions."

A DELUSIVE HUIRKSS. Hard times are responsible for many new ventures in the way of money-making, but it remained for a young man in London to prove that, though the money market was dull, wives ii.ra always in demand. The fertile mind of this youth conceived the plan of advertising himself as a beautiful young heiress anxious to be married, to received thousands of answers to this, and in u most ingenious fashion told each adorer that he would need two or three pounds to • leave London, and to pay I>' ! expenses to the place where his correspondent was living. For some time the yountf man enjoyed an income of about £"20 ft week, and this would probably have gone 011 for over had it not boon for the fact that one of his victims swelled * rat, and, when the heiress failed to appear at the appointed time, set the polico «< work, The young man is now languishing behind prison bars for obtaining mone][ under false pretences, and it is to be hoped that upon the expiration of his sentencJ he will turn his energies in & direction more in accordance with the letter of tin law,