GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 6 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

I RAILWAY THROUGH ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. It is somewhat startling to learn that a railway through ancient Assyria and Babylonia is seriously contemplated. The following appeared in a daily contemporary: —Mr. Ernest Rechnitzer, a Hungarian banker, established in London, has put forward a fresh demand to the Turkish Government for a concession for a railway ■from Konieh to the Persian Gulf. It is understood that Mr. Rechnitzer disposes of | English capital mainly. Belgium and Germany will also participate. Total length of line, about 1500 miles. Route, from Alexandretta to Aleppo, following the right valley of the Euphrates, crossing at Hit, thence to Bagdad and Bassorah, ending in a good port to be constructed on the Persian Gulf. There will be a connecting line to Konieh joining the company, which is to be caned the Mediterranean and Indian • Ocean Railway, with the Anatolian system, ; so that, with but one break, caused by | the necessity of taking a ferry-boat to Con-, ' st.intinonle to cross the Bosphorus, passen-' ' gers will be able to go from London to 1 the Persian Gulf in about a week. This' ; new line will open up Mesopotamia, once ' the most fertile country in the world j it ■ will cross the spot where by some the site ' of Paradise is located, and bring within . easy reach of tourists the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. Passengers will be able to • reach Bombay in about ten days from Lon- ' don, supposing a fast line of steamers was : run in connection with this railway, calling at the terminus on the Persian Gulf. A HSU STORY. The following story is going the rounds of ; the English press:— party of visitors who were sailing in a pleasure yacht off Lee met with an extraordinary adventure. Suddenly a 'arge fish jumped on board, and with its tail smashed all the vessel's gear, and broke the main boom. One gentleman received a blow in the face, which blacked his eye. The fish then thrust its nose into the cabin and remained rrniet, and the party made for the shore with all speed. The unwelcome intruder proved to be a whale thrasher, about 15ft long, and weighing half a ton. It is now being exhibited in Ilfracombe. OLD AGE PENSIONS AT NORWICH. Messrs. J. and J. Colman (Limited), Norwich, have given notice of an old age pension scheme for the workpeople employed in their works at Carron. Messrs. Colman propose to give a pension of 8s a week at the age of 65 to each of their employees, who will be called upon to contribute the sum of twopence a week. On this twopence the company will allow three per cent, interest, and the whole proceeds thereon j will go to increase the pension. If the man should die or leave the service of the company before the age of 65, the money will. be returned to him. Facilities are to be ' given for the increase of the pension, and the creation of a savings fund, on which three per cent, will also be allowed. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCANDAL. A grave scandal hits burst upon the cleri-1 cal world in Rome. The Gazetta de Yene-' zia, having declared the bishops attending the recent conclave of Latin America—that is, Spanish-speaking America—as men of loose morality, the Osservatorc Catholico, Vatican organ, replied, declaring that the lives of the bishops present at the Conclave were above suspicion. The Gazetta de 1 Venezia responds, affirming . that the ma-; jority of the bishops brought with them to Rome their mistresses, and in some in- ■ stances their children. The Gazetta offers to disclose the names of the bishops, and demands that the Pope' shall satisfy the ■ Catholic world by taking measures against them. THE DREAM CAME TRUE. A remarkable instance of a dream coming true is reported from St. Louis. A woman named Mary Thornton has been detained in I custody for a month, charged with the murder of her husband. She requested to ' see one of the judges, and told him that she had dreamed that a man named George , Ray murdered her husband, and at the same I time gave the judge full details of the tra-1 gedy, as seen in her vision. Ray was not suspected, but the judge was so impressed with tho woman's earnestness that he caused a search to be made for him. The man was found. The judge charged him with the murder, and recited the details as the woman had given them. Ray was astounded and confessed. The woman was immediately released. 1 GOOD NEWS FOR BALD MEN. j A Turkish physician has been experiment- ■ ing successfully on the transplanting of ■ hairs, one by one, on bald parts of the scalp. His results seem to show that there is no impossibility in the complete , renewal' of a lost head of lmir by this. means. The physician, Dr. Menahem Ho-, dara, according to a foreign paper, tried his experiments in the case of a disease that had removed part of his patient's hair. His plan was to scarify the bare surface, and to j implant therein hairs removed from other j parts of the patient's head. The hairs ■ used for the purpose were trimmed with scissors at each end. Some four weeks after emplantation, a certain number of j the hairs were found to have taken root, | and in no long time a goodly new crop was produced. Encouraged by these results, Dr. iiodara has since applied the method in other eases of baldness following favus, and he thinks himself justified in stating that I " clinically there can be no doubt as to this very curious fact—that small bundles of hair stems, cut with scissors, and implanted in the incisions, can take root and grow, forming in time long and visible hairs." By microscopic examination, he has satisfied himself that after some weeks a real new bulb forms at the lower end of the implanted hair. Dr. Hodara's results are ' interesting in themselves, and still more in the promise which they appear to offer of further results, undreamt of, or at any rate unmentioned, .by the ingenious experimenter. lord Londonderry's ponies. Perhaps the most unique sale of its kind ever held took place a few days ago, when [ the whole of the pedigree stud of Shetland [ ponies belonging to the Marquis of London--1 derry was offered foi public competition. I There have been sales from time to time of : limited numbers of these tiny animals, but j never before lias there been a dispersal of an entire stud as in this instance. The I noble owner, who has made his name famous in connection with the hardy Sh?ltie, has decided to give up hi 3 farm at the Island j of Bressav, one of the Shetland group, where ' his lordship bred and reared the animals on their native heath. For 25 years, Lord Londonderry has with unceasing care endeavoured to improve the breed so as to be as near perfection as possible, sparing neither trouble nor expense to attain the object desired. That this has been accomplished the success of the stud in the showyard is ample proof, as it has produced nearly every prize-winning Shetland pony , in the United Kingdom or elsewhere during 1 the past 20 years. Mr. Ernest Crow was engaged as an auctioneer, and the sale was' held at the stud farm, Dawdon Dene, one of the chief conditions being no reserve. THE DECLINE OF REVIVALS. In America, the very home ot revivalism, it- js being remarked that revivals of religion ' scent to be growing unfashionable. " Are Revivals Obsolete?" This is a query propounded by the New York Observer, which says that the question is raised by some as I to whether the age of revivals, which are ' a kind of miracles, is not past. It is con- ' fidently asserted by various good people that the great convulsive "awakenings" of former years cannot nowadays be realised, . that such revival methods are as archaic as ! sailing frigates and smooth-bore ordnance, and that the only practicable method of gathering souls into the kingdom is that of personal suasion, one by one. It does seem i to be the case, in this country as well as in ; America, that the centrifugal tendencies of : society are overcoming the centripetal. Disj sipation of energy is one of the consequences of the pursuit both of wealth and of pleasure. Society may lapse into peril through the distractions involved by its habits. Men 110 longer pray that consolidating prayer of the Psalmist, "Unite my heart to fear Thy j name." The heart of humanity is now ] abroad over all the earth. It is becoming I increasingly difficult to gather great masses 'of men "with one accord, in one place." Great awakenings are more difficult to in- ' duce than formerly. But they are as necessary to-day. as ever ' The churches need frequent reviving, and religion cannot dispense with Ihe mighty power generated in great assemblies, with their inspiration, unity, magnetism, 'and fervour.—Christian | Commonwealth.. •'