GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11538, 24 November 1900, Page 6 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

! ''■■.'.,' 'v> A PATIENT HUSBAND. ., I There is an excellent story .told in the- curI rent. Woman at Home, showings how some I men in the Far West, feel regarding wives ,who have made their" lives miserable. A long-suffering husband was burying his wife. The coffin had been taken from; the hearse by the pall-bearers, and was being carried through the somewhat narrow-gate of the cemetery. 'It chanced that < in passing through the gate the coffin was thrust hard against one of the posts. Almost immediately, to the amazement of the mourners, a muffled scream was heard. The lid was hastily unscrewed. And, lo! the woman was not dead at all. She was taken home, and lived for three more years. Then she died again. At the funeral, as the coffin was being lowered from the hearse, the husband addressed the bearers very solemnly " Boys —mind that post." MATRIMONIAL PRIZE. A working man sought Mr. Plowden's advice at Marylebone lately with respect to his wife. She gave way to drink. Mr. Plowden : I cannot cure that. Applicant: I have five children. Mr. Plowden: I cannot cure that. Applicant: She has turned me out of home. Mr. Plowden: I cannot cure that. Applicant: She has neglected the home and-the children. Mr. Plowden: I cannot cure that. . Applicant:' She has pledged everything in the ; place.- Mr. lowden: lam sure you are* very much to be sympathised with. You appear to have drawn a prize in the matrimonial market, but I cannot .help you. The law does not help husbands at all. Applicant then withdrew. ' The next applicant, a young man, said he had recently got married, and was being maligned by "a married woman, who was • evidently jealous of his wife. Mr. Plowden: You should feel highly flattered by her attentions. It is not often that a man rises to the giddy position of having two women clamouring after him. IMPORTANT DISCOVERY BT PROF. KOCH. A telegram received at New York, says the Telegraph correspondent, announces that Professor Koch, the bacteriologist and discoverer of the tubercule bacillus, has arrived at Hongkong from German New Guinea, where he has been engaged in a scientific investigation in regard to malarial diseases and the means of preventing and curing them. He announces that the extirpation of malarial is possible by the use of a preparation he has compounded, the chief ingredient in which is quinine. The professor has made many successful experiments. After an investigation lasting several weeks Herr Koch became convinced that mosquitoes were the active agents in the dissemination of malarial germs in New Guinea. Part of his efforts have, accordingly, been directed to finding a means of killing these insects. This must be accomplished in various ways, according to the locality. Professor Koch is now on his way to Berlin, where he will make a report, giving details of his investigations. The point of his discovery is that the use of his compound will purge ev«;y malarial district and keep it entirely free from the disease. LORD CHARLES BERES7ORD WINS A SHAM BATTLE. Lord Charles Beresford, the second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet, has just displayed some smart strategy. The,, fleet was divided into two sections, one under Admiral Sir John Fisher and the other commanded by Lor* Charles. They were instructed to carry out important manoeuvres designed to prove with what safety a fleet could go along certain shores in war time if an enemy's torpedo-boats infested such coast waters. Lord Charles was given the task of coaling his section and getting to sea undiscovered. This he did by fixing lights on launches so that they resembled ship's scuttles carelessly left open. The enemy saw the lights, and crept down with the object of torpedoing the ships, but meantime Lord Charles had slipped safely out to sea and the enemy found only the decoys. As soon as he was well at sea, Lord Charles by a false signal misled the enemy's scouts and made for Lemnos. On the way, he saw the enemy's fleet under Admiral Fisher steaming in two lines. 'He immediately ran his own ships between the lines so that he could use both broadsides while the enemy could use only one. The victory was therefore awarded to the gallant second in command. '. THE AMERICA CUP. Sir Thomas Lipton's formal challenge for next year's America Cup Race has been received in New York in an almost simultaneously delivered telegram and a letter addressed by Sir Thomas to the commodore of the Yacht Club and its secretary. The date is likely to be fixed for August. The yacht will be a new one, though it may bear the name of the Shamrock, and rumour says it will be built in a Thames yard from the designs of Mr. Wilson. What adds to the interest of these announcements in New York is the further rumour that the captain of the new Shamrock, if Shamrock it is to be, will be Captain Wringe, who sailed with the old Shamrock last year, and has lately been well known in New York yachting circles as skipper of the Mineola,. belonging to Mr. August Belmont.

THE BURGLAR'S BOAST. At Kingston-on-Thames lately three men, Edward Colder, Frederick Andrews, and Percy Millis, were charged with stealing 32 silk handkerchiefs from outside a shop in Kingston Market Place. Golder and Andrews were further charged with assaulting the police. Andrews indignantly denied knowing anything at all about the theft. " I am a burglar," he said to the magistrate, " not a little thief. I don't do jobs like that. I go in for something better than pinching handkerchiefs. They don't give me time for nothing. Igo in for years, not for months." Inspector West said Golder and Andrews were the worst criminals in the whole of the Kingston Division. P.C. Pbipps said Andrews boasted about being a burglar at the police station. He said, "Igo in for nightwork, and God help the policeman that ever tries to stop me." He was a most violent man, and at the station made a lunge at P.C. Sharpe with an open knife. Prisoners were committed for trial. PRIVATE SAVES THREE COMRADES FROM DROWNING. An interesting ceremony took place at Gibraltar on October 4, when the Royal Humane Society's bronze medal and certificate were presented to Private Hilton, of the Second Battalion Cameron Highlanders. Hilton won the medal in this way. A number of men had gone out to Camp Bay to bathe. The sea was running high, and several of the bathers, who had ventured out too far, were unable to regain the shore. Private Hilton immediately swam out and rescued two men. He was bringing in a third, who had already sunk once, when he was assisted by Private McGuire. The latter was also awarded the medal and certificate, but he was unable to receive it then as he is serving in South Africa with the First Battalion. The Governor, Sir George White, presented the medal in person. He said it had often fallen to his lot to present war medals and other decorations to soldiers for gallant conduct in the field, or for faithful service under other circumstances, but he had never presented one wh'ich he considered better earned than that which he was then presenting. " But far above the medal or insignia of your brave acts," he continued, " must be the feeling that by training yourself to be the finest swimmer in your battalion you have saved three of your comrades from death." SCARBOROUGH FISHERMEN ADRIFT FOR TWO DAYS. After being 38 hours at sea without food or drink, James Jarvis, a young Scarborough fisherman, and his friend, Henry Mackie Clarke, of Edinburgh, were picked up by the steam trawler Hartland and brought to Scarborough. They had been given up as drowned. They were fishing about a mile from Scarborough when a squall came on and their boat was damaged and drifted out to sea. To prevent their craft from being swamped one man kept its head to the sea, whilst the other was continually baling out water with a fire shovel, which was all they had on board. This continued throughout Sunday night, Monday, and Monday night, and when the Hartland hove in sight, about 16 miles from Scarborough, at four o'clock on Tuesday morning, the men were completely exhausted. They made frantic attempts to attract the attention of passing vessels on Monday, but failed. Jarvis took off his waistcoat and burnt it as a flare, and Clarke fastened his tie to the end of a pole and waved'that. Two steamers passed so close that they saw the officer walking on the bridge, but they either did not or would not notice the little craft and its occupants, who had quite despaired of seeing land again.