GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11644, 4 May 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

GERMAN' GUN'S AT AJLUERSHOT. A GOOD deal of adverse criticism exists ai Woolwich at the arrival from Aldershot of a number of quick-firing 15-pounder field guns made in Germany and issued to the 16th and 17th Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery at Aldershot. Half of the guns and their carriages have been returned to "Woolwich as disabled. They have broken axle-tres, damaged carriages, defective, breech mechanism, and when fired kick or recoil in an objectionable manner. The recoil has no effect on the aim, velocity, or range of the projectile, but it has a very de« structive effect on the carriages. .Steps are being taken at the royal gun factories with a view of ascertaining if the damage and defects can be made good, and if fitting then with Sir George Clark's anti-recoil arrangement will obviate the evils complained of.

STAGE AND VKKRAGK. The Marquis of Hcadfoit (whose marriage to Miss Rosie Boole, of the Gaiety, is announced) has many precedents, for the following peers have married actresses:—Third Duke of Bolton, married, 1751, 'Lavinia Fenton (died 1760) : second Duke of Cambridge, married Miss Farebrother (died, 1890) ; ninth Duke of St. Albans, married, 1827, Harriet Mellon (died. 1857'; fourth Marquis of Ailesbury, married, 1884. Dally Tester (still alive): fifth Earl of Clancarty, married. 1889. Belle Hilton, of "the halls;" first Karl of Craven, married, 1807. Louisa Brunton (died. 1850); 12th Earl of Derby,

married. 1797. Eliza Farren (died. 1829); fifth Earl of Essex, married. 1833, KitU Stephens (died. 1882); fourth Earl of Har ling ton, married, 1831. Maria Foote (died, 1867); seventh Earl of Orkney, married, 1892. Constance Gilchrist (of the Gaiety); third Earl of Peterborough, married, 1724, Anasiasia Robinson (died. 1756): third Baron Gardner, married, 1848. Julia Forfcescue; second Baron Thurlow, married, 1813, Mary Bolton (died, 1830).—Sphere.

DUEL WITH FENCING CANES. The Journal reports, Paris, Monday, February 25, a novel duelling match. Two fencing professors, attached to a gymnasium in the Rue de Malte, met before a jury of their friends under the following unusual conditions. The weapons to be fencing canes, each round to last half an hour, and every halt to be deducted. There was only one round, which lasted 41m. 95., halts included, and M. Dechambourg was proclaimed the victor by 69 points to 13. The two men attacked each other with great violence, and at the end of the duel both were in a pitiable condition, their bodies being marked with numerous cuts, from which blood flowed freely.

FATAL, EXPLOSION FOLLOWED BY A MACHINERY SMASH. A fatal accident occurred lately on thfc American line steamship New York, whilst on a voyage to that port. An ammonia tank connected with the refrigerating plant exploded. Three men were injured, two ol whom died subsequently. On the next day the port shaft snapped. A boat was lowered, and the screw was fastened. The explosion occurred in the after steerage shelter deck. The steerage compartment was filled with fumes, which also entered the second cabin, many persons being affected. One passenger says that 26 were overcome, and another places the number ■■><;■ 30. A medical examination of 20 of the steerage passengers affected by the escape of ammonia shows that nine of them have been so badly injured by the fumes as to warrant their admittance to hospital. JUDGE AS A PRESS-FITTER. Judge Bacon is a judge of dresses, as well as of law and other mysteries. " Come up here and put on your jacket," he said to a young woman in Whiteehapel County Court. She said the garment did not fit. 'and she wanted her money back. The voting woman walked to the side of the judge, attended by her tailor, and put on the jacket, which was cut, very low. "Is it meant to fit like that?" asked the judge. "Yes, mein honours,"' said the tailor, the defendant in the case: It is ze fashion—ze latest fashion." " But should it be opened in the front like that?" critically inquired the judge. "Yes, I do assure you it should be even more open zan zat," "Dear me," the judge exclaimed, "it would not cover much of her if it was. Turn round, young woman, and stand sideways." the young woman stood sideways. "The jacket doesn't fit," was the judge's verdict. 'Judgment for plaintiff for a guinea." CRAZED BY A GRAPHOFIIOXE. A startling incident is recorded as having happened in Indianapolis, U.S.A., where a prominent citizen affixed a new record of a j negro-burning," to his graphophone, leav- J ing the machine ready-wound in his bed- J room. Omitting to inform his wife of his " new purchase, he left the house. In the middle of the night, for no apparent reason, the machine commenced to work. Startled by the familiar burring sound, the wife awoke and listened. "Men, men!" commenced the graphophone, " let me go, for God s sake let me go! I never did it. Bring the wood; pour on the oil; pile it up. . .Oh, stop, stop! Pray, stop'" ran on the machine, giving vividly the words o, the entire scone. To the frightened woman it seemed as though the tragedy were being enacted in the adjoining street, and before a. physician could be summoned she lost her reason.

THE COST OF QTTEEN VICTORIA'S FUNERAL. A revised supplementary estimate, pub- , bed as a Parliamentary paper receftlv shows £35,500 as the funeral Expenses of the ate Queen. The amount is made up as follows:—The Lord Chamberlain: Apartmenta for Royal guests, funeral furnishing mourning allowances 1 for servants - et<? £2900. The Lord Steward Entertainment of Royal.and foreign trusts £8500. The Master of the Ho : Hire of carnages railway and steamer expenses, extra savants, etc £4300. War Office: TravelE expenses food and accommodation for troops, £15.000. First Commissioner of Works: Pitting up St. George's Chapel erection of stands, repairs or damage to parks, £3500. Foreign Office: I "ter'ain menfc of foreign envoys. £300. Sundry expenses, including expenses of the Earl Mar■shals staff Dean and Chapter of Windsor pecial police etc.. £500. As regards the expenses oi the department of the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Steward, and the Master- of the Horse, the accounts will be rendered as provided by statute to the Audi* tor of the Civil List. The remaining ac - KING EDWARD AS A COLFER The fact that King Edward VII. is a & 5 ould still further increase the pop« itlfof h £ ga T»' and Will add P° in * to l to fw Hi M°^ al Ifc is ~suall- v supposed that His Majesty was initiated to golf at Cannes in the spring of 1899, but his tint experiences were obtained many years weviously. The Scotsman tells us that -..hue attending classes at the High School and University of Edinburgh 42 years ago our new King used occasionally to play golf at -Musselburgh, and was onlv deterred from more frequent visits bv the crowds which assembled to watch his game. At Cannes his opponent was usually the Grand Dike Michael of Russia. The' King became patron and captain of the Roval and Anient in 1863. " THE KIXG OF COOKS." Urbain Dubois, the king of French cooks —the greatest culinary artist of the nineteenth century—has just passed away at his villa at Nice, at the advanced age of 84. His writings on his art, of which many editions have been published, have for long years been classics anions; gastronomists. The principal of them* were undoubtedly "La Cuisine Classique," " jb Cuisine de Tons les Pays," and particularly "La Cuisine Artistique." Both the "artistic" and the '" classical" cookery books were originally issued in sumptuous style, each in two quarto volumes, the former having no fewer than a hundred superblv engraved plates. Perhaps the most curious thin- in connection with this great French cook was the circumstance that few Frenchmen ever partook of viands prepared bv him for throughout his prime he was chief cook to King William of Prussia, afterwards Herman Empei«r, and grandfather to the present Kaiser. For long years, however, members of the Corps Diplomatique spread the fame of the Berlin banquets throughout Europe. The number of successful dishes invented" by Dubois himself is said to exceed two hundred.