GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12419, 14 November 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

ATTACKED BT TWO IAQS3. ! A Central News correspondent at Pre« : toria writes:—Mr. Wolbnter, owe of the i rangers of the Sable game reserve, had a i bad experience near the Olifant River about j a week ago. He was travelling by night' J on horseback with a dog a.t>.d gun, when he I was attacked by- two \kwi?. He was knocked." ; off his horse and dragged some distance-, ! away, when he managed to draw his knife I and stabbed the lion twice behind the siuwl- ; der. 1 .fie lion dropped him and stood growli ing, taking advantage of which Mr. Wol- ■ hutec stabbed him again in the throat, severing the windpipe, and so finished the aniI mal. The other lion chated the horse, which j got away, and before it caxte back Mr. | Wolhuter had managed to climb a tree, j where he was able to keep the brute of? j till daylight, when it disappeared. j MR. JOHN BUIIS-S' 200-MILE WALK. j In order to see the condition of the arm* • ! at close quarters, Mr. John Bums, M.P.",.

marched with one of die infantry battalions I throughout the recent manoeuvres. In eights I days he covered 200 miles.in average of twenty-five miles a. day—and lost 141b in weight. Nevertheless, he describes it as " one of the most interesting and enjoyable experiences of his life." He speaks highly, of the work done by the army. " Even thin War Office has failed to spoil* tie men," bo declares. THRILLING RESCUE OF GIRL CYCLIST. A thrilling rescue o£ a girl cyclist front • almost certain death was reported from . Woodhouse, Leicestershire, recently. She > was riding in company with her "brother down a steep hill when she lost control of the machine. Her brother dismounted from • his bicycle, but was powerless to help her, : . ' and she sped at terriflic speed down fcho hill.! at the bottom of which was a wall, she screamed for help. Her cries were heard by Mr. Hartopp ,of Leicester, who was driving! i ill a dog-cart in the opposite direction. See- ; ing that the girl was in imminent peril of being dashed to death, he leaped from $6 cart, placed himself sideways in the road,, and as the girl cam© up to him he lifted! her safely out of the saddle. The machine collided with the wall, and was smashed. LtrxunroTrs motor-car. The Marquis of Anglesey has; just pur-<; chased a most luxurious motor-car. Inside,' instead of the usual seats, are four revolving armchairs, upholstered in leather, and let into the sides are cabinets and small tables, which can be extended across the car.' The windows are fitted with curtains, and batteries are carried to light the interior by*' electricity, while hot air from the engine, is avalaible for heating purposes. An indi-.j . cator is placed on the footboard by which- ; the owner can signal " slow," " fast," " stop,"' etc. The body is enamelled dark blue, and! the frame is painted yellow. The engine is a 22-h.p. (nominal) Mors, giving 40-h.p. on? the brake. The exterior fittings are silver plate, and inside fittings of solid silver. The total cost of the car is £2500.

THE DONKEY AND THE SEAC There is a donkey on St. Mary's Islam! of the Stilly Group, which, it can be truly said, is no ordinary ass. This animal, which; belongs to Mr. Woodcock, farmer, of Portloe.was strolling along the beach near Bantu-* earn, when it discovered a seal, which had ; indiscreetly fallen asleep on the rocks. The donkey seized 'the' unexpected prey in it» mouth, and carried it a distance of a-quarter of a mile inland. Hero some labourers rescued the seal alive. It is 141b in weighty 3ft sin in length. GOLF, 08, riSRTNG? Apropos of golf links and the wet sum. mer season, a correspondent informs us that the Didsbury Club is likely to preserve us a memento of this abnormal season a roach caught in " casual water" upon the green by one of the members of the club. WHAT THEATRES COST- I ; Mr. Fitzroy Gardner, also in the World's Work, gives some particulars as to what theatres cost. The expense of running a play in a West End theatre varies between about £400 and £1500 per week, including rent of the theatre, but apart from the expenses incurred in putting the play on the stage, known as "cost of' production." The first-named sum would represent a farcical comedy with very few characters in one of smallest theatres, the other sum a piece at, say, His Majesty's or Drury Lane. Thus, with seven performances a week, it costs from £57 to £14 to "raise the curtain" at each performance. The average expenses are set down at £800 per week. A CURATE'S REMARKABLE TEXT. Two curates at a church in Maryporft (Cumberland) have just resigned. The senior

curate preached his farewell sermon, and he chose a text which astonished the congregation. It was a portion of Abraham's direction to his young men: "Abide ye here with the ass; and 1 and the lad will go yonder and worship." The Cumberland papers quaintly add: "Much comment has been excited by the text!" A VALUABLE BOOK, When, a few months ago, the monks o£ La Grande Chartreuse were expelled from! - France, the senior abbot carried with him' a tiny casket of tempered steel. Therein,' , reposed the recipe for the world-famous twinliqueursthe chartreuses, green and yellow —that was to fetch shortly afterwards in the open market no less than £330,000. For centuries the precious script had lain secure in the monastery's strong-room. Originally it consisted of a single fragment of parchments six inches by nine. But as time went by other ingredients were discovered, and supplementary directions and instructions were continually being added, until the one bit of skin has grown to a volume of over one hundred pages. It is, without doubtj the) most valuable book in the world. VALUABLE KECJTES. Interesting particulars of the value of several secret recipes are given by a writer in Chambers' Journal. A Wiltshire firm of ba«on-curers paid no less than £10,000 for the Brandenburg method of curing hams; i while a certain special chutney, or rather the method of mixing it, originally bought for a few rupees from a poor Hindu trader, changed hands a few months back for £7500. The famous Worcester sauce is made according to a recipe hundreds of years old which was bought " for a song" from the butler of a county family by the then head of the firm of Lea and Pen-ins, of Worcester. Today the little faded scrap of yellow paper, with its almost indecipherable hieroglyphics, is valued b> its owners at many thousands of pounds sterling

A CLUSTER OP PEARLS WORTH £20,000. At the St. Louis Exhibition there will be exhibited a- rarr and unique specimen of <•? pearl cluster from Shark's Bay, West Australia. This valuable natural specimen consists of about 150 pearls, in a solid cluster, and measures l>}in in length by fin i* breadth'. It is about half an inch in thickness, and is undoubtedly the most famous pearl discovery existing. The cluster known as the Southern Cross, found some years ago at the Lacepede Islands, changed hands : a short time ago for £10,000. Experts, taking the Southern Cross'as a criterion, value this latest cluster at from £15,000 to £20,000. The only other known cluster of value is in the possession of the British Government. This exhibit from the Commonwealth Pear' Fisheries will, ' jo doubt,, be a centre of attraction for many visitors. smuggler's trick. When the Strasbourg express arrived at the French frontier station ot Avricourt recently the Customs officers asked aM. Lorimer if he had anything to declare. He had a quantity of German cigars in his pocket, but he replied that he had nothing dutiable. The officers thereupon searched him. and, finding the cigars, appropriated them and fined him £2. On arrival in Paris a fellow-' passenger, to whom M. Lorimar had confided that he hoped to get his? cigars through duty free. drew, him aside and pressed £2 into his hand. "Please accept your hue." he said, "and I will send you V box of excellent cigars. 1 pointed you out to the Customs officers, in consequence of which they did not ; search me. I go' through with £2000 \ worth of lace."