GENERAL NEWS,

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13134, 24 March 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS,

CURED OF VANITY. Mr;. George Bkr.varh Shaw has addrcps?<f i the following letter to Bundle's News- : paper Clipping Agency:—" I never want to see an American paper again. You have l cured me of vanity, curiosity, and ambition, j and have shown me that modest and retirej ment are sweeter, easier, and much cheaper I mail publicity. There is one paragraph | containing live lines about my whiskers j which you have sent me scores of times." ELOPED FROM A HAREM. | Paris, January 26.The spirit, of revolt is : abroad in the Turkish harems, says the | Figaro's Constantinople correspondent, and J the flight from their father's house of the i two daughters of the Minister, Noury Bey, has been followed by an elopement from another harem. The daughter of the prefect of Constantinople has lied from the house of her father-in-law with an Albanian. Her husband, on hearing the news, promptly washed his hands of her. but her father made a serious, but unsuccessful, attempt at suicide. WINDFALL FUR MR. EDISON. New York. January 26.—A lawsuit which has lasted nearly 30 years was decided to-day in favour of Mr. T. A. Edison, the gieat inventor, who was awarded damages and arrears of payments, which will amount to a vast sum. for the use of certain of his patents. Mr. Edison sold these patents on a royalty basis to Mr. Jay ton Id for the use of the latter's telegraph company, the parent of the present Western Union Telegraph Company, but Mr. Gould did not keep his promise t<> pay royalties. The judge has now ordered an account to be rendered. ART BY THE ACRE. The largest picture ever painted in France, and perhaps in the world, was recently inspected by the Fine Arts Commission at the Uallerie des Machines. It is 246 ft square, and contains more than 1000 life-size figures. The picture represents the mob, after the taking of the Bastille, marching with Lafayette to the Hotel de Ville. It is the work of M. Georges Roussel. M. Roussel has been commissioned to paint another canvas of the same size, representing the Mutuality Festival, which was the last important occasion on which M. Loubet prosided during his seven years of office. A BELGIAN CHINAMAN. Brussels, January 24.—General Li Fou Chen, of the Imperial Cninese army, has arrived at Antwerp on a special mission for the Chinese Government. The general's real name is Spinglaerl, and he is a Belgian, subject. He went out to China in 1860 as an interpreter. He came under lie notice of Li Hung Chang, who appointed him a. Customs commissioner. Subequently he was given the rank of mandarin, and he was recently made a general. He has married a Chinese lady, and makes a practice of appearing on all occasions in Chinese clothing suitable to his rank. This is the first time he has been in Europe for 40 years.

ACCOMPLISHED LIARS. Mine. lsabelle Massiou, the French lady explorer, has been made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. She has just returned to Paris from Annum and Tonkin, and say* the Annamites are the most accomplished liars in the world. .One chief told her that he had seen an English vessel so large that his father, who was a young man when lie started to walk down the deck, hud white hair before he reached the mainmast. Thereupon another chief remarked that there are trees in France so tall that a bird takes ten years to reach the top. " That is impossible," said the first chief. "Then how was the mainmast of your ship made?" asked the other.

r. A MATCH-SELLER'S LOVE STORY, iM A tragic love story in humble life, though * not without its humorous aspects, was unfolded in the Berlin Police Court the other e day. Friedrich • Hartmann, a kerbstone match-seller, was, in spite of his 78 years, _ r infatuated with the fair Amelia Nass, a . '• maiden lady of 62 summers, who plied tne " same trade on the other side of the street. 11 The course of love ran .smoothly enough > until there appeared on the scene a rival match-seller, Augusta Warczewski, aged 59, > whose unscrupulous competition soon led to » violent altercations. The climax was reached recently, when the intruder sarcastically ' remarked to Hartinann, " You old sinner, > you ought to be thinking of your grave in- ' stead of hanging about women." This was too much for the aged Romeo. He arose r in his wrath and smote Augusta, on the j cheek with his crutch. The hotheaded lover did not find the law on his side when confronted by the magistrate, and he had to go to gaol for five days. BATTLE WITH PIRATES. ; A special warning is being given to ve9 ; sels trading in North China waters to bp on guard against any strange craft which | approaches them, in consequence of the in- ! crease of piracy of late. The Chinese patrol 1 vessel Tsinghai was ordered to proceed to Tientsin and Chefoo in order to put a stop, ■j if possible, to the depredations! of these gentry, and whilst on her mission the Tsinghai sighted two suspicious-looking junks, and challenged them. The junks replied with a. volley of rifle shots, and seven otherjunks joined them. The fight continued for over an hour, although the vessels were bombarded with shells from the Tsinghai's quick-firers. Two of the Tsinghai's crew were killed, and eventually three of the pirate junks were captured, the remainder escaping. Piracy in these sen? is well known to exist, but it is seldom that such a de- ( termined fight has to be made as on this occasion, the Chinese pirate being for the most part content to fasten on to "the small coaster and to let larger craft alone. REGIMENTS FOUNDLING. A regimental romance attaches to th» career of John Francis Durham, a member of the band of the Durham Light Infantry, who is now on a visit to Nottingham with ' his foster parents. During the Soudanese : campaign of 1885 an outpost of the regiment returned the fire of two boatloads of natives proceeding down the Nile at a point about 150 miles below Khartoum. Such of the natives as were not killed or wounded swam to the opposite side of the river and escaped, leaving in one of the boats a dead native woman, in whose arms was a baby boy some 12 months old. The English soldiers nursed and took him to India, where he was adopted by the wife of SergeantMajor Fisher, herself a Nottingham woman, and he was baptised John Francis Durham. The little Soudanese nude excellent progress at school, and displaying a talent for music he is at the present time one of the first claironets in the Durham's military band also playing first violin in the string band of the regiment. EXTRAVAGANCES OF A COUNTESS. Paris, January 28.—M'me. la Marquise de la Rochefontenille is once more the Parisi- . enne of the moment, and she is asking to be relieved of the too embarrassing attentions of the Court of Chan eery, of which she is the ward. The marquise is one of I the most famous " prodigal children" that even Paris has known. At the age of 18, when she was Mile. Therese La Perehe, she was married to the Marquis de la Rochefontenille. In the course of five years she and her husband nad got so badlv into debt that her father had them both put under the care of the Chancery Court, which appointed M. Lasnier its representative. la 1394 the marquise obtained a separation from her husband, and, it is alleged, went to extraordinary lengths in her prodigality. When ill she had her bed strewn three times daily with fresh orchids, a fad which tost hundreds of pounds a week. Now she is seeking freedom from judicial control, and declares that' she is quite capable of managing her own affairs. On behalf of her father, who opposes the application, it was stated in court that the countess' coachman is £600 in her debt, various fashionable restaurants are claiming £700, and the total amount of debts still outstanding was said to be nearly £20,000. The tribunal! postponed its decision for » >veek.