GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13390, 19 January 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

TEN* HOMES IN FIVE YEARS. 1 tofm; couple who had- quarrelled brought their case- before the Bradford stipendiary. They- had lived in ten homes since their marriage in 1901, and had been sold up *hree times. A FOREIGN TONGUE. The Yarmouth magistrates wore unable to understand a word uttered by a Scottish fisherman who was charged with a petty offence, and one of the court officials had io act as interpreter. ••THIRD RAIL STEP." ' The -third rail step" is the latest affliction of the inhabitants of Pkasantville, New Jersey. It is the result of constantly . dodging the live rail of the electric railway which runs through the town. REVENGE FOR DOG'S DEATH. Mrs. Oscar lasigi, who is the heaviest taxpayer in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. threatens to sell all her 'property and leave tho town because the town policeman shot her pet Airedale terrier, thinking that it iras mad. DETECTIVE OF EIGHT. An eight-year-old detective gave evidence at Reigate against Herbert Gardner, who was convicted of theft and sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment. The youthful detective "was Gordon Holder, of Redhill. He noticed Gardner acting in what he considered a suspicious manner in front of a shop at Redhill. He watched the man, and saw him take a- pair of boots and hide them under his coat. The little boy ran and told his father, and then joined in tho chase after the man. Gardner got away at the time, but a little later the boy "saw him in a crowd, and pointed him put to a policeman, who arrested him. The policemen in court made a collection for the boy. " UNGENTLEMANLY" FOOTBALL. Princeton" (N.J.), December s.— Mr. Carnegie to-day formally handed over to the university the '* Carnegie. Lake," an artificial sheet of water three and a-half miles long and from 400 to 1000 feet wide. In the course, of a speech Mr. Carnegie said ho desired the lake to be used for rowing contests to the discouragement of football, and after declaring that all athletic sports should be conducted in a gentlemanly manner, ho continued : " I have never seen a football game, but I have glanced at pictures of such games, ami to me the spectacle of educated young men rolling over one another in the dirt' —well, not gentlemanly. " Mr. Carnegie's remarks were received with murmurs of dissent from the undergraduates. A STRANGE CREATURE. The latest addition to Australia's strange fauna is- a little mouse-like marsupial described and figured in a recent issue of the " Procedings of the Zoological Society." The specimen forms part of a collection made for the British Museum by Sir William Ingram, and the species has been named Phascologale Ingrami. This little creature is only some 3 1-7 inches long, and of this 2' 3 inches is token up by the tail, leaving something less than an inch for the body. It is remarkable for the extraordinary flattening of the skull, which occurs to a similar extent in only four other species of mammals, of which three are bats. The marsupial mouse is a desert-dweller, in regions where rain only falls at intervals of years. The remarkable flattening of skull is probably in relation to its mode of life, and perhaps enables it to obtain bisect food from cracks and crevices which it would not be able to explore with a bead of the ordinary shape. HOW TO CIRCUMVENT THE MATINEE HAT. An ingenious Frenchman has just invented an apparatus which enables ouo to look through, or, to be more precise, to look over the matinee hat or any other obstacle that may bo in the line of sight. The patent consists of a cane, which forms

a. periscope somewhat similar in style to that, which enables the crew of the submarine to see where they are going. The invention, which is aptly termed "The Giant's Eye," consists of a hollow stick to ■which opera-glasses aro fitted in such a manner that the image is reflected from them on to a set of lenses and mirrors, and so to the eye-piece at the lower end of the cane. The, inventor does not say what those sitting behind, the person using the cane,will think of it, but it is to be feared that this will be fatal to its general adoption, for a forest of sticks would be as objectionable as a- mirage of matinee hats. Still the idea, is interesting as showing the bent of the inventor's "ingenuity. THE LAND OF DUCKSThere are more ducks in China than in all the rest of the world. China, literally, is white with these birds, and day and night the country resounds with their metallic and scornful voices. Children herd ducks on every road, on every pond, on every farm, on everv- lake, on every river. There is no backyard without its duckhouse. There is no boat, little or great, without its duck quarters. Even in the cities of China ducks abound. They dodge between the coolies' legs. They flit squawking out of the way of the horses. Their indignant quack will not unseldom drown the roar of urban commerce. All over the land there are great duck hatching establishments, many of them of a capacity huge enough to produce 50,000 young. ducks every year. The Chinese duck is extremely tender and delicatethe best' tame duck for eating in the world. Duck, among the Chinese, is the staple delicaicy. It is salted and smoked liiie ham or beef, and duck eggs are eaten as hen eggs arc elsewhere. ALCHEMIST'S FATAL EXPERIMENT. Pari:?, December 3.—M. Capei, a distinguished chemist and alchemist, who has long been trying to manufacture gold, brought about the death of himself and his entire family last night just when he believed that he bad solved the golden riddle. M. Capel has recently hinted to several people that he had made an important discovery in his experiments at -production, and -lie wrote to his brother saying that ho believed he was on the way towards solving the problem. He called his wife and three children into his laboratory at I'omet last night, and showed them what appeared, to be a nugget of gold. He was explaining to them the process he had used when he inadvertently pushed a basin containing some gunpowder too near the. lamp. A terrific explosion followed, blowing up the entire laboratory and leaving it a heap of ruins. Neighbours rushed to the. rescue, and with great difficulty were able to recover the shattered bodies of the alchemist, his wife, and three children. The wife was still able to speak, but she died on her way to the hospital. The alchemist has left no trace of his secret discovery.

BURGOMASTER. IN A FIX. Since the Koepenick affair burgomasters on the Continent have been lighting very shy of orders transmitted by persons in uniform. Owing to his fear of ridicule, the burgomaster of a small village near Basle, Switzerland, now finds himself in an exceedingly awkward predicament. A battalion of "Swiss troops, out on manoeuvres, was to hi quartered on the village and an officer called, one morning on the chief civil functionary to apprise him of the expected arrival of The soldiers that same night. The worthy magistrate, scenting a hoax, furiously demanded if his interlocutor took him for the burgomaster of Koepenick; adding that Switzerland was not Germany: that he was not taking any nonsense, and finally threatening to kick him out of the house there and then ; whereupon the officer discreetly withdrew. The burgomaster's state of mind may be imagined when the battalion arrived in due course. Nothing was ready for the tired troopers, and most of them had to go without a meal until the next morning. Disciplinary punishment now awaits the unfortunate magistrate. It may bo recorded here that the Odessa cobblers are so proud of their Koepenick colleague that they have sent an address to the Paris Figaro calling upon the French shoemakers to join them in some form of homage to the pseudo-captain. Tho address ends with tho words: "Long live the coh« biers I Down, with the buj-g,oiaafitergi ,J