GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

CHOKED AT 31st BUN. A man of Eckermorde, Saxony, made 3 wager that he would consume forty halfpenny buns without drinking anything. Ha choked - over the thirty-first and ' died a few hours later. SUCCESS OF RUSSIAN BALLET. Twenty performances by the Imperial Russian ballet ,at the Chatelet Theatre, Paris, brought in . the enormous sum of £20,700, or an average of more than £1000 a, performance. „ 1 AMERICA'S RAT BILL. It is estimated by the United States Agricultural Department that the rats' annual board bill costs the American people £20,000,000, and an active campaign to rid the country of the pest is strongly urged. GRAND DUCHESS TAKES THE VEIL. The Grand Duchess Elizabeth, widow of the murdered Grand Duke Sergius, and sister of the Tsaritsa, has formally founded at Moscow an Order of White Nuns, and accepted the dignity of abbess of the convent., REBEL ARMY LED BY GIANT. The Sultan of Morocco's expedition against El Roghi has met with a crushing defeat at the hands of the rebels. The rebel troops numbered about 2000, and were commanded by a Nubian giant of immense proportions.

NOT TOO OLD AT SEVENTY. Of the workmen employed by the Marlborough Rural District Council, for work on the district roads, ten average seventy years of age, their combined ages being 70 L years. The district surveyor informed the council that they were all capable of earning good wages at piecework.

UNPERTURBED BLACKBIRD. A blackbird is sitting on her eggs in a. nest which she has built in .an old cottage . near Great Missenden, Bucks, within a foot or two of where a party of builders and their labourers are carrying on extensive repairs and alterations. The old bird appears to take no notice of the workmen. AMERICAN LADY'S LONG RIDE. Mrs. Henry Wadsworth, ■an . American society lady, and a friend of Mr. Roosevelt, has beaten all the ex-President's achievements by riding 159 miles in 16 hours. She had sixteen horses in relay along the route, r ;'*. and was accompanied by Dr. Grayson, who . accompanied Mr. Roosevelt in his ride. . SAVED NINETY-NINE LIVES. His breast covered with medals, Thomas Jackson, 46,. a coal porter, who gave evidence at a London inquest, stated that he . had saved ninety-nine out of 101 lives, and -was in hopes of completing his century every day. He had had 17 testimonials from : the Royal Humane Society, but had never - yet been awarded their medal. THE LION WAS ALSO HURT. Paris, June 21.While two bicyclists were looping the loop" at Orleans last night over a cage in which were half-a-dozen '; lions,* one of the cyclists broke his handlebar and fell into the cage. - He was badly hurt, and so was one of the lions on which he fell. The lions were so startled by the • accident that the fallen man was taken out* ; of the cage Without difficulty. * ' C-1M,., .u--IV". v:!:' .J. i-'M (a. " LAMB'S -BONE i;OR A MAN'S. , r New York, June 18.—A notable opera- j tion was performed'by the surgeons in: one ij of the leading hospitals of Chicago yester-y; day. The patient was a man who had the •' tibia, or shinbone, of his right leg shattered, and, after cutting away the shattered por-. tion of the bone, the surgeons successfully' grafted in its place a portion of bone' from £ £ the leg of a lamb. The surgeons state that -i | the man's recovery will be complete, and ) that he will not even be lame. ; . . . . : V 1 - ■■ \ ' 1 IN A HURRY: TO FLY. ' Paris, June 21.—Count Carl Hedberg, a - : wealthy resident of Moscow, was a too enthusiastic witness yesterday of the flight;of M. Delagrange on his aeroplane. He begged M. -Delagrange to let him ' try. his hand <at i flying, - and when refused produced a thick wad of bank notes and bought the aeroplane on the spot. As soon as it became his property Count Carl insisted on trying a flight. . It was half-past seven, and getting dark, so . M. Delagrange warned the count that as he had never -tried to fly before he had far better wait./ The Russian answered that the machine was his now, and that he would do what he liked. He set the motor in > motion, rose into the air, then fell to the ground head first, smashed the aeroplane ,to pieces, and broke his leg. ' \ SCHOOLBOY'S REVENGE. ' The School of Arts and Crafts at Lille has - been the scene of a strange attack upon one 0 of the teachers. The latter had gone'to bed, when he was rudely roused by blows. X Round his bed were five boys in their night attire, their faces concealed in cotton hoods, and they were striking at him with ' their fists, which was armed with knuckledusters. A strong smell of chloroform also pervaded the room. The teacher managed to. drive : the lads out of the room, and found that they had left behind a black banner, with . the initials "8.N.," which are interpreted as standing for " bande noire," and it is believed that a number of the pupils have formed themselves into a " black band" association, to revenge supposed injustice towards any of the members. LADY, AND HER BEARD. A curious action has just been decided by . the Paris courts. A lady who happened to , - be endowed with the masculine prerogative of a beard was engaged to be married, and thinking her fiance would like her to be as ; other women, she entered ; into a contract with a face specialist, who undertook to remove every hair. He did so, but scars and marks. were left on the lady's chin, and (whether because of this or not was not r stated) the marriage was broken off. . The lady thereupon brought an action against the specialist for damages. The . question whether the. lady's looks had suffered was submitted to .an expert, ' whose judgment was as follows : —" A comparison of the present condition of Mile. X.'s physiognomy ' - with that shown in a photograph taken in 1904 leads to the Undoubted conviction that, the lady's face now presents a far more agreeable expression than at that time. At all events, it is far more feminine looking.'' ;' The judge consequently decided in favour of the defendant. : i

LONDON'S, BEGGARS. At the annual meeting of the London Men- ; • ••'. dicity . Society, Mr. Robert Pierpoint (chairman • the board) reminded those present that '*% the society was originally formed by the first Duke of Wellington, owing to the num- " ber of beggars who, professing to have - served under him at Waterloo ; and in ; the - '' Peninsular wars, continually accosted him ; . in the streets for alms. The speaker also,. announced that the King had graciously in- v : creased his subscription to the society to *v, 100. guineas, and had forwarded an addi- • tional donation of £25. The total number : U of begging letters received by the, society .• -" during 1908, said Mr. Pierpoint, was 1355, ; - which, with those already in their, posses- ; j sion, made a total of no fewer than 238,938. He pointed out that about 28 . per cent, of ;; begging letter, writers were utter impostors, yand only about 13 per cent, were deserving of help. It was probable, he continued, - that in. the streets of London alone Some- • ; t thing like £100,000 a year was given away .. . in casual charity by persons who knew , not h- . - ing about'.? the circumstances of A those to whom they gave. : 1 The skilled; beggar, could' f|| make'a. larger sum per week than 1 the ordinary industrious working man.\ — . - *