GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

TOO GOOD FOR HER. - Edwin* Hirsch, . a merchant of Irvington, i California, has obtained ta? decree of divorce from his wife, who deserted, him i two years ' ago, : unable, she says, to endure ; longer his • perfections. According to his I evidence, Hirsch gave ,/ his wife - every luxury . within • his . means, - placed no '.restraints upon her ; amusements, and never showed jealousy. He never spoke an unkind word'and never used liquor, tobacco, nor profanity, - and never " stayed out' • late 'at 1 night. """ Didn't > she 'find fault "with yon?* 7 asked the judge.' "Oh, yes," replied Hirsch. "She frequently said she could have loved me if, only I beat her, or at least scolded her 'once in' a while; J But 1 couldn't do it."

ELECTRIC LIGHTS FOR THE HAIR, It was announced 1 at the anhuaT Dressmakers' Convention at Chicago, where* 3000 delegates assembled, that the season's millinery ' novelty wotild lie - tiny j electric lights in Hid hiii', operated by a small, flat battery concealed in . the corsage. The lights Will represent :. floral and i jewelled ejects, The 'nobble skirt is pronounced. to be- hopelessly doomed by' the new panier gown, which was- hailed by/, the conven- 1, lion i as the' 'forerunner of. the . hoop skirt,' Leading , dressmakers" at' the convention predict that wide hoop ' skirts will be ' the fashionable rago within two years at the latest. Y : \ SUFFRAGISTS' SECRET CODE. The secret code of the militant suffragists mentioned-by counsel in the, Bowstreet Police ■ Court proceedings against Mrs. hurst, Mr. and Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, and ' Mrs. Tuk© included the ! following imaginary names for Cabinet Ministers :—Pansy, Mr. Birrell; 'Snow*.' drop, - Mr. Churchill; Willow, Lord * Hal- • dane; Nettle, Mr. Asquith ; Poplar, Mr. Sydney Buxton; Lime, . Mr. Lloyd George; Violet. Mr. .John Burns.; i Dock," Mr. McKenn'a: ' Ash, ' Sir ; Edward Grey; Broom, Mr. ■ Harcourt. : Among code names for ', institutions ' are* "Egypt" "for ' the Foreign Office, " the Bank" for the Trea-, sury, arid " Home'.' for Scotland Yard.' •• •: ODD RECORDS. ; A Paris contemporary has been immortalising a number of persons - noted I for odd records. Here are a,, levy M- Dhpont, of . Gourdon, is the champion nUt-cracker, having cracked 2344 in '60: minutes. , With-1 out our knowing it, there is. a Mr. Clocks dwelling in'our , midst who'., holds. the record as potato-peeler. "His achievement is S>reparing 311bs in 1 seven minutes. - Heir judwig Wolgirig, of " Berlin,'- has ,smoked 19' cigars in two hours,"' without! drinking. His antithesis .is- Loys Bollaost, of: Brussels, , who can ■ make a cigar last for two hours. Mr. Lowney, ■an American, is credited/with opening 104 - oysters in four minutes. Mme. Duble, '* the queen of pandwich-makers, ' prepared 2007 in 19 hours.- ; , -■■

\ ; SHAVESJB-Y A BLIND. BARBER, ; Sir. H. Wilson, secretary to.the Gardner Trust for the Blind, speaking at a conference of the After Car© Association for Blind," Deaf, and Crippled Children, . described trades suitable for blind: people. "In New York," he said, "there is a blind barber who is doing, very well. I hear there is'also- one in the West of England. He manages to shave old customers, because he knows the shape of their faces, but new customers never go a second time. There would be plenty of work to be obtained: for blind people in London if we only had more workshops." - A GRIM IDEA. - Inventors have strange ideas sometimes. One of them, according to Inventions, .invented a railway carriage specially adapted : for use in collisions, with..'a|roof a»- ' tached by means of "buttons {thai', if wifc I passenger 'injured he,merely lift«(i:|Mi the roof and got out. < Another, a' -tlnopic genius, converted -the seats,', into' nice roomy coffins, so tlujt if yon happened to get killed. you did not to. lie upon uncomfortable ' pieces of fencing -'for transportation: fa •• ;".;T■. the mother.,k#w ACiIK. A «nao■uhoßc'. moth ei'<iii«la\v gave evidence against him at;;, Wood Green Police Court .declared: "For,* downright S le | Sfflß* »°tW'W!aw. f Look-at *5* ' k , ?* w £,y 1 Warned her . daughter,; but you wouldn't * tbink po." §. , . • ' • V • • Sl® II MWMm 'i'r l 1 1* , 4 i