GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 1514, 9 November 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

■ SOMETHING LIKE A SLEEP. . A sleeping boy in . a grocer's cart which was wrecked by a motor-car near Columbus, Ohio, contrived to sleep although he was shot out of the cart into the car, which sped 011 with its new occupant.still peacefully slumbering. OATMEAL WEDDING CAKE. The daughter of a prominent New York financier and the son of the State Chairman of Arizona have been married according to Mold Indian rites, which are few and simple. As soon as the bride and bridegroom have eaten an oatmeal wedding cake the chief pronounces them man and wife. .... TAX ON DIRECTORS' FEES. At a meeting of the French Cabinet the President signed a new law in which a tax of four per cent, will in future be payable by directors of limited companies on the profits distributed to them in consideration of their 1 services. The new duties are payable by the companies prior to the distribution" of directors' profits, and to that extent will take the place of income tax, which does not exist in France. - SEA- SERPENT EXPLAINED. A writer in the . Animal World, discussing tho existence of the sea serpent, points out that gigantic cuttlefish exist whose tentacles sometimes attain a length of 60 feet. In the Natural' History Museum at South Kensington, for example, is the portion of a tentacle covered with 300 suckers, which must, when complete, have measured at least 36 feet. A cuttlefish swims backwards with its tentacles trailI ing after it in straight line. A giant cuttlefish swimming in this manner on the surface of the water might easily be mistaken for a marine serpent. SIR, R. ISAACS'S GAME OF GOLF. The Insurance Act caused a member of the Government considerable delay 011 the Lossiemouth Links, Elginshire. Sir. Rufus Isaacs, the Attorney-General, who is staying with Sir Alfred Mond at Sanquhar House, was preparing to begin a round with his host when tho starter questioned the ages of their caddies. No caddie over sixteen is allowed in consequence. of the Insurance Act. As the lads were over that age, the starter refused to allow the golfers to begin, and, in spite of Sir Ilufus's assurance, that he would take all responsibility, the official held up tho players till alter school-time, when caddies of regulation ages were obtained.

ROMAN EMPEROR'S LIBRARY. Excavations in the Baths of Caracalla ! under the direction of Professor Valle have revealed a subterranean maze of corridors, well-paved streets, temples to Eastern gods (notably one in honour of the Persian god Mithras, the largest of all those hitherto discovered), and' numerous statues, including a 1 Venus rising from the sea and a magnificent gladiator. The "library to which the bathers used to go during hot, summer afternoons . has also been found, but great secrecy is maintained as to its contents. The Baths of Caracalla are in the south of Rome at the foot of the Monte Celio and the Monte • Avenlino.