GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

MIGRATORY . LLAMAS. The Chinese are very much mystified about the sudden appearance of about 400 Yellow Llamas from Thibet, who have recently come to a place called Sila, with in the jurisdiction of Wei-si city, with the evident intention of settling there; they decline to budge, and the Pckiu and Yunnan Governments are at a loss what to do. PICKPOCKET'S BIG HAUL. A German-American who arrived at Hanover recently, has lodged a complaint with the police that his pocket, book, containing 37 English £100 notes and one Standard Bank note for £50, was stolen by a stranger with whom ho fell into conversation as ho was leaving the railway station. INVISIBLE AEROPLANE. German engineer, named Knobel, living at Munster, has invented a more or less invisible aeroplane, which is considered in military circles to be of considerable value for war purposes. The machino is also fitted with a silent motor. SPONGE FISHING. Pishing for sponges is one of the most dangerous ways of earning a living. About five thousand men .ire engaged in this industry on the shores of Greece The sponges, of course, grow on rocks under the water, and they are obtained either by being hooked un by a grapnel, by trawlers, or by being dived for. Holding a heavy stone in one hand, the divej used to jump from his boat, the weight of the stone carrying him to the bed of the sea. There" ho would tear a big sponge from the rocks, and, dropping the stone, would instantly come to the surface, the light sponge rising after him That vii how sponges were obtained J few years ago. To-day, owing to the ad vent of the diving dress, everything has changed. Syndicates now control the fisheries, hiring out suits, nets, and pro visions to the captains of fishing iboats. and making big profits. Divers usually contract to work for the season—spring and summer— £100, and many oi . thorn are well-to-do cieit,