ITEMS OF GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17151, 3 May 1919, Page 2 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF GENERAL NEWS.

FOXHOUNDS AND SINN PEIITEES. The Muskerry Foxhounds were stopped recently by an ambushed crowd of Sinn Feiners. The horses, men, and hounds were beaten with hurleys, and one member of the meet had his nose injured. A revolver shot was fired, but nobody was injured. ,

THE HUSBAND SHORTAGE. An authority states that there are over a milion and a-half women in Great Britain who will have no chance of marriage for the reason that there are not sufficient men. In 1917 the surplus of single women over single men was 1,337,000. A great number of girls, realising that the chance of marriage is very small, are getting employment with a view to establish^.,j their future.

SOFT COLLAR BOOM. A New York correspondent, referring to the question of the probable effect of the release of millions of soldirs and sailors on men's fashions, states that a boom in soft collars is predicted. He sayslt is believed that these easy, comfortable collars will be worn all through the year to a greater extent than they have hitherto been. Sailors especially," it is pointed out, "are expected to favour soft collars after returning to civil life, as most of them, except in really cold weather, wear nothing higher in the neck than a jersey."

FIRE CHIEFS £720 PENSION.

Commander S. Sladen, R.N., chief officer of the London Fire Brigade, has resigned after nearly 20 years' service. The General Purposes Committee of the London County Council recommend that the council should mark its sense of the unparallelled condit ; one of the last few years by granting him on retirement a pension of £720 a year, the amount which would be payable were he to retire after 25 years' service on a medical certificate.

STORNOWAY DISASTER. Inquiry into the loss of the navy leave boat, lolaire, off Stornoway on New Year's Day, when 205 lives were lost, has now ended. It has been found by the jury that the officer in charge did not exercise sufficient prudence in approaching the harbour; that a look-out was not on duty; that there were not sufficient life-belts, boats, and rafts; and that no orders were [riven by the officers with a view to saving life; further, that there was loss of time between the signals of distress and the arrival of the life-saving apparatus.

GIRLS IN REVOLT. Much amusement lias been caused bj tho story of the adventure of some girls who were in a sort of house of correction in Paris. They revolted, and after breaking various articles of furniture, rushed into the grounds surrounding the building. The housekeeper saved the situation. American soldiers, who were camped near by, were asked to surround the chateau. Armed with tiro-hose, they made a circle outside which the girls could not pass. Some of them were dreuchod, and all of them were reduced to submission. They surrendered, and returned crestfallen to their rooms.

BOUND TO CHAIRS AND BOBBED. An audacious robbery occurred in the Rue de Tourelles, Paris. An aged couple, named Martin, who keep a grocery shop, were shutting up at about 8 o'clock when a woman, followed by four individuals, wearing masks, rushed into the shop, and, seizing the old people, bound them to chairs. They were then threatened with revolvers, and forced, to reveal where their money was kept. The bandits took about 3000 francs, as well as some jewels, and got clear away. The two victims remained bound to the chairs all night, and were only released when discovered by some early customers in the morning.

THE KING CANNOT BE SUED. " His Majesty cannot be sued" was the reason given at Sheffield County Court recently for withdrawing an action in which a man claimed £10 damages from His Majesty's Secretary for War for injuries to his wife owing to a Ministry of Munitions motor-lorry, driven by an A.S.C. soldier, backing into her house. A letter from the Treasury said a Secretary of State cannot be sued except by special statutory provision, and neither the Crown nor any of its departments is liable for injury done by one of its tenants. The judge gave costs against claimant, but hie solicitor said : " 1 shall pay these costs myself. I will not allow him to pay one penny,"

KAISER'S NEW BID FOB FAME.

It is now ihe ex-Kaiser's ambition to be known as ft { reat engineer. Hu has studied tho plans oi the Dutch Gtawnment for draining the Zuider Zee and worked out plans of his own which he considers infinitely better. At other times he gets very enthusiastic in discussions of German painters.

DISTRIBUTING WAR TROPHIES. One thousand German machine-guns have been distributed to various towns in England as war trophies. Twenty towns have refused machine-guns as being too insignificant. The War Trophy Department have been rather between the devil and the deep 6ea, for, while one' town complained that a michine-gun was beneath its dignity, another declined a tank because it might damage the .grass in the public park.

DEAN INOE CONTEMPLATES RUIN. Five years of unprecedented and reckless expenditure had reduced, the richest country in the world to a iitate not far removed from ruin and bankruptcy, was Dean Inge's cheering message to a congregation in London. He Maid he had been told this by Government officials who had the best opportunity of knowing the truth. He doubted very much whether we should ever be anything like as rich and prosperous as 're were ten years ago.

BABIES BURNED IN A HOME.

A fine of £5 was imposed at Derby upon Svbil Walker, superintendent of a home for the babies of unmarried mothers, for not taking reasonable precautions against fire. It was alleged that thirteen babies were left asleep in a room in which there was mi unguarded fire, and that two of them were fatally burned. That an electric wire fused, causing a fire, was the defence.

MADMAN WITH A POKER. A retired sailor, living on a pension at Booking, Braintree, Essex, jumped out of bed at 6 o'clock in the morning and ran up and down the street in his shirt smashing the windows of shops and houses with a pocker and shouting that he wanted to let light into the world. He broke 300 windows and knocked a man down When overpowered lie was found to be insane and wa 6 token to the asylum.

A CHEERFUL FACTORY. n f^r Ch u W r L d ' at tho Ro >' al Institute of Public Health recently, made some remarkable revelations as to the result* of medical care in hie own factory during the war. He M id he employed .about 93000 people, of whom 3000 were women. Two doctors a dentist, and four trained nurses were fully employed in attending to them to ih * the result that compensation claims fell from £1000 a week to £5 a week. Physical discomfort was relieved straight away, and production went up in quality as well as quantity. Provision of proper meals for the women abolished fainting fits, which had been fifty or sixty a day • and a ful. and at meal times kept everybody cheerful., J }

VILLAGES FOE THE WOUNDED. A new village, one of the by-products of the war, is about to arise in Hampshire It is the first of the village which the Ministry of Pensions intends to build for the medical treatment and training of disabled men. When the vilage has been completed there will be accommodation for a thousand people, who will receive simultaneous treatment and training to fit them for various forme of work, as far as their disabilities will permit. Later on it is planned to establish these villages in a number of different centre*!, and it is hoped that they may go a long way towards solving one of the most serious after. war problems.

WRONG TIME TO TALK. " Clerks will please refrain from discussing their war experience} until after five p.m.," is a notice in a London shipbroker's office. When asked! for an explanation, the manager stated that a lot of time is wasted by yourg men just demobilised in comparing notes on their fighting experiences. " Whenever I come into the office 1 hear, ' Do you remember the Menin Road!' or 'Was your battalion at Cambrai?' One clerk is continually imitating a 5.9 shell coming through the air, which is bad for the nerves of the older members of the staff. We are only too glad for our clerks to talk over" old times, but we think this should be done out of business hours." i