NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 63

NEWS ITEMS.

s; 0-h© amount -ai stamps sole! in Borneo ciand Babwah. during 1899 was £20,000, -but;, the -postage paid on. letters sent . from these two. colonies never exceeds t -43ie sumi of - £BOO a year. Hie remainder, - £19,2.00, may be presumed to find, its way - into albums all over the world.—“ Stanley Gibbons’s Journal.” ■ * # . -}f if *

in extraordinary telephone line has been built by the Amur Gold Woiks

' Company, at. their, place on the Seja River, -to another establishment on the River Aldan. Instead of insulators, / .which are dicflxult to. Obtain in Siberia, empty bottles have been used on which * %p lay the line.—“ Amur Gazette,” Blag<s vestschensk. * • * “ * *

A lady has offered the New York public library a remarkable gift- It cor. usrs o;f one thousand menus, each from a dir-

ferent hotel or restaurant. Some arc from (Hungary, China, Japan, and .Russia. The donor stipulates that the menus are to be kept sealed' until 1950, as- it is her desire that the coming generations may see what their ancestors ate. —“Milwaukee Sentinel/-’

Scarcely a day passes in France w ithout the announcement of some fir kc. During the month of October sixty-nine strikes have been officially recorded, and the number of workmen who have taken part in them is stated to be 36,439. The strikes have lasted from one to tv (rJ ynine days, but in only sixiteen of them have tb© workmen completely succeeded in attaining the object for which tin y vent on strike. —“Daily Messenger,” Paris.

Statistics show that suicide is on the increase. It might be hastily mi'erred that the world is becoming less happy. But- the inference would he unfounded. Rather it might ho saicl that the means

of enjoyment haring been greatly increased' and e standard' of ft gen or illy raised, deprivation is more keenly felt and more productive of despair. The leading cause, however, probably is sensibility intensified by civilisation. It seems to be an admitted fact that the rate of suicide increases with national ■; sensibility.— “Suh,” : N¥w'Y

;A well-known member of Parliament, who has served, through the greater part ofithe campaign in South Africa, stated recently;, th'kt.-.witix the. .‘exception of a slight 'attack-- of fever he- -hatp enjoyed excellent healthc “In. fact,” he added, “any one who caisstand the atmosphere of our House dfi,Ghrhimpns Ma&i nothing Whatever to : fear from' '"the climate in South-= Africa.-r--Westminster ; Gazette.”

The Rev,, Robert . McClelland, hon. chaplain Ist. Cameron; Highlanders, writes to ‘‘The- Times” ; I have .just received -from' a .ma-2i:; : signiiig • himself £I W. T.irStead J ’ • a-- letter and document headed “‘What is now being done in South Africa.” As one who has just returned from the front after nine months’ service and seen the whole campaign from Nerval’s Point to Pretoria and back again, I have no hesitation in say-ng that both statements, taken as a whole are simply a tissue of base calumnies and vil© falsehoods against British officers and men. Even where a grain of tru/'th occurs here and there it is eo perverted and exagerated a-s to be real falsehood. The statements about the degradation of Boer women are, to the best of _my knowledge, unmitigated slander. It is useless to argue with this man, whom I fear a one-eyed partisanship has driven to extremities. I simply write this to warn all Christian ministers and people to be on their guard against these statements. Let the anonymous “British Officer” aisclose him self, "and let us remember that Tommy, in writing home, is apt, quite innocently, ‘to pile on the agony.” My c-xper*ence of our officers and* men is summed up in the words “Heroes and gent.emon.”

“It seems incredible,” says an eminent doctor, “that a sensible woman would wear a shoe with a French heel. She loses freedom of movement and grace of carriage. And what is of still more vital .importance, she injures her health. Nature has decreed that the weight of th e body should fall on the arch of the foot. For this purpose she constructed there a most beautiful arch, perfect in mechanism. The high heel throws the weight on the toes and the ball of the foot. These parts are not made for that purpose, and they are inadequate to the demand. So the ligaments that bind the toes together spread under the unu;de tension and transfer their strain to the nerves, which soon begin to jangle, and nervous trouble is the result. The weight of the body should be evenly distributed in admost a. straight line. The, bones of the leg 'bear it, and the muscles " take the strain. The high-heeled shoe throws everything below the waist line out of poise. Tire muscles of the legs,” he continues, “trying to accommodate themselves to this order of things, bow "'own. The straight line is lost. Walking/ is generally 'difficult and .painful. : Athletic sports become impossible. Outdoor life must cease with the advent of these perilous heels. If women want to become just one degree moved from the Chinese women this, is the way to accomplish it. They will of necessity become indoor . creatures, fit for nothing ; ex to sit about and! be looked at. Grace in walking, the erect poise of the figure, must be sacrificed.” —“Science Saftings.

The J disturbing powers of one man - with a big voice were well illustrated'at a recent political meeting im Glasgow, but seldom has a roiw had so laughable a sequel. The fellow would! persist.-in ” interejeting remarks and, as he happened •to, be in the middle of a long seat', and “ ensconed among friends it seemed hopeless to extinguish him. Persuasion.- and threats both failed 1 , and the meeting seemed on the point of proving a fiasco till a/man in <fhe front ssate ro.se and °'shouted ;' “Shut m, Smith, or l’ll send for the wife.” Of course, the audience roared ; even • the interrupter's friends laughed uproariously, as well they might, for'Mrs Smith, it transpired, was a terror in her locality.

The sale of tobacco in France. isaya the “Siecle”) is 'constantly increasing, notwithstanding the existence of numerous inti-smoking 'Teagues.” The Tree*sury obtains from the tobacco duty & material addition of revenue, as will fcp seen when it- is stated that for the haft' ten months the receipts from this - spure© amouivt miihqa : franca, ah increase- of tlvo millions oh last yeaPs figures,* and if the increase is prtopo*'tionatbly maintained dicing November and December, the receipts wifi roaph to between 410 and. 412 millions,, the highest figure yet decorded. Tt is considered that the exhibition, with its influx r of wealthy foreignc-rs, ha-s-.helped to swell the total. ' . - *: * * . ■- * ;-f>;•

Writing,,in the ‘’Temple, Magazine” fpr Novemboron mission . work among lepers, My StapletQniVsays,: -r4lndia ia said to have 500,000,- Ohirta probably/as many, and Japan has 200^000 •registerod .cases of the disease.:'. Here. ipy a: IVmt which should stir profoundly every heart: capable of htfcnjtanyms‘6e®y at its deepest deeps. Remember* flho fate of our fellow-creatures, who in these countries are afflicted with this most loathsome and incurable disease. The moment leprosy appears on any man, voman. or child banishment from l the home is irrevocably decreed. There /is no pity or compassion for the lepers. Men or women young or old, they aare turned adrift as unclean foul things oh the highways and byways, homeless wanderers, dependent gor subsistence upon casual doles of food thrown to them from afar, and which their mutilated fin-, gers are scarcely able to pick up. In India, the leper loses caste, which is regarded a the worst of all dooms. In japan, the native name for leper means something no longer human at all—— something outside the pale of humanity altogether—and he is accordingly treated with the greatest cruelty. It is the same in China. The leper there is often put to death by fire without compunction, and even his religion has not a ray of hope for him in the next world.

It "s reported from Spain that the resignation of Rear-Admiral Ramos, Minister of Maxine, may be expected, owing to the rejection by the Chamber of Deputies of the Government’s scheuab for rebuilding die Navy. Ife is reported from Vienna that the Bucharest press states that at the suggestion of Count Von BulOw, an offensive and defensive alliance has been concluded between Turkey ana Rcumania, which is directed against any Power which might try to disturb the peace in the Balkans. This is said to be perhaps only designed to distract Russia’s attention in some degree from the situation in Gnana. Wi.tft a view to paralysing this alliance, an “entente” has been arrived at between Servia and Bulgaria under the patronage of Russia. In ,well-informed circles in Vienna the news .was at first -registered without comment, but the conclusion was later drawn owing to a> report being given out for publication that the condition between Russia and Austria regarding the Balkans is no longer as solid ae formerly. : '