NEWS AND NOTES

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1749, 13 September 1905, Page 13

NEWS AND NOTES

On tiie night- of July 25 scenes of a jnosb exciting description, were witnessed; $n Well Meadow, Blairgowrie, Scotland, ■where the annual Fair was being held. >A lioness in the menagerie escaped from its cage while an exhibition was in progress, and a panic ensued among the Audience, who rushed for the exit, shrieking, at the pitch of their voices. , They mounted the steps on to the platform outside, from which they jumped to the ground, many losing their hats and falling on the top of oaoh other in the hurry. The Well Meadow was crowded with holiday-makers, and a general stampede took place. Children were knocked down as well as elderly people, and the wonder is there were no ' serious accident®. The trainer and others in attendance in the menagerie procured rifles and tried to shoot the animal before it got out to the open, font in this they were unsuccessful. One of the attendants was shot in The lioness made its way out ~o'f the menagerie and rushed through many of the side shows, as also along the west side of the SVell Meadow, and round by the' foot of Leslie and Allan streets, followed by its keeper and other armed men. The crowd disappeared in a twinkling, finding shelter in shops, houses, and other premises as best they could, some, also climbing on to the caravans. The animal made for the shop of Mr George Unison, confectioner, and those inside just managed to shut the door in its face. When in the open

it was impossible to shoot at the escaped beast because of the people, hut several shots were fired into it at Mr Halson’s door. It received many volleys and was killed. One of the shots went right through the door and lodged in the leg of a lady who was inside.

3>r Seaman, of the United States, in a hook detailing his professional experiences with the Japanese army, contrasts, with bitter indignation against, hjis own countrymen, the statistics of mortality from proventible diseases in the Japanese army during six months of fighting (less than 1 per cent.), and those of the six weeks of the Spanish-Ameri-can war, when “the mortality from bullets and wounds was 268, while that from disease reached the appalling number of 3,862, or about fourteen to one. Strong, too, are his praises of the marvellous skill shown by the Japanese surgeons in saving the lives of the wounded. Up to August 1. 9862 cases ihad been received' at the reserve hospital at of whom* 6636 were wounded. Of the entire number up to that time only 34 had died. Up to July 20, the hospital ship Hakuii Maru alone brought 2406 casualties from the front without losing a single case in transit. Up to July 1, 1105 wounded were received at the hospitals in Tokyo; none died.

There was a curious lawsuit in Paris recently. A. certain masseuse had sent in a bill for certain personal beautifications which had been ordered, and presumably afterwards enjoyed, by a lady. Massage was not the only process for •which the account was rendered. Wrinkles demanded 300 francs worth of treatment ; liquid white for the complexion accounted for the comparatively small feum of 10 francs; while a special and elaborately contrived luxury, “a bath lor beautifying the limbs,” appeared and reappeared at intervals at an unvarying cost> bf 50 francs. All would have been ■well had it not 'been for the fact that lady whose personal appearance der manded these extraneous aids was in a peculiar position in the eye of the law. Her persistent extravagance had necessitated the summoning of a “conseil judiciajre,” and the subsequent appointdinent of a trustee. It was this latter functionary who disputed l the. bill. He urged that such expenses as these were properly surcharged by him, on the ground that they were of the nature of sumptuary extravagance, and the Court so far agreed with him as to out down the amount of the hill by tw;o-thirds. IWith judicious foresight, however, the learned judge declined to separate what was reasonable in the “note” from what for as unreasonable, and the fair Parisians are, therefore, still left without an authoritative guide as to the expense which may properly he thus incurred.

The large bronze figure of a female which stands ini New York Harbour and holds a giant electric lamp in its outstretched hand, to symbolise Liberty fighting the way of foreigners to the much-boasted Western land of freedom, is regarded as a barrier to scientific progress,, inasmuch as it gathers to itself wireless telegraphic messages and frustrates efforts of ships at sea to communicate with the landi. Experts were deputed to investigate the frequent breakdowns of messages entering New York ipjarbour, and having failed to reasonably , attribute the cause to anything else/declared that the statue of Liberty absorbs the Hertzian waves instead 1 of allowing them to pass. It is said, to act as a mammoth receiver. The Eiffel Tower at Paris has been charged with the interruption of wireless * messages between Poldhu, Cornwall, and Genoa. Mont Blanc, too, has been regarded with grave suspicion.

A correspondent sends to the “Standard” an interesting study ■of the Pigmies now being exhibited! at the London. Hippodrome. * These pigmies are primitive men,” he states —“the little earth men.” “They are not negroes, but are negroid. The nose particularly shows the near relationship they bear to Pitbecamthropos ©rectus —the higher anthropoid ape, the fossil _ remains of which have been found in Java, and which is supposed to be the missing link between the ape’s and man’s The heads have a small cran iai^capaeity, and the frontal union lines are evidently closed early. They are observant, and took an interest in all I said and did, and readily imitated, just'as cluldren would. They are well nropoortionfed in the chest, body, legs and arms; the arms axe somewhat longer than the average European, and from the muscular development I should say the chief and one other were proportionally very strong. Their hair is peculiar, and is the same in the male as the female as regards length, colour, and character j as far as I could judge. It is very short, crisp, and curls up in very small halllike tuffs all over the head (like peppercorns).”

Experiments on the stimulation of plant-growth by acetylene light have been made at Cornell University by Professors Bailey and Craig, and lilies, cacti, iris, peas, and radishes were all thus grown. A “control” experiment was made with plants that were either kept in complete diarkness or which had only the benefit of ordinary sunlight. One crop of radishes was grown with double stimulation, the sun by day and acetylene by night. Thirty-seven radishes grown under these conditions had an aggregate weight of 136 grammes. Thirty-eight radishes grown under the influence of sunlight alone Jhad a weight of only 61 grammes, or less than half that of the acetylene growths. With pea plants, blooms and half-sized pods appeared on the acetylene influenced specimens at a time when not even buds were apparent on the sunlit growths.

Not a little agitation, has been caused in a ladies’ school in Liverpool by rumours that the premises were the abode of “ghosts.” Before being converted into a school the building had earned the reputation of being haunted. It was a large, rambling, old family house, and the story was that many years ago a murder had been perpetrated in an attic. This attic ’ was closed when the house became a school, the window being pasted over and darkened with brown paper. On the same floor was a room in which the pupils were taught writing; and it is allaged that during the silence of the writing lesson footsteps were heard in the closed room adjoining. They were heavy footsteps, and seemed to be those of more than one person. After this uncanny experience had been undergone on several occasions, not only the pupils, but the teachers became scared, the forbidden room was entered, and the dust on the floor found undisturbed. Nevertheless the sounds continued, and consequently that part of the premises was shut up and abandoned.

A (flight of homing pigeons had been arranged from Compiegne to Antwerp. A swallow, caught by an Antwerp' gentleman from a nest under his own roof, and duly marked, ’was sent to Compiegne and given its freedom with the pigeons at 7.15 in the morning. At 8.23 that same morning (says the “Telegraph’s” correspondent) the swallow returned to its best at Antwerp. It had covered the distance between the towns of just under 148 miles in lhr Bmin., having, therefore, travelled at, the extraordinary speed of two miles and some 300 yards per minute. The firstpigeon to reach its cage, also at Antwerp, arrived there only at half-past eleven.

There was a sensational arrest in Melbourne on Aug. 19 of a man named Gordon Giles, alias George Gordon, who has served sentences aggregating 16 years for burglary, and conspiracy, and since his release from Pentridge has been particularly well-dressed and well supplied with money. Detective Bannon sajv him on the way to Toorak in the afternoon, and l , deciding that his movements were worth watching, shadowed him. Giles dropped from the Toorak car at the terminus, and walked to Boundary-road, where a crowd was watching the departure of Mr James Aitken’s funeral from “Torbaim” Rannon enlisted the services of Mr Tolson, of_ Boundary road, who supplied a constable with a suit of plain clothes in order that the suspect "might be more conveniently followed. When the funeral left, Giles, after devoting 20 minutes to a careful inspection of “Torbain” from the street, hastily entered! the grounds, returning in about eight minutes. After reconnoitring the neighbourhood he again entered the gate, only to rush out a few minutes later. He was pursued and captured l just after he had mounted a tram, Bannon pulling him off the seat. He was dragged to the footpath, and on the way he thrust into his month something which rang against his teeth. Though Bannon seized his throat, Giles swallowed the article, and made a vicious fight far freedom 1 . The arrival of Constable

Hall, made his capture sore, and in his possession were found a gold .watch, £1 in money, two pawn tickets, and a Japanese coin. Later on he thrust something more into his mouth, but the warder at the gaol extracted it. It was a cheque for drawn by S. Eozminsky, for Kozminsky and Co., at whose shop it was found that Giles had sold a quantity of diamonds for £ls. Giles handed over a half-sovereign and three sovereigns, which he took from a concealed pocket.

An interesting discussion respecting the estate of the late Mr C. S l . Parnell took place in the Dublin Law Courts on July 20. It was mentioned that, owing to the delay in the settlement, persons to whom money was due had died in poverty. Counsel who appeared for creditors who had proved their debts fourteen or fifteen years ago, said there was a suit in England to- administer the real and personal estate of the Tate Irish leader, but the funds were in Ireland. He was willing to transfer them, but he did not want to send too much to England, as he hoped some provision might be made out of these funds for Mrs Parnell’s dowry. Mr Henry Campbell, ex-M.P., town clerk of Dublin, formerly Mr Parnell’s private secretary, and now one of the creditors of the estate, mentioned as an instance of the hardship caused by delay that a few days before Mr Parnell died his agent bought some cattle from a dealer in the neighbourhood of Hathdrum. The cattle, which were not paid for, remained on the estate, and the dealer could not get them back. A stum of about £650 was owing to this man; the result was that his credit was destroyed, and he died in poverty. His children were still waiting for the money. Mr Justice Ross said he would the case in the list for Monday, and notice would be given to Mrs Parnell’s solicitors. He should expect to he supplied with, a scheme suggesting. how much money ought to be kept for Mrs Parnell’s jointure and how much should be sent to the English courts.