HERE AND THERE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4407, 13 July 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

HERE AND THERE

A search of a year’s record of oases in tho police courts of Chicago throws soma interesting light on domestic warfare. It was Artemus Ward who said: “My wife is one of tho best wimmin on this continent, altho’ she isn't always gentle as a lamb with mint sauce ; ” and it was Lord Byron who inquired : “But, O yo lords of ladies intellectual, Inform us truly, have thoy not henpecked you all r 1" It has remained for tho Chicago “Tribune,” however, to- tabulate tho list of weapons which “lovely woman” uses. From this list it would appear that a woman with a rolling-pin is more than twice as likely to assume a belligerent attitude as a woman with a mop, while a woman with a broom is 180 times as dangerous as a woman with a lamp or nursing bottle. Here is the list:—Broom handles, 186; table knives, all kinds, 102; stove-lid lifters, 70; rol-ling-pins, 76; plates and dishes, 72, hatpins, 55 ; hair brushes and handmirror.s, 48 ; mops, 33 ; revolvers, 31j Hatirons 29; curling-irons, 12; umbrellas and parasols, 11 j shoos and slippers, 9j scissors, 8 ; forks, 6 ; books, 4 : potatomashors, 3; riding whips, 3; lamp, 1; nursing bottle, 1. t Mr Honniker Heaton complains that, whilo we have a penny postage to timraltar, Malta, Aden and India, the rate is still 2,1 dto Port Said, Cairo aid Suez. Although the A’ew Zealand oritios have established a penny po,sta-a to Egypt, St. Martin’s-le-Grand has not yet succeeded in following tueir exa.a pie. Bays Air HeumUei* irleatt-'U *. It .*4 useless to complain in tho House oi Commons. There is no one connected with tho Post Office there.” But when tho Post Office was represented m tie House it was equally useless to com plain. There will be no real reform to, tho Post Office until the Department is taken out of the Treasury leading ! strings and managed as a business concern by competent business men. lbs. experiment’of utilising the chief office in tne Department to provide a sort I middle-age pension for a disgruntled politician was not likely to result a any benefit to tho public. Such at all, ov-r.ts is the opinion of the ‘‘Financial Times.” » • ■ • * A notorious “Jack the Ripper,” wh assaulted and mutilated about 18 women, has been caught red-handed at Lugwigs-i hafeu by two detectives dressed a» young women. Some weeks ago a cattle drover, named Damain, was arrested for a criminal assault, and it was suspected that he was the author of tho other crimes, but only the one case could he proved against him. The man now in custody is a native of the place, and only th G night before ids arrest attacked a married woman. Ho has made full confession. He said that his name ■was Ludwig Graaf, and that he was 25 years of age. Ho had been a foreman on tho Palatinate Railway works, and camo from Langmeil, in the Palatinate, He had for certain reasons sworn vengeance against all women. Tho prisoner also attributed his deeds to the reading of sensational novels.

Miulmue Sarah Bernhardt has taken to England as a trophy from her Ainerican tour the skin of a crocodile which she shot herself. When the beast was driven out from its lair by the Indian boaters, the enterprising sportswoman, who had donned man’s attire and huge watorproqf boots for the occasion, missed it with her first shot. After a plunge, however, the crocodile was raah enough to reappear, and this time Madame Sarah Bernhardt was successful in lodgin''’ her bullet between its eyes. The crocodile measured 10ft. Madame Sarah Bernhardt intends to have its skin mad e into cardcases for her friends, and its teeth converted into pins.

At Grenna (Sweden) a patient named Nehrmann, on being introduced to a local hospital for nervous diseases by Baroness Augusta von Duben, became violent. Obtaining a knife, he inflicted several stalls on the baroness and her three (laughters, one of whom succumbed to her wounds .shortly after. iN.-nrmaim then escaped into the street, clad only in a shirt, and tried to force an entrance into several houses. The madman attacked a number of persons, and after wounding five, was at last overpowered, and placed under restrain. Three of his victims wore conveyed to the hospital.

The Council of Hygiene, of Paris, ita attention having been called to recent causes of beer poisoning in England, and in particular at Manchester, while allowing that no arsenic has been found in imported baer, thinks it a duty to ask the Government to inspect imported beers, syrups, and jpjns.

A fire, resulting in serious loss of life, occurred recently in a tenement house at Chicago. Seven persona per* ished, and three sustained mortal injuries, while many others were hurt less seriously, hire engines and life-saving apparatus weio prevented from approaching the fire by a freight train which blocked tho lint-. * f * * *

Tbs Comte do Saint Omm do liar.-s----court, a nobleman of Rouen, who died last veer without hairs, has left the hulk of a fortune of £400,000 to his native citv on condition that a yearly prize of £4OOO he founded to ho settled upon the tallest man and woman who agree to marry.- Half this sum is to be KcU.cd on tho husband and half on the who. The object of this prize, says the count in his will, is to regenerate the human species.

Labour riots have followed upon a tramway strike in Barcelona. Disturbance; took place on the men at work leaving various workshops, factories, and yards, the ranks of the strikers being reinforced by Anarchists. The cavalry and the civic guard repeatedly charged the crowd. Among 50 persons arrested were two Anarchists from Buenos Ayres. iV state of siege was proclaimed.

a captive balloon which was sent up for manoeuvring purposes from one of the forks near Cologne broke loose from the windlass to which it was attached owing U> the. force of the galo. Tho balloon, which contained two persons, rose rapidly, and was carried in the dirootion cf Ifihroufold and Osseusdorf. Eventually it was lost to view in the clouds, but came to earth near the village of V'olkhovcu in the Rhenish province. Tho two occupants were. uninjured.

Tho biggest living man (states ‘jioalth’Vis Lewis Wilkins, who was born on a farm near St. Paul, Minn., in 1874. When but 10 years old he measured Oft. in height, and now measures iO/iinr— just three-quarters of an inch less than Oft. He weighs 364 pounds,

Julienne Landrieux, the Paris servant girl who had been erupting needles from all parts of her body, trims out to be a fraud. It will be remembered that she said, in accounting for the phenomenon, that she had some years previously swallowed a packet of needles. The doctors

are now satisfied that she 13 an hysterical subject, and had driven the needles into her body lor the purpose oi obtaining notoriety. She lias now returned to her native village, having been dismissed from hospital and from her situation. A Belgian woman, Lucy Van Peterson, died under tracrie circumstances in Monkwearmouth Hospital. According to a statement by her husband, Frank Van Peterson, the couple had a tiff, with the result that the man refused to speak to his wile. Thereupon tho latter saturated her clothing with paraffin, and, striking a match, set herself on lire, being terribly earned before her .husband succeeded in extinguishing the Humes. When taken to the hospital the woman gave birth to a child, which died sometime before the mother herself expired. Tho husband had also to be taken to the hospital. , , Tho (construction of a. universal language seems to possess an extraordinary fascination for a certain order of mind. During the last 200 years no fewer than 150 (attempts have been made to bridge over that gulf which lies between any two members of different nations who can only communicate their more elementary wants (by gesture. In Paris alone tho ‘‘Langue Blue,” or “Bolak,” brought out in 1890, was followed in 1900 by “Spokil.” And now, in 1901, tho attention of tho “Academic ties Sciences” has been drawn by General Sebert to the (striking advantages to tho scientific world of “Esperanto.” The now system —its very name has a more iiopeful ring than of Volapuk, (or Bolak, or even of Spokil—is tho invention of a Dr. Zaraentsof of Varsovia. The now tongue has the (enthusiastic support of a very eminent French mathematician, Professor We ray. He assorts that ho could read Esperanto in a fortnight, and in another (week ho was the proud author of a review in “L’Esporantiste.” Those who wish to learn Esperanto must have two qualifications.-, They must be Euro_ pcans and they must have had a fair education. The roots are carefully selected from those that arc commonest among the languages spoken on fiio Continent. The whole grammar consists of but seven small pages. It i.s so simple that its general principles can bo laid down in a few linos. * . * * *

fr * O * * * Can a railway guard be compelled by passengers to.wear gloves? A squeamish architect, who lately travelled in the Dieppe to Paris express, considers that the answer is in the affirmative. The courts, however, have decided otherwise. On the occasion referred to the gentleman was asked for his ticket by the guard, who wished to punch a hole in it. Ho was just going to comply when a look of horror came over his face. “Where are your gloves?” ho exclaimed. The railway 'official bluntly replied that ho had not any gloves; that he was not going to get any. The architect thereupon declined either to continue the conversation or to give up his ticket until the guard should have put gloves on. Later the passenger feceived a summons to appear before the magistrate for refusal to, comply with the company’s by-laws. In court the architect explained that he considered, as a matter of principle, that railway guards should wear gloves, and he would never allow an ungloved official to touch a ticket whioh he was required to put into his own pocket again. At this rate travelling will he an expensive amusement for the architect, the result of his first attempt to defend his principle being a fine of £4, half of which sum will be devoted to the printing of reports of the case and the placarding of the same in railway stations.

JJ, .£ £ # ( # Comparisons between the habits and customs and dominating forces of different countries are becoming more and more popular. Airs Ella Wheeler V.! I cox, the American poetess, favours “Great Thoughts” with her views on tho contrasts presented between England and America in journalism, literature, manners, the religious spirit, and notably the position and influence of women. She considers that American women influence life more generally than English, and become, owing to tho reverence with which men regard their mental endowments, “a seemingly silent but strong, force in politics. *****

The Chinese have tho greatest variety and most curious oaths of all nations. The well-known one of taking a ganger and breaking it, while the clerk says “You shall tell the truth and tho whole truth. The saucer is cracked, and if you do nob tell the truth your soul shall bo cracked like a saucer”—seems rather absurd to us. But it is an extremely binding declaration to tho Chinaman, for ho believes that the soul can be divided into fragments. In Eng. land and the United States the oath on the saucer is the one commonly used. More effective, however, in the eyes of the celestials is the joss stick. The joss stick is set alight, and while it burns the Chinese swearer wishes that his soul may be burned like the stick if he gives false evidence. The Chinese swear in many ways. A very solemn oath is made by writing certain sacred characters on a paper and burning it, praying at the same time that he may bo burned if he does not speak the truth- Sometimes he swears by burning a piece of straw. But nothing is so forcible in drawing the truth from a Chinaman as getting him to cut off a cock’s head. This, like the breaking of the saucer, has a religious foundation. The Chinese believe that if their bodies are mutilated on earth their souls will be similarly mutilated in heaven.

Few probably realise tho expense of a bishop in the first year. Pees, payments for the furniture of the palace, and a vrioty of other costs and charges leave a comparatively small margin for other expenses. The late Bishop Villiers was nearly ruined by what was deemed extraordinary good fortune. Ho was appointed to Carlisle, and very soon afterwards translated to Durham, but died before he could recoup himself the. costs of promotion, and his wife had, like Mrs Creighton, to accept the haven of Hampton Court. The daughters of Archbishops Tait and Longley had to do tho same.

A good deal of interest was created by a marriage at Christ Church, Guildford, in which a motor car played a prominent part. The bride was a lady residing in the town, and the - bridegroom was engaged in business at Worthing as a motor car and cycle maker. Custom forbids that the couple shall proceed to church together, but the bridegroom, accompanied by his best men, drove up to the church in, a smart motor car, and immediately the ceremony was over tho happy pair started for their honeymoon on the motor, the destination that day being Worthing.

The inventor of Ping Pong has been discovered. It was Mr James Gibb, an old Cambridge athlete, now living at Croydon. Mr Gibb, says “M.A.P.,” is an engineer, and started tho game to amuse his leisure ono evening with champagne corks and tho lids of cigar boxes. Thence he advanced to_ indiarubber balls, and finally sent jp Ameri-

ca for the well-known celluloids. But is Mr Gibb respon.-ihie lor the name." Since "Diddic daddle jim-jams” there Ims been, no .such triumph ol linguistic lunacy. It beats tiddlywink out of At Chicago a lamentable fire occurred the other day, in which seven lives wore lost and many persons incurred fatal injuries. The” father of one oi lie; victims, a little girl, is a follower of Dr. Dowic, and refused to allow tho sufferer to receive medical treatment. In his attempt to prevent the doctors from examining the cmki, tiie fanatic held his daughter’s arm until the burned flesh came oil in bis hand. Ha was arrested ju-.fc in tune to rave him from being lynched by the furious crowd. In tile daily war for supremacy being waged in Paris between the police and tho motor men, the former arc constantly devising fresh methods for catching the latter in the act of furious driving. The authorities have just made a new move bv investing in a largo stock of high priced chronometers. Special policemen have now been provided with these instruments, and sent to the Bois de Boulogne to watch offending automobilists. The “agent ciironomotreur,” as he has been named, takes up his .stand on a given spot, the distance from which to another point in view has previously Tioen accurately measured by him. When a motorman passes the first place tho policeman times him during the progress to the ■second, and when ho reaches the latter invariably nabs him for furious driving. In nine cases out of ten the automobilist can only plead guilty when confronted by the unimpeachable evidence of his time taken on a first-class curi.nometer. - . • » • One of the strangest yet one of tho simplest instruments which tho Rev. J. M. Bacon takes with him when he ascends to the clouds is designed to collect hidden sounds in tho air. It is nothing but a large cone, very wide at one end and narrow at the other. It is open at both ends, and when held with the narrow opening to the ear, it acts as a collector of sounds, which aro impossible of detection without its aid- Mr Bacon has detected some strange atmospheric noises with his instrument at a time when everything was “as silent as the grave. Tho hug© picture, 87ft. long and loft, high, that has for so many years hung on the wall of the great hal- of Christ’s Hospital, has just been removed. It is a great “work of art, indeed, rather than a work of groat art. It was painted by Antonio Vano, between 1684 and 1690, “to commemmorate tho foundation and endowment within tho hospital of the Royal Mathematical Scholarship by his Majesty Kin 0 * Charles 11. in 1673 and 1670. Its weight is 2J tons, and it is tho heaviest picture iu the world. The- canvas is to be taken out of the frame and cleaned before being rehung.

Mr C. jT Scott* chairman of the London and India Docks Company, repudiates the statement that Eonclon is the dearest port in the -world. On the contrary, it was the cheapest, for in no other could goods bo landed and sent away without anything be taken by -way of dues. Sovonty-six per cent, of the goods brought into the docks paid nothing at all. The condition of things in th 0 port had been revolutionised °by the introduction of steam vessels of which there were no less using the'port in 1899 than 9317, averaging 946 tons, against 2052 sailing vessels, averaging 405 tons. < rf * » * * It may bo news to many to hear that English is the language of the Japanese Foreign Office—in its intercourse with foreign diplomatists, .and even in its “telegraphic correspondence with its own representatives abroad. All telegrams from Tokio to _ the foreign agents of Japan are written and ciphered in English, apd replied to in the same manner; though, it the Foreign Minister has occasion to send a written despatch, this, as a rule, is in Japanese, which may ho said to be a cipher in itself.

An ingenious method of evading: the licensing 0 laws was tried by the landlord of a Chatham inn. The hack window of tho premises had been closed up, but the police alleged that the defendant placed a long stemmed funnel through the bars of tuo window, bv this means surreptitiously supplied the customers who held jugs and .bottles outside. It was stated that seven persons were thus served in the course ox an hour one Sunday morning.

The birth of an heir to the Crown Prince of Japan adds another lifik to what is undoubtedly the oldest reigning family in the world. The Japanesethemselves claim that after eudloss ages passed in higher spheres it began its earthly career with the first human monarch in tho year 660 B.C. \Vith all deductions, however —and Japanese history does not become a record ot solid facts till tho fifth or sixth century A.D.—tho monarchy is of unparalleled antiquity. Of course, the succession has by no moans followed the strict rules which Europe considers necessary for legitimacy. Many Mikados, even down to quite recent times, have been tho sons of concubines, and others have been, adopted from a remote branch of the family- But in one way or another the sucessicn has been carried on from the dawn of history. It is a proud record, and there is little wonder that veneration for the reigning family is about the strongest religious feeling wliicli Japan exhibits. %

The first Hrupp steel gun, says the “St. James’s Gazette.” is more than half a century old. It wa» tried in Pans, and with such success that the last Napoleon wanted 300 of them at cnee Herr Krupp refused the order, and 20 years later his gun played havoc with the Empire of Napoleon, working with deadly effect at the siege of Pans Ton vearg after that event, the first 100-ton steel gun was shown at Dussendorf, and since then the Krupp works have never known an idle day. All the world over the guns have gone. The first big consignment was to the Khedive of Egypt. To-day there are 25,000 guns m 34 States, all made at Essen, and what this moans, pr may one day mean, may be imagined from the fact that the first gun of a certain type took sis months of nights and days to make, and ccst over £20,000. #

The same excessive humidity which has clothed the Pacific Slope in the temperate zona with. inexhaustible for* ests makes those mountain ranges vast reservoirs of water, of which the overplus plunges down in a thousand cataracts to the sea, forming an available source of power unexcelled, and pro* bably not even approached, in any portion 'of the world. In all this territory it would not only bo_ unnecessary—it would be almost impossible—to establish any manufacturing industry beyond the radial limit of electrical energy genera" ted by water.

The danger of flannelette clothing for children, as revealed at the recent inquest at a’Bttorsea, cannot be too v.idolv known. It catches fire with extraordinary ease, and when once it does there is little or no hop e that the wearer’s life can be saved. A doctor who gave evidence pointed out that the case upon which the inquest was hold was the seventh fatality arising from this cause which had come under his notice quite recently. If flannelette must be worn by children, a fire-guard is an absolute necessity.

A mountain of legs—ten million feet of them —is about to be towed across the Pacific. A similar experiment tried in tho Atlantic some years ago resulted in a stormy smash up that left acres of timber floating on the waters. But the Robertson Raft Company has been very successful in ‘‘rafting” timber from Oregon to San Francisco, and is thus encouraged to holder ventures in cheap transportation. Over 1000 tons of heavy chains will bo used in constructing the raft, and it if reaches the Orient in safety, tho profit will bo stupendous. The scheme is practically a transference of a good-sized forest from one hemisphere to another.

Tho ingenuity and daring of the burglar aro really quite remarkable. One would like to interview and discover what his feelings are like when ho is at work. From Paris there comes a strang 0 story of burglary by dynamite. Being unable to open a safe by ordinary means, tho burglars put a little dynamite in the keyhole and blew it open. Tho reward of their daring was £I2OO. Did they tremble and hold their ears when they were in momentary expectation of tho explosion? Just a little too much, and what a difference it would have made to them ; a trifle too little, and their labour would all b e lost! Burglary is a fine art, but if dynamite is to bo introduced some people will sleep less soundly o’ nights. * * * • *

In the House of Commons recently tho Speaker’s attention was called to the fact that a member was reading bis speech. Thor© is an unwritten rule of the House that a member shall not read his speech, though it is often disregarded. The Speaker’s ruling on the matter was delightfully vague. He said that though it was a breach of order to read a speech, there was nothing to prevent a member assisting his memory by the aid of notes. And “notes” of course, may mean anything. The practice is a very common one, especially in maiden speeches, when memory generally requires a good deal of assistance, and it is not unknown even on the front benches. Some of the most brilliant impromptus which have ever been uttered by leading statesmen have previously been reduced to writing. » * * • • *

The neighbourhood of Kapolya, in Hungary, has recently been infested with marauding • bands of gipsies. As a preventive measure and as a warning -to others, the gendarmes captured ore of the gangs, and only released them after cutting short the hair of the principal members. This is considered by the gipsies to be the most awful humiliation, and the gang determined to hav e its revenge. One dark night they sneaked back to the village, and poisoned the wells. ' Nest day fifteen persons died and a very great number were taken seriously ill. Several gipsies have been arrested, and a large quantity of strychnine was found on their persons.

The most striking achievement of the past year in Egypt has been the fiscal and physical liberation of the. Nile. All the brige and lock dues whioh for centuries hampered the trade of the great river have now been abolished, while in the far South the sudd which impeded navigation has been romoyed. and the waterway is consequently free in one long glittering stream from the Delta to Uganda.—“ Graphic.” v • - * *

In a school opened in Bangkok by an English lady there are fifteen pupils, hnd all are Princess of the Royal Family of Siam. They receive lessons each day in reading, writing and music, but the time which they spohd in this way is trifling compared with what they spend in learning to become good housewives. They board at the school, and they ar e taught to cook, sweep rooms, wash clothes, bake bread and do everything else that a good housekeeper is supposed to know. They cook |h e meals in turn, and while one is thus engaged, the others lay the table, arrange the flowers, and write the menus. These girls are from ten to fifteen years old. In Siam a girl of 15 is quite mature. She is generally marriedi before that age, and consequently when she leaves the school goes direct from there to the home of her husband. * * * * “

Browning had been given a pureblooded bulldog of a rare strain, of so fierce a disposition, and so devpted tc the poet’s mother, that it was unsafe for a stranger to shake hands with her in hia presence. Browning himself, relates Mr W. J. Stillman in his autobiography, was the only other person whom the dog would allow to touch him, hut oven when Browning was more familiar with his mother than the dog thought right he showed his teeth to him. “They one day put him to a sesevera test, Robert putting his arm around bis mother’s neck as they sat side by side at the table. The dog went round behind them, and, putting his feet upon the chair, lifted Robert’s arm off her shoulder with his nose, giving an intimation that he would not permit any liberty of that kind even from him,” ’ #

The story of Colonel Talbot, the Cecil Rhodes cf Canada at th 0 beginning of last century, is one of the romances of Canadian history. The colonel went out in 1793 as an aide-de-camp to the Governor, and the finding of a colony became his chief interest. He was granted 100,000 acres, which was increased later to 650.000 on condition that he placed a settler on every 200 acres. To-day the colonel’s territory is occupied by seme of the most prosperous towns in th Q Dominion, and the Victorian era dawned on Colonel Talbot, who was then living, as recognised chief of no fewer than twenty-eight towns, which his descendants probably hold today.