NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8413, 12 January 1899, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

4Tim. Henry Dramatic Company have had a most successful season at Dunedin with crowded houses nightly. A cotitriliulion of £1000 from an American citizen, Colonel Goui'aud, to the Cordon College at Khartoum is one more graceful and kindly reminder of American goorl-will to England. There is, of course, no definite alliance between Great Britain and America. But hoth eouulties are getting on a better war fooling, ami it is pretty certain they are not going to fight each other. — Washington Star. A correspondent telegraphs from Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.A., to the London Times, that a most successful telephone communication has been established between Little Rock and Boston, a distance of 1000 miles. As showing the zest with which our population enters into the subject of holidays ("ays tlie Auckland Herald), we may mention that the Him of £12,(100 was withdrawn from the Tost Ollice Savings Bank at Waihi shortly before Christmas. The world's paced mile cycling record now stands at linin .'il 4-sth sec. The i coord was established on November 12th, at Philadelphia, by .Major Taylor. The previous best time was Imin 32 2-oth sec, held by Edouard Taylore, the Frenchman. The Outlook in a leading article on " France and Her Fate " appositely recalls the circumstance that beginning with Tonkin in 1882, Fiance has since that date annexed some 3,000,000 squaVe miles of mother earth, and yet Paris calls us land-grabbers ! The six-year-old daughter of Mr Stephen Boreham, of Oatiiaru, died suddenly from eating uniipe fruit at Wnimate on Monday. At an inquest it was ascertained that the child had partaken freely of unripe fruit, having eaten five apples and some gooseberries and currants given to her by other girls. A resident of New Plymouth had a somewhat narrow escape on Thursday says the Herald She was engaged washing, when the ground on which she was standing collapsed, and she sank as far as her armpits. She was rescued from her unpleasant position, and an examination showed that she had been standing over an old disused well, which had been covered over. The well was nearly full of water. The death of Francis Paul at Wellington was due to the action of two bicyclists who did not observe the rules of the road, | but who by fast riding and failing to give , warning of their approach caused Paul's I horses to shy and the driver to receive a fatal fall. The wheelmen in question (a contemporary remarks) may consider themselves lucky that they have not been indicted for culpable homicide. The occurrence, however, may be a useful object lesson to many who are totally oblivious to anything except speed when mounted on their wheels. It should also be a warning against the danger of road racing. An impudent and daring burglary took place at Auckland at about 4 o'clock on Sunday morning, when the Glcnalvon boarding-house was burglariously entered, and a watch and chain and other valuables stolen from one of the gentleman boarders. After effectiug an entrance, the burglars ransacked the boarder's trousers, and after removing his dress-coat and vest to the landing, sought through each pocket for valuables. At this stage one of the burglars inadvertently tramped upon the cat, the noise thus caused arousing the inmates, and leading the burglars to beat a precipi- 1 tate retreat. The County Press, commenting on the New Year's Eve festivities at Patea, says : "On this occasion was experienced an innovation at Patea. The hotels were all closed by the police at eleven o'clock, and properly closed, too, both front and back doors, and all persons, save of course lodgers and household, were ' politely requested ' to vacate the pubs and wake for home, or other more congenial atmosphere ; and to vacate they had, despite all remonstrance and argument, and by ten minutes after eleven not a light was visible in any business part of the several hotels, a circumstance which we can state unhesitatingly has not been experienced in Patea during the last eighteen years." At Gisborne an extension of hours to 12 o'clock was granted. It is interesting, says the Post, to compare the general condition of things in the Wairarapa district this time last year with that prevailing now. The "first notable change last year's visitor would note on now going up again is the much leas dry appearance of the land on all sides. In most places everything last year was as dry as tinder, and a spark would set acres ablaze ; now green is the prevailing color, and so far moisture is not lacking. The bush fires, too,' which covered miles of country towards the end of 1597, and did so much havoc to the settlers, at the same time making matters unpleasant for travellers and residents in the towns, have not yet put in an appearance anywhere in this part of the island. Professor G. Wright read a paper recently at Boston before the American Association on the age of the Niagara Falls, as evidenced by the present rate of erosive action going on in the chasm below the fall?. As the result of a series of investigations, he concludes that the gorge is not more than 10,000 years old, and probably less. The rate of disintegration of the 70ft of Niagara shales supporting the limestone would not be less than ]m a year, and he believes it would probably be 2in ; but, basing his calculations on the lower estimate, only 12,000 years would be required for the cutting ef the mouth of the gorge 1000 ft, and the actual dimensions of the chasm are considerably less than this. Strangely enough the Austrians arriving in New Zealand are all from the same district, Dalmatia. This is accounted for by the fact that originally a small Bohemian community settled near the gumh'elds, and took to digging. Finding it a remunerative occupation, they told their friends in Europe, who took the hint and came to explore for themselves. The men come out entirely at their own instance, and at some inconvenience, for they have to do a week's travelling by road before they can reach the nearest shipping port. The shipping companies undertake no liability in connection with them, and only issue tickets to Sydney. The men simply pay their money and take their passage. It is somewhat singular that Canada has on her hands, like New Zealand, a difficulty with regard to an influx of aliens. The aliens in this case are Russians, not Austrians, and of a religious sect in Russia, holding somewhat the same views as the Stundisls, and having the same objections as the Quakers with respect to bearing anus and military service. They have been so persecuted by the Russian Government, that they are emigrating to Canada by thousands. The Opposition call upon the Government to put a stop to the influx of aliens, as inimical to the future welfare of Canada. The Government are indisposed to do anything, as these men would be practically punished for their religious belief, and, moreover, the Xorth-Wesf, to which these Rusuian Quakers arc heading, needs more population. Heir Selle, the German doctor who has perfected a process for taking and developing photographic pictures in their natural colors, was in London when the mail left. j llerr Selle's method (says the Pall Mall | Gazette) is the, at first sight, simple one of taking the photograph upon one plate through successive screens of yellow, red, and blue glass, and afterwards developing them in a series of baths of similarly colored solution. But the main secret lies in the composition of the plate upon which the negative is taken, and in that of the solution in which it is developed ; although there aie, of couisc, other and subsidiary =iH:rets connected with the film and its transference, and with the method of re-prodm-ing the positives for lithographic puiposei. "I do not claim," concluded Or Selle in effect, " that my process'wdl yet give every possible shade of color, but it gives most of them, as you can sec. It has been a long, long labor, but at length I have solved the problem." lYofe^'H' Shelton, who was for some ye.v- connected viili the Queensland Ayiicultural Department, returned to I'.ii-lune l.is-t week after a tour in the I'inted States. In the course of an interview he -■ud:— ''I ny, surprised at the iinivcis.il interest the people take in evervtlnl* ti pertaining to Australia, although"l |\L-ntuiv tn say that a good many could [ik'ui luif told whether one continent was located cm the ninth or the south -ide of the Kquatnr. f)oulitlc-s the lecenl extension lit Aiueiicau interests h.i.s whetted theii ciuioiiiy in regard to our atfairs. But be this as il may, wherever I went 1 wa- 'bailed up' and piled with no end of que-tion- upon all sorts of matters, pertainin;,' to An.m.ilia. I gave, altogether, luilf-a-du/.en lei tine- in diUerent paits of the States, and had the most attentive audience.-. Unfortunately, beyond a number nl photographs, I had no" equipment foi this work «->th me. In Grand Kapids, .Michigan, 1 tried to find v map of Ansli.di.i. Imt Midi a thinj; was not to be had in l!,:. ill', c.f l(i'l,H(ji; people. ' :

Lord Mount Stephen, who began life as a merchant in Montreal, and became the first President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, has executed a trust deed distributing 2,800,000d01s (roughly £.300,000) among about thirty-fire relatives. In doing so his lordship sa-ye it gives him greater pleasure to allow his friends to have the money to spend while they are young and while he is still living than to bequeath it to them in his will. Gladstone's Favorites. — The monograph on Mr Gladstone, by .Sir Edward \V. Hamilton, X.C.8., has a list of the deceased statesman's preferences, as follows : Your favorite poet, Homer ; your favorite hero, George Washington ; your favorite colleague, Lord Granville ; your favorite country, the United States (after his own) ; the keenest intellect you have known, Mr Lowe ; the soundest economists, Sir ft. C. Lewis, Lord YVolverton, and Mr B. Cnrrie.