NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9261, 26 September 1901, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

A Domestic Servants' Union has been formed in Melbourne, and has already formulated a platform. The hours of work are to be limited to 60 in the week, there is to be a halfholiday and an "evening out" every week, and there is to be a full monthly holiday. A minimum wage has been fixed, and generally things have been arranged in a business-like way. Never, perhaps, in the history of the colony has the carrying trade to London been at such a low ebb as it is at the present time. Cargo is scarce, and freights have been cut down at a big rate. From a Southern source we leiirn that the freight on grain, which formerly stood at 35s per ton, has been knocked about so much that one company is quoting 15s to 17s 6d per tdn, with the probability of a further reduction to 12s per ton. This leaves little or no margin of profit for the carrier. Mr H. A. Stratford, S.M., of Dunedin, gazettes a change of his name in the following terms : —"I, Henry Aldborough Stratford, of Dunedin, iii the colony of New Zealand, barrister-at-law, do hereby give notice that, in compliance with the request of the Honorable Lady Henniker, and out of love and affection, I have assumed, and intend henceforth upon . all occasions and at all times to sign and use and to be called and known by, the name of Augustus with and before Henry Aldborongh, and the surname of His Excellency the Right Honorable Lori Hartismere — Stratford-Henniker — in lieu of iind in substitution of my present surnames of Stratford. ..." A scheme for the transmission of electric power and its distribution on an enormous scale is to be tried in North Germany. It is proposed to utilise the great peat beds there for the manufacture of currents that shall be distributed to manufacturing centres. It is estimated that an acre of turf 10ft thick contains 10,000 tons of dry peat, and that is equivalent to 4800 tons of coke. In the peat valleys of North Germany there is an area of a thousand square miles, which should furnish the equivalent of 300,000,---000 tons of pit coaL It is proposed to burn this turf at central stations, each of which will have engines with 10,000 horse-power capacitv, consuming annually 200,000 tons of turf, the product of 20 acres of the beds. These power stations will generate electricity that will be conveyed to a distance. Some months ago a number of New Zealand newspapers inserted an advertisement offering a prize for the longest list of names of birds. Lloyd's Weekly of 28fh July contains a report of proceedings in connection with a charge of fraud brought by the police in London against two men who promoted the competition. The evidence showed that all the senders of lists received the same reply, viz., a printed letter to the effect that, the Board of Avbiters (now said to be non-existent.) had adjudged him or her worthy of a prize, owing to the "merit" of the contribution, and that if 5s lOd was forwarded as a year's subscription to a certain magazine, "a beautiful prize" would be given to the subscriber. A number of people sent the 5s lOd, and received either a brass ring set with glass ar a clock worth about Is. Both the accused were committed for trial.

Some time ago the Ashburton Borough Council passed ;i motion giving cyclists caught riding on the footpaths the option of paying live shillings or being prosecuted, but it has evidently not proved a success. At the last meeting the motion -xas rescinded and fifteen shillings collected under it ordered to be returned. Dr Erson, who is now practising at Rotorua, bus hit upon the happy idea of evaporating the waters of the most valuable of the thermal springs, and lias now patented a powder called "Enilas, or Rotorua Saline," which contains the ntain constituents of the valuable properties contained in the waters of Rotorua. The powder dissolves in water, and will probably prove valuable both to the patentee and to the public. A method of improving the potato is credited to M. Michalet, as a result of experiments made in the Department Vaucluse, France. He advises that the potato plant should be .stripped of its blossom, and that the crop of tubers will be improved in qunnt ity and be richer in starch. The flower is not at all necessary to the well-being of the plant, which in. the process of blossoming consumes starch and other vegetable substances. One aspect of thu many-sided domestic question which is giving rise to much indignation on the part of mistresses (says the N.Z. Times) is the way in which Women and girls break verbal contracts. It is extremely common for them to accept situations, and then fail to put in nn appearance on the day appointed for beginning work. In a case which occurred last week a mistress had no fewer than four disappointments of this kind. It is conduct such as this which causes householders to ask whether common honesty is dying out among domestic workers. Mr Edward Crangle, who lived on the Canadian bank of La Croix river, accidentally mislaid his dwelling-house, aided by a flood? • It was deposited on the American side, on the land of Mr Nagle. Grateful to Providence, the latter fitted up the dwelling and lived in it. The owner, who had supposed the' structure wrecked, heard of this, and demanded his home. Mr Nagle sneered, and showed him law to the effect that a "stray" must be reclaimed within 48 hours. Mr Crangle thereupon reported Mr Neagle to the United States Customs for having smuggled a house, and the smuggler with bitterness made his peace by paying 35 per cent, duty. This sonnds like a humorist's story, but it is a narration of an actual occurrence. Sir H. Maxim, in the World's Work, says of English versus American workmen : The American workman wishes to get on; he wishes to rise to the top of the ladder; he is jealous of other workmen ; he does not like the lead of being beaten at his own trade. The result is that he accomplishes a great deal more work in a day than any other workman in the world. The English working man, on the other hand, is controlled by trade unions. He can receive only a certain wage. He has no ambition to purchase a house, he cares nothing for books, or carpets, and spends a great part of his earnings in beer, tobacco, and betting on horses. Still, I fully agree with you that when the same man emigrates to the United States he sooti adopts American ideas, becomes ambitious, temperate, and is able in a short time to do quite as much work as his American brethren. Carlisle D. Graham has successfully navigated the whirlpool rapids below Niagara in a barrel. The feat was witnessed by 7000 or 8000 people, who lined both banks of the gorge and the bridge. After the closing of the trap on the end of the barrel, which was about nine feet in length, bound with iron hoops, and heavily ballasted in one end with lead, it was towed out to about mid-stream by a row boat, and -cut loose. It was caught in the edy for about twenty minutes, finally being caught in the current down stream. In. the rapids it was tossed like a cork high up in the air and was then completely submerged under the great breakers through the gorge. Some seconds later it shot into the maelstrom of the pool. The current carried it clear across the side of the pool to Thompson's Point, on the Canadian shore, where it was caught by boys and towed ashore. The trap was opened, and Graham, who was in a dazed conditioned a semi-conscious state for want of* air, was taken out and brought back to life again.