NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9644, 20 January 1903, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

4 A Yankee journalist alleges that when His Majesty on a recent occasion sat clown to play bridge with Air Pierpont Morgan the keen witted bandmaster at once began to play "God Save the King." A dispatch from Kansas City, Mo.. December 4, states St. Joseph has boycotted Kansas City. The business men of the up river town are determined to check the habit of citizens of buying m Kansas City. One St. Joseph newspaper publishes the names of all persons wlio get; off trains with bundles from Kansas City. Mr James Carten supplies tlie Municipal Journal with some exhaustive tables showing that the estimated profit* of various undertakings, such as gas, water, electric supplies, and tramways are equal m Liverpool to a rate of tenpence per pound, and fall from that maximum to a .single farthing at Halifax. Evidence is conclusive that local taxes would be higher m English towns if municipal operation of street railways ;uid other public utilities were not a source of considerable profit. A story which will go straight to the hearts of shooting men is told by a contemporary oi a clerical geutlciuW who was invited to join a shooting party. In the course of the day the host felt himself prodded m the back, and, turning round, found the amiable cleric poking at him with the muzzle of his gun, and his look of. interrogation was met with, the remark, "Can you tell me how to let down these beastly things," alluding to the hammer of the gun, which was full cocked and loaded. The rapid spread of tuberculosis among negroes was the subject of discussion at a. recent meeting of the Indiana State Medical Society. While there has been some improvement among white people, tuberculous infection, we learn from the Bri-, tish Medical Journal, continues to be prevalent among tlie negroes, who constitute practically all the domestic servants. In New Orleans the mortality among the negroes is four times as great as among the whites; m the country' it is from six to 10 times as great. Further, tuberculosis is nearlytwice as prevalent among the negroes as it was 20 years ago. "Galloping consumption" is the most common form. While the white consumptives are hopeful, the negro is hopeless from the beginning. Tlie "Express" reports that the Blenheim branch of the Public Works Department is packing-up for the removal to some other part of the colony, there being no work m hand or m prospect to keep the officials there. Commenting upon theh fact, the Starborough correspondent of the journal na.med says: — "The branch is off down to Cheviot or West Coast — or, perhaps, the Otago Central. What about the bright prospects of Marlborc-ugh's one railway now? What has become of the Marlborough Land and Railway League? Are they incapable of one protest? Possibly the delight with which they saw the railway opened to Seddon has been too much for them, and they have agreed to rest on tlie one great achievement. At all events it is probable that it will be many years before work is recommenced — league or no league. Marconi's ovei^-coirfident challenge to his rivals and critics to pick up one of his supposed secret wireless telegraans liiis eventuated rather humilia.tingly for the inventor, as the ' Eastern Telegraph Co. has published the tape records of si. message to the Italian win-ship Carlo Alberto, picked up by the company's station m Cornwall. Marconi had no scientific warrant for issuing the challenge. All lie was entitled to state was that it would be difficult to pick up a.t short notice a message which, he •intended to be secret^ Ho relied on the fact that Vis sending instrument m England and the receiving instrument on the Carlo Albert were electrically tuned to give out the si me number of electric waves per second, and assumed that nobody without handling his apparatus could get a second receiver into tune with, his sender. Of course, he had no right to make such an assumption, as any receiver near his sender would pick up* sufficient fragments of his messages here and there to show that he was signalling, and after that it w;is only a matter of patient adjustment for an. electrician to vary tlie arrangement of the'receiver till it captured larger and larger pieces of the messages, and finally secured them verbatim. The value of the Marconi srstem m. naval warfare is decidedly curtailed by this demonstration I hat he cannot guarantee secrecy m his messages. The Kaiser has done and said many foolish things. But it is difficult (writes the London correspondent of the Argus) to- belitve the stoiy of the respectable National Review, that when .he was m Norway a short time ago he visited an American yacht, and m the course of his gossip among the. passengers launched out into the most violent attacks upon England and her Government, and reserved his "strongest abuse for King Edward, who was discussed m language which it is not possible for us to reproduce." The statement is said to conic from "a credible American source," but we 'need not believe it. The Kaiser hiis never been known to share the Anglopho'be hostility of many of his subjects. On the contrary, he is often assailed by the German papers for being too English. "And I should think the last person of whom he would use disgfticeful lauguage is the King of England, especially to a. crowd of unknown excursionists. It is surprising the National Review, though it always seems jaundiced wheli it discusses Germany, should have published such a yarn. But them is anuoyaiie&, and very great aiiuoyauc,c m, another direction. The official correspondence, published this week, upon Germany's diplomatic dishonesty m regard to Shanghai has caused great indignation, m official and political circles. According to current opinion, German methods m China, as now revealed, have completely discounted any good that was dpne m public estimation by the Kaiser's recent visit to England. Nothing m the records of Russian duplicity is worse than, the trick which Germany endeavored to play, ia.nd which Sir E. Satow and Lord Lansdowne so promptly exposed and disavowed.

Considerable damnge was caused at GleidVrrie. lee Works, near Melbourne, by an explosion with a terrific' report of » large cylinder of ammonia. The plant consists of an ordinary steam boiler and t.lie usual ice-making apparatus, including a battery of three ammonia cylinders. Afier the explosion the whole building was filled with ammonia fumes. It was .several minutes before it was possible to enter the building. A few sheets of mi" had been blown off the roof and sides. The cylinder was turn open from top to bottom, and one side was dashed against the brickwork of the building. The other two cylinders were blown apart, and connecting pipes and tubes were snapped. The Wanganui Herald gives the following details of the Jala! accident to a young man named Edmund Cripps, who was accidentally shot at ivaiwhatu, Tokomaru West, on Sunday last. The deceased and his brother, a lad of about 16 years of age, went pig hunting. After travelling about six miles they sat down on a log for a rest, deceased holding the gun — a Winchester repeating rifle — by the muzzle and resting the butt on the ground. They missed the dog, and on deceased calling it, it jumped from under the log which they wt-ra silting on, aiui the rille went off. The brothers fell ofl the log, the younger boy getting his face scorched, and on looking round saw deceased with the. right side of his face blown off. He lifted him up and spoke to him, but got no answer, death resulting immediately. It is surmised that the dog must have touched the trigger when it jumped up. Mr Davenport, M.K.C.S., of St. Kildn., the medical attendant of Sir Frederick Sargood, traces his collapse to dilation of the heart, which manifested itself some time back. "Three or four years ago Sir Frederick Sargood was visiting Gippsland, and while there contracted ptomaine poisoning. This induced severe vomiting fits, and the result of these was a very sudden and acute dilation of the heart. Directly I examined Sir Frederick I recognised that he might die at any moment, and on my advice lie spent some weeks m bed resting the organ. When he. arose again I warned him to be very careful indeed, and he followed this advice, eventually relinquishing all his positions on hoards of directors, and practically giving up all but his political work. I forbade him to walk upstairs or climb hills, or indulging m any exertion, and he obeyed me. but when a heart is once dilated it never returns absolutely to its normal condition, and accordingly, I have watched him carefully ever since. For a yea.r past he had token life very easily, and he seemed to be so strong during the la.it three, months that I never anticipated any danger." New Zealand frozen meat is now a staple of Sydney butchers, but unfamiliarity with proper defrosting processes has caused a good deal of trouble with some of them. The Sydney Morning Herald of January Ist says: — A number of gentlemen interested m the meat tiside of the city and suburbs were present yesterday morning at the Government .Meat Sheds, Pyrmont. by the invitation of Messrs Robert Fwrrell and Co., for the Austral Freezing .Company, Limited, to witness a display of defrosted New Zealand beef, which was thawed under a simple process, carried out by the aid of air-tight waterproof bags. The proprietors claim that this process, which takes about 48 hours, will restore the beef to its --natural color and bloom m every way equal to the freshly-slaughtered article. By the ordinary method the meat is allowed to stand for about 12 hours before being cut up. Under .that process o.f defrosting the beef never regains its natural color or bloom, but retains a very sloppy appearance, which depreciates its value to a considerable extent. The process witnessed yesterday left the beef clean and dry, and the difference was only observable> to the expert. The experiments, which wer« carried out under the direction of Mr R. Farrell. were pronounced by members of the trade to have been of a'highly successful character.