GENERAL NEWS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11931, 30 October 1919, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

MEDALLION MADE FROM BOMB The Mayor of Dunkirk, while at Dover, presented the Mayor of Dover, on behalf of Dunkirk, with a medallion forged from a German bomb dropped on Dunkirk was a souvenir and a link between the two towns. NO HOHENZOLLENS. The German National Assembly adopted by 123 votes to 117 a motion by the woman deputy, Frau Agnes, Independent Socialist, according to. which members of any families that have at any time ruled in Germany may not'be elected Imperial President. BILLIKIN'S ADVENTURES. A North Sea pilot who arrived at Deal reports having seen a sea lion asleep onthe Good win Sands. This was apparently "Billikin," the submarine hunting sealion, which escaped from Shoreham harhonr. It is believed to be making its home on the Goodwins, where there is abundance of fish and good sleeping ac- ! commodation when the tide is low. A reward of £IOO awaits its captor. THE PASTURES OF YPRES. Six hundred head of live poultry and 248 sheep have been sent from England to the farmers of Ypres. They are the gift of the British Relief of Allies' Committee. Later in the year an agricultural show will be held, probably in the Grand Place at Ypres, at j which the stock will be exhibited in competition. SMART RUSE BY DETECTIVE. Seige Henri de Lenz, alleged'to be a Raffles in real life, using a limousine to commit thefts in hotels, j shops, and at the houses of his acquaintances, hfcs been arrested in the Rue Barlioz, Pans. A detective, pretending to be intoxicated, stumbled in front of the vehicle, and as it swerved toward the pavement, another detective .-jumped in andjseized Boxes rilled with goods worth £3200 were in his lodgings. BRITAIN'S LONELIEST SPOT. It is announced that a mail will probably leave Bntaiu k for Tristan da Cunha towards the end of the month. Until 1916 no mail had been made up in England for to this—"the loneliest British possession"—for 10 years. This small group'of islands in the South Atlantic"is nearly 2000 miles from the nearest land, and the inhabitants, numbering 105*persons in 1918, who j are mostly the descendants of the original British garrison, have practically no communication with the outside world. A MODERN MIRACLE. St. Dunstan's ,with its method of teaching soldiers and sailors how to be accomplished though blind, has achieved t many wonders, but pur haps the most remarkable case is that of Sergeant Alan v ,M. Nichols, 2nd Durham Light Infantry. As one of the "Old Contemptibles" Nichols was wounded immediately after the retreat from Mons, recovered, and became bombing instructor. On September 4th, 1916, a detective bomb exploded, robbing him of the use of his eyes, blowing off both hauds, and giving him otiier gritvous wounds. His case might well have seemed hopeless, but, thanks to patient, scientific training, a specially constructed machine, a pair of artificial hands, plus his own indomitable.spirit, he can, all unaided, type letters without errors, and recently he passed a two and a quarter hours' test. Only two corrections? were made. His artificial hands, of French manufacture, and knowe ao the Gable hands, are of aluminium, each finger being movable. The pair weigh and are worn without much discomfort, though, after a long day's j work, they feel heavier. Sergeant Nichols took leasons in elocution, ( and he addresses meetings on the work of 'St. Dunstan's rand [the National Institute or the Blind.