NEWS AND NOTES.

Southern Cross, Volume 17, Issue 15, 24 July 1909, Page 3

NEWS AND NOTES.

A TOO-FAITHFUL DOG". Exeter firemen, on attempting to enter an empty building which was in flames, were repulsed by a buir teiri er which had been left by mis'master in' charge of the place. The animal prevented the men from entering trie house until a supuly of water was obtained from the main, and the nose ' was turned upon it. YOUTH'S NINE RESCUES. The Mayor of Bristol has. presented--the medal and £lO awarh?d by the Carnegie Hero Fund to Thomas }V~tson a youth, who last October rescued a man from drowning in a pit full of water. This was Watson s ninth rescue. PRISONER'S LEAP TO DEATH. In his effort to regain his liberty, a man named John Notley, after a struggle in a Midland Railway tiain with the police, jumped from'a carriage, and he paid the penalty of his daring by sacrificing his life the tragedy occurred in the vicinity of Bristol. * CROMWELL'S HOUSE. The Huntingdonshire County Council has decided to purchase as the site for County buildings, Cromwell House, Huntingdon, which contains the remains of the house in which tiu. Protector was born. THE TREATMENT OF RABBITS. \ small consignment of rabbits was sent to London from £™ tra *™ * year ago by Mr W. McLeod Kean and on being cooked they proved sound and eatable. Under the new process the rabbits are not Irozen, but the spinal marrow is removed, alter which the carcase is washed and dried. ' RAILWAY COMPANY'S GIFT. 'An action was recently brought against the London and North-West-urn Railway Company on hehalf ofi a boy named Frank Oliver Wright oi Werneth, Oldham, who had been obliged to have an arm off as the result of falling from a' train. The company contended that the accident was attributable to the boy having playen with the handle of a carriagedoor, thereby causing it to fly open. A verdict was given in favour of the company, but notwithstanding tins finding the directors have now voted '£lo(Tto be settled on the boy for his own benefit. HERO OF THE BIRKENHEAD. Corporal William Smith, late of the 12th Foot, and one of the few remaining survivors of the troopship Birkenhead in 1852, has died m Banbury Workhouse. After the wreck he was tossed about in the sea for nearly twenty-four hours before being washed ashore. He took part in two Kaffir wars, two Basutoland expeditions, the Zulu campaign, and the Transvaal campaign of 1881. CHOIR BOYS ON THE LINKS. Bishop Thicknesse pleaded for Sunday observance in his archidiaconal address at Wellingborough. He read a letter from an' Oxford vicar who complained that he could get no choir boys on Sundays, as they were able to earn 7s or 8s on those days as golf caddies. "Is it a wonder." he asked, "that children succumb to such temptations ? But what do you think of those who tempt them ?" NURSE A CARNEGIE HERO. Nurse Ethel Wharton has been presented by the Mayor oi Aberdeen with the Carnegie bronze medal for bravery in rescuing a child from the recent disastrous fire at Jersey Beach Hotel. Nurse Wharton could have escaped without injuries, but she went ba'ck into the burning building to rescue a child, which she carried to a window and threw out into a sheet. In jumping afterwards herself she was seriously injured. ■ PREHISTORIC HORSE. While some workmen were making a lily pond at Maple Avenue, Bishop's "Stortford, they came upon a skeleton only 2-Jft. below the surface of a prehistoric horse. The Rev.. A. Irving, D.Sc. a well-known geologist, who was sent for, found the remains embedded in Pliocene clay, which had wonderfully preserved them. There were seventeen ribs as compared with the present day horse's sixteen, the hoofs were small and the jaws large. In his opinion the animal was the forerunner of the horse, and the bones being in the Pliocene clay dated them as of the preglacial > period.

**-.. ' vVTV '»- * ■ (EMIGRANT POTATttf&S. I Irish' potatoes, like Irishmeja, (re--1 marks The Irish Homestead) do betFter- abroad than , they-do'at. home, ! and just as the., average Irishman, when he -gets to the colonies, becomes a Governor-General, like Lord MacDonnell or Gavan Duffy, so the aver- . age seed potato planted in England knocks spots out of the average Scotch or English seed. HUNT FOR SPANISH GOLD. -

In the most boisterous part of Mount's Bay (Cornwall) and almost unaphroachable except by sea, lies Dollar Cove, where a treasure-seeking expedition, sent down by a London syndicate, under the direction ot Mr Mallett, is working quietly, almost secretly. But for the presence of the powerful tug- Nora, of Cardiff, with huge suction pumps on board, nobody would suspect treasure trove as the object of the steamer's presence. Although the supposed treasure has been lying near the foot of Ganwalloe clifTs for more than 320 years, no serious effort has been made to recover it. In the year 1788 a Spanish ship came ashore here with about 20 tons of specie aboard. Everybody who "lives on the coast is familiar with the appearance of the dollars, as. large numbers have been washed up on the beach, from time to time. DRESSING THE WELLS. Tissington (Derbyshire) is one of the few places where the ancient custom of dressing the wells is still- observed, and Ascension Day always brings hundreds of visitors to the quaint little village to witness the ceremony. There are five wells, and over each is erected a large framework of wood covered with soft clay, into which flowers of all kinds, berries, leaves, rice, etc.. have been pressed, forming a piece of lovely mosaic work. A service was keld in the church, and the officiating clergyman, the choir, and the congregation afterwards visited the wells, at which devotional exercises took place. The designs on the wells this year included a church, a. castle, and the Angel announcing the birth of Christ. THE CZAR OF RUSSIA. Instructions were given by the Russian authorities that the Czar was to be guarded during his visit to France by M. Hartling, farmerly chief of the Russian police. It is now alleged in France that he is really a Russian named Lnndeson, and was nine years ago imprisoned for live years for manufacturing explosives. The Czar's projected trip to England has aroused bitter feeling. Mr Ramsay McDonald, M.P., said that Englishmen would not grasp a hand foul with the blood of those it ouggt to protect" ;Mr Keir Hardie challenged the Government to drive the Czar through the streets of London ; and from over 100 Nonconformist pulpits protests were made against the visit.

WORKLESS MEN. Burns said in a. prose letter to a friend that "it was a mortifying picture of human life to see a man asking for work." It must* be doubly mortifying (observes the Balclutha Free Press) when the man leaves at home troops of little ones clamorous for bread which he has not to give them. There are plenty of- this class in our towns to-da'y who, if they had gone on the land in their youth, would now be able to enjoy the glorious privilege of being independent. The sun of N.Z. is not going down, but is slowly climbing towards the zenith. This is but a passing cloud.

S3R G. WHITE'S WARNING, Field-Marshal Sir Geoi-ge White, addressing a gathering of 3.000 people in Glasgow under the auspices of the National Service League, said that he regarded it a sacred duty, as an old soldier belonging to no political party, to give the results of his experience. No power, even an insular power, could wage war successfully with a navy alone.. T.l*'e 'British Navy might fend off "an enemy, but it could not follow up to the enemy's vitals and conquer. The Army was required to be strong enough to support it. The real scaremongers were those who, forgetful of past lessons, and unmindful of present developments, and absolutely neglectful of undoubted threats in the future, blundered on with blinded eyesight under an odd and obsolete system of national defence, which had been dropped decades ago by every other Power. These men would be responsible for the panic that would ensue when war really threatened. FICKLE DOCTOR, At Llangefni, Anglesey, a sheriff's Court was held to assess damages for breach of promise in a 1 case

brought by ."Miss: Owen Uanfaethly. Mr Ellis Jones Griffith, M.P,, for the lady, stated %Vmi the parties had known each other from childhood. Altogether ' there Were 2,067 love letters, said counsel. "Yours, heart and soul,—Jack," defendant styled himself, and wrote, "Nothing but death will ever destroy my strong love for you." In December last he wrote: — "Dear Miss Owen,—l am-afraid that, to be candid with you, I don't love you. -If you can forget me it would suit both parties." Counsel described plaintiff's letter in reply to the "bolt from the blue" as most pathetic. Defendant subsequently married a daughter of Dr. Evans, of Llansawe,. Plaintiff, a prepossessing lady of thirty years, corroborated counsel's statement, and the jury assessed the damages at £SOO.

TITRKATEXTXG SIR J. G. WARD. The report circulated that Detective Cassels had gone Home with Sir J. G. Ward to protect him against a man who had threatened his life was denied by the .Hon. Mr Millar, who stated that the detective had gone to identify a criminal in England. It

Ms a fact,';however, that a threatening I letter was sent to the Premier by a, journalist,'who states that Sir J. G. I Ward promised to help him if he came to Kew Zealand, and who has since gone Home. Following- are extracts from the letter :—"You know how. you carried' out your pledge. I have been ruined by you. I have been separated from my family for the time intervening, have broken my health, am beggared, and on receipt of the enclosed letter (just received) I haVe arranged 'to work my passage' Home to my unfortunate family. .. . . Were I less of a Christian than I am I would go and shoot you like the dog that you are. I shall, however, leave you to Him ' Who is not mocked.' The enclosed letter please read to your family. It doubtless will amuse them. Keep it, and when your final hour may come—it cannot in God's mercy be much longer delayed —may its tragedy of which you are guilty be with your blackened soul as it passes into eternity. ' God is not mocked.' " It is stated that the man is out of work owing to his own. fault, ahd that Sir Joseph did not promise to find him work.