NEWS ITEMS.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12245, 18 May 1908, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

A Newfoundland dog was on the probationary staff of M. Lepine, prefect ofl police of Paris. The dog was assigned to a post on the banks of the Seine, and the first thing he did was to rescue a child from drowning. The grateful father of the child presented to the shaggy dog a large beefsteak, as well as thanks, and caresses. Two days later another child fell into the water. Again the noble .Newfoundland sprang into the river and brought the child to safety, Lreing rewarded with more steak. After this the recurrrent heroism', of the dog, which saved at least one child a day excited sentimentalists in the Academy of the Legion of Honour, and at the same time troubled the police with the problem of catching a cunning' maniac who was doing nothing but throwing children into the Seine. At last the truth came out and the culprit was dsicovered. The dog himself, for the sake of beefsteaks and honour, watched children playing on the bank, knocked them into the water, and then promptly rescued them. The dog was dismissed in disgrace from the force. rz The Austro-Hungarian Minister for War has appointed a Commission" to report on the indebtedness of the officers of the army. The total debts notified up to the present amount to .£1,200,000.

At Great Missenden railway station the engine of a goods train left the metals and fell over a bank into the roadway, fifteen feet below. The driver and fireman escaped unhurt.

Mr Alfred Mosely has received information from the United States that between 500 and 1000 American and Canadian school teachers will visit England daring the coming autumn and winter for the purpose of studying the English educational system.

The average life of a British ship is twentysix years, but (Scandinavians make their craft last on .an average thirty years. The life of an American ship averages only eighteen years.

Five children have just been born to a woman at Steubenville, Ohio. Three* of the infants did not live long, but two are healthy and-stf-brig; Heard in a Dublin Co.urt: are charged with breaking a talking - stick . over the prosecutor's head." "It was an accident, your honour." '<\n accident! Didn't you intend to hit him?" "Yes r but not to break the walking-sfciok. " One oi" the keepers in the snake houeo at Bronx Zoo, New York, narrowly escaped with; his lii'e fiiter being for several minutes in the grip of a boa-constrictor. The man had entered the cage to feed the snake which appeared to be asleep. While bis bade was turned tbe.niah. Was horritifld to feel the reptile, which is one of the largest in the zoo, coiling itself about bis legs. His shouts for help quickly brought other men on the spot, and eventually fifteen men extricated the keeper in an exhausted condition. Speaking on "Parody" at a meeting of the Society of Women Journalists, Mr Owen Seaman, editor of "Punch," said that he had never been so complimented as whan W. E. Honley was so amused by . a parody wbich ho wrote upon His work *as to say that he might lia;ve written it himself when he was drunk. ■ ■ ",