NEWS ITEMS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12402, 18 November 1908, Page 1

NEWS ITEMS.

In the ancient cathedral of Genoa >a vase of immense value has been preserved for six centuries. Cut trorn a single emerald, its principal diameter is 12* iiicucs and its height .o$ inches. It is kept under several ; loess, the -keys of which are in different hands. When shown to the public, it is suspended round the ; neck of a priest by a cord, and no ' : one else is allowed to touch it. ; In Norway, women for some timo have been employed in the railroad , and postal service as supervisors of i thQ railway stations. They receive reports from conductors, answer .questions in German and English call out trains in the waiting-rooms' j ring the station bell at the departure of trains, and telegraph the dej parturo to the next station. They j perform the duties of Government telegraph operators, as well as those or postmasters and baggage-men. A great curiosity is the flexible sandstone of North Carolina. The quarries are in the mountains of the south-western corner of the State, and the stone is taken out more as a curiosity than for any other purpose though it is sometimes employed in buildings. When cut into a thm piece it can be. bent into a considerable arc without it breaking, and will resume its former straightness on the pressure -"beine removed. Of course, if bent too far it will break. Three women residing 1 in Beech I'orest (Victoria) have "dealt with" a man who was constantly beating t lS i WlfG ,fc ays ™ the s y d »ey "Daily iclegraph"). The man in question made it a practice, it appears, to |>oat Ins wife whenever he became intoxicated, and when he thrashed her lie usually turned her out of doors. Recently, after attending a sale, the wife-beater went home drunk, and as his wife was in, neighopurs carried hor away for protection to a farm some distance off IJie man went to bed, and shortly after Ins house was invaded by three women, each s armed with 2ft 6in • len K tn of lin rope. They pulled the wiie-beater out of bed, and belaboured lum so severely about the body with the rope ends that he cried for mercy. They desisted only when they, became exhausted, and' it was not until three days later that the man was able to leave his bed. The women were two spinsters (whoso brothers am reported to be good boxers), ajid his sister-in-law. H o has since stated that h<- intends to prosecute the women, but while he is being urged to do so by some of the residents, it is not thought likely 4iat he will bring the case into Court. "My new play, 'The Melting-Pot,' !S part of my work for tho Jewish problem," says Mr Zangwill, in tho •Jewish Chronicle." " It deals with the general problem of America— the fusion of races, as the title 'Tho Meltmg-Pot' implies— and with tho problem of the Jew as part of this problem. Naturally, it deals very sympthetically with the Jewish nds, which is, I think, specially important at a period when social nntiDometism is raging more furiously in America than ever before. Of course, this anti-Semitism may even produce the failure of the play, but that I must risk. It docs not pay to do Jewish work nowadays. The Jews ' do not want it, and the Christians ivill not have it. Jews like to lic> low and say nothing, and the Christians do not want to interest them-' -wives in the Jews. No one who "akc up the Jewish problem for art's sake is likely to make much money out of it." During the performance of "She Stoops to Conquer" recently at Melbourne at the Theatre Royal, there ins an incident which upset the even [ :!f)iv of the love scene, in which Mr Gustin Mervale (Hastings) and Iv.uss Gunn (Miss Neville) wore taking part (says the "Argus"). The young gallant in the costume of tho aoriod was sitting on the table pouring into tho willing ear of the adored i tale of love. In the rebound (so ho speak) from a kiss of more than usual sweetness, Mr Gaston Mervalo's wig came in contact with tho Sighted candle of the eighteenth century, whose presence was for the •noment forgotten in the more insis"ont glare of the modern electric tight. Mr Mervale loved on with r.lie concentration of his part, while the flame played up gently about his •.vig. A hundred voices shouted a warning from the Theatre, but both Miss Gunn and Mr Mervale, with true artistic detachment, continued thoir lines. The call became louder, bub although Mr Mervale gave eo:iv» indication that he heard he declined, to heed. The musical director, Mr Wynne Jones, stood on his rostram, and heat timo quickly, at the same time calling across the footlights. Miss Gunn took in tho situation, and, wheeling Mr Mcrvalo round, extinguished the flames with hor handkerchief. She then returned to the re-kindling of the flames of affection, but her next words wore lost, in the cheers of the audience.