NEWS ITEMS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12488, 15 March 1909, Page 1

NEWS ITEMS.

11l a country like Now Zealand it ought to be as difficult to find a man woman or child unable to swim as it is to hnd one unablo to sign his or her name.— Wellington "Free Lance."

The blizzard of last week is estimated to have cost the theatrical man£l2ooo London -something like

Two fishermen operating off South Head, Sydney, had a sensational experience early one morning, recently -they had ]ust got to work, when a large shark about 16 feet long attacked the boat. So violent was the* onslaught that the boat was much damaged, and soon filled with' water. Some persons on shore,, including a fisherman named Higgs, went to the assistance of the men, and succeeded in getting them out of danger.

The good that has been accomplished by the homes founded by the late Dr Barnardo was told by Mrs Barnardo recently at tlie twelfth annual meeting of the Gordon Habitation _of the Young Helpers' League London. She mentioned that one hoy, formerly a Stepney shoeblack, was now a. Government official in China SuSr? ls^ 200 1 ¥*"• H oie thaii 08,UUU children had passed through the home, and many had risen to good positions. .

It is said that in two years the. late Charles Warner made more money in Australia by acting than any male star, except G. V. Brooke and J C Wilhamson, in such a space of time. Estimate £7000. The plays he did it with were "Drink,- "Captain Swift," A Man's Snadow," "Hamlet" 'Never Too Late To Mend," "School for Scandal," "Road to Ruin," and one or two others. - .

Here is a new and humorous story of -Or. Johnson which, according to a correspondent of the "Publishers' Circular, has recently been unearthed" in a number of the "Bath Chronicle," published m 1796:— "When Johnson lodged in the Kettle Hall in the University of Oxford at aMr Thompson's a cabmet-maker, the maid, by an unfortunate mistake brought him one dav a chemise of Mrs Thompson's to "put on instead of his shirt. Contemplating on nothing: but Ramblers, Idlers and colossal dictionaries, he shoved his head and arms through into the lady s linen before he discovered his error. 'Who has cut off the sleeves of my shirt ? : Who has cut off the sleeves or my shirt?' exclaimed the enraged and hampered moralist with stentorian vociferation, dancing and tugging and foaming for freedom. The roar brought up poor trembling Mrs lhompson, who,- with most consummate delicacy, shutting her two chaste eyes, slipped her hand into the room and delivered her giant guest from his enchanted castle." , Si non e.voro c ben travato. But how shocked poor "Bozzy" would have been.

The Wanganui river is at present lower than it has been for many years, and tourists have to go do\vn the first 40 miles from Taumarunui in canoes. The rapids are pretty swift, and lend excitmgjincidents to the journey.

George Farmery, a Hemswell farm labourer, lias won the first prize of £4 offered by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society for the labourer who has "brought up and placed out the greatest number of : children without having received parochial relief." Ho is the father of twenty-three children seventeen of whom he has "brought vp > and fourteen are now in situstions. His wages are 15s a wee k with extra allowance at harvest tim-°

The following appeared in the "Los Angeles (Califorman) Times" of ~2Gth .December last— "San Francisco 26th December.— lnstead of granting a parole to John Griffin, a young man from Monterey, who fell amon> evil associates m this and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for burglary, Judge Cook to-day exiled him to Australia for half that length of time. Griffin wanted .to go to St Louis, where he said he had friends but the judge, who was favourably impressed with the young fellow, told him that he preferred to send him where he would be entirely "removed rrom his former associates." A correspondent, signing himself "AngloAustralian," writing to the "Age" from Los Angeles on 29th December calling attention to this extraordinary proceeding, enquires whether the action of Judge Cook is one of the fruits of "Fleet week" hospitalities. It would be interesting to know (says the "Age"). what has become of ttiis addition to the ranks of our criminals.

.Some of the delegates attending the Miners' Conference at Uendigo recently were quartered at Cooper's hotel (says the "Argus"). They made the discovery that the cook was a coloured man, apparently a "Chinese, and six of them, after paying Mr Cooper, packed up their belongings and without having breakfast left the hotel. Mr Cooper -states that the name of the man objected to is Samuel Gow. Gow's parents,he thinks, were Japanese, but Gow was born in Australia, and 13 a British subject. Gow is a good cook. He had splendid references, and his nationality was not considered when he was engaged. Mr Cooper explained that these facts to the other three delegates, and they were satisfied.' ..I.'-.-'

Rev Dinsdale T. Young, an ex-pre-sident of the English Wesleyan Conference, has been talking very frankly about "Sensationalism in the Pulpit/ the devices adopted by some preachers to draw congregations. The chief causes of the evil,. he says, are a "lack of confidence in the essential interestingness of the Bible," and "to put it plainly, the inadequate capacity of many preachers."" <Also the evil shows itself in the "undue paliticalism" that infests some churches. "But the taproot of all is the perennial danger of not realising the peril of unsaved men. We may criticise one another's methods, but more important ,than any method is the passion to win men to Christ. George Gilfil lan once said that whenever the preacher was earnest he was interesting* In speaking , working and in every phase of Church life, and where there is earnestness there is interest "

The Bishop of Down, preaching an eloquent and vigorous sermon in Belfast Cathedral on the duties, of Christian citizenship, said : "The ' Christian who deliberately abstains from voting is wilfully handing over to hon-Chris- • tians the government of tho town. It is your duty to see that the men who : are willing to represent you have no [•private ends to serve, but are' men of_ •' clean and honest character and standl, ing. It is our duty to force upon all i' public men the knowledge that there i is no difference between private and i public morality except in their sphere - of operation, and that what is base in l private life is no less, base in civic or t national politics.".