NEWS ITEMS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12502, 31 March 1909, Page 1

NEWS ITEMS.

■■ — ♦ '■ Women on this - side of the worlt have not invaded the domains of the insurance business in appreciable ? 1 numbers, but in the United States i both the women underwriter and the J women. insurance agent (particulary! the latter) are conspicuous features oi ' the insurance world. t f 1 Mr R. Russell, ex-Superintendent of r Education in Natal, is at present en- - gaged on a new edition of his History 3 of Natal, entitled "Natal, the Land t and its Story," which will include re- - cent events in that colony, such as the - , Native Rebellion and the trial of DinC izulu. I!". - ) ! There are now 300 men on the Cat- > lines railway works. The Public 1 Works Department wants 50 more, i but has difficulty in getting them. > . The prospect of good wages-and hard I'■ work does not (says the Clutha 1 Leader) tempt the city unemployed. , Under the heading of "A grim sign • of the times," the Labour Leader of ; January 29 publishes the following : 1 , 'On Tuesday last a scene was witness- ■ j eJ in London which constitutes a grim ; comment on the condition of labour in th'j wealthy metropolis. A Wormwood street firm of publishers advertised for two warehousemen. By nine o'clock in the morning- the premises were besieged by 3000 applicants for these posts. The crowd filled... ■ the. street, stopping all traffic, and eventually a strong force of. police was summoned to disperse them.'-.' The little church of Absam, near Innsbruck, enjoys a reputation which is probably unique of its kind. It is a popular superstition that couples united within the church of Absam, especially during the month of May, are assured of unclouded happiness during >he whole of their wedded lives. This idea brings scores of lovers to Absam, and during May in particular the familiar notice "Come early to avoid the crush" might very well be displayed outside the building. Sweet Memories.— Pension Enquiry Officer : Have you ever been in the hands of the police ?— Applicant : Well — cr — sir, you see I used to be a cook. Girls will be girls. Besides it was a good many years ago ,^ and he was a { sergeant.— "Punch." 5 . . s It is reported that "farmers are unable to obtain grain sacks in Ashburton, and the supply is short throughout New. Zealand. , Ashburton merchants expect a shipment in the .course of ten days, and until its arrival some people have had to postpone threshing, /•;. At Oamaru a youth of 18 named Thomas M'Grath has been committed 1 for trial at the Supreme Court on a charge of shooting three horses and a i cow with a pea rifle. Two of the horses died the' following day. Witnesses said thatt'acoused. admitted the offence, saying.be did it to see the animals jump. When the Nimrod was. down at Cape Royds, numerous schools of "killer" : whales were seen. Oneof these creatures" (black, with white patches on it) came alongside the Nimrod and began to spout. One of the crew states that the opening in the whale's head w.as about eight inches across.. However, they dropped a lump of coal into the spouting apparatus, and in the words of the opera, "that whale was seen no more." . John Lee, whom the executioner could not hang after three r attempts, was married to Miss Jessie Augusta Bulleid at the Congregational Church, Newton Abbott. ... After being imprisoned over twenty years Lee was liberated in December 1907, and since that time has been residing with his widowed mother Cat Abbotskerswell, where he has strenuously protested his innocence of the crime. The'bride who is about 33 years of age, has been nurse- at the workhouse, Newton Abbott, about five years. To avoid publicity the marriage was by license, only the Rev N. Oliver, who officiated, the registrar and the caretaker, were present. Report of the ceremony, however, soon spread, and a big crowd gathered outside as the couple emerjgel from the building. They were besieged with showers of confetti. Congratulations, too, from, many of the crowd were very hearty. • The "Sydney Morniijg Herald" reports two singular cases of lapse of memory. It is a month now since the police were informed of the robbery of jewellery worth. £10 from a suburban residence. The lady who reported the burglary has a married daughter living next door, and the people in the daughter's house had occasion to look behind a piano. They made, a discovery, for the missing valuables were behind the instrument. It was remembered then that prior to leaving for a holiday, a few weeks ago the owner of the jewellery had placed it in her daughter's care for safe keeping. All the boarders arid all the servants were mustered at a large boarding establishment at Wahroonga. The front door was shut securely and orders given that no one was to leave the house until the police arrived, for £60 worth of valuables were missing. When the police came they ransacked the rooms high and low and finally found the "stolen property" packed away in a wardrobe. It had been put there by the owner, whose memory had proved defective. It will be seen that while there is no ground for panic or hysteria there are very good grounds indeed why every aspect of what is undoubtedly a grave situation should be calmly and fairly faced. There must be, of course, an immediate increase in the shipbuilding programme, and there should be, we hold, a careful and exhaustive investigation into the present management and administration of naval affairs. Judging by the evidence available all is not well with that force "upon which, under God '(to use the words of the preamble to the Naval Discipline Act), the safety and the welfare of the Realm doth depend." And when the present situation becomes a little less tense the Imperial Parliament will be discharging a plain duty if it appoints a representative commissionior the purpose of taking stock of -the Navy and Admiralty, of seeing whether things are or are not satisfactory, and of considering whether the administrative policy- of the future is being shaped on sound lines.— "New Zealand Tablet.' The "Lady" says:— "That woman is ready to sacrifice everything to the Moloch of fashion is proved by the fact that she has now consented to sacrifice her waist to it. The dress which has created a new type of feminity, known in Paris as la f emme tube,' is built straight up and down, with only the merest indication of a waist. It is designed on the lines of a soutane or cassock, its distinguishing mark is'ihe rigidly severe line lof buttons which fasten it, or appear to, fasten it. A few years ago if such a dress, unblessed by the priestess of fashion, had been brought to aiTordinary woman of the world, she would have laughed at the idea of wearing it. "Why it has no waist," she would have exclaimed, and by that exclamation Would have considered that she had disposed of the garment. Even now English woman are not taking to the waistless fashions with the same fervour as their French 1 sisters. Yet the spirit of compromise only brings disaster,',' -