CABLE MEWS.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13649, 14 February 1913, Page 2

CABLE MEWS.

(From tho Sjdney "Sun.")

London, Fob. 1.

Various v report.l - oonoerning the health of tho Emperor Francis Joseph are one© more being circulated. It is freely rumoured that tho Emperor, now in his 83rd.-year, has little hope of surviving more- than a month or two. i\ few da>B ogo tbo Archduke Franz uFcrdiuand was hastily summoned to Vienna, and there are indications generally that preparations are being inado for a change of rulers. Mr Bernard Shaw's play, "You No'/er "Can Tell," which has juet been produced in Paris, hos quite mystified the critics there, who are wondering whether they ought to laugh, weep, or howl at the piece. Sbme of them declare that the. author is demented. Statistics; show that last year 7573 dogs ■ we-ro .eaten, as compared .with 6854 in- 1911. The consumption of hoi'Sßfl'Csh..'wa-s. al&o marked, 175,000 tsmg slaughtered for food during the 12 montte, as agaiiißt 146,000 in 1911. •According' ti> a message from Enid, Oklahoma, .a kick on tho head by a mule, was worth £760 to a farmer named John Allen. Immediately after the flcpiderit:. Allen was operated on for fracture.'of the.eicuH,'and.when he came to ho a'omemberod vt'here he had" buried that .'sum of money during the financial p-.auic of 1907. H 9 put the cash underground then, and had teincc- been unable to locate it.

The late Chief Goverment Chemist at Washington, Dr. Harvey Wiley, in an address' before the Donver Medical Association, stated:-"I sometimes wish that..a. holocaust'would come and destroy every, dwelling-houso in the United States. Then- ; . tlie' two greatest diseases that bring death to the house would bo banished. Dr.' Wiley further declared that some, "day every learned profession, with tho exception of tenching and agriculture, would be done away with. Perfect health would banish physicans, and bring universal peace, thereby banishing, lawyers. A curious contretemps occurred last at the Opera House in Berlin, where a gala performance, was being h-eld in honour of .the- Emp'eror'e birthday. The trouble arose over the obstinacy of a policeman. Herr Poppe, one of the leading ■■singers, upon going to the stage..door, '.was refused admission by the-policeman wli© was on.duty there. In vain did ihe;. indignant artist protest'and just ts unavailingly did one of actresses expostulate with the officer,. In the mean time tho'performance was being delayed, and the Kaiser, becoming impatient, despatched an aide-de-camp to iseo -what- had gone amiss. Within a few minutes Herr Popp-e w^vls admitted,: and made .bis appearance 'on the stage as quickly ~as he could. The policeman' has bee-n dismissed for his ■stupidity. • •• ■ •'•-• / ' ;■.'■. V ' • ■ ■■■'■' ■'.