GENERAL CABLE NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 307, 20 May 1913, Page 6

GENERAL CABLE NEWS.

AN EXCITING EXPERIENCE. LORD KITCHENER AMONG A NEST OF COBRAS. (Sydney Sun Special). I London, May 5. Lord Kitchener had an exciting experience at the Cairo races yesterday, when he found himself among a nest of cobras. The Consul-General occupied a special ■box in the grandstand. A movement under the flooring caught his attention, and when a servant made a search he found a cobra 12 feet long. A snake-charmer was brought, and he started to whistle on a reed to induce the snake to come into the open. To the astonishment and alarm of Lord Kitchener's attendants, five deadly cobras, which had been lying within a few feet of him, came forth, swaying gently to the music. The charm was broken by an excited attendant, who rushed forward to slay the snakes. The charmer jumped for safety, and the snakes moved off into the crowd. A minute of the wildest excitement followed. Each snake was followed by a shrieking crowd of Egyptians till it was overtaken and killed. The five cobras were caught. The true cobra .belongs to India and China, but an allied and larger species, the Naja Haje, is found in Egypt. • .. ' THE TWOPENNY' TIMES; ADVERTISINg"sPACE RUSHED. London, May 5. The reduction in the price of the Times from 3d to 2d has caused a large increase in the demand for advertising space. The pressure on the space in to-day's issue was so great that it was found necessary to exclude a large number of advertisements. "• TRAGEDY FOLLOWS DANCE. FOUR PERSONS DROWNED. London, May 5. The upsetting of a boat on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, was responsible for the loss of four lives yesterday. The victims were members of a party of young people who had been to a dance and were returning to Lausanne, when their craft capsized. Of the six persons in the boat only two were saved. SKIRTS STILL TIGHT. PARISIAN SPRING FASHIONS. ' London,, May 5. The Times, in a special article on the spring fashions in Paris, states that skirts for morning and evening gowns are still straight and narrow, yet there are signs 'of a revolt against the ultratight skirt. • TELL-TALE FINGER-PRINTS. BURGLAR AND THE BEER GLASS. London, May 5. The Paris police have just arrested a criminal whose identity as the perpetrator of a .burglary was established by means of the finger impressions left on the beer glass that the culprit had handled. SPAIN JOINS ENTENTE. KING ALFONSO'S WISH. " ;'■"'' London, May 6. .Count, Romanones, Spanish Premier, states that King Alphonso desires an entente with France, in association with England. TEACHING THRIFT. '..... A CHARITY SUGGESTION. I " •'■■' London, May 5. The importance of teaching thrift in the public schools, was urged upon the Education 'Department to-day'by representatives of thfe Charity Organisation. Mr.. C P.'Triyelyah. Pirliamentary Under-Secretary' of the Board of Education, by whom the deputation was received, said that it would be impossible to make the propdsed instruction compulsory, but thnt the department would consider the feasibility of introducing a voluntary penny saving bank system. OBITUARY. ENGLAND'S OLDEST SOLICITOR.. "London, May 5. The death is announced of Mr. Janson, at the age of 100 years. He was the oldest solicitor in England. " NO' ,f! MERE-BOGEY." ULSTER'S GRIM EARNESTNESS. London, May 5. In a leading article this morning, the Times says:—"The central fact of the Irish situation is the figure of Ulstergrim, determined and menacing. Any pretence that it is a mere bogey must now he abandoned. The Government has had no mandate from the country for pursuing a policy that can only bring Ireland not peace but the sword." The Unionist clubs in Ulster will not hear of any compromise being arrived at in connection with the Home Rule Bill. i Altogether the Unionists , have 332 clubs, with a total of 110,000 members, every one of whom, it is stated, could be mobilised on the shortest notice. The arming, drilling and disciplining of the men who are now being put through military evolutions in the various centres have already had practical results, which are to be seen in the way in which these volunteers assist the police in keeping in check the wilder spirits in Protestant Ulster. CHRISTIAN ENGLAND. WOMAN STARVES TO DEATH. London, May 4. Evidence given at an inquest on the dsath of an old woman who was a pensioner under the Insurance Act showed that she had died of starvation. The woman was a widow, 76 years of age, and lived by herself. She was missed by her neighbors, and when nothing had been seen of her for several days a search was made. She was found in her room, delirious with hunger. The police surgeon who attended her before her death, and who gave evidence at the inquest, said that while the pension was helpful when friends gave assistance to the old people, it was use- ■ less by itself to maintain them. It was better that they should be sent to workhouses. To expect persons to live on 5s a week was criminal. The law needed altering. "QUO VADIS?" ROYALTY AT THE BIOGRAPH. London, May 0. The King and Queen drove to the Albert Hall privately last night, and witnessed the biograph film. "'Quo Vadis?"