MISCELLANEOUS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2976, 13 June 1899, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

_J — + • I * The other day, the Magistrate at West London Police Court had occasion to ■ rebuke a vestry inspector for a reprei hensible practice. Under his instruc- : tiocs he sent a girl to make a purchase • of milk for analysis, instructing her to ; say that she was buying the mi Ik. for her ! mother. Mr Plowden, the Magistrate, indignantly reproved the inspector, i telling him that he had no right to i further his own ends by telling a lie, and i that it was better for a casual customer > to be cheated than a girl should be . taught to tell lies. One of the most remarkoble features of the struggle for records last year was . the keen competition against Great , Britain by both France and the United States, and the enormous progress made by the Americans m their methods of , pacing, and the rapid development of mechanical paring m France resulted m our loßiug the greater part of our supremacy. With the introduction of ; motor pacing, however, it is to be hoped that several of the world's coveted records will again be placed to the credit of British riders. The record passages across the Atlan- ■ tic have been made between Queenstown , and New York by the Ounard liners Lucania and Campania. The fastest i voyage (westward) by the Lucania was > m October, 1894— namely, 5 days 7 hours i and 23 minutes ; or an average speed of over 21 knots per hour, 'x'he Campania has made the fastest eastward ; voyage — namely, 5 days 9 hours i 18 minutes. The Lucania made one i day's run of 562 knots. The highest speed attained by the Lucania since 1 December, 1895, was on April 11th, 1896, i when she travelled at the rate of 21.81 ; knots per hour. From Southampton to New York the best records have been by : the steamers of the American line, the ■ St. Louis and the St. Paul. The out- • ward voyage was accomplished by the St. Louis m August, 1896, m 6 days 6 ; hours 26 minutes, a total distance of 3055 knots, at an average speed of 20.86 s knots per hour. The St. Louis's home- > ward passage m the fastest time was m I September, 1896—6 days 12 hours 27 minutes. ' One of the chief military papers of St. Petersburg gives an instructive picture ! of the "code of honour" forced upon 1 Russian officers. The case narrated may be apocryphal, but it is declared to be typical. After a heavy night at mess a young lieutenant is summoned next ' morning to the presence of his colonel, ■ ] who remarks m a severe tone : "Do you 1 remember, Lieutenant A., what took ' place last night after dinner ?" " £ can't say I do," replies the culprit. " Well," explains the colonel, " you were struck m the face by Lieutenant B. because 1 you would not let him take down a pistol 1 hanging on the wall." " Excuse us, [ colonel, we both had more than was good : for us, but we are the best of friends, 1 and if anything of the kind happened, we were neither of us conscious of it." 1 " I know nothing about consciousness, > but I know the fact. Two officers of 1 another regiment were present, and I must insist on your olearing your honor s of this stain. Good morning." The " wretched man goes off to wake up 8., ! who, on being told of last night's inci--1 dent, exclaims ; " I was a brute. For- ' give me ! " He then learns that it is not a question .of forgiveness, now that the colonel has heard of it. They go out and exchange shots until one or other is killed or wounded. The Rontgen rays have been applied to a new purpose m Austria. At Katisbon there is a well-known picture, ' The Saviour Giving His Blessing," which has , long been ascribed to Albrecht Duerer, although some doubted its genuineness. ' Now, however, the " critical rays " 1 have put an end to all doubt. J The other day when the paint- • ing m question was subjected to J them thpy distinctly showed Duerer's ■ monograph, and at the same time f rpctified an'verror concerning its date. 1 Wheieas hitfijrto 1521 had been believed \ to be the date r*£ the execution, the rays ' plainly showedifthe date 1524. Duerer } painted the pictur J° n a Bilk handker--1 chief, which was %Q mounted en an

: o.k parel two centimetres thick. The highly Hurceßsful application of the X rays m this capp, which was ncconi- . plished without the {-lightest injury to i the picture, gives encouragement for their employment m similar cases. The First California Volunteers has had the miefortune to number a traitor m its ranks. His punishment has, how- ! ever, been 'prompt and terrible. After a recent engagement m the vicinity of Manily (writes the San Francisco corespondent of the Sydney Telegraph) the body of the miserabio man was found pierced with balls, lying m a trench where the Filipinos had made a stand against the American troops. His name was Henry T. Haze, and he was a corporal m Company D. It is now known that for years Haze had led a vagabond existence. For a few months, however, he served on the battleship Oregon, when she first went into commission, but, being injured, he waß sent to the Marine Hospital, and afterwards was discharged from the uavy. Later on he fell m with Hallie W. Ayers, of this city, whose family took m and cared for the fellow m his distress. When the war broke out, Haze appeared inspired by the most patriotic sentiments. He volunteered m the Californian regiment, and induced Ayers, who was much his junior, to do so likewise. Haze was made a corporal, but turned out a drunkard and a thief, and finally deserted to the enemy, being led to this act by his infatuation for a Filipino woman, m whose company he left Manila and made his way to Aguinaldo's army. In it Haze accepted a commission as an officer, and fought against his country and the troops of which he had formed parb. His career was, fortunately, brief, he being killed by American bullets m General Wheaton's advance from Manila.

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