FROM HOME PAPERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXX, Issue 12285, 1 February 1904, Page 4

FROM HOME PAPERS.

The most ourioua mayor elected In Britain is th-e mock mayor Of Woraton. 'i'nat ji u tiny Lancashire hamlet ol some dozen houses at tiie loot of Pendle Hill. its i resiueuts uro all humourists, and tuny have f » stundiug entertainment by niasquerauiflg j a the "undent borough ot Worston," ana 1 inuually clouting a mayor. With spien- [' aid «eriousu9aß the candidates issue addresses, and all the residents ot' tiie neighf bourliood ate-supplied witn voting papets, ' the women voting as well us cne men. ! The duly elected mayor always assumes the style of a Privy Councillor and tne I rank of a knight. ilia holder of the ' olhce for several yews has been " the Right ! Hon. iSjr William Bulcock," a labourer. | He has his rqbes of, office, a gorgeous ] cocked hat, and huge brass chain and ! : badge. Tiie corporation meets at the vili luge inn, and there ponderously discusses such moving questions as the repainting ! of finger-posts. At the 'Coronation this | nock borough had its civio rejoicings, and. | forwarded an address to the King, who j Acknowledged it as courteously as he did t' the congratulations of Lopdon or Edin- ; • i>urg)i, j EarJ Grey, jn a letter to the " Times," ! gives some interesting details of the rei progress pi tilt Central TublioI A "Viinfc ; £ ous ,° —,w*«uon, WiuCii, vuOUgu . barely more two years old, has been |' jn* -to lirlng'nearly all England within ■ tli& sphere of its operations. i The only ■ counties in which trust efttnpanies ate not : in exiftUnct ot 111 process of formation i are Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Xeicos- • tertkire, Norfolk, and Oxfordshire. Truat ! t-omUMiies have also -been started in Wales, • t Scotland, and Ireland. The total number i o! trust houses is now 114, while trust i principles will be applied to over 100 ad- ' ditional houses on the termination, of the < current leases. At Trentham Hotel, where > the non-alcoholic trade was at first only _ a : few pence a day, it now often reached £3 1 a day. The provision of properly cooked i food is a feature at the trust publicliouses. ; At the Delaval Arms, Benwell, Newcastle- ( on-TJrne, there is a large workman's dining 'hall, and men can also bring their own food and have it cooked. The Ulster \ Publichouse Trust Association Teport that during one week in April 43 per cent. I of their customers ordered non-alcoholics, ' and add that it is a common saying that I "the man who asks for Bovril gets the ' same smile as the -man who asks for beer," ' The Academy of Medicine on November ! 30th received the reports of the doctors 1 who Jaave experimented with Dr Marmo- j ! rek's anti-tuberculous serum. Professor ! Dieulafoyls experiences with, seven patients, ] the injections being made by Dr Marmorek ! himself,'were very disappointing, none ims proving under-the treatment, and five of I the number -dying. With, infected animals ' experimented on similar xesults were ob-. { tained > those injected expiring much quicker than those not treated with the serum. ' Several other dootors gave reports confirm- ' tag Professor Dieulafoy's statement, only 1 Dr Monod recording a slight improvement i in h|s patients, who were mostly suffering ! from local tuberculosis. \ ; At a Union League banquet at Phila- ' <3elphia the other day, Rear-Admiral Sigskee, ispeaking on the necessity of im esfij cient Navy, said:—"The inost difficult '■ \ problem the Navy has to solve at the j>re- | gent time is in respect of personnel. We j find if well nigh impracticable to enlist, : train, and keep well enough men for the • needs of the service. Time and experiment ! will solve the. problem, but'it most band- ; mitted that the solution is as yet hardly : Jn sight." . ■ . ■ President Roosevelt hw written a memo- ■ y&ndum upon some papers submittedto him by the Department of Justice andthe Post i' Office Department.concerning the investiga- | tion into the charges Of corrupt . practice ' on the part of some employees of the ! Post Office in collusion with persons outside that Department. The President ; says:—"Bribe-giver and bribe-taker are equally guilty. Both alike sin against i the primary law of the State's safety. A question lika this-lies at the root of honest f and decent government. In the last re- !" sort good laws and / good aaministration j alike! must rest on the broad basis of sound , public opinion. A dull public conscience . and an easy-going acquiescence in corrupI tion infallibly mea? debasement in pubyc life. Such an end means the ruin of free

institutions. Self-government becomes a ! farce if the representatives of the people I corrupt others or are themselves corrupted. Freedom is not a gift which can tarry i long in the hands of the dishonest; or of those so foolish or incompetent _as to tole- ; - rate the dishonesty of public servants. " Dr Pierce, the 'medical officer of health j for Woking,, reports on the subject of the : ■ recent mysterious local epidemic. He : states that on being informed that deaths had occurred as a result of a throat disease > of an infectious nature, and suspecting the milk supply as a possible eource of the i epidemic, he, in company with a medical . expert, visited fifty houses wheie cases had I occurred. Information was obtained ulto- ; gether of 98 infected houses, and out of this number. it was found that 76 obtained their milk from' two milk firms. 1 The suspected farm, the source common to

I the two milk dealers, was visited. Twenty , cows were examined, and several were dis- ■ covered to be suffenng from diseased udders. Bacteriological examinations 'were »' made'of four samples obtained at the farm, ' as well as of samples of the mixed milk i from the farm as delivered to the two milk 1 dealers. The evidence of the infectiousness of the milk was of an overwhelming i character, and'the'possibility ofasimilar pollution taking place in other dairies is ! the district deserves the serious considers* : tion of the council. The Local Government Board have called upon Dr Pieroe to submit to them a report on the outbreak. The "Times" had offered £IOOO tothe purchaser who could pass the b4st examination in its " Encyclopaedia Britaonica," as' ' well as other prizes for the less-expert, I ranging from £226- to £lO, and the result was announced on November 30th. An

army tutor of London, Mr Leslie Ashe, won the £IOOO. .More than 10 per cent. ' of other prize-winners were clergymen or ministers. Among/. th» multitude of-per-. 1 sons who entered the. 'Times" competi-. tion were a goodly group of legislators, some of them hereditary legislators. "A selection from the papers of some of .these would be enlightening j if rumour speaks true, they would make quite a gay addition to the specimen examination answers to which we are now and again enteri tained from the elementary schools. _ The sailing boat Columbia 11., navigated • solely by Captain. Eisenbraund, who sailed 1 from Boston for Marseilles, arrived at Qib- ■ " raltar on November 20th. Notwithstandi ing the severe weather which he encountered, Captain Eisenbraund managed in a hundred days from Boston and nineteen i from Madiera to cross the. Atlantic in .ft nineteen feet long by six feet beam. At an inquest into the death of Mary : Ann Smith, aged 61, at Marylebone, a ; doctor stated that, he found that the Jiqart weighed 230z, instead of lOoz, while the liver weighed 101b instead of 31b. In ; the call bladder —he-found" 685 stones. •' Death was due to syncope whilst suffering • from fatty degenerate heart and. >' other diseases. "

| The housing question was discussed the ' other day by the Bristol guardian/). It ! was reported that in one instance nine = "persons slept in one room, namely, a wo- : man, her son, (aged 20), a dailghterv (18), : five children'/(torn three to fifteen), and ! another woqian,. not a member of the fjii mily. The. guardians • decided to adopt ! four children at a cost of £2 weekly, and ; resolved to press , for legislation, on _the ; ! housing question.' ■ . • The "National Zeitung" (Berlin) of De- .; cember, publishes the following telegram ' from St. Petersburg:—"According to ini formation derived from diplomatic sources, ■ a feeling of depression prevails in diplo- , matic circles here, apparently owing to the i result of various investigations made. with. : great caro by several of the junior mcmbera v ,«f the Diplomatic Body f iHtfc : a ' view of . P*ceftuini:i(t the true infernal condition of | Ruj-sia, These investigations have shown ; the existence of snch a state of ferment ' and unrest that it is believed that the • winter not pass without some, sad surf prises. That the information received isrej garded as trustworthy is proved by the fact J that the heads of various diplomatic mis- , sions in Bt. Petersburg have made it the subject of official reports to their respective j Governments." ; A mewige frb'm Ilidifax. of December 2nd • saysi'here is a great scarcity of hands ! to man the deep-sea Miing fleet of Nova ' Scotia and the owners of the boats and others ! interested in the fishing aro petitioning the : Canadian Government-to' make efforts to ! procure the importation of 600 Scotch [ fishermen to Jill.the vacancies in the crews. . The owner* nay they can guarantee the ! *nen employment for a period of Ave years.