GENERAL NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5115, 24 November 1894, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

The Prince of Monaco hsis been making some discoveries during his deep-aea dredging in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He found that at great depth e, where it was supposed that nothing could live, life is abundant. Many blank ground sharks, of a specks supposed to be extremely rare, were caught at & depth of a mile and a half. Some fishes, not identified, were found at a depth of more than two miles.

The house in which" Byron lived as a schoolboy in Aberdeen is still to be seen. It iB a curious old building in Broad Street, near Mariachal College, the medical school of Aberdeen, and sliill nearer the newsagent's ohop kept by Dr John Mackintosh, the historian of civilisation in Scotland, and the writer of the volume on ." Scotland " in tho " Story of the Nations Series." The poet's house, wlaich is ourmounted by .a small turret, bears on its ground floor the inscription — "Lord Byron'a House.". This floor da at prosent oconpiod by some enterprising person who exhibits Edison's phonograph..

During a southerly buster which broke over Sydney on Nov. 12> 'the schooner Janet F. Trice missed Bfcays, and was driven against Wilson's JPoint railway station. She struck the building stem on, the jibboom penetrating the roof ftnd tearing off several sheets of iron. The jibboom subsequently carried away, and the schooner got broadside on to the rocks. She was tugged off without; much damage. Whilst the storm lasted the city and l«arbour were enveloped in clouds of dusfc.

' The Wairarapa (says thfi Melbourne Age) wasalwaya noted tor the regularity of her runs between the 'various j;orta. It will be remembered that acme ten years since the Wairarapa, whilst jracing the Bteamer Adelaide, nairowJy escaped. a. serious collision near the heads with that vestEe!. The two steamers left the bay toother, ran into a fog near the Heads, and became "entangled/ No ffwult was found with tho master o£ the "W airarapa, but the certificate of the ma, liter of tho Adelaide was suep9nded for aoine time, he having been considered to btyme fpr the occurrence*

The Auckland Observer has the following paragraph: — Tbe suggestion hag been made *s a r<mult of the Wainirapa calamity thatiii moments .of danger the subordinate officers of vessels should have the right to in} erfere if they x are unanimously of opiniton that the judgment or behaviour of the captoin is at fault. Apropos of tbif/, Mr George Goldie, Sanitary Inspector of Auckland, relates that many years af;o he was one of a ship's company on a vessel in a position of great danger off tho River Plate. The caDtara was drunk, and the destruction of the ship appeared imminent when he, and the officers interfered and locked 'the captain in his cabin. He was " logged, " as the ringleader of a mutiny, and thi? chief officer was called to sign the entry, in the log. He did so, but added that thoir actipn was necessary because the capta in was drunk. The skipper tore out tha pag.e, and nothing more was heard of the matter. But the ship was saved.

Captain J. W. Jennin|»a, late of the Gothic, having retired from active duty, intends spending the remainder of his days in well-earned retirement*, and the following particulars of his career may be ' of interest :— Captain Jennitigs is the Benior commander in the British merchant service. His record is a splondid and unique one, being absolutely f reo from accident, though i 6 covers a period of eixty-four years at sea. He first shipped in 1830, and ba9 commanded several ships in the China, East India and Australian trades— the Julia, Philip B&an, Surthomley, Contest — his laat sailing 1 ship being the well-known Dhuleep Singh, in the fleet of Messrs Imray, Tomlinsom and Co., Liverpool. From 1871 to 1894 he commanded the following White . Star* liners : .Asiatic, Gaelic, Oceanic, Baltic, Celtic, Adriatic, Doric, and last of all the sj.s. Gothic— -a record of ten years on the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York, ten and a-half years in the tiade from London to NewZealand, and tho other two and a-half years in the Pacific, Brazil, China, Japan and San Francisco lines.

An attraction at Earl's Courtis "The Haunted Swing/ 1 which is reully a cleverly managed optical illusion (says an English paper). When tho visitors" are seated, a slight oscillation is imparted! to the swing, which oscillation apparently increases every moment, until the visitor finds himself swinging round and round the axle, which ia run across the niiddle of the room. What really happeas is that the room itself swings completely round, while the swing only oscillates nlightly. The impression on the people seated in the swingißthafctheyareßWungro>undandround the axle, the illusion being so. complete that, people are seen to saiza the sides of the swing to prevent their being pitched out, whilst some gentlemen qaioldy thrust their hands into their pockets, fociear that their cash should be Btresm all over the room. It will be roadily understood that all the objects in the room, froitn the electric lamp to the innocent-lookifig hat artfully placed on the chair, are fixed, aa are also fihe pictures on the walls.

The Melbourne Age reports : — About eleven years ago Mrs Murray, of Heidelberg, took from the industrial schools to board with her an orphan girl named Wlfite. The two became much attached to one another, and the child has for some time been generally Imown as Mies Murray, for ftt the end of her term of residence at Heidelberg nhe was adopted by J\lrß Murray. A couplta of young girle, also from the industrial schools, have of late been boarding with the household, and on Thursday evening tha adopted child and one of the later arrivals jumped out of -their bedroom window B.nd went down a cross road to meet a lad -with whom they had previously become acquainted. Later in the evening they were seen by Mr M'Hugh, an elderly resident in the district, who reproved them, and before going off with the lad told the girlt» ha would inform Mrs Murray of their conduct. To this Mica Murray replied that she had been doing no harm, and did not care what he told, or whom. Subsequently she saw Mr M'Hugh's daughter going towards their home, upon which she cried, "Oh, I can't go now ; I'll go and drown myself." In company with her young companion she went to the bank of the larra, and after asking that her prayerbook might be placed in the coffin beside her, phinged in. Bunsing home, the child who had been with her told her Btory, and the poliae having been informed, a seauch was made, which resulted in the mark of a foot being found in the mud n#ar by where the frightened girl wa3 last seen. Senior Constable Burton and othesrs have dragged the river, bat so far without I success, and no other trace of thejnieaing I one has been found. i