YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7605, 15 January 1903, Page 1

YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

■■■ ' , ■■ — ♦ ■ ■ A SUMMARY. . The following is a summary of news trhich did not appear in yesterday's >Star": — ', It is denied that Count Lonyay has deserted tie Mile. A heavy sou'Jh-we-st gale ia raging on the Australian coast, and the weather is almost {Wintry. ■' ' : « * Mr .Frederick Quick, a London m'ercluant, leiqueathed to Cambridge University £60,000 iai biological" research. .■'*••-,:• ■ ■ Tho New Souths Waks Government has rebsived advice that treasury Bills amounting to a million have been floated in London it -par. ' ' . ; i Mr ■ -Daviti contends that before the Siate, •e&isfs in the transfer of land from the owner totthe occupier in Ireland, Home Rule ©"tight to be established. .•• ;. .• - ■ ••• ■ ■• , , • '■i A Special Committee of the Unitefl Slates BcAab has awaarded cx-Quein liiliuokaliani' £88,ii5 us 'compensation for pi&rsonal damages Lty ijiho annexation ol Hawaii. ' • - V Tho poll taken yesterday on the proposal <.|o adopt mating on unimproved veluea in the Borpugih of Ashburton resulted in the projpoaa.l being loat. The figures were : —Against fee '.proposal 199, for the proposal 102. /• ■ *-T** ■ -■■■:»■?+•■ ■<■■■ ■■• •_■ ' •'■;;>•, , Mr Chanibsrlaiii's discussion with leading. iioitizena of Johann-esburg resulted in an <agTe&jnent for. aa- I-mroeff«l--g»»a»Miteed jpublio-^work» w^Tjj^ ; {fixed *.« :^:T'^t&^Qiib6nß. An- Tiinder- . aiso.T^^-^sJfclced. on the.i 'I'a-bour fßostion. ,fi ■•'>;!'-,/ .'.•^'Sr'A iimeral -,i«ipSc'e in connection with the ■ l*^ i -Jlit'iiiiJeTick'' ISarpcod1 Sarpcod was held at gpofe" und attended by Sir' iaifrißd;3|pi6n." Sir. John See, leading com-. Spre^ffciflß'sri and mem-bors of the Federial and Dr Bruce ds-livwed «n BVrgoytie,- of Burgoyne and Company, Mrrtifawlfra •■wine importer®, .in a- Setter to ihfl 'Jjm&on r '' ."'Daily Telograph '-' states that the, 'import^'imo the "United Kingdom, of Frencih iwin«s 'decreased k^t year by 267,170 gialloma, ■aid the importation of Australian wines in- ' *r«ased by 256,0G0 gallons. • • ■'■../•' . . "••"■■ ' ■ 'The Bishop of North Queensland ha-s re-. turned f ram a' visit to hds diocese. He de'«lare3 that "he h«s beeto impressed by " ttie r degraded mor*l conditions of the bulk of tihe| *tien population in the north. • He intendsto proceed' \o< the southern . States to axonsej interest -in .aprtiiern. miseioniary work. : The| indulgenoe am" vice: is so deplorable that com-. «non prudence calls p.t once for active steps. ;

' 321," belonging to the Atchison,- Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was despatched "light" (i.e., with only a tender attached) rrom Carl ton to Yuma, in Southern California, a distance of about 170 miles. Slip carried an. experienced driver and fireman, and plenty of coal, and, although t-he ' stretch of country through which she had to. run is mostly desert, and devoid, of permanent inhabitants, 1 there is a station at every twenty miles or so, occupied by a foreman section-hand and a gang" of Chinese iabourera. At each of these in turn she reported herself as she ran through,- until the penultimate one, which latter disclaimed having either* seen or < HEARD ANYTHING OF HER. Investigation and inquiry alike failed to throw any light on the mystery. The permanent way was undamaged ; not a sleeper had been disarranged or a culvert injured; there was no branch ' line over which she could have been smuggled on to another system ; neither was there any river crossing the track into which she could have toppled and fallen. The mighty engine, with her tender, her driver and her fireman had vanished. That was all there was of it. - ' Of course, the papers were full of the mystery, and railway men from Main© to California, and from St Paul to New Orleans, discussed with zest th© <pros and cons of the matter ; but no one succeeded in suggesting any explanation that was even remotely plausible. iSventy odd years rolled by, and the" occurrence was well-nigh forgotten, /when one day a' letter, written, in cramped Chinese hieroglyphics, reached the Superintendent " the line from a remote village in Hunan, It was translated, and was found to be the- dying confession of a certain Wong Lee, a one-time coolie labourer on the sec■tion over which the missing locomotive was presumably running at the time of its strange disappearance. The writer, it appeared, had carelessly left the points open at a half-way siding, where was the broad, shallow bed of a creek. This was usually dry, except after a storm, when it was converted 1 into a dangerous quicksand. It/had been noted at the time of the occurrence'that there had been a brief but heavy downpour of rain that night, and there waa no" doubt that the locomotive had jumped the track at this point without even 'so much as marking the permanent way— a thing, by no means impossible — and had hurled itself into the quicksand, in the depths of which it had sunk and been engulfed. The coolie, hearing the engine thunder /through tie station, had been reminded of his carelessness, had hurried out into the night without saying anything to his "boss," and had reclosed the open points. Latfron, he, of. course, heard of the mystery, and guessed what had really happened, but ■kept his mouth shut for fear of the consequences; Experimental borings, with long iron rods, revealed the presence of the engine and tender forty-five feet beneath the level- of / THE BED OF THE CREEK. , As many people will remember, a tunnel under London, which had been so completely lost sinfht of for moi-e than half a century, that the fact of its having- ever existed at all was news to the official most nearly concerned in. the matter, was recently accidentally discovered.. It .had been built originally for -the purpose .of. cpnyeyiiig- tfle .inattSy^^nMmlac;^riSßi"ji|!ey betw.een the General EoSt^§ic;f,Astv'MaSrtin's le Grand/ andiEuston-^titrbni . ' '* The science of pneumatics half •& century ago, however, was not what it -is now, and the tunnel, proving of no practical utility, had .been abandoned, and, in course of time, totally forgotten. On its re-discovery, it was inspected throughout its entire length by Government experts, found, to be in an almost perfect state of preservation, and is at', tlbis present moment being/used; for t>h©( purpose for which ' . •■:■■ ;#:.•■•■•;-. v ; : U ■ ■ ■.-■■ ■\ IT WAS ORIGINAIiLT i>ESI(S?OJP. How many amoiig iihe hnn^tkdfMl-tliq'a-sands oi ;. Coronation visitors 1»;|uondon;, who gazed with- wonder ' at: the y : ini^b^ obelisk on- the Embankment, which Bist in mis-naming "Cleopatra's. Needle," kndw anything of its strange adventures in the Atlantic, while being brought over/ijere from Alexandria?. ! ' \Noti. many:, ii is to be primed; . foii; few ".take tihe' trouble* to decipher the in^criptijpjt^/ip^, the base which gives outline pi :sfft iaicts. . .. . • Yet it makes' tjh^iping-' reading."; Th« huge monoUth^it weighs over 186 .tons — was encased/inva sort of gigantic iron cylinder called ;shfe-<)leopatra,i-and'thus was taken in ,tow,; i by ;:tJie i steamship Olga: ! • AU' went welij;4Hits! the Bay; of Biscay was reached, >\ih.ett|f;'djiring a violent gale, the cylinder p^ntaining.the" needle'* broke adrift. Six ili^es Jwere lost in -a vain attempt to ■** it, after which' it was abandoned^ 1 : •■•-«|fre>ry-one thought, when the disappointing $ixews reached Britain, that the obelisk was- lost, for good. But no! It drifted about in' the Atlantic for several: *"weeks, 'sjnd was eventually found by the ' Fitz(Captain Carter), and brought f into fprol. whence it was towejd by the Anglia England, arriving in London on <jTah. 20, lfiifeffi It left Alexandria on.'. Sep"t. 21, ISft^M^i-hfCSi thus, occupied foTutjr montfhs on ittf'l^raiordina^'ahd, radvent'uiKius, journey. '■■■"" .- '-k '■,'■■ - ,_ • ■