GENERAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1112, 21 January 1885, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

There are now building in French dockyards eight torpedo despatch boats.

The German Admiralty considers 150 torpedo boats necessary for the defence of the German coasts.

An original plan of physicking is carried on by a native doctor in charge of one of the civil stations on the Irrawady. When called upon to attend a patient, he begins to prescribe by giving a list of the medicines he has in his dispensary, and then asks the patient which he would prefer. A more courteous mode of doctoring could scarcely be imagined.

There is an invention spoken of which it is thought may abolish the bit. It is called the carrago, or anti-horse torture. It is composed of a steel band placed over the front bone of the horse's no3e, and to this appliance the line's are attached. The inventor claims for this substitute for the bit that it gives complete control to the driver over the horse without inflicting the least discomfort or torture on the animal itself. It has been tried with satisfactory results.

Lovely Climes. — There are bvely climes and places in which the evening zephyrs are loaded with malaria and the poison of fever and epidemics. To dwell there in health is impossible, without a supply of Hop Bitters at hand. These Bitters impart an equalising strength to the system, and prevent the accumulation of deadly pores of contagion. Be sure and see.

Malarial Fever.— Malarial fevers, constipation, torpidity of the liver and kidneys, general debility, nervousness and neuralgic ailments yield readily to this great disease conqueror, Hop Bitters. It repairs the ravages of disease by converting the food into rich blood, and it gives new life and vigor to the aged and infirm. See.

We don't suppose the following is true, but the joke is good enough to bear reproduction ; At a franchise demonstration at Garahieis, Scotland, a man was observed in the procession, staggering along with a huge banner, on which" was inscribed, "Down with the Peers." On being asked why he was so much opposed to the Peers who had never harmed him, he replied. "I dinna ken what ye're sayin' ; but I wish Peers was doon to the same price as aiples."

An old coat, purchased by a London dealer, revealed the fact —a joyful fact to the buyer — that the buttons consisted of sovereigns covered with cloth. Three pounds sterling, in German paper money, found their way into a bundle of German rags that reached a paper-maker. The London rags-brigade boys once found a bank cheque-book, and on another occasion six pairs of silk stockings, in wastepaper and rag 3 which they had bought ; these unexpected articles were, to the honor of the brigade, at once returned.

An ingenious method has been hit upon by a physician of Brighton, England, to make himself popular. He made the announcement that he had profoundly studied the effects of tight lacing, and had arrived at the conclusion that for middle-aged ladies, especially under his treatment, tight lacing is positively beneficial both to the health and the complexion. Prior to this discovery the physician trudged on foot to his patients residing in the back streets of the hilly part of Brighton, but now he drives one of the finest broughams, and is the fashionable physician in the South End.

One of the inventions to be seen at the Healtheries was a box with two compartments — the one containing post cards ; the other stamped envelopes, with a sheet of note paper enclosed. By dropping a penny into a slit on the post-card side a drawer underneath is unlocked, and upon pulling out this drawer a post-card is found inside it. In the same way by dropping two pennies into two slits on the letter side of the box a drawer containing a stamped envelope, with sheets of notepaper, is unlocked. Nothing but a pennypiece will unlock the drawer, so that these boxes cannot be tampered with, and when the drawer is put back it locks itself ; and the same operation is repeated until all the post-cards and envelopes are exhausted. The mechanism is simple and ingenious. Foreigner (at fashionable American watering-place) : " I cannot see why such plain, humble-looking people as some of those you have here should be willing to come to such a gay place as this or be able to pay the enormous price you charge. I should think farmers would want to save their money to buy ploughs and hoes and such things ?" Hotel Clerk : "I do not notice any such people here as you describe." "Why, look at that old gentleman over there. Belongs to some small village, don't he ?— a mere nobody, evidently." "That is a very eminent member of the Cabinet." "Bless my stars ! Well, who is that distinguishedlooking personage in a dress-suit looking out of the window?" " That is the headwaiter."—" Philadelphia Call." A New Soath Wales paper reports the death of a woman from sudden fright. Bernie, a settler of Young, with his wife and five children, lived on a farm near the Burrangong racecourse. Bernie was away from home carting wood, and left his wife, who had not been in good health for sime time previous, to be cared for by a servant girl and her mother, a very old and infirm woman. The girl carelessly threw some hot ashes near a heap of timber and rubbish, which quickly ignited, and blazing up communicated to the long and dry grass growing round, and nearly up to the house. The old woman seeing the danger ran in to her daughter, who was in bed, and told her to get up or she would be roasted alive- The sudden fright seems to have paralysed Mrs Bernie, who was unable to say more than " Where's my children !" when she fell into a swoon. By this time the fire had reached the crop, but was by the efforts of the women, with the assistance of some others, beaten out without destroying more than a-quarter of an acre. Through the day Mrs Bernie grew worse, and expired in convulsions next morning, never having gained consciousness. At the trial of Captain Dudley and the mate of the Mignonette the Courtroom wai crowded. The scene during the pronouncing of the sentence wa3 most impressive. The Lord Chief Justice read the judgment of the Court, citing authorities at length. The Court declared that taking human life could only be justified on the plea of self-defence. The Commission of murder for the sake of preserving- one's own life was un justifiable.j ustifiable . Of course it was a duty to preserve one's own life, but duty often required not one to save but to sacrifice his own life. The Court must apply the law, and declare that the prisoners were guilty of murder for which there was no justification. If j udgment was too severe, the Court must leave tbe prisoners to the clemency of the Crown. The prisoners were asked what they had to say before sentence was pronounced. Both Dudley and Stevens pleaded for mercy in view of their terrible situation when the deed wag done. Lord Coleridge said it was the jury's privilege to recommend the prisoners to mercy, and then he sentenced them to be hanged, but vntlwnt the black cap. The Secretary of State for the Home Department advised the Queen to respite Dudley and his mate, and the sentence of the prisoners was commuted to six months, with hard labor.

The well-known and frequently-men-tioned effect of oil poured on troubled waters has been utilised by G. Foster Howell, of New York, in what he calls an automatic wave lubricating life-buoy. The buoy is furnished with a seamless brass reservoir running entirely around the inside, and oil is filled in through a hole at the top, which is then covered by a screw cap. On each side of the upper part of the oil tube is placed a rose similar to those placed on watering cans, so that when the buoy is hung upon the vessel's stern, no oil can escape. The moment, however, that it is placed horizontally the oil begins to escape, and covers the w iter with a thin film of oil, which extenda rapidly on every side until a large circle Is formed, within which the person who has fallen overboard may re3t until rescued.

" What is the meaning of e.o nihilo uih'd fit V asked a Highlander of a village schoolmaster. " Weel,Donald,"answered the dominie, "I dinna mind the literal translation ; but it just means that ye canna tak' the breeks aff a Highlandman."