NEWS AND NOTES.

Waikato Independent, Volume VII, Issue 465, 25 January 1908, Page 6

NEWS AND NOTES.

There was a great demonstration upon the departure of General Booth from Now York on his return to England, and he .was moved to tears by the spontaneity of the send-off. The General, just before the steamer St. Louis cast off, shook each of the reporters by the hand, and said repeatedly : “ God bless the newspapers ; they are a great power for good. Even reporters (he added humorously) have a chance of reaching Heaven, -though it will be a pretty tough job for • some of them, but God bless them all! ” At the opening of the meeting-house at Turanganui (Main Trunk Line) recently, reference was made by the chiefs to the W necessity of absolutely abolishing tohunga work among the Maoris. One speaker declared that tohungaism had been introduced by the late King Tawhiao and that it should be returned to Tawhiao’s descendants, as the tohunga faith had been proved to be valueless. People who believe the State School cadets are merely ornamental, and do nothing that really matters will be glad to bear that more “ marksmen’s badges ” have been won by schoolboy shots durthe past year than ever before. To earn a marksmen’s badge the cadet must get 64 points out of a possible 84. Remarkable shooting was done by the Dannevirke North school cadets. There are seventy-seven of them now entitled to wear the distinguishing mark on their sleeves notifying that they are compeent rifle shets. Count Erasmus Erlach, heir to great estates in Germany, who married a laundress’s pretty daughter last year, and in consequence was declared insane by his family, is again in trouble. The count escaped.from the asylum, and went to Bavaria, where the doctors pronounced him sane, and the Lav protected him. , But, thoughtlessly, he went to Frankfort to visit a lawyer. The police (the Leader states) discovered and recaptured him. Now he is back in the asylum. Meanwhile his marriage has been declared invalid. Mr George Hollaroby Druce, son of Mr Mr G. H. Druce, claimant to the Portland title, called recently (the BritishAustralasi.au says) at the rooms of Mr Clarence Weber, at Brighton, Victoria, and, taking off his coat, picked up a tested bar-beil weighing 1601 b. With his right hand alone he lifted the big weight from floor to shoulder, and from shoulder to arm’s length. His record for the same lift is 1681 b. Mr G. 11. Druce, jun., is twenty years of age, sft 9in in height, and weighs 13st. His brother William, eighteen years of age, now in England with his father, is built on’ the same fine physical plan, and is equally strong. “ 1 Chops, steaks, or sausages, sir ? ’ I am sick of the cry,” said a much travelled man in Wellington on Tuesday. “ I am convinced that the national diet of New Zealand consists of chops, steaks and sausages. During my travels it was almost impossible to get anything else for breakfast. You would ask if you could not have eggs for breakfast, and the waiter, after pretending to make enquiry, would return with the reply, ‘ There are no eggs, sir.’ If you ask for cocoa, you cannot get it, and it is not safe to ask for coffee unless you are content to accept as substitute that horrible decoction termed ‘ coffee essence.’ Of course I am not referring to first class hotels, but to the ordinary country house.” There is likely to be a decrease in the outpuo of flax lor the present quarter. Owing to the pronounced weakening in the price of flax, several mills in the North Island are about to be closed down. Speaking to a 1 Dominion ’ reporter, Mr M, F. Bourke stated that operations were to cease at three of his mills in the Auckland district. The price was still sound enough to work if a miller was working his own flax, but if he was paying the royalty he (Mr Bourke) was in Auckland, they would soon find out that there was nothing in it. If the ownei s of flax would introduce a sliding scale in royalties, the industry might be maintained continuously, bub here was a ca»e u here they had to pay the same royalty now as they were when flax was bringing £lO per ton more, “ I think the train got away from the driver, said a Dunedin resident who happened to be a fellow-passenger of Mr Wilford, M.P., on the south-bound train on the North Island Main Trunk line on the Bth inst. Mr Wilford has written to the papers complaining of the dangerous speed of that train, and our informant corroborates all his statements. “ Have you ever seen a tiger’s tail waving when ik® is angry ?” he asked, “ Well, that is <#just how the rear carriages took the curves. Everyone was scared, and so was the guard. We asked him if there was anything wrong, and he said we were making up time, and were only going 42 miles an hour. It seemed more like 70. Besides, wo were on the run down into Taumaranui, which is the stopping place for the night, and I don’t see where the need for making up time came in.”— Dunedin Star.