LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11597, 29 June 1905, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

-The central prison at Rangoon is so OTer-run with rats that a prisoner is re•initted one day's imprisonment for everyi Tat ne kills.

• It is estimated that the .teamsters' strike at Chicago, which has just been cried off, "cost that city .£500,000 a week. Since the strike began, three persons were killed and over 300 wounded. "During his last visit to - Capetown," says the Daily Mail, ''Mr Seddoni the' 'New Zealand Premier, despatched, cablegrams at the rate of 70 per day. Though remaining in the city for only 48 hours, Mr Seddon ran up a bill for .£163 for cablegrams, and has now forwarded -from. New Zealand a cheque for that amount." ' An exchange states that an ex-Chrisj;- , church boy, who adopted the sea, as a profession, and who has occupied the position of captain for several years, is' Shortly returning to the colpny, .haying amassed something approaching a fortune by successfully running the blockade at Port Arthur on numerous occasions towards the ! end of last year. ' Eight" U.S. battleships had an eighthours' ocean race while sailing up the Amecan coast. No warning was given, and the speed test developed into a genuine race. When the signal to ceaße. was given the Missouri was seven miles ahead of the Maine, while the Alabama, which was supposed to be the fastest battleship- afloat, was last, 16 miles astern of the leader. - The insulation of the Dunedin telephone wires, made necessary by the installation .of the electric tram service, ,has b^en commenced. Under the improved system each -instrument will have two wires, one from tiie exchange- and one' to it, and these pairs of wires are to be enclosed in lead " pipes. The Christchurch , Press corrss-' jpondeht states that one pipe, containing 102 pairs of wires, is now being put into position, ■ ■« .. • Mr E. K. Jackson (says the Wairarapa I - Age) has served on Sergeant v O'Malley and Constable Heffernan notice of his. inten- j tion to take action for the sum of .£2OO each for the wrongful imprisonment of Mrs Carr. Mrs Carr, it will be remem- ) bered, was locked up on a .charge of drunkenness on the night of the 6th inst., j while at the Police Statipn in company with her husband, Patrick Carr, for the • purpose of bailing out one Molloy. • j -.The dredging industry was mentioned before the Arbitration Court in Christchurch, an engineer asking a witness several questions concerning the dredgeIthiiiding industry in Dunedin. lir Justice Chapman interrupted to point out 'tl&t ..there was now no dredge building -in Dunedin. "Nowadays," said His Honor, "if\ you want a dredge, you don't build it. % You pay .£BOO for a dredge that cost about J66000 to build." . Madame Langle, a widow residing in the Rue.de Vanyes, Paris, found on returning to her home that she had lost her keys. She was mentioning her. predicament to the concierge, when a 'well-dressed man entered the porter's room.^ He volunteered to a ladder in order to effect an entrance, and to open the door with another key left in the rooms. His| offer was gratefully accepted, 'and'^thV-'door' " was opened. Subsequently,^ however,' the lady missed her jewels and seme 4500 francs. :A French v paper records the discovery ■of what appears to be the oldest love-let-ter in the world. It was written on a "briclr, about 22008 .C.; by a Babylonian to a. lady living at "the two-Sippars" — a city known to 'readers of- the Old Testament aa Sepharvaim. The lover's "name was Gimil, and 'he writes SaT follows to_ Ksasbuya — a -word that 'me&irs'a lamb:—' "May the sun .of Marduk give- thee etarnal life. ,1 would fain know thy health is good. Send me a message so that I may be informed" of it. • I am at Babylon and cannot see thee, and therefore am very anxious. . S«pd mw message to tell me wnen: th.ou*wilt conre, so. that my heart may" rejoice. Come in the October-Nov-ember month. Mayest thiou' live long, so that I may enjoy thy -love;"/ 1 '»•-. - With astonishing unanimity (says the , Sydney Daily Telegraph, 20th May), the Women's Liberal Conference at Bathurst pronounced in ' favour of the modern young woman going on the land and assisting to turn it to the best account. The fitness of the Australian .girl for dairying and farm work generally was insisted upon, and it was argued that employment of this character was peculiarly fitting for the intelligent daughters o£ our farmers. It was nothing derogatory to a girl's social position that she should go out in the early morning and help her father plant cabbages. It was urged that dairying schools should- be established throughout the country open to, wqmen, and that the Hawkesbury Agricultural College eliould not be denied them, but that they | should be permitted to take Tip subjects i on the same terms as men, blacksmithing, perhaps, excepted. -For the further advancement of the idea it was suggested that students who, before going into an agricultural college had - graduated at a University, should, on completing the full course at the college, and "passing the necessary examinations, be given a diploma permitting them to establish a school of their own, from which they might send pupils to the college for examination for certificates stating their fitneßS for farm employment.