GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2509, 24 May 1909, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

A writer in the “Post,” who has been “doing” the King Country, is greatly impressed with its undeveloped resourfe&h Amongst other things he mentions that ail the country for miles around the Tangarakau Gorge is practically one solid mass of papa, a sort of compressed blue clay. It crumbles when exposed to the air, forming a useful top-dressing to a paddock, but a wretched material, for a road—that is, in its natural state. Burn the papa, however, and you got the finest road metal imaginable. There are several miles of roads about Whangamomona metalled with burnt papa, and they possess a beautiful smooth red surface, that hardly any traffic can destroy. The metal is costly, Imt the road is worth it. Now, this burnt papa, examined closely, has all the appearance, texture, and hardness of terra-cotta. Why, therefore, with any amount of wood and coal available close at hand, should there not bo a flourishing industry in the manufacture of terra-cotta bricks and pottery ?

An interesting relic was found a few days ago by an employee of Mr Richard Storey at Taniwha. He was digging a drain in a swamp on the farm when he came across a brass sword handle buried at a depth of lift. The curio was shown to a Auckland “Herald” reporter last week bv Mr W. F. Massey, M.P., who bad brought it in at Mr Storey’s request for presentation to the Auckland Museum. The haft wore the marks of age. There was a partly legible inscription on the scabbard, which appeared To read, “Dudley, Grand Parade, Portsmouth.” In the ornamental portion of the brass band-guard the rose, thistle, and shamrock were clearly seen, the centre of the design being the Royal initials, “Y.R.” The sword to which this strangely recovered handle formerly belonged was palably, therefore, at one time the property of a British officer, and the make was that of the late Queen Victoria’s reign. A curious fact is that the sword-handle was found in a locality which was never visited by British troops, so far as the settlers of the district know. ■Every day twenty-three reservists, seventeen of the naval reserve, five fleet reserve men, and one naval reserve officer are to be seen drilling on board H.M.S. Pioneer at the Queen Street wharf, Auckland, and .going through gun and rifle exercises and navy seamanship (says the Herald ). The reservists receive a period of drill every year, and the Pioneer is kept prettv constantly m Now Zealand waters on this special duty, sometimes spending several weeks m one poit. Out of two hundred men on the vessel, 120 are New Zealanders. The Pioneer will leave Auckland on June 7th, and spend some weeks erasing about the crulf. She will be due at Wellington on June 30th, and will lomam there for a month drilling reservists. She will then proceed to Colombo, and take on a new Imperial crew before returning to Australian waters.

The death of John Wliiteford, says the “Dunedin Star,” touches public interest at two points. In the first place, this man, apparently sunk deep in poverty, living in a mean hut and .alone, had comparative wealth —£1300 banked; and in the second place, he died literally from a- “broken heart.” Here is no sentimental application of the hackneyed phrase. :Dr. Gordon MacDonald uses it in a purely physical way to indicate a cause of death so rare that he, in all his post mortem experience in Scotland and New 2lealand has never before come across it. The heart is reallv nothing more than muscle surrounded by a pericardial sac. A sudden strain upon . Wliiteford’s already diseased and enfeebled heart literally caused a rupture of the left ventricle, near the apex.