GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3139, 8 February 1911, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

The Amalgamated Press, Limited, of London, turning the “Daily Mail,” the "Evening Nous,” “Home Chat,” “Answers,” the “London Magazine,” and numerous other publications, controlled by Lordl Northcliffe, held its annual meeting last month. Mr. Cecil Harms worth, who presided, announced that last year the company distributed £175,000 for literary contributions and salaries —over £3OOO a Aveek. After allowing. £25,000 for depreciation in plant and buildings, the profit for the year stood at £259,590, and the interest on preference shares in the company Avas covered nearly ten times over. As the ordinary shareholders Jiad* been receiving for many years a dividend of 40 per cent., the directors had decided to commence a staff pension fund, and Avero .setting aside the sum of £15,000 as a beginning.

Fo r over ten years Professor Marshall, of the Otago University, lias made an annual inspection of the acti\ r e volcano Nigauruhoo, and wliat he lias seen on his latest visit, made in company with Professor Skeatcs. of Melbourne, confirms him in the opinion that a big eruption may take place at any time. During the Avliole period the professor was at the mountain hut, ncaiiv a Aveek, to outward appearances the volcano Avas better behaved than usual but a trip to the top and a look into 'the ugly crater revealed a A’ery different state of affairs. Professor Marshall discovered for the first time the presence of red hot Java in the crater, and this lie considers a very bad sigh (says the Palmerston correspondent of the “New Zealand Times”). In the past, all that the volcano has ever emitted has been mud ami ashes. Professor Marshall says that the volcano may have presented more, terrifying aspects when omitting huge volumes of smoke and steam, but it has neve;- before to bis knowledge revealed the presence of lava. ,

•'the r.cw prison reform scheme, which is being introduced in New Zealand by the lion. Dr. Findlay, is one which 1 ams perfectly in accord,” said the Hon.. J Drysdale Brown Minister for .hastice in Victoria, in course of conversation Avitli an Auckland “Star” representative. “My view of tb© manner in which' juvenile prisoners should be treated is certainly in accord Avitli his. 'Tlie creation of prison farms for the purpose of teaching juvenile criminals a useful occupation, is one of flic wisest methods of dealing with youthful offender* that 1 know of. Equally important i.s the need for teaching them other useful trades, and above all the mod for discipline. Succeed on these li:: - and vour hardened ciiminals avill tie reduced in number by oO per cent, and .your penitentiaries will lie half em"tv. Unquestionably New Zealand is making a great stride forward in the method of treating criminals on tlie lines of Dr. Findlay's new prison reform scheme.”

Tlie impression is general that at least nine out of every fen men in Ireland are named Pat Murphy, and for once there i.s some real ground iur the popular impression, for, if you call every person you meet in Ire.anti ••Murphy,” you will tie right once in every oigut tunes, if the others are not named Murphy, the ciiancos are two in seventeen tnat they are Kellys. A strong and growing rival of Murphy and l Kelly, however, is Snutb. Both in England and Scotland, .-smith is far in tlie lead, and in W ales beats Jones bv. a narrow, margin. The number oi typical Engli.-.h names in Ireland i.s surprising. Messrs Baker, Cooper, Long, Small, Turner, etc., are frequently encountered, but, despite this inva.don and tliei qually vigorous attack of Welsh Joneses, there are enough left of the Aherns, Rlordans, Fagans, ami Mo.vniha.ns to keep alive the traditions of the land. Any Murphy in Ireland 1 , or out of it, can fell you that ••Murphy” is a concession to tlie poor, ignorant English, who found difficulty in pronouncing, the saints help them ! a simple .name like MacMurrongh—the name of the ancient kings of Leinster, of whom Dcrmot was the last.

A hint that it may be actually possible in the near futile to telegraph to the South Bole was one of the features of Dr. Mawson’s Antarctic lecture at the Science Congress in Sydney. Reminding h's audience of certain facts a limit that region which are not generally known, lie drew attention to the circumstances that the coast of Antarctica lies neater to Hobart than does Meilmunis to Berth. “Indeed,” said lie, --it is now within telegraphic range ( ! the new wireless station at Bluff—in fact, the radius extends even to here,” and lie pointed on the map to the Pole itself, amid applause. ‘To summer time u ivigation is no more hindered than along a great portion of the coast of Alaska. The Anrarcii • constitutes the highest ami hugest plateau in the world. It is the only almost germ-lree continent. left. Its scenery, contrasting absolutely with that common to Australia, and its. never-to-bc forgotten invigornti:v atmosphere, determine for it, indisputably, the location of the future piemior sanatorium of this -portion of the -"-lobe.” The glowing eulogy aroused the enthusiasm of his hearers, hut when it was capped with the suggestion of cheap holiday trips to the South Pole even the most sedate scientist, present could not repress a smile of amusement.

After the constant reiteration of the statement that a prohibition order under the Licensing Act applies to the whole Dominion, although it may be issued for a particular licensing district, and t-lnu- locality is specifically mentioned, the latest contention in the defence of a man who was prohibited in district A, until purchased his liquor in district B, was raised by Mr Donnelly. a solicitor, at the Ivaiapoi Court on Monday. The order in the case was stated to be made under section 212, and although it called attention to sections 214 and 21 every prohibited person, lie’said, was not in-possession of a copy of the Act. Mr. Justice Williams had held that the order for a district was operative throughout- the Dominion, and the last amendment included something of the sort, but his client was not supposed to know that. Constable Holmes remarked that the individual referred to had been prohibited five times. Mr Bailey, S.M ~ said he thought it might he assumed that defendant had a wide knowledge of the Act, and he would be fined 40s, it being an offence to obtain liquor anywhere in the Dominion while the order was current.

The will of -Count Tolstoy was as follows :—“I, the undersigned, sane in mind and of good memory, make the following decisions, in view of my possible decease: —All my literary works, no matter at what time they wore written, and both those that have boon published and those that have not, including those of an artistic nature, and all others, completed or not, either dramatic works or others, translations, adaptations, newspaper articles, private letters, note-books, detached papers, or notes —that is to say, everything that I

may have written until the day of ray death, no matter where and in whose hands it be found, either in manuscript or in print—l grant the literary right of ownership of all these works, and the ownership of the works themselves, and of all other papers that may remain, entirely to nny daughter Alexandra. Shouldl my'daughter Alexandra die before me, I leave all to my daughter Tatiana.—(Signed) Leo Nikolaiovieh Tolstoy.” This statement was ratified by the local police court of Tula on November 1G last.

The extreme dirtiness of the waters of the Thames was the subject of more or less jocular reference by Mr. Lysnar during his address to farmers on the frozen meat trade, in Christchurch. He said that the matter was one which was causing some concern. While at Home he heard of a little girl who drank some Thames water and died. He also heard of a sailor who fell overhoard into the Thames, and who died from the effects of a mouthful of the water he swallowed. “In fact,” said Mr. Lysnar, <; if anyone wants to commit suicide, all. lie has to do is to take a drink of Thames water.”

THE PASSING OF THE HORSE,

AND WAR

“The gradual disappearance of the omnibus horse from London streets lias been only too manifest during the past five' years (writes a London eorrespondotn), and nobody at the meeting of the London General Omnibus Company was surprised to hoar the. oh firman prognosticate the final exit of the last of .his race at an early date. Many have noted has passing with- regret. His disappearance from the streets, however, has more than a sentimentil importance: if it should l lead to his 1-cing bought- up in in any very large numbers by. Continental dealers, our army supply would undoubtedly be curtailed. During the Boer War we wore able to draw on the omnibus companies for valuable drafts of horses. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the War Office has made a note of Mr. Henry Hick's speech. We may be certain that dealers in Austria. Frame, and Germany will have done so.

BLIND LAD MATRICULATES. Among the successful candidates at tin* matriculation examination is Doric Tavrd Algie, whose .success is the more striking o.a account of the exceptional difficulties under which lie has worked. Algie. is a son of Mr. J. A. Algie, of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu. and, though net ' uite blind, is so far deprived oi' .sight, as to bo unable to pursue his studies in the usual way. Four vonrS ago he entered the Jubilee Institute For the Blind, and in less, than eighteen months not only mastered the Bradle system of reading and writing, but became proficient in Braille shorthand. At the Auckland Winter Exhibition in August 1908, lie made a verbatum re-

nort of -the inaugural speech of the Prim' l Minister at a speed of P 0 w-wos a minute, and .afterwa”ds transcribed it on a typewriter. Ah-ie showed such a marked ability that, at the beginning rf 1909 it was decid' d to prepare bin. for matriculation. The teaching staff of the institute undertook part of the Avnrk. Avhile for English. Latin, and geometry lie was placed under fi’° tuition of Mr. (now Rev..) Ernest Chitty. M.A. He made such rapid progress that bv tlie end of tlie year his teachers decided that lm Avas unite ready to take his place in the matriculation form at T\ir*g’c College. 'Hie latin text hooks had all to he spied in Braille together with the arithmetical examples, and M acvmley’s ess a v on Lord Chatham. A A’orv considerable part ef this Avork was done by Algm hinimlf. The year was indeed n bard < ne for the young student. but •hanks to his own efforts and those rf his friends, it has ended In vietorv

ENGLAND THROUGH GERMAN EVES. He.e are sonve interesting critic:;-ms of iiio in England i’nan a German student's notebook published in the “Manchester Guardian": —‘•England is rich in great and well-shaped human bodies Small and long skulls are numerous, with nice, close-sitting ears and sharp profiles. And most oi the English are clever enough not to weaken the strength of their lines by the swell ng of a moustache. Men who diive the perambulator, accompanied by Their wives, are as often to be found as women whose perambulator is standing before the bar, or women who take their youngest children to the nightly musichall m order not to Use tlie.r pleasure. The assertion that the English have a rather quiet temper must lx? acknowledged by one who has reflected about the construction of the English language, or who has observed scenes between the police and the public, or who has seen the silent crowds patiently waiting for hours in order to get entrance somewhere. That the streets seldom resound with the noise ( f the children- may be partly a result- of the numerous sporting-grounds, where the fervor of youth has opportunity to explode. The si’enc.e in railway apartments, the high wall surrounding the smallest garden, the discretion in the shop windows of the chemists, and other observations, speak of noble reservodness; and the aversion against nudity in art perhaps of a little prudery. But the lovers in the parks, forgetting or scorning sunshine and public, the ksses exchanged between relations in the streets, and the enthusiastic applause at many music-halls allow to the contrary.’’ . HO AY THE WORLD MOVES ON. "Already, as Edison tells us, we can read a word through thirty-six inches of solid wood," says "Collier’s AYeek]y.” “Of the unguessed currents and forces which play through a little room we are onlv at the beginning, of knowledge. AYithin the present generation medicine suddenly leaps into a new realm, annexes disease from a fresh vantage ground. Religion adds to her old-time emphasis of individual righteousness a new vision of social, justice, calling on the fresh springs of science, without forgetting the old wells of sympathy. to irrigate and fertilise poverty and ignorance. “The law itself, too often felt- to he the enemy of the downtrodden and the tool of the astute, is turning its ability towards shackling hostile manifestations of massed wealth. Increasingly, industry seeks the efficiency, health, and goodwill of its workers. -Quietly, in a million- homes, life is well-lived, honorable ended. Education both widens its own domain and spreads itself • among the unlearned. The desire for pence at home and abroad gains on men’s unruly impulses Sectionalism and factions die out.' Civil wars are forgotten. “The goal of the ages is nearer than it was a thousand years ago ; nearer than a hundred years ago."