BREVITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 14933, 20 July 1912, Page 12

BREVITIES.

Robert Burns died on July 21, 1796. Army purchase wa* abolished on J IUV 20. 1871. The battle of Bull Run was fought on the 21st of July. 1851. Out of 4.(H0 reputed half-quartern loaves tested officially in London recently, 2.145 were ct short -weight. Gardening is taught in connection with the schools of 46 out of tho 49 county areas in England. Hibernia, Ihornia, Ivernia, and lerne *-ere names civen to Ireland by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other ancient writers. The average weekly wages of all work >eople engaged in iron and steel manufacture in the L'nited Kingdom is 36?. Though Russia is fast developing her oil lands, tie United States produces more petroleum than all the rest of the world. " Spick and span'' is a term derived from the stretching of a new piece of cloth on spikes (hooks) and spans (stretchers). The experiment, of scouring wool witn hot

mineral water was tried at Rotorua, and proved successful. Further trials are to be made. What is known as the City of London proper has an area of a little "more than a square mile, while the county has 117 square miles. Mies Marv Elsen, of Chicago, is suing Dt Charles \Veser, a local doctor, for sixty breaches of promise during a four years' j courtship. * j Primary and secondary education in the \ United Kingdom, so tar as the expense j :ora«s out of rates and taxes, costs annually i £29,000,000. _ " i So many miners were- imprisoned durins j i strike in, 1810 that 500 of them had to be ! incarcerated in the stables of the Bishop of i Durham. A statement was made in Parliament in \ :he year 1610 that the coal mines at 'Sow- j castle would net be productive more than i 21 years. j To enable the Metropolitan Police Force j to take one day's rest in seven, £460,C00 would be required from tho ratepayers as jn additional contribution. If npwspapers are a sign of civilisation, Japan has become very civilised_ indeed. , There was only one newspaper 25 years ■. ago; now there are over 3,000.