GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2021, 5 March 1907, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS.

New Street station, Birmingham cost £250,000.

There are 5416 pieces in an ordinary locomotive, Tailless cats, with purple eyes, are common in Siam.

Germany produces 60,000 sowing machines annually.

The African pigmies hardly ever oxcced 901 b in weight.

No English Sovereign has over died in the month of May. Oxford has 424 fellows! apd professors, Cambridge 463. "- t Soap bubbles can bo frozen solid.by the use of liquid air. The average yield of milk from a cow is 400 gallons a year.

The gates of Jerusalem are still closing each night at sunspt; The earliest known cookery book was printed in Venice in 1475, The production of cod liver oil averages 900,000 gallons a year. The earliest known directory is that of London, published in 1667, The yearly production of coal in Russia is more than 6,000,000 tons.

The “blue” a measure used in Wales, holds two-thirds of a pint. Madrid has the reputation of being the most unhealthy capital in Europe

The orchestra at Drury Lane or at Covent Gardens averages 70 players. For a single specimen of the Antimacus butterfly £l5O has been given. At the Magpiap spile £7B 15s w as paid for an ivory cup only 22in high.

Thirty-six per cont. of English persons over 65 years of age are paupers. ~

It is considered bad form in Russia to carry an umbrella during the win-

The windows of the, Persian houses, as a safeguard, are not visible from the street.

A tender of £13,879 has been accepted for the completion of the new Waikatq' hqspita},

Australia holds the record as woolproducer, the Argentine is second, ami United States thirl

The average first-class ticket price in England is 14R1 for 10 miles; In Russia it is BJd for 10 miles. The population of Bombay Presidency lias increased by no feiyer than 10,000,000 in the past 20 years. Queen Anne, wife of Richard 111., is said to have introduced tho sidesaddle for ladies into England. In one week in 1894 the yield of famous Broken Hill silver mine was —Silver £84,375, lead £16,398, copper £6pot), Fifteen years ago tlie average number of fatal accidents in the Swiss Alps was 24. Now it is nearly three times the- number, Among tlie wedding presents of Mrs. Astor was a sowing machine of hammered iron on a marble base, which cost £6OOO.

Brighton, Hamburg, Paris, and New York have tho finest aquariums in the world. The Brighton Aquarium has 41 tanks.

Tlie Church of England bishopric of Mackenzie River in British North America is five times as large as the United Kingdom. Hamburg lias more firemen, in comparison with her population, than any other city. There are 300 firemen to every 100,000 poople.

A large vessel can attain considerably greater speed with tlie same engine power in 30 fathoms of water than in 12 fathoms.

Cork, although the most buoyant substance, will not rise to the surface again if sunk 200 ft. in the ocean, owing to the great pressure of the water. At any less depth it will giadually work its way back to light.

Tlie law' for the suppression of insect pests in Victoria is very strict, and a number of Melbourne fruitscilers were recently fined for exposi> ji for sale tomatoes infested with grubs and apples infected with codlin noth larvae,’

Tlie post oifice in Switzerland with the highest altitude is situated at the terminus of tlie Zermatt Gornergratrriiroad, about 10,000 it .above sea level. It is estimated that, during tlie season, tourists despatch thousands of picture postcards daily from this little office,

Gustav Jovanovitch, tho Russian cattle king, owns 600,000 acres of land, 1,000,000 sheep, and keeps 34,000 sheep dogs.

The deepest well in the world is situated in tho village of Sporenborg, about 20 miles from Berlin. It has a depth ol 4194 loot. Advices from Heiiga, French Congo, cannibals have massacred TOO Frbiicli" colonists, at Honolulu and Ngunio. Tho shores of the British Islands Holland, and Franco, maintain tho greatest number of lighthouses’ in proportion to mileage. In producing tho first incandescent gas-lamp, Edison - and his assistant worked almost continuously for three days and three nights. • A marriage has taken placo at St. Peter’s Catholic Church; Gorlcston, where a wedding had not boon previously -solemnised since- the Reformalion. -J* .iss.-s

Fiiios'-totalling £7OO were imposed at Sydney last month on captains ol steamers who had permitted prohibited immigrants to enter tho Commonwealth.

The in-ice of milk has been raised in Wellington to 4d per quart, Retailers state that suppliers have raised the price, in consequence of the dry season.

The most important pearl fisheries are in tlie Indian Ocean ; others are in the Gulf of California and the Caribbean Sea. Pearls taken from different localities vary, each locality having its marked characteristics.

There was a great hunt for a missing Governor, in Wellington on Friday. Parliament had to bo further prorogued, but the Governor, who had apparently changed his address suddenly somewhere in the Far North could not he found. The latesr news is that mounted constables were scouring the fringes of the King Country in search of him.

A rather unusual corajdaint, says the Hawke’s Bay Herald, came before the Napier Harbor Board at thoir last meeting, when a letter was received from a female elector demanding, in somewhat indignant terms, why a motor car had not called at her place of residence on the day of the recent elections. Cars had taken her nearest neighbors to the polling booths, and yet she had been neglected. The complainant will probably bo informed that she has no cause of action against the Board, but that the candidates deserve her severest censure for lack of gallantry and discourteous inattention.

An Order-in-Council is published in the Gazette, authorising the sale of two sections of land containing 1.49 and .55 perches, being that portion of the Moles worth street Ministerial residence giving access to tho grounds from tlio Golder’s Hill right-of-way off Hill Street. This land was originally acquired in order to give the late Premier an entrance somewhat loss public than Molesworth street, but, in tlio words of the Gazette notice, “tho land is not now required for tlio purposes of the said Ministerial residence,” The Post lias ascertained that tho land is to bo sold to Mrs. Seddon, who is building a house to the rear ol' tho Ministerial resid.opce, sq as |q provide hen-with a means of access to Hill street. Tho land on which she is building' her new house w n « purchased by her from tlio Government. Meanwhile Mrs. Seddon continues to occupy tlie Ministerial residence.

Ail extraordinary story of tlio recovery of a w a H> and chain supposed to have been stolen is told by the Palmerston South Times. Six weeks ago, an employee at tho Mount Royal station complained to the police that lie had been waylaid and robbed. The police, on investigation, concluded that there were no grounds for the complaint. No more was heard of the affair until last week; when the watch and chain were fennel in the stomach of an immense eel, which was captured near tho place where the Mount Royal man said lie was robbed. Two residents of Dunedin who had been camping near the river admitted to tlie police that on the night of the alleged robbery they escorted the Mount Royal man part of tho way home. How did tlm watch and chain get into the river? That is the problem which is now staggering the ingenuity of the police in Palmerston South.

A notable feature in the shipbuilding trade of late years, says Fair Play, has been the increase of shipbuilding in foreign countries. For instance. Japan, which only a few years ‘ago had all her vessels built in this country, is now able to undertake the construction of the largest merchant vessel or battleship. During the past ton years this foreign competition has been quietly and steadily increasing, and for gqtpq finie back hulls have been regularly towed from Fevig, ill Norway, to the Tees to have machinery fitted on hoard, and one or two vessels have been towed to the AVear and Tyne from Norway for a like purpose. Marine engines and boilers have been shipped from Hartlepool and the Tyne to Italian shipyards, and quite lately some marine engiucs were sent from the Tyno to Spain tn bo fitted cm board 'a .hull there, Vessels ‘have also been towed from Holland to tho Tees and the AVear to receive their machinery, and, strange to say, quite recently a vessel was built on the Tecs and towed to Holland to have cr Gn _ uuubu f'f'tCu on Hoard, such machinery being built in Holland. It will no doubt be pewg to some readers th.jt marine engines and. boilers have been constructed in Sunderland and shipped to America, and there fitted on board hulls built on the Lakes. Shipbuilding in Holland has only come to the front of late years. . At one time the yards there confined their attention to the building of wooden barges. With the increased size of these boats; it was found necessary to construct them of iron, which - has enabled their size to bo still further increased, and they have now barges with a capacity of JOOO tons . A few years ago sonic of the Dutch builders were induced to go in for the construction of small steamers, but, having no experience, they worked at an absurdly low price. AViih experience, their prices were raised to the point of offering them a smui; profit, and now they undertake the construction of steamers up to 4000 tons dead-weight.