Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 26 July 1892, Page 3

Notes and Events.

" A steel wire railway carriage seating," says the Railway Hews "is said to be fast taking the plaoe of the padded and volute spring seats. The new seat is composed of minute steel wire rings compactly knit together, over which only a very thin layer of hair or a pad of felt is necessary.

In a lecture delivered before the University of St Petersburg, Professor Dimitri Mendelief stated that the Russian peasant spends eight monthß of the year in laziness and inactivity ; that agriculture, such as it is, absorbs the great bulk of the labour of the country, to the neglect of all other industries; and that while the gross yield of grain per head of the population is double what it is in England, millions of the Russian populace are starving. There are 324-million gallons of spirits distilled in Russia, seveneights of which are consumed at home, where the consumption per head is just four times the averago of the other countries of Europe. The professor omitted to mention that the Government derives such a very large revenue from the abominable vodka distilled in Eussia that the universal drunkenness which prevails is tolerated, if not encouraged, for fiscal reasons.