MISCELLANEOUS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8173, 3 May 1895, Page 1

MISCELLANEOUS.

Tliero aro now in England throe lady churchwardens. By an odd coincidence they aro all dowager 1 idles of titles. Tho Downgor La<iy llindlip ofl'iciates in a church in Worcestershire, tho Dowager Lady Ileathcoto at the church of North Ealing, in Hampshire, and tho Dowager Lady Londonderry at MachynlUth, in North Waloß. Tho popularity of cremation still prow*. Tho annual report of tho Manchester Crematorium, Limited, just issued, states that 75 bodies have bton disposed of by the process during the past 12 months, a considerable incrotse upon the number for tho previous year. A fee of only two guineas is charged for s cremation in tho ciiso of the poorer clasEoa. Almost every winter a railway lino is livid across tho St. Lawrence at Quebec. Tho ico t hero is ofiou ten or twelve feet thick, and will boir all tho weight that cm bo heaped on to if. Tho ttora are hud in a graded road-bed cut in tho ice, Iho rails aro 3pikod on, then water ia poured into the excavation, and in half an hour or bo iajfrozen as h»rd aa stone, and tho road is done. A jewellery robbery, almost unique in character, was commit'ed in Bull-streo'» Birmingham, on the 18 h of February. Tho thieves took away one of tho shut tors on Saturday, cut a portion out, replaced t ho piece, and blackened tho edges. Thon they brought tho shutter back, and -jt night, when it was put up, quiotly slipped the piece out, removed a equal o of gUsa and abstracted 50 niigs. A new method of determining tho presence of metallic poisons in tho body after death is to pass a current of electricity through it, decomposing the torsion and dopositing tho metal on one of tho electrode?. It is said that in tho cisc of antiuiony, load, copper, mercury, «tc.» this method will detect the presence of a^ email a quantity of tho motal as ono thou< 3 width ot a grain. Fivo prophet evangelists havo ap« appeared in Tacoma, Washington, who declaro that tho world is coming to an .•iid in 1K!»7. They declare tint "ninetenths ot tho human tace will po isli miserably by war, pluguo, famine, postilerjci", and earthquake during the noxb (ivo years. Satan will bo sealed up for * ihouß.md years, and heaven will hang ia tnid-air all that time. They luve seen hell, and it is 6000 miles wido, and long enough to hold rtll tho wicked." Whilo at Champery, in Snritzorlnnr), this last snmmor, a correspondent of the Spectator saw a cuiious incident. A hhophord was with his flock of sheep somo way up tho mountain side. Ins cad of a shoi'p dog ho had a horso which acted in that capuci y. Tho shepherd apoko to tho hoi so, who at onco g-»llopod off and brought in tho stray sheep. Ho thon returned to his mas'er for further orders, which ho carried out in a moat oxamplary fashion. There aro 13,000 modical students in. Iho United States. Tho Brazilian soldier at tho present day is oxlremely well paid compared with European so'diers. A private Koldioi'a monthly pay is LI 18s, wi.h Government rations, or L 3 10s if ho finds his own rations ; while a second lieutenant ia paid Ll5 10s a month, and L 5 extra when actually in tho field. Enterprise is f>o zing upon tho manufacturors of Russia. Several of them havo decided to org*niso exhibitions of samples of Russian manufactures which will bo transferred from town to town in Persia, Afghanistan, Bokhara, and the Khanate of Khivn, with the object (f promoting Russian trade in. thoso countries. The first sailing vessel to bo lighted by o'ectricity is said to have been tho Spanish barquo La Vigusea, a bulk-oil and general cargo carrier. Sho is lit od throughout with incandescent lights, tho power for tho dynanui being furnished l-y a small oil-engine, which also furnishes power to pump hor oil cargo when she is loading or unloading. A soiibiblo American Ins taught his dog, a water spaniel, to oxtinguibh firo whenever it sees anything burning. To tost tho littlo dog, a piece of paper waa ignited and dropped on tho floor. In an inst-uit i ho dog jumped upon it, and very quietly extinguished it by rubbing it with its paws. Tho dog was tried wi h a" lighted cigar, with tho same result. The demand for "copy" about murdois is, according to a London paper, no longer what it was. Execution stock ia now *• weak." Tho publio Ins been tdu«> cated out of that. It pu s all its interest into "aristocratic functions" instead, which aro very "firm " Ono of the 12 jurymen who eat in the pro racted trial of Aid mo. Joniaux died suddenly at Antwerp tho other Tuesday morning, exactly at iho hour at which the verdict against the alleged murdeiesa was given. Tho superstitious at Antwerp claim that his death waa due to the woman's curses. Now York florists havo a profitable businoss in caring for tho plants of per* Bons temporal ily absent from tho city, Tho charge for each plunt is small, and aa a rulo tho plants are so much mote intelligently oared for by iho lloris a than by tho servants at homo that they aro vastly improved by thoir outing, i Nearly 200 ions of deal are utilised annually in skewering tho ha'porths of oath 1 moat, wh.ch in tho fate, of, 20 000 London horaes o\ory yoar, In tho country «l|Bt»ict« Jnp&ncw woniuti work in iho uoldi llku ilmno ul! Oontinctital I'torope l'biit guas fa to account {or thuir atwngth and goo^ health,