MISCELLANEOUS.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 11 February 1920, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Scent at' -os' an ounce is quite a common purchase for "society women in England, the price of perfume often running up to seven or ten guineas an ounce.

The populations of the four chief metropolitan areas are respectively:— Auckland 133,712, Wellington y 0,230, Christchurch 1>2,733, and -Dunedin 68,716.

I Two ancient trade secrets which the I world will probably never learn arc the ! Chinese method of making a brilliant vermillion colour and the. Turkish method for inlaying gold or silver on the hardest steel. An acute shortage of Hour is ex- . pec ted in , Xnf Zealand at' an _ early date. Christchurch grocers are already cutting down enters. Tho publication of the "Xelson Colonist'' was delayed one day last week, owing to the whole of the printing and publishing staff, with two exceptions, being down with the influenza. In graphic terms a well-known Palmerston man describes his first attempt at earning a living at Christchurch on arrival there 30 years ago. "Soup kitchens in every quarter, a bitter winter; no work. With my last halfcrown 1 bought two shillings worth of wood and a ball of twiny, borrowed a tomahawk, and hawked bundles of. kindling at three lor a penny." Xow he and his wife are about to make a world's tour.

Almost unparalleled prices were obtained for all classes of poultry, especially ducks, on the Dunedin market last week. Bucks were selling at from Us Sd to 12s lild each, while about the same time las! year they were realising 4s to -1s !>d. Bacon pigs also showed a considerable rise, the price of green pork being almost equal to that at which bacon was quoted for the corresponding period last year.

There arc some fourteen German internees in Kentherston Camp, and to take charge of them there are a major, a captain and a military guard. The Major's-and captain's pay will run into about £IOOO per annum, and the rank and file pay into at least £IOOO yearly. "That 's the way the moncy goes." A sergeant and a couple of fllei; of soldiers could do the job comfortably; but jobs musl be found!

It is not easy In understand, says the Dunedin "Star." why tea is advancing so mucli in price. The stocks held in bond in London on Octobcd ."1 amounted to 11>,400,0001b, compared with 73,000,0001 b twelve months previously, and this in spite of the October deliveries having been 35,000,000 lb against 120,800.0001 bin October. 11)18. The total London deliveries from June to October inclusive were 1-54,700,0001 b, compared with 118,300,0001 b for thr corresponding period of 191 S. Yet stocks were much heavier at the end of October. Scarcity can therefore hardly be responsible for recent rises in price.