MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— I.t nclon theatres, music halls, and ron-cert-halh provide seating accommodation for 372.0CG people. Th-.' s\\ iftest river In the world is the Sutlei, of British India, which in 180 miles has a descent of '• 2.000 ft. . i — Th' annual output of coal in Japan has increased from 200.000 tons to 11 500.000 tons duiing the last 30 years, j — Elephants have only eisrht teeth. Ail elephants' teeth fall out when the animal is about 14 years old, and a new set giovs. i — The largesx serpent eier measured was a Mexican anaconda, which was found to be 37ft in length. — Wheat seed will germinate in one day, hut barley f akes seven days, and peach kernels require 12 months. — The United Kingdom builds her war vessels both more cheaply and more rapidly than any other country in the world. — The air after a heavy rainfall is usually very clear, owing to the fact that the rain, , in falling, has carried with it most of the dust and impurities of the atmosphere. — The grey buzzard is said to be the heaviest bird that flies, the young males whtn food is plentiful weighing nearly 401b. The bird is almost extinct. — South America produces immense grasshoppers, some of which measure five incites in length, with a spread of wing of 10 inches. • — A unique collection of Chinese birds has been given to the Natural History section of the British Museum by Mr F. W. Stjan, of Sevencaks. Tt comprises 10.000 specimens, and for shipment to England ■was packed in 28 huge crates. — The hedgerows of Buckinghamshire were lately quite darkened by millions of blackberries, wliic-h have been ripening during thp recent mild weather. Many people are gaining- a livelihood by (fathering them. — In a fleet of 700 or 600 boats at Yarmouth Scotch boats are m a large majority. There are 10,000 fishermen and fish-workers from Scotland now in Yarmouth, whereas the local workers would not exceed 5000. — The tonnage of the world's mei-chant shipping fleet, according to the latest returns, is 37.554.017 tons. Of this total, no less than 31,744,904- tons represents steam shipping, and 17.611,096 tons of the whole is i-nder the British flag. — Thfi monkey at the Alexandra Palace "Zoo" which recently attacked the keeper, and v few days later made a more savage assault upon one of the attendants, was the other day put under chloroform, and had four of his formidable teeth 6awn off from the gums — Men in Belgium are not on an equality as voters. Unmarried men over 25 years of age have one vote, married men and ■widowers with families have two \oteis. and priests and certain other persons have thiee votes. Severe penalties are imposed on those who fail to vote — Every winter, as soon as the Xeva at St. Petersburg is frozen o%er. a service of electric cars is started to run across it on the ice. — Lancashire's increasing population is largely due to the influx of strangers into industrial centres and not to a big biithrate. Official repot ts just issued by tlie county medical officer show that the birthrate during the past official year in a number of important townships was about the 1 lowest on record. j — Pleast don't send this man's letters here. Gone away fifteen months. Thank God.' For scribbling these words on a letter addressed to a former tenant and returning it to the sender through (he "Dead Letter Office, "' a Cro\ don lady has been condemned by the \erdiot of a jury to pay £5 damages as for a libel with the co-Is of the action. It was held that the words conveyed an imputation upon the addressee's chaiacler. — Art lntpresti.io- question came before a Divi='t>iial Court of Kir.g"g Bendi rPgardinur the right of -\ convicted prisoner to h^e his coniicTi'on and sentence quashed on L':e ground that one of the jurymen was so v.to Seated o.s to be incapable of takin» part in the trial. The court held that the evidence of incapacity tendered was insufficient to enable it to take any action in the way desired. — An earl and his wife were refused enfranco tc the restaurant of a great London hotei because they were not in evening dress. The earl's protest led the manager to ask for the opinions of his patrons as to whether the eve-ning dress rue should bp enforced Only seven out of 373 favoured abolishing the rule. Eight dukes, nine marquises, and 41 earls were among the voters. — A no\ el penalty was imposed by Mr Montagu Sharpe, the Brentford magistrate, on a fechoolbov who had damaged a tree belonging to the Ealing Corporation. He ordered the boy to provide another free, and plajit it himself. "If the children of this country were brought up like those in Germany and Switzerland and taught to plant trees in the public highway,'' Mr Sharpc remarked, "there would be less of this wanton destruction." — A bottle has been picked up at Flieston shore on the Lincolnshire coast, which contained a '»->te as follows: — "We are shipwrecked in the North Sea. Who finds this bottle send it to the nearest station for help. Mercy, we are starving (shipwrecked off the trawler Grecian)." This vessel was lost in the North Sea some years ago, with all hards. —In the northern part of Madagascar is the most remarkable natural fortress in the world. It is occupied by a wi'd tribe who call themselves thy' People of the Rocks. The forUess is a lofty and precipitous rock of enormous size. 1000 ft high and eight square miles in area. Its sides are so steep that it cannot be climbed without artificial means. Within it is hollow, and the only entrance is by a subterranean passage. — It is stated that on the three uibc railways, ocn-.prising 41.68 miles of single line, controlled by the Underground Electnc Railways Company of London, the number of automatic signa's averages 15.85 per mil, and that these signals drop and use 1,538,282 times a week. The weekly cost of \ maintenance is said to be £4 3s 6 63d per track mile, 5s 3.22 d per signal, and 0.457 d per train mile. — 'In some parts of Hungary it is the custom for the bridegroom to pay a sum to the bride's parents, and in c&*e the j parties cannot agrae the mayor acts as arbitrator. A mayor, who is a cattle dealer, ihas had to decide a ease of this kind, and after inspecting the bride, decided that the bridegroom must pay the parents half-a-cro .vn for each pound that, the bride weighed 1 . This verdict was accepted, and' the woman weighing 861b, the Lridegioom hand-ed over the equivalent of £10 15s, after which the wedding ceiemony •\as peifcnnfcUb

I — In the garden of Mr Keen Miller, <-f i High Vycombe, an apple tree has pioduecd 140 apples, n any weighing 16oz, and measuring 14in m chcuniforence. In the same gaiden is a, pear tree bearing a third oiop of fruit thi*> -ea=on. — Some interesting experiment* li.no been made to ascertain which wood lasts the longest. It is found that birch and aspon <leca> in thiee >cai». billow find ehe-tmit in four years nno'e and red beech in fhc year's, ard elm an 1 a=h in seven yeais. Oak. Scottish (ir, and Weymonth pine docav to the depth of half an inch in seven year-: laich and juniper aie uninjured at tho one! of -ci pn \ cat «.