OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The Irish Sea. is nowhere more than flOft deep. Paris eats 477,000 cattle and 1,750,000 iheep yearly. An English mile is 52£0 ft, a nautical mile is 60SCft. In a C3nlury whalebone has risen from £50 to £3GCO* a ton. The mortgages on Rus-:an faim lands irmmni to ?7o \w ?'.•!•-• . Slku \>c. <?'.:■.*. oi' ]>.-it.*r.-cau.giit licr:in<;s ire i?i d- ioi I- ' : - tti- . t^j-i Loi-.- X\ 111 <f I'- •" c. :>-;t^ Fie::ch p'<i- .. i ore. i:i ii. >>-*! lt>A-'-Ju-t o\--i 11 i •-!• (_fc:i.. of i'.o popuLu.on of the L^neU State* are fe£«iga.-ke«i.

] In Bournemouth 25 000 young f.r t:or-s 1 ha^e been planted during the la^t fi\e years. Married couples in Norway are privileged to travel on railways at a faro and a-half. Jn an elephant's skull found in the Ivlonj d>ke region a gold nugget woith £150 was <li .covered. I Tho Canadians as a race sing in a lower j key than do the British, ovur.g to climatic I condition*. I Nearly 5000 miles of rets are set nightly i in i'ic Xcrlh Sea during the herring fishin lt f^^OP. jl\)'.c<j ]),OLeciion co-t the ratepayers of Orodt Biuain £4,401 640 in the financial J yea-i of 19Q.5-6s.

In 1801 the population per square mile in Ireland was 166; in 1905 it was 137, and it is still decreasing. The Cornieh fishing fleet at Newlyn recently ran into a "sea." of mackerel 50 miles in ciroumference. In the payment of the Imperial taxes, the Scottish are the most prompt, the English next, and Irish lastStatistics issued by the American census office show that 1,000,000 divorces were issued in the past 20 years. Owing to quick lunches the death-rate among Chicago men is 33 1-3 per cent, higher than among the women. Ghent, the famous old city in Belgium, is built on 26 islands, which are connected with one another by 80 bridges. The gross reoeipts of London theatres are about on© million and three-quarters a year; actors take half this sum. The foundation stone of the new Churoh of the Irish Martyrs, Cromwell, will be laid on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). A Turk always displays awe and re\ erence for hife mother. He invariably stands in her presence until invited to sit down. Mr George Faulks has just raised in his garden at Earl Shilton, South Leicestershire, a ca.rrot which measures 38in in lenshn. Tie large3t insect in the world is probably a grasshopper found in the Karoo Desert, in South Africa. It has a lOin spread of wing. The Eketahuna Borough Council has decided to submit to the ratepayers a scheme for a high-pressure water supply for the town, to cost £12,000. Mr D. J. Maxwell, a well-known pastoralist of Somerton. New South Wales, was found dead in bod with two bottles containng poison alongside him. A large eel, weighing 391b. is reported to have been oaught in the Waitotara Rivor by a Native. This is the largest specimen caught there this season. " The Salvation Army has jet to see its beat days in Australia and New Zealand," w&s the opinion expressed by Commissioner M'BLie to a Wellington reporter. A blook of land in the Mangapeka and Tadmor eurvey districts, Nelson, containing 7931 acres, has been set aside as national endowment land under the act of last session. During the reign of Edward V, which lasted only about three months, there were no new peers created. At the death of Queen Elizabeth there were only about 60 peers in all. A cyclist named Ohettle collided with a pedestrian on the Morphett street bridjje, in Adelaide, the other nieht. The cyclist v.a« thrown on his head and killed, bis .skull being fractured. At the annual conference of the Victorian Independent Order of Rechabifes, held at Shepparton, it was decided to admit women delegate^ to the annual and quarterly me-etings. Ir is estimated by Mr Pheian. secretary o[ the Timber Workers' Union, tiiat the milling; plants in the Northern Wairoa a.re capablp of cutting 186,000 ft per day, or 58.032 000 ft per year. Despite the dry sea&on, the bee industry in Mast-erton is in a thriving condition. It is anticipated that the quantity of honoy exported this season will be in excess of that of provioua years. The Wellington Post states that amongst rhose who atte-ndod the official opening of of the Waikanae Post Office on Friday -vcag Mr Henry Burling, who has attained the srPai acre of 107 years. The entire standing army of the Tonga Is'anck has just been disbanded, it having heon derided tha? an army ie of no further vi^ in the kingdom. The army consisted of six officers and 30 men. A norgoant and bombardier attached to tl'p Renal Australian Artillery, who were ordered for duty at Thursday Island, have sent in their resignations, as they decline to servo in a tropical climate. The retention of heat in lava is almost i'lCi'ediblje. Lava is so bad a conductor that it is po^ihle to walk on the surface of a lava flow when it has cooled and yet see red heat in iL" fissures below. There i-3 a . famine of copper coins in England, owin.gr to their utilisation in automatic machines and gas meters. It is estimated that 60.000,000 coins have thus been withdrawn from circulation. . Austrla-Hunjtarx has o£ feat* ghi|n 16

distinct races within her borders. In Austria itself are over 11,000,000 Germans, and it is their hostility to Hungary that makes the situation 6O dangerous. Preliminary steps are shortly to be taken by the Government to declare a portion of the TJrewera- country to be a goldfields area, and when that is done prospecting for gold will be allowed. In the stomach of a. horse which died at Wellington, New South Wales, " there wae found about 51b of gravel, a boot nail, a strip of steel, a rusty nail, a specimen of copper ore, and other sundries. A deaf and dumb bride and bridegroom have just been married by typewriter at Minneapolis (U.S.A.), the registrar typing the questions and the bridal couple typing the answers on the same slip of paper. A system of- -thieving known- as "hotel barbering- " was resorted to in Wellington the other night, arid resulted in about five or six pounds being abstracted from the clothes of boarders at the Grand Hotel. Though birds of these times have no teeth, prehistoric birds had. The hesperorius regalis, which stood sft high, had teeth like those of a small alligator, the lower jaw being specially well furnished. When a man was summoned at Doncaster for deserting his wife it was sta-ted that she was 15 years old when he married her, and that in four yeaa-s he had lived at 25 different addresses and sold up four homes. A YVashington negro named Henry Green is afflicted with a nervous affection, which compels him to keep on laughing when once he starts. He has been sent to prison for disturbing the peace of the oity. Among the troubles of the Postal Department in Queensland is a beetle which eats through the lead sheathing containing the overhead telephone wires. The moisture getting in, the conductors become , unworkable. The suicide of a 13-year-old girl, unable to face a reprimand, at Hampstead, is an example, according to a well-known psychologist, of the neurotic and overprecocious tendency of the age (says the Daily Mail). Despair oaused by failure to keep up with school duties is a fruitful 'cause of suicide among German children, over 600 of such oasee having been traced by Pro- j fosaor Eulenberg, of Berlin, within the ■ past 12 years. In several of the streams up country in Marlborou*rh trout and eels may be found dead by hundreds, having succumbed to the prevailing dryness. At Waikakaho children amuse thanru-elves in digging eels out of the sand. Three hundred streets in Berlin are planted with 44.000 trees, which represent a value of £38,003. The care of the municipal parks and gardens requires 250 gardeners and 700 assistants, male and female, principally the latter. Artificial floweis were first invented by pious nuns. In the Italian convents tie altars and sbrinos were, up to the end of the eiffnteenth century, decorated with artificial flowers laboriously made from paroer and parchment. The authorities of Toledo, Ohio, have conferred police powers on the women of the Deaconess Home in that town. The women, who wear badcres, are pcefced in all the local railway stations in order to protect women travellers. The farmers of Burma have recognised the commercial value of the peanut, and havf> this year increased the area planted to 78.743 from 37.110 acres last year, and it 16 reported that a much larger area will be planted with the tuber next reason. A m<xlal commemorative of the acts of his pontificate is presented each year to the Pope. In the latest medal, which is the work of Sigr.or Bianchi, engraver of the Apostolic Palaces, appears a symbol indicative of the encyclical on Modernism. There haa just come to hand in Wellington, consigned to the Chief Government Veterinarian, a large shipment of white mice and white rabbits, from the Cancer Research Institute. London, for experiment purposes at the Wallaceville laboratory. Addressing a meeting of teachers at the College of Preceptors, Dr Bis8 t said headache in children was a warning of eye strain, which was the commonest cause of nervous breakdown. Slates were an abomination, and lined paper was also bod, for ■ thj eyes, ' -

Money at 5 per cent, compound intercefi doubles itself every 14 yearß. Therefore, if a penny had been out at_ compound 5 : per cent, intereet in A.D. 1, it would now > amount to £l followed by 38 noughts — J or about 150,000,000 times the weight of i the earth in gold. In view of the number of children who. l should be at school but are employed in. , factories, Sir Alexander Peacock, the Vie* ; torian Minister of Labour, has decided to bring in a bill to secure more harmonious and effective working between the Educa-^ tion and Factories Acts. = Shopkeepers along the streets of WeU lington watered by salt water are (says, the Post) complain ing. They say that the salt destroys their goods and given then* a considerable amount of trouble in clean* ing their windows of the saline incrust**' tion which forms thereon. The speed of an otter trader water ie amazing. Fish have no chance against? them. In some places in India otters are kept by the natives to fish for them. THeyf are t.icd up to stakes like, dogs when not; working, wear plaited straw collars, and seem to be quite contented. , j A well-to-do Russian, who arrived a* Wellington from London, was temporarilji detained from landing because of his in;< ability to converse in the English l&ng-u&gei. The Customs offic&rg, "howe-yei, after going! ! through the usual formalities, eventually 1 allowed the newcomer to land • During 1906 the_ Education Boards paidf 1 £3253 to teachers during leave of absence* : The principal amount)B axe : —Auckland, -a £1047; Wellington, £430; Wanganui-. \ £419; North Canterbury, £312; Otajro -1 £243; Hawke's Bay, £185; Southland,- 1 £180; South Canterbury, £119. j A spurious half-crown was passed afc' '* Kaiapoi a few days ago. While it hadi * quite a new appearance, it wae a trifla ' larger m size than the genuine coin. 1$ 4 purported to have teen coined in the reigri I of King Edward, and wae dated 1902. Th« imitation was a pretty good one. Despatches received at Queenetown from Washington, U.S.A., show that during ' 1907 the total number of passengers travel* ling between America and Europe waS" 2,957,328, being 972,640 greater than fon the year 1906. A large majority of thes* 1 shipped from Europe to the States. ' Mr Burns spends a larger portion of the , year in London' than was spent by anyi - previous Cabinet Minister. He looks aS "„ brisk, as animated, and as vigorous as , ever; his outlook is as cheerful and eon*, fident ; and, although he ia a zealous adi ' ministrator, he finds time for private readY ' ing. A man named August Stum, living at{ ' Maylands (South Australia), was found dead! in bed with a bullet wound in the left - breast. A five-chambered revolver, on«( j chamber discharged and three othertf loaded, was found on the floor near tha * bed. Deceased had been suffering from <■ consumption and dropsy for years. Early the other morning James Darling-,, a resident of Kilmore ("Victoria), founa fc man riding away from one of hie barnat with a" bag of oate in front of him. Thel .thief threatened to shoot, and Darling them fired at him, but the man got away. Subsequently a badly-wounded horse was found! in a .paddock about a mile away. " The man does not appear to be all" right/ -said Station-sergeant Johnston, ati the Chrietehurch Magistrate's Court, irM reference to an individual who had at-* tempted to commit suicide. "No mans who attempts to cemmit suicide is all right," eaid Mr Bishop, S.M. "I con* sider such an act a prima facie evidence of insanity." The Times reports that a Royal Commis* sion, of which Sir Herbert Maxwell isj chairman, has been appointed to make are inventory of the ancient and historical monuments and constructions illustrative of the contemporary oulture, civilisation, and! | conditions of life of the people qf Scot-* land, from the earliest times to the yean 1707, and to specify those which seeni worthy of preservation. • Does ifc ever (saya Christchurch Truth) occuq to people that leap year may, ajid gene-< rally does, touch their pockets appreciably ?( Those wage-earners who ard paid everjj Friday or Saturday suffer nothing because they are paid for the extra, day they have to live during the year. But those in receipt of monthly or quarterly cheques for salary are different, for they lose ths payment for the extra day's work. The hope that the tide of Irish emigre,*' tion was being effectively lessened is discouraged. The number of emigrants laeti year was 39.082 as compared with 35,34* in 1906 and 30,676 in 1905. Th« figures o# the post 13 years show, with occasional fluctuations, a steady outflow of frons 30,000 to 40,000, with an average of aboufc ' 38,000. In 1881 the late Mr George Lumeden. of.J Invercargill, sold a section in Main street* Gore, for £500. It waa subdivided, a „ - two shops were built on one of the allo£* - ments. The allotment containing th© twa shops was sold at auction last week, and! was secured by Messrs Hallenstein Bros., and Co. for £6000, or at the rate of aboufl £91 per foot. Out of 12 samples of ice cream takert indiscriminately from various vendors it* Adelaide lately, only four of them proved} on analysis to be fit for consumption. Dfl E. Angas Johnson secured samples eithetf personally or through ono of th© corpora* tion inspectors, and the report of his in* vestigataona was presented to the local Board of Health. Opotiki people advocate the purchase oB White Island by the Government as aril addition to the scenio resorts. Excursions have been run to the island for many years, and if it were public, instead of private property, more people would probably visit it, It belongs to a Wellington man^ who asks £3500 for it. It contains 588 acres, and is a highly thermal spoi^ yielding sulphur, and in parts is dangerous enough to make it attractive. Every year the Empress Eugenic received Sir Thomas Lipton at her villa, at Capo Martin, and has made many cruises on thel Ei in. Sir Thomas had always been telling her that, though the Riviera, is beautiful* and Italy fascinating, there is no place ij» the world where Nature is seen to such adV - vantage in all its aspects as Ceylon ; hence - her trip. Sir Thomas Lipton "went out to. Ceylon ahead of th« Empress to make all arrangements • for her comfort. Eleven informations under section 101 ol " The Companies Act, 1903," were heard before Mr Riddell, in the Magistrate'^ Court at Wellington on Monday. Tha defendants were charged with having failed! io supply to the Registrar of Companies a' list of persons who were members of the company, the number of shares held by each shareholder, and so on. Fines wero fmposed in nine cases, one case wea *A* i iourjie4i f ft Q d another, was not serve*