OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The cost of maintaining and cleansing the public roads of London in the year 1907-8 was £1,469.291. The domestic pets of the world carry 30 per cent of the common contagious diseases from house to house. The tea gardens of Northern India extend over 500,000 acres, and they produce 190,000,0001b of tea per annum, at a profit of about £20 per acre. Chicago has decided to build a hall capsble of accommodating 45,000 spectators, which will be more than four times the ei»e ' London's Albert Hall. In 371 a penny on the income tax m Grear Britain produced just over one million and a-half of money; it now produces more than two millions and a-halt. A young girl in St. Petersburg, named Martinovsk:, has lost her Sight by going out in ike rain with a blue veil; the chemical dye from which caused "blood-poison-ing. ' - - A fleet of 100 vessels .8 engaged from January till August each year in the capture of sharks -near Iceland They are caught for the sake "of their oil, which has medicinal virtues. ; . Plans are being prepared for a hostel in connection- writb the ChnristcbuTch Boys' High School, on a section adjoining the »ohool, in Worcester street. It is intended to accommodate 30 boys Red posters are being shown in St. Petersburg warning the public against drinking unboiled water and even against washing in waiter from the Neva, which is •aid to be full of cholera bacilli. Mr William Whittle, jun.. of Mountfoitel, Leicestershire, has gathered a re-

markable strawberry, B£in in circumferI ence and ljin diameter. It measured 3im long, and turned the scale at 2^oz. It ie nine years since a representation of the Passion Play at Ober-ammergau was given, but next year (1910) there will be a number of representations during the months from May to September. The efforts of the New York police to stamp out reckless motor-car driving have met with so little success that it ha 6 been decided to prefer a charge of murder against a chauffeur who killed a boy. With the arrival of the new motor fire engine now on order from Home, the Christchurch Fire Board will be in possession of a fleet of four motor enginesthree chemicals and one pumping water. Fifteen boats employing 40 men, are constantly engaged in the Kaipara estuary, which affords salt water fishing over many square miles of abnormally rich grounds. A steam trawler is being fitted out to join the fleet. » The centenary of the birth of Braille, inventor of the alphabet for the uee of the blind now in use throughout the world, was celebrated on July 5, at his native village of Coupvray Braille was himself a bbnd man. The Belgian postal authorities have decided that all postmarks shall bear, in addition to the date, the words "International Exhibition, 1910," in order to advertise the great event which is to be held at Brussels. The contract for the statue which is to be erected in Melbourne out of the Marquis of Linlithgow Memorial Fund has been signed in Scotland by the 6cupltor, Mr W. Burnie Rhind, and the work 13 j beine proceeded with,

On July 23 the employees at Messrs Bass and Cb.'s- brewery at Burton-on-Trent, with their families," to the total number of 10.000, held their annual picnic at Great Yarmouth. Fifteen, express trains were employed to carry them. On the recommendation of the Athenaeum Committee, the Gore Borough Council has accepted the tender of Mr A. Speden to build the Carnegie Library, for the sum of £1829. There were nine tenders, the highest being £2253. At a bazaar at Balfour last week, in aid of the Caledonian Society's funds, some fowls were exhibited, and 18 of these, including some ducks, were stolen on the last night of the festival. The police have the matter in hand. The Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah, which is being erected by the East Coast Maoris, is nearing completion, and wiJl be opened early in October. The Hon. James Carroll and other Ministers will take part in the opening ceremony. " The Woman's Savings Bank " is the latest enterprise undertaken by women. It is established in Toronto, Canada, and ie wholly and solely a woman's affair. From the president to the clerks, the whole staff is feminine, and, of course, the investors are women. In order to ascertain the power of observation of pas«"rss-by a gentleman placed a sixpence in the middle of the footpath in a busy part of Karansrahape road, Auckland. No fewer than 495 persons passed over and near it before it was picked up. While lecturing to the South Canterbury teachers at the Timaru Technical School on the -4th inst. Dr Hilgendorf explained that the buttercup was a poison to cattle. "For that matter," he added, "all flowers are poisonous to cattle if eaten in sufficient quantities." When a girl in Vienna was informed by her sweetheart two years ago that he had murdered a wealthy widow she broke off the engagement, but pledged herself to secrecy. She has now discovered that the widow is alive, and has begun an action for breach of promts". : On the sth a whale 21ft in length was vashed up on the beach at Seaview, about three miles north of tho Ashburton River. Mr T.. Stewart saw the whale approaching the shore, and as soon as it reached the beach he attached horses and drew it beyond the reach of the tide. There are at the present time 11 male and two female prisoners in the New Plymouth Gaol serving indeterminate sentences. Besides these the gaol contains several habitual offenders serving sentences, at the expiration of which they will begin their indeterminate sentences. A Balclutha firm of house agents informs the Free Press that the demand for cottages, to rent is very brisk in Balclutha iust now; in fact, they have never before | had so many inquiries within a ehort space of time. And the trouble, they say, is that decent houses are not to be had. The Kaifcajigrata correspondent of the Free Press says the township is now a different plac<» on a "pay nigiht" from what ifc was formerly. A roan under the in&usn-cp 'of liquor about the streets now is looked upon as quite a curiosity, and creates as much interest as a runaway horee or h doe -fight. The Victorian Postal Department employees are seriously inconvenienced by the persistency of a pair of magpies, which are endeavouring to build a nest on the telegraph line near Geelong. The birds have been driven off 16 times by a specially despatched linesman, and still they return to their task. Lake Ellesmere, despite the huge accession of flood waters r«»cently, is at a particularly low level at the present time, the outlet into the sea which was opened not lontf since having answered splendidly, and given better results than were obtained at any previous attempt to reduce the extent of land covered by the lake. At Christie's n few weeks ago £9*oo was Hid for a maeriineont three-row p«arl necklice, comprising 156 etones, with pearl cla«p sunrounded by brilliants. The purchaser wes Mr T-albot. For ainother necklace, composed of smaller etones. £1080 was obtained ; while fivp pearl brooches were disnosed of for £1220. or £244 each. The sale of Answers and other journals on Scarborough Sands and in the <rtreets of the town was recently stopped by the police, on the ori'ound that as the papers werf pinned (or fastened topret-.her with rnrtal stanles) thpy were manufactured -Ttieles. and according to a new by-lnw of the corporation could not be sold without a pedlar's license. A floating hotel is tn be established in China. The vessel will have thre<» decks, thft lower being arranged for dining, billiard, smoking, and card rooms. The main deck will contain a drawing room and 24 hedroomq, 4aoh with a full-sized bath and dressing room, while the upper deck, or spar deck, has been arranged as a promenade. Lovers of Burns will be interested to hear that at a sale of autographs in London in July last s sone- entirely in Burns's writing was sold for £51. It was written on two paces folio, and consisted of 10 s^nzas of four lines ea^n. tune. " Leader j Haugh and Harrow." The song was the

composition of an illiterate millwright, but in an explanatory note Burns expresses his admiration of it. An Auckland lady, who clings to the superstition that opals bring bad luck, gave away an opal brooch to an acquaintance in exchange for a greenstone tiki. Recently she saw the husband of that acquaintance in : mourning, and >t distressed her exceedingly. " I knew," she moaned " that I was giving those people misfortune." ' " Yes," a friend answered drily; ''his wife's aunt died and left them £500 a year." An unexpected legacy has been received j by a .New South Wales old-age pensioner, t and the good news only came by the last English mail. The old "man has' promptly written to the deputy-commissioner informing ,fchat officer of the change in bis financial position, and stating that he wilt not require help any longer. " I feel the deepest gratitude to the Government of the country," he writes, " for having granted me a pension when I needed it." The prejudice against colour is apparently very pronounced at Molong, New South Wales. A .band of Maori entertainers erected a tent with the object of giving an entertainment, but shortly after it commenced -a Band -of larrikins pulled v down the-- teri% ; the performance to an abrupt end. A" howling mob then followed the Maoris to their camp. Some of the Maoris were forced to pull palings from a fence to protect themselves. In a letter to the Sydney Daily Telegraph "in connection with the- missing WarStah, "a prominent insurance manager says: "It occurs to me that if vessels were to carry a ' small balloon or large kite it would be ,of great assistance in case' of a breakdown, as if sent up. only 100 ft "the range of vision of those ,on passing vessels, which is but small, would be very considerably extended. The balloon or kite would, of course, be attached to the vessel by a light line." The floods in Victoria led to an amusing incident at Koondrook. A wedding was to have taken place at Muwrabit, but the bridegroom was in Melbourne,/ and« could not get home in time on account- of the train not running. He reached Kerang, but was prevented from continuing the journey to Murrabit, so the bride-elect went to Koondrook, and persuaded the enginedriver to take her on the engine as far aa Barr Creek, whence they trollied to Kerang, where the marriage took place. Some amusement was recently caused in the main street of Waipukurau by the unusual spectacle of a calf pursuing a telegraph messenger (relates a country exchange). After vain endeavours to ride away from the animal, the messenger was brought to the ground. The calf then went in pursuit of a medical man, who was in his motor car, and he was obliged to take refuge in the post office. The calf, weary of waiting for tfce doctor to reappear, followed in the wake of the Waipawa coaoh. Miss Ellen Phelan, daughter of Mrs Fhelan, of Cheltenham Beach, Devonport, who has just passed the Trinity College (London) senior music examination, conducted by Mr' H. Saint George,- at St. Marys Convent, Hamilton, is, claimed to among the youngest of the successful candidates for musical honours in New Zealand. Miss Pnelan, who was born- in Dunedin, passed her first preparatory musical examination when a pupil of the Nelson Convent High School at the early aee' . of seven years.