MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 4028, 26 May 1931, Page 75

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—Women drivers are involved in only 2 J per cent, of the fatal accidents on the English roads. —Bricks more than 3500 years old have been used in building a small railway station in Mesopotamia.' —The total amount of compensation paid to workmen or their dependents in Britain in the great industrial groups (mines, quarries, railways, docks, constructional work, and shipping) was £6,457,273 in 1928 and £6,569,918 in 1929. —The Junker Works at Dessau. Germany, are constructing a metal aeroplane with an airtight cabin for an attempt to reach heights where the air is too rarefied to support human life. —H.M.S. Birmingham, one of the last coal-burning cruisers and the first vessel to sink a German submarine in the war, left Portsmouth recently for Pembroke to be broken up. —The number of companies in Britain, other than private companies, who have not filed an annual return for the year 1930 is 1884. This, however, is a smaller number than failed to fulfil their statutory obligations the year before. —ln the last 20 years there have been 301 explosions in British coal mines caused by firedamp or coal dust. The number of deaths so caused has been 1377. —The total number of immigrants entering Canada last year was 104.80(5, as against 164,992 in 1929. .Regulations restricting immigration were passed in August last, and were in force before the end of the year. —The French team for.the Schneider Trophy air race is to be completely composed of bachelors. The French Government has definitely barred married men from taking part in the contest because of the risks involved. —The total stock of gold in the world at the end of 1930 was estimated at about £2,500,000.000. Of this amount the United States of America held £912.500.000, while France held about one-sixth of the world total. Thus over half the available gold in the world was held by these two countries. —About a third of the work in connection with the £1,700,000 scheme for the electrification of the Hungarian State railways between Budapest and the Austrian frontier has been placed in England. —When Joseph Howell, of Bulchamp, Suffolk, England, paid a visit to his birthplace to celebrate what he believed to be his ninetieth birthday he discovered that his real age was 101. - —lf fish which is itself quite fresh becomes contaminated from some outside source the application of sufficient heat to cook it would make it quite edible. —Certain foodstuffs contain more iron than others, and should therefore be eaten freely. They are spinach, egg yolk, apples, lentils, strawberries, peas, beans, and wheat. —Britain gets 44 per cent, of her meat and poultry from foreign sources. 14 percent. from the dominions, and the rest is home-grown—including Ireland as “ home.” —German holiday-makers favour Switzerland. Italy, France, and Czecoslovakia, while the tourists who visit Germany come chiefly from Scandinavia, Holland, England, and America. —ln the Uniter! Kingdom in 1911 there were 1675 cases of sentences of the birch. In 1928 (the latest figures available) the number had dropped to 199. To-day such sentences are believed to be'practically non-existent. —ln 1929 the number of deaths from tuberculosis in England and Wales was 37,990. In 1915 the number of deaths from this cause was 54,295. Approval has been given by the Egyptian Government to a proposal that famous treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamen should be sent to London for a great exhibition of Egyptian art. —Bathers in England this summer will be allowed much greater freedom than in the past. Sun bathing is to be fostered, and visitors who wish to walk down to the sea from hotels and boarding houses with mackintoshes or clocks over their bathing dresses will generally be allowed to do so. —When a fire broke out at the stables at the barracks. Shoeburyncss. Essex, recently, the local fire brigade attended, but was kept waiting at the gates f0r,20 minutes while the garrison picket tried to subdue the flames. As the soldiers were unsuccessful the brigade was then allowed to help. Twenty horses were burned to death. —With one exception all woods burn better the older and drier they are. Only ash wood makes better fuel when burned green. —Electric cookers in use in England now number about 300,000, while there are said to be as many as 1,500,000 electric fires.

—The wine crop in France last year (1939) was the smallest since 1920, and works out at two quarts per head of the total population. —The Royal Albert Hall, London, contains its own printing works, painters’ and carpenters’ shops, and its own blacksmiths’ forges. —Experts, working on official figures, estimate that there is now a world total of 24.000.000 wireless sets, valued at £200,000,000, in use. —Under the Feeding of School Children Act the number of children who received meals each week during 1930 in England and Wales was 146,000. Only 152 out of 317 local authorities exercised their powers for the provision of meals during that year. —On December 31 last the number of men and women in receipt of pensions under the Contributory Pensions Act in Britain was 713,434 and 978,680 respectively. The number of old age pensioners who find it necessary to have such pensions supplemented by poor relief is 109,462.

—The most popular “ make up ” in England this season is said to be pink and whitg, To be bronzed or sunburnt will be to" be out of fashion.