MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—Nearly 50 people are killed and 3000 injured by accidents in Great Britain every day. —Coffee is good for 90 per cent, of the people who drink it, as it increases the efficiency of the muscular, nervous, and blood streams. —Headaches due to an unsuspected defect of the eyes, may cause a schoolboy to be blamed for laziness because he doesn’t like lessons. —ln 1929 the number of vacancies filled through Labour Exchanges in Britain was 1,536.271. I n 1930 the number was 1,732,144. —A motor car bought in 1900 and in the possession of a Plymouth doctor until, this year was unsaleable, nor would the local museum accept it. So the owner decided that the only thing to do was to give it a “ decent burial.” —The total number of attendances by overseas buyers at the recent British Industries Fair was 4854 in London and 1984 in Birmingham—an increase of 25 per cent. o tl last year’s figures. The visits by home buyers numbered 167,259 in London and 106.682 in Birmingham—an increase of 30,000 over last year. - —During the year ended December 31, 1930, there were 46 fata] accidents, involving 64 deaths, in the Royal Air Force in Britain. —The expenditure on elementary' edueation from central and local funds in England and Wales for the year 1929-30 amounted to £l2 15s 6d per child. —-The amount expended on typewriters for Government departments in Britain during the year ended April, 1930, was £15.335. The estimated expenditure for the current year is £41,000. Machines manufactured in the British Isles account for 92 per cent, and 95 per cent, respectively of these amounts.

—Miss Polly Gadsby, aged 94, has worked for a Leicester firm of elastic web makers for 85 years, and refuses to accept a pension. —Compared with 1930. British air estimates are up 1 per cent., those of the United States are up 4 per cent., France 11 per cent., and Italy 5 per cent. —Since April. 1930. £7OOO has been spent by the British War Office on samples of foreign automatic rifles and machine guns for experimental purposes. —The numbers of employers oq the King’s Roll were 27,151 in January, 1929, employing 381,479 disabled ex-servicemen; in January. 1930, 26,709, employing 375.326; .and in January, 1931, 25,908, employing 371,792. Membership of the King’s Roll is a condition of obtaining Government contracts.

—Great Britain is the greatest exporter of aircraft and air engines, followed by America and France. —Schools under the London County Council have the services of 115 doctors, 350 nurses, and 64 dentists. —Persons reported missing last year in New York city numbered 25,000, including 3500 boys and 2450 girls. —‘‘ The body of serious crime in England is greater to-day than it has been din ing the last 60 years,’’ said Mr Justice M’Cardie recently. —During the year 1929-30 the British Government-owned licensed houses in Carlisle and district made a net profit of £66.689 7s 9d.

—The contracts placed by the Central Electricity Board, England, up to date amounts to £18,250,000. This figure is made up of £3,750.000 for underground cables, £6,250,000 for towers and overhead lines, and £8,250,000 for transformers and other equipment. —Three or more people in England can now be connected up by telephone, though they are in different towns or even counties, enabling them to hold a conversation together. —For the 12 months ended February 28, 1931, there were 35,300 warnings given to motorists for minor offences in Britain instead of prosecutions being instituted. —The number of registered privately owned British aircraft on December 31, 1928, 1929, and 1930, was 223, 328. and 499 respectively. —At the end of last year the tonnage of merchant vessels under construction in the world was 2,326,086. The proportion under construction in Great Britain was 39 per cent. The nearest competitors were America with 10 per cent, and Germany with 9.4 per cent. —Crime has increased 25 per cent, since the Great War. —English civil servants have an average age of about 38 years. —About 12 sparrows will suffice to make a good-sized sparrow pie. —Scholarships are held by 19,361 pupils of various types in London schools. —Britain makes about 850,000 bicycles a year. In this trade she is 30 years ahead of Germany. —At January 26, 1931, there were 220,360 persons classified, as belonging to the building industry recorded as unemployed in Great Britain. —The International Labour Office of the League of Nations recently reported that it is estimated there are 11,000,000 unemployed workers in Europe, and 20,000,000 in the industrial countries of the whole world.