TIT-BITS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 18, 5 March 1915, Page 8 (Supplement)

TIT-BITS.

Lord Kitchener is a keen collector of •old china.

# # # Germany is at war with all her best ■customers.

* * * Last October the British Government bought up 900,000 tons of sugar.

* " * ,*r 4.1 There are seventeen ladies in uie United Kingdom who are peeresses in their own right.

* » * . No fewer than 550 London barristers Lave joined His Majesty's forces. Among them are eight K.C. s. * * *

■\n Admiralty order has been issued nt*Grimsbv prohibiting any foreigner from sailing on a British trawler.

# # * Two hundred thousand coats lined with grey goats' skins have been ordered by the British Government toi the troops.

When the last census was taken— April 1911-there were in the lin ted Kingdom 22,159,814 males and 23,002, b32 females.

According* to the* latest*figures, the five principal armies engaged in the present war possess something like 630, 100 motor vehicles. A Soldier's Corner is to be reserved in the Lambeth Councils cemeteiv, at Tooting London. Highgate Cemeterj has its Firemen's Corner. Is many as 200 # contact ; mmes have washed up on the c/ast of Holland since the commencement of the war. _lhey have all been rendered harmless bj the Dutch authorities.

Tn peace time the Russian arms Jnds sismonths out of every, twelve three months being btZud o camp.' The Czar does not be>Kto ground" soldiers nowadays. „

There are twelve British hospitaltrains now in use, each capable of accommodating 100 ly.ng-down case,, £o doctors, two nurses two cooks, ana twentv R.A.M.C. orderlies. * * *

The Kiel Canal, which is really called the Kaiser \\ ilhelm Canal, i» miles long-a little longer than the Panama Canal. It originally cost 67 500 000 but was recently reconfruSdai a cost of £11,000,000 It is capable of floating the largest Dreadnought in existence. * * *

In Berlin the average price of wheat per imperial quarter was 48s 2d m August, 51s. 3d. in September, and o4s M in October. The kispitafship Loyalty, completely equipped with SUO beds, recently left Bombaylor Europe. . This ahip has been presented to the nation by the Maha.aUh Scindia of Gwalior and the Begum ,'.£ Bhopal jointly for the use ot our wounded soldiers. * * * The police of Petrograd have to make almost daily searches for schoolboys who have run away from school and joined, or tried to join, the Russian army. Only recently as many as fifteen boys who had actually got to the front were captured and sent homo. An Army Order which has been issued states that the outfit allowance of £3O granted to men appointed to_ temporary .combatant commissions in the Regular \rmv, the Special Reserve of Officers. and the Territorial Force, for the period of the present war, has been increased to £SO. includes camp kit. * * *

There are nearly fourteen million Jews id the world.

In Europe there are twenty-two monarchs and three Presidents.

* * * , • , Since 1866 over 80,000 boys and girls have passed through Dr. Barnaruo's Homes.

Two of the latest torpedo-boat destroyers built by Messrs. "White, are named Botha and Tipperary.

* * * •• , i The only regiment in the British Army in which the officers wear collars and cuffs is the 7th Hussars.

Cheaper greatcoats for soldiers meant a saving last year to England of £l9, 139; shoulder cords instead of straps -saved £9375; abolition of rank badges on the left arm of full dress saved £6OOO. ' * * * Among those who have lately joined the army at Turriff is Piper Findlater, V.C., who is at present a farmer at Cairnhill, Carnoustie. It will be remembered that Piper Findlater gained the X.V. at Dargni, in October, 1897, when he continued playing ''The Cock o' the North" after being wounded.

Austrian soldiers have one advantage over friends and foes now that the floods are playing so great a part in the war, for they are all swimmers,. Since the battle of Koniggratz, when so many thousands were drowned in the Eh '•very Austrian is taught swimming as oart of his military training. -;- * * Dr. Mackenzie, of Leeds, who is well known as a golf architect, has asked the War Office to allow him to enlist. through the Golf Greenkeepers' Association, a force of experts to act as instructors in the art of trench-making. Constructed on the scientific lines of the golf bunker, he guarantees trenches whidi would be invisible to an enemy 100 yards away. In 1013, -469,640 emigrants left the United Kingdom. ->: # * Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 1, at 11 p.m. •x- * * .V: the beginning of the war Germany had lo 114.000 acres under cultivation. ' :<• * * The value of exports of United Kingdom produce in 1913 equalled £ll Q s 3d per head of the population. # * * , The Grand Duke Mi-b-w.| has now ;-eui ever 73,0(10 pairs of gloves lor the troops at the front. The bnvonets in me at the time of ■:I,C battle of Waterloo w< re almost a loot longer than the modern weapons. « * * On March 31, 1911. the esiiiuat"d jiooiilation of Canada was *,0(5.000. '»•- insi an increase ol nearly ->,<> M),tm aim--1903. y. * » On August. 1914, 1 5 ,000 British <.;l>iocis -ailed for pho-es oul ot Ivirop-, j , o M,„,ivd with 31,491 in l!i ' same mon-n of 1913. i The total number of motor vehiel; -: i.f all type-; in the United Kincdorn in !<li;j was Ho,SK as ngiiiwt 87,036 in • iii pre', ions year. T! e Allh.ll [li-hhind-i •• " lor.-o ol men drawn from the Aiholl country, ~nd omnmn'lel by the Dak" himself, is j -i!e- r.nly private rowim-nt v.huh still j, xr i-; in Gnat Britain. ! -

Mr. John Redmond says that 130,000 to MO,OOO Irishmen are serving with the colours. Since the war began 54,000 have been enrolled. * * * Each year the sum of £I2OO is set aside by the British Government to grant fresh pensions to persons who, by their ability or their relationship to gifted citizens, have a claim on the country. * * * A German before going out sniping at night nearly always blackens his face. Thus he is almost invisible, for there is no tell-tale white patch to givo him away to the enemy. # * * Private H. Barter, of the Grenadier Guards, who has been wounded, is the tallest man in the British army, standing about 6ft. 9in. in his stockings. Private Barter, who received a bullet in the shoulder, is the son of a South Devon farmer. Mr. W. G. Miller, a Rothesay veteran of the Crimea and Indian Mutiny, lias just been presented by the War Office with his medal for the latter campaign. He has waited fifty-six years for the decoration, which had been overlooked by the authorities. * it X The Princess Shakovsky, a wellknown sportswoman, who holds a flying certificate from Johannisthal, has been permitted to join General Ruzsky's staff as a military airwoman. This appears to be the sole instance of a woman officially recognised in the army service. * * * Some idea of the fighting power of a Dreadnought may be gathered from the fact that the extreme range of its guns is twenty-five miles, while they can be very effective at n range of twelve miles. They are most deadly, however, at a range of between five and six miles.

It is announced thai the War Office has under consideration a clog gun-car-riage and ammunition-wagon invented by Captain H. Furber, of the 3rd Batt. Welsh Regiment. This carriage is much lighter than the Belgian dog gun-car-riag.l, and can be drawn either by dogs or bv infantrv. Each dog outfit costs £100".