MISCELLANEOUS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7078, 25 February 1893, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

During the past year the revenue derived from the three-halfpenny stamp placed upon patent medicines in Great Britain amounted to £240,082, an increase of £14.361 over the sum paid in the previous IS months.

Two sisters, a giantess and a dwarf, have just left Queenstown for exhibition at the World’s Fair, The giantess, who is only 16 years of age, stands Bft high, and weighs 18st. The dwarf is 21 years old, measures 3ft in height, and weighs only 311 b, Telephone operators in Belgium—many of whom, as in other countries, are girls—are re* quired, now that the Government has taken over the business, to pass an examination in Flemish, French, German and English. They must also have a good knowledge of geography, and be able to draw a complete map of Europe. The Duke of Westminster has the finest collection of plate in the United Kingdom. His Grace's household is conducted on the same principle as her Majesty's; the supervisor of it has a salary of something like £BOO a year, and a number of servants ore told off whoso duty it is to look after the plate. Public fountains of hot water are being established in Paris on the automatic system. By puttmg a halfpenny in the slot anyone 1 can obtain nearly 2gal of thoroughly hot water, heated by the public gas service. The first fountain pub up as an experiment proved a great success, as in summer few housewives in the poorer quarters care to keep a fire. Advices have reached Sydney from Dilly, in Portuguese Timor, stating that in the recent earthquake there two or three of the shocks were so powerful that it was impossible for people to stand upright, and they wore thrown their full length on the ground. The island of Cemby, just opposite the town of Dilly, was seen to be cut in two, and it was further reported that in the island of Timor itself great gaps in the earth extended from the mountains right down to the seashore. Most of the public buildings in Dilly ware either a mass : t ruins or seriously damaged. There is a remarkable lake near St, Dorsk, Siberia, which is completely roofed in by a covering of crystal salt, The lake is 9 miles wide and 17 long, and within the memory of man was not entirely roofed over by the salt deposit. Originally, evaporation played the i moat prominent part in coating the lake over with salt, but at the present time the salt springs which surround it are adding fast to the thickness of the crust. In the long ago, rapid evaporation of the lake’s waters left great salt crystals floating on the surface. Iu course of time these caked together. Thus the waters were finally entirely covered. Never (writes the London correspondent of the Argus) was Australia’s typical animal so continuously in evidence in London as at the present time. Aeal boxing kangaroos are performing nightly at the music halls, and imitation pugilistic marsupials figure prominently in the pantomimes. Even the sacred precincts of Downing street have not been free from this unwarranted invas'on. Knowing that a crowd would inevitably assemble to watch the arrival of .Ministers at the first Cabinet meeting of the year, the proprietor of one of the music balls that boast a boxing kangaroo appeared on the scene with a lining advertisement iu the shape of his coachman attired in full kangaroo costume. This counterfeit kangaroo vastly amused the crowd by rising and saluting each arriving Minister in succession. Captain 8. Bardley-Wilmot declares, iu the United Service Magazine, that the Navy of Turkey may almost bo considered non existent. The Empire still possesses some ironclads, but they are antiquated, and lie idle at fchoir moorings, the dultan relying on them, we believe, for a defence against any rising within Constantinople itself. The crews are allowed to live on shore, and are rarely even exercised. So complete, indeed, is the neglect, that M. Fricoupis is believed to bold the opinion that the Greek float could defeat that of Turkey, and so regain all the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean. All this while, according to Captain Wilmob, the Russian fleet in the Black Sea has been steadily and silently increased, until it could transport an army to the neighbourhood’ of Constantinople, and thenceforward keep it supplied oven with reinforcements. It would have no need to capture the sea fortifications, on which £6,090.000 are to ba spent, or make the smallest efforts to force the Bosphorus. All that is undeniable ; but it must be remembered that against such an attack Constantinople possesses not only her own garrison of picked troops, but the aid of 60,000 very well trained Bulgarian soldiers.