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Southland Times, Issue 1631, 10 September 1872, Page 3

I ___— — _— — — A Huge Timepiece. — The four dials of the large clock at the English Parliament House are each 22 feet in diameter. Every half-minute the point of the minute-hand moves nearly 7 inches. The clock will go eight and a half days, but it will only strike seven and a half, thus 1 indicating any neglect in winding it up. \ The mere winding up of the striking 1 mechanism takes two hours. The pen dulutn is 15ft. long ; the wheels are of cast iron ; the hour bell is Bft. high and 1 9ft. in diameter, weighing nearly fifteen- ' tons, and the hammer alone weighs more 1 than 400lbs. I > Overtures towards Friendship. — First t Stranger : " I declare, sir, that women » are getting more outrageously de coltay ' every day. Just look over there at that L prodigious old porpoise with the eye- ) glass ?" Second Stranger : " Hum I Ha f ) Yea ! I cannot help thinking she's a > more festive looking object tban that funereal old frump with the fan !" First Stranger : " That ' funereal old frump ' is my wife, sir !" Second Stranger : " The t ' prodigious old porpoise' is mine ! Let's go and have some tea !" — Punch.