News Items

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4364, 23 January 1909, Page 1

News Items

By an Italian law every circus which does not perform every act promised in the printed programme, or which misleads the public by meaus of pictures, is •liable to a fine of 500dol. foi\ each offence.

The Fiji Islanders play,, cricket at Christmas. The ganwri was taught to them by? a known cricketer who visited*theislands. They arc not par--| ticular as to the rules, arid| frequently play 40 or 50 cn side, or even tribe against tribe. | In many districts in Italy ,; and Spain the chestnut takes, the place cf oats, rye, and rice. I Chestnut-groves are abundant ? in all the mountain districts of 5 Italy and Spain, and the seasoni of chestnut gathering is the harvest festival of these coun- ' tries. . I

The Holy Synod of Russia! proposes that the law. shall be I amended so that all persons who ! propose to leave the Orthodoxy Church shall first be subjected!! to a daily admonition by a priest ® for forty days. i A petition 7J miles long, con-J tainiug 750,G00 signatures, recently presented to the House of Commons. It was so long that it had to be split into 35 sections, and conveyed to the - House in a lorry. Hansom, the inventor of the cab which bears his name, only made £450 out of the inveutiou. He disposed of his patent for £\ o,ooo, but the company who bought it failed, and were un able to pay up the full amount.

The term of life of women is ; slightly longer than . that-.cd: « men. More boys arc born into | the world than girls, but the proportions are reduced to . almost even terms at the end of s| the first year by the excessive i male mortality.

Thousands of dog aud goat farms are scattered over s northern districts of Mougolia aud Manchuria. Ou each fa: m from ten to several buudred animals are reared annually, a 1 of which are ultimately killed for the sake of their skius. —-

When a Chinese boy baby is 1 a year old he is placed in* a big 2 sieve, together with thouey, 4 scales, a foot measure, a pair of \ shears, a brass mirror, a pern il, q j iuk, and hooks. The article he J • grabs first is considered -a ->| symbol of his future proclivities. The length of day and night | at any time of the year may l e A , roughly ascertained by doubling jj | the time of the mUii’s risiug to;;|j obtain the leugtli of the nigh’j ' and doubling the time of ■i.sun’s setting for the length of | •'dho day. i The clock which was actually i | made by the royal bauds of^j * Louis XVI came into the pos |j .session of a member of ihe^ Holhschild family some years4l ’ago. It is probably the most II : valuable clock in existemqe, no | •(.less than «£0:3,.600 | paid for this tiro