News Items

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4396, 8 April 1909, Page 1

News Items

Church bells were made by , Paulinus, to drive away de- i mons, about 400 A.D. In Natal the atmosphere is sometimes so clear that it is possible to see a distance of 30 , miles. ’ Chain-shot was the invention of De Witt, the great Dutch | Admiral. It was first used in f 1866. Since the great earthquake in, I; San Francisco which destroyed 28,000 buildings, 9,800 have ! been erected. Copper-plate engraving was | first done in 1511, wood en-1 graving in 1799, etching on metal with acid in 1512. In 1894 the French Govern** | ment published an u Anarchist ’ Album, ” containing 500 photographs of anarchists. Twenty-five million pounds deposited in the Bank of England constitutes the private | fortune of the Sultan of Turkey. It is possible to decipher the inscription on an old coin which , has been worn smooth, by plaoing it on a red hot iron. Between 8 and 9 every morn- * ing, 161,000 persons enter the t? city of London; every evening, between 6 and 7, 175,000 | leave. x Some French naval officers have broken all records for / wireless telephony by operating successfully at a distance •of ; 310 miles. Excavations at the Mexican j i village of Ixtapalapa have- | brought to light the remains of a man who must have been | nearly 15ft high, '.'i t v V - Lightning, when it strikes a tree, sometimes converts the sap; ?I into steam with such energy | that it explodes, scattering the wood in every direction. The most costly tomb iu ’existence is that which was ; erected to the memory if Mohammed. The diamonds- § and rubies used in the decor- J ations are worth £2,000,000. 1 & The orange and the lemon are both said to be fatal to the cholera bacillus. Placed iu tact with the cut surface of the | fruit, the bacteria survive but a -I few hours. >1 Guernsey, which measures • scarcely 21 square miles, ex- If ports annually to London and provincial markets over 20,000 tons of tomatoes and fruit, which realise a sum of over £500,000. k I A perfect diamond must beSw free from the faintest tinge of color, such as the blue, green, J etc., it becomes a fancy stone • and will bring a fancy price. The building committee of Liverpool Cathedral has passed the design for a four-light ■ | Gothic window, 76ft high and 38ft. wide, which will be the largest window in England and probably in Europe. Until Anne of Bohemia’s f| time, women rode astride. On ’ • account of her deformity, she vj had to use a side saddle, and I the women of her Court, t ; flatter her, adopted a saddle of the same awkard make.

Among the first nails used by primitive man were the thorns lof the locust tree. Some of, | these were eight inches long, I arid as hard as iron. The use of | fishbones was commou in this connection before the time of & Noah.

It was decided by Cabinet that the f undations of the new Post Offices at 111. ] Wellington and Auckland shall be cou- " ructed by the Public Work’s Departeut by day labour. As in each case e foundations will cost some £S,OOQ, -I e works will provide employment for nßiderab\e numbed of men. The work I \\ be cemmenced shortly. 'i