BREVITIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 4 May 1907, Page 4

BREVITIES.

The Bank of England notes which are |j paid in five years fill 13,400 boxes, which J, if placed side, by side, would reach for «| over two mlks. "If the notes 'tliemsel- ; ves were placed in a pile they would '■ reach to a height of five miles. They . would weigh ninety tons, and represent , £1,750,000 sterling. Spain has more sunshine than any ' other country in Europe. ' Rapid growth of the finger-nails is \ considered lo indicate good health. The biggest billiard-room iu the world c is in London, under Charing Cross Station, j It is estimated that three thousand ( marriages are daily performed through- , out the wor'id. A number of engineering firms in Eng- i land keep on hand ready-made iron . bridges of many sizes. '] More than 11.000.000 yards of tweed j i-, used annually for clothing the male luopulafion of London alone. s ' The wine, cellar of the House of Com- '\ mons is 100 feet long, and usually con- y tains about C4OOO worth of wine. [l ■ Mr Balfour is one of the fastest speak- 1 ers In (he House of Commons, uttering an average of IGO words a minute. t The apartments of deceased Kings of t, Italy are left absolutely untouched for | two generations after each death. It costs £2BO yearly to mainta'n the refreshment plant—such as glass, china, and crockery—in the House, of Commons. - The gipsies came to England when ITenry VIII. was King. The common people thought they were magicians and conjurers. Acres of ground around Randringham arc devoted to the cultivation of lilies of-the-valley, the sweet-scented and everpopular spring blossom. "Gossamer iron," the wonderful product of Swansea iron-mills, is so thin that it takes 4SOO sheets, piled one on the other, to make an inch in thickness. The London stockbrokers are. said to wear out the floor of the Stock Exchange every five years. This means that the floor is worn away to the depth ot half an inch. All the emery used iu the world comes from the little island of Naxos, near Greece. As it is one of the hardest substances known, ordinary quarrying tools cannot be used to cut it out. The wild horses of Arabia will not admit a tame horse among them, while Ihe wild horses of South America endeavour to decoy domesticated horses from their masters, and seem eager to welcome them.