NEWS IN BRIEF

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 207, 22 August 1908, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

There are no fewer than seventy-seven distinct dialects spoken in England. About 80,000 tons of dust and refuse are taken away in barges from London every year. The largest church choir in England is that of the Foundling Hospital. It has 200 members. The largest island in the world is Neiv Guinea, 308,000 square miles. Greak Britain is 83,828 square miles. The remains of all the dead Czars of Eussia since Peter tho Great lie in a memorial chapel on. ono of tho islands of the Neva. British motor bicycles have been selected by tlie police authorities of Toronto (Canada) for the use of their staff in suppressing mrious driving on motor ears. Owing to the improvements in antiseptic surgery, only six out of every hundred cases of amputation end lyIn some Austrian schools the pupils are taught elocution by means of phonographs, which repeat speeches given by eminent actors. The £3OO that Mr. Winston Churchill received from the Manchester Courier for libel was distributed thusly: Manchester Jewish Hospital, £100; Charter Street Ragged School, £100; Clinical Hospital, £SO; and the Vincent de^Paul Society, £SO. Mr. Clithero, of Stockport, and another member of the Board of Guardians in that town have tried tramping through England in search of work, and the former describes casual wards as "very hells for decent people." Glass, weights for scales are now in general use in Switzerland. The annual payment to British soldiers in pensions for wounds is only £16,000. If a shot was fired from each gun in the British home fleet it would cost £BO,OOO. A tin mine has been found at Liskeard, Cornwall, in the very heart o' the town itself.

Bulgaria has a centenarian to every 1,000 inhabitants, and thus holds the international record for old people. In one year alone there died in Bulgaria 350 .persons who had exceeded the century.

Because he considers the game an excellent moral and physical discipline, the Commander-in-Chief of the French Mediterranean squadron is encouraging the formation of football teams among his men. I ? '?s?v}i

" Federation, not Separation," is the motto of a new combination of Irish politicians who propose io agitate for Home Rule on a constitutional basis.

Father Vaughan declares that children are spoiled by giving them too many itoys. "The effect of too ninny toys is dyspeptic—they starve rather than feed a child's pretty fancies." Harry Lauder, the vaudeville topliner, who recently visited New York, is accused of stinginess. As a matter of fact, he is merely thrifty. He heard that one man in particular had criticised severely the manner,in which he drew the purse-strings tight. Not long afterward this man asked him for an interview. Lauder gave him an address, and told him to come at 10 o'clock the following night. In meantime, he did a bit of stage managing. Whin tho caller came he was ushered into s.

garret in a poor tenement, in a bad part of the town. There sat Lauder, blue with cold, by thd light of a single candle, and scribbling away. "Arre ye goin' to put doon what I say?" asked Lauder. The reporter assured him, with pride, that he never made notes during an interview. "My memory is excellent," he boasted. '"Weel, then," said Lauder, "we'll save the lieht." And he blew out the candle.

The London newspapers used to makc_ a distinction between a. simple notice of a death, for which they charged five shillings, nmi n brief obituary, for which they demanded seven and sixpence. One day Dr. Thomas Hume called at the office of a morning journal and silently placed upon the counter the announcement of the death of a friend, together with five shillings. The clerk glanced at the paper, tossed it to one side, and said gruffly, "Seven and six!" "I have frequently," answered Hume, " had occi-. sion to publish these simple notices, and 1 have never before beoa charged more than five shillings." "Simple!" repealed tlie clerk, without looking up, " there's an added line, ' universally beloved and deeply regretted,' isn't there? Seven and six!" Hunio produced he additional half-crown and laid it deliberately by the others, observing in his most solemn tone, " Congratulate yourself, sir, that this is an expense; which your executors will never be put to."

A negro, William King, better known as "Black King,' 1 was arrested in Meli bourne recently on a charge of burglariously entering and stealing from a dwelling at South Yarra. The circumstances of the arrest form a sequel to tho dreadful experience undergone by Mrs. Langley at 3.30 ono Sunday morning. She was sleeping alone in her room when, at that hour, she was awakened by a blow on the mouth and felt her throat gripped hard 'by a pair of hands. The night-light was burning in the room, and as she opened her eyes she was horrified to see a black face bending ovcr her. She struggled, and, managing lo free her throat, screamed. Ifer son heard her cries, and, jumping out of bed, rushed to her assistance. He was too late, however, to catch the burglar, who bolted downstairs.