General News.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4806, 4 June 1884, Page 2

General News.

Theatrical managers in California carry realism to such m extent, that recently, at a San Francisco theatre, during the performance of the "The Sea of Ice," a current of co!d air was let into the auditorium to enable the spectators properly (o realise the "situation."

The reluctance of the late. Prince Contort to disburse money "was-only equalled by his eagerness to obtain it. It is, not generally known that he held the nominal . post now^ filled by Count Gleichen for many years, and although in receipt of an annual allowance of £30,000, ho regularly i drew his salary as Governor of the Castle down to the very last hour of his life. The amount due to him when he died for a few weekg which had elapsed since the last '. payment was credited to his estate, the value of which, by the way, has never yet transpired, nor hare the provisions of the Prince's will ever yet been made public. . It is not easy to understand why the Queen should have made such a secret of it.—• Truth.

The total cumber of police officers and constables in the city of London, the metropolitan area, and the boroughs and counties of England and Wales is 33,173. There is a constable to every 782 persons, according to the cansus of 1881, and the average cost of each constable is £98 Bs. The total cost of the police force is £3,264,337. .

As typical of the inventive age in which we live, of only a generation past, sacce3s» ful competion of a book-perfecting printing machine, -the invention of H. P. Feister, mechanical engineer, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is remarkable. This, truly wonderful machine is nearly as large as a passenger locomotive, weighs almost as much, and "cost £4000 to build. It cuts from an endless roll of paper sheets of the size required for the work in hand, prints one side, transfers ifc to a second cylinder and prints the other side; prints the cover, in from one to four colours; fastens tb© sheet together folded, bound covered, ancrt trimmed and finally counts the books, a bell ringing when 5000 are finished. All this is done automatically, human hands being only required to start the webb of paper into the machine. It will turn oufe a complete 32 page almanac at the rate of 103 per minute; this requires the cutting off of 48,000 sheets of 'paper, and 88,000 type impressions per hour, not including in the count the cover.