All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 8, 21 February 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

One hundred and -twenty firemen are necessary to feed the furnaces of a first-class Atlantic steamer. On average, 26,000 letters are posted without - addresses in England every^ year. * The great Austrian salt mine at Wieliczka has 600 miles of galleries and employs 9000 miners. It- has been worked for - -the ' past six centuries. " On the west coast -of Ireland 'it *nains -on an average - 208 days in "the year, in England . about 150 days, at Kazan about 90 days, and -in "Siberia "only -60 days* • The population of, the chief cities of the world show that London still maintains a long lead :—London, 4,872,710 ; New York, 3,437,000 ; Par-is, 2,714,000 ; Berlin, 2,040,000 ; Toklo, 1.819,000 ; Chicago", 1,699,000 ; Vienna, 1,675,000. Metal does not rust in Lake Titicaca, . South ■America. A t chain, an anchor, or any article of iron, if thrown in this lake and allowed to remain ior weeks' or months, is as .bright when taken up as when it came fresh from the foundry. It is believed that whales often attain the -age of ■ 400 years. The number of years, these, huge creatures have lived" is ascertained by 'taking the layers of laminae forrrAng the horny substance ' known as- - "whalebone. These laminae ".increase yearly, just as the ,-.' g-ojvths ' do on ~a tree.. \ Colonel Tufnell, handing a prize, to a farm laborer named. Devenish, who. was a successful competitor in a ploughing matcll on Langley's Estate, Essex, mentioned that the name of' Devenish. had appeared for 700 years -on the roljs' of the retainers and employee's on the estate. . ' - ( •- - Orson, in Sweden,— has no taxes. During the last - thirty years- the authorities of this place " have sold over one million pounds' worth of trees, and by means, of ' judicious replanting have provided for a similar dn- s come every thirty or forty years. In consequence of this source of commercial wealth there are no taxes, and local railways and telephones are freej as are education and many other tyiings. *' " Sir ■ Robert Ball tells an amusing story about the bridge over_the Niagara Falls connecting Canada and the United States. He says that a Chinaman - once entered the bridge from the American side intending to cross over to Canada. When- he got "" across, however, he was told that there was a toll .of £10. on

any OUinaman 1 entering the Dominion. As lie had' no money he was forced "to return, but he found to -,-his dismay! they' would- not let him ofTthe bridge on the American- side, "for they_ told him that under no cir-

cumstances were Chinamen altowed to enter the States Whether the Chinaman was still on the. bridge or not Sir Robert Ball could not say. The Swiss people constitute,' that curious anomally

a nation without. a language, and in this they ' are* _ alone among all the peoples of the world. This is all the imore remarkable when their~ intense patriotism is considered and their really wonderful love of co.unt.ry. The official languages are German, French,. and Italian, these three being the recognised, ' mother tongue ' 'of the majority of the inhabitants. "About three-fourths of the -people speak German, while the divide two other languages among them I—mainly1 — mainly French . and Italian— the languages -varying, as a rule, according to the proximity of, the. people to each country whose

tongue they speak. - Public documents and notices are printed in b.o:th the French and German* .. languages. In the Swiss, national parliament the members make

their speeches either in French or German," for nearly all the. members understand both these 'languages. ' The orders of the president are translated by. an* official interpreter and furnished ta the newspapers irr-both languages. • - •_■< .

MYERS & CO., Dentists, Octagon, -corner of- George Street. They guarantee the highest class of work at moderate fees. Tlieir artificial teeth give general satisfaction, and 'the fact of them supplying a temporary denture while the gums are- healing does away with, the inconvenience of being months without - teeth. They manufacture a single artificial tooth, for Ten 'Shillings, and sets equally - moderate. The administration of nitrous oxide gas is also a great . boon to those needing the extraction of a t00th. ... - v

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