All Sor ts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 18 April 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

Mr. John Burns says that since the passing of the Poor Law Act in 1834,. £554,000,000" have been devoted to the relief of the poor. - - Brass reflects heat better than any other metal. - Silver comes next, then An, steel, and lead in the -order named. . * About 94" per cent, of otherwise normal people use' - the right hand in' preference to the .left ; 6 per- cent, are left-handed ; and it is a curious fact that one-tMM of the 6 per cent, are ambidextrous. - ' What do you know of the character of this man ?' was asked cf a witness at a police-court -the' other day. ' What do I know of Ms character? 'I know it to . be-unbleachable, your honor,' 'he replied, with much emphasis^ The seal's appetite is phenomenal in captivity, fifty or 1 more pounds of fish being required daily for a single meal. After gorging . himself he goes to sleep, floating on . his back', with -flippers folded, his head bobbing ■ up and down upon the waves, as peacefully'as-upon'&.bed .of roses. . " • > . - The White Star Line have issued an Interesting little pamphjlet describing their magnificent new 25,000 tons leviathan ' Adriatic,' which was launched by Messrs. Harland and Wolff-, at Belfast, in September last. "~ The length oiver all is 725 feet 9 inches, breadth 75 ' feet 6 inches, and depth about 50 .feet, and with accommodation to carry 3000 passengers. . ' Does it not . throw a shade of bitterness into your heart,' said the poetic young lady, ' to see the trees all leafless, and to hear the wind sighing in mournful monotony ? Does it not make you feel that there is too much that is bleak in the world ? ' ' No,'- answered the practical youth, 'it does not.' 'Why?' 'Because, 'my father is in the coal business^ The editor of a Kansas country paper has found a way of persuading th© delinquent subscriber; It ' was quite accidental. Pie had. borrowed- a rifle recently-, and he started up the main street of the town to return the weapon to its owner. The delinquent subscribers got^ it into 'their heads- that he was on the warpath, and ' every one he met insisted on paying what he owed him, One man wiped out a debt of ten years' standing. On his return to his office he found a loadof 'hay, fifteen bushels of corn, .ten bushels of- potatoes, '-a lojadr of wood, and a barrel ~of turnips that had been brought in. All the country editors are now trying to borrow Winchesters. There are plenty of ingenious burglars in the world, but he would have to be a very 'ingenious burglar indeed who should find a way to -rob the bank of France. The measures taken for guarding the money are of such" a nature that burglary would seem to be impossible Every day, when the money is put into the vaults -in the celdar, and before the officers leave," masons are' in " attendance, whose duty it is to wall up the doors of the vaults. Water is then turned on, andkept running until the cellar is flooded. .A 'burglar would thus have to work in a diving suit, and break down" a "cement wall before he could even begin "to break into the vaults. When the officers arrive the next mornine the water is drawn off, the masonry torn down, and the vaults opened. It is said, that >the treasures & f -the rid Fra - nce are better guarded than any -in 'the At the north end of s Hudson Bay is an islandabout the size of the State of Maine,- which is called boutthampton Island, on which has been discovered a lost tribe of Esquimaux; which has been without any intercourse with human beings, for centuries and until ' a J ew 7 ear s ago had never seen a white man.. Apparently these people have dwelt there since before the -time of Columbus. They are still- in the' stone age, * knowing .no -■ metals. -They grow no plants, and their homes are built of the skulls of whales. -Their huts are built b£ putting - together the great .jaws of" a whale and^covering them over with skins. In the middle of -this dwelling is' the familiar elevated place on -which stands , the lamp. WiVn this they cook light their dwelling, provide warmth, melt snow and "dry their clothes. The whale is their chief means of "subsistence.. They" use the bone in a variety of ways even making their cups and buckets : "of it, by bending it in shage and -sewing on" the bottom."