All Sorts
There are eighty, miles of -tunnels in Great Britain, the total cost exceeding £6,500,000. * Germany employs 5,500,000 women -in • 'industrial pursuits, "England 4,000,000, France" ,3,750,000.- ' Fully 20,000,000 acres cf, American land are ~6wned by great land-owners in" England and Scotland. Tea-oher : Tommy, what is ' nutritious * food'? ■ Tommy : Something to eat that ain't got no taste to it. • ' ' - Aunt Priscalla : .' Now, Tommy, never try to deceive anyone. You wouldn't like to be two-faced, would you?' - Tommy : ' Gracious, no ! One face is enough to wash these cold mornings.' . - There are so many- languages spoken -in the provinces of Austria-Hungary that interpreters are employed inthe various Parliaments to interpret the speeches of the delegates-, and make them intelligible to all the "members. It has been ascertained by experiments that persons who use the telephone habitually can hear better with the left ear than with the 'right'. The common prao,tice of the telephone companies is to place the telephone so that it -will be applied to the -left ear.. . ■ There are some matter-of-fact people., in the' world (says the ', Otago Daily Times'). Affairs "of . the greatest moment to jnany are of little concern to them. . Last week -a, Dunedin lady posted this notice on the door- <of her shop : — ' Gone .to be -married ; back in half-an-hour.' It was in. 1881 that postal-order system l was established in Great Britain, and so popular did it-be-come that in' twelve months 4,500,000 orders were issued, representing a value of £2,000,000. Last year - 97,271,000, representing a value of £3&,770,000, were issued.
The 'King's, official income for all purposes, including the enormous expenses., of his household, does not reach £1300 a day ; while the Privy Purse allowance to their Majesties is just over-. £300 a day. . There are several millionaires' who *are able to spend more out of their income every month . than the entire sum which supports British Royalty for a year. The boundary -line between Canada and the United States is marked with posts at mile intervals for a great part of its length. Cairns, earth-mounds, and timber posts are also used, and through the forests and swamps a line a rod wide, clear of trees and underwood, has been cut. Across the lakes • "artificial islands support the cairns, "which rise about Sft above the highwater mark. .
Switzerland has a newspaper specially for engaged couples, says ' Woman's Life.' Agents all over the country collect particulars concerning couples who have become engaged to be married, and- their names, addres*ses 1 , and particulars of their social position appear in this weekly journal: Every girl- whose name is th/us mentioned receives the paper for one year free, the subscribers to" it being chiefly tradespeople .who send advertisements of their goods to those whose names -are so published.
Lord Randolph Churohill- has • the credit of giving^the final blow to the last serious project for a Channel Tunnel. When the subject was before-^drH&menb -he made an indescribably funny • speech in the- , 'House, in which he pictured the Cabinet ■ sitting round : a button electrically, connected with , /a^mihe at DoVer. .'An invasion was threatened »• . th'e^ v Cabinet .was .holding ~ a solemn conclave to decide wha^fc ought"' to >be done, -Finally, - Mr. W. H. Smith r.ose^ amidst, a solemn, silence, and said : ' I move that the button, be now pressed.' The concluding words of the absurd picture were ■ drowned 'in shouts of uproarious laughter. The project was dead from thafmoment. i _ rt * A peculiar incident in natural history" |s\ related by a local- resident (writes the Wellington" correspondent of .the '.Otago. Daily Times' 1 )/ While watching some gulls at low tide near the artificial oyster beds in the harbor he noticed that a small .bird swooped down as if to pick up something from the water, but failed to rise a-gain. Attracted' by the struggles'" of the bird, -he ,went to the spot, and found that- the gulls beak ' was held in the grip; of an oyster which •it had sou-gfofc to capture, but which had closed ■ fast upon it. With a penknafe he released the bird. Had" he not done so it is probable that the oyster would have retained its 'hold until the bird was drowned by the rising tide.
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New Zealand Tablet, Issue 17, 25 April 1907, Page 38
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699All Sorts New Zealand Tablet, Issue 17, 25 April 1907, Page 38
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