BREVITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 15072, 2 January 1913, Page 10

BREVITIES.

♦ First hank in Otago opened January -2,1857.--The fifth annual convention conducted at Pounawea on Keswick lines was concluded on Sunday. It was most successfuLfrom every point of view. Port Arthur surrendered to ' the . Japanese on the 2nd of January, 1905. Trouble has occurred at Rotorua over the employment of non-unionists in boarding-houses. The union have instructed their members to see that the new award is carried out to the letter. The Athenic, which reached Wellington yesterday from London, had 646 passengers on board, including 502 in the third class. There were 89 assisted passengers. Ten farmers possess capital aggregating £2,295. A remarkable operation has been performed at the Oldham Infirmary, a man named William Cropper having had a steel splinter, Jin long, extracted from his eye by the aid of a powerful magnet. The sight of the eye is retained. Ireland was first described, as the "Emerald Isle" in the poem called ' Erin,' bv Dr Drennan, who died in 1820. Over 3,250,000, or more than 74 per cent, of the entire population of Ireland, profess the Roman Catholic faith. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded in 1824, and by ISSB had saved 33,243 lives. There are 98 towns in the United Kingdom (including London as one district) which have a population exceeding 50,000 In. the English-speaking communities of the world it is estimated that there are 10.000,000 people of the Baptist religion.