BREVITIES

Evening Star, Issue 15140, 24 March 1913, Page 10

BREVITIES

Union of England and Scotland March 24, 1603. ..'•'■ • ■ > \ Nearly one-ninth of the population of the United States consists of negroes, of whom there are 10,000,000. Of this number, 8,749,390 make their homes in the Southern States, and 80 per cent, of them live in the country districts or in the small towns. The Pacific cable was connected with Now Zealand on the 24th of March, 1902. No fewer than 1,678 persons who took part in a Paris newspaper's Presidential competition guessed, the exact number of votes that would be cast for M. Poincare. The production of 'pig iron in Germany last year amounted to 17,852.571 tons, which is the highest figure vet attained. During 1911 the - amount was 15.557,030 tons. In 255 days a dead leaf gave up 62 per cent, of the nitrogen, 74 per cent, of the

phosphoric acid, and 90 per cent, of the potash that it contained when it first, foil, to the ground. It is estimated that a London taxicab covers 20,000 miles per annum, the upkeep, including tyres, repairs, garage, replacements, petrol, oil, grease, etc., costing £l5O for one year. Mr W. J. Bryan, the American Secretary of State, has expressed himself strongly against any political union between Canada and the United States. There were 149 patients in the Dunedin Hospital on Saturday. Thirty patients were admitted last week and 35 discharged, and there were 7 deaths. A "finback" whale, 56ft in length, was found stranded near some rocks at Port Molyneux. The finder (Mr C. Moore) sold the carcass for boiling-down purposes. The dividends declared by South African companies during 1912 amount to £14,980,684. Gold mining companies were responsible for £8,353,393, against

£8,058,319 in, 1911, diamond companies for £2,13(2,921 against £1,853,140, collieries £308,940 ' against £235,133, and banks £449,609 against, £389,908. In 1881.Dr Gurither estimated that there were over 220,000 named and described species of insects. Since that- date the number lias been increasing at a rate of almost 10,000 a year, so that at the present time the number of described insects must be approaching half a million. Among the names of the inhabitants of the little village of Puttenham, near Guildford, England, are two Kings, four Popes, ten Bishops, and eleven Peers.