CULLED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 678, 25 October 1921, Page 5

CULLED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

M. Carton de Wiart, '/the Belgian Prime Minister, has introduced a BilL throwing open to women the offices of mayor, sheriff and town Clerk.

In 1914 364 steamers with an aggregate tonnage of 1,310/000 were fitted with oil-fired boilers. At the present time there are no fewer than 2536 vessels so fitted, and their total tonnoage amounts to 12,797,000. The laftter figure represents rather more than one-fifth of the total tonnage now in existence, whereas the proportion in 1914 was only 2.62 per cent. With regard to internal combustion engines for ship propulsion, the development which has occurred during the last seven years, although not so striking as that of s oil firing, is nevertheless material. In 1914 290 vessels driven by oil engines were included 1 in the register, and the aggregate tonnage at that time, amounted to 234,000, so that fthe average tonnage of each motor vessel was just over 800. Today there are 1447 mojtor-driven ships in existence, with a total tonnage of 1,263,000, and the average tonnage has therefore increased to about 875. Oil-engined l ships now y form 2 per cent, of the world’s total tonnage. The number ,of tank steamers registered in 1914 was 385, and /their total tonnage .was 1,479,- • 000.. The /tonnage iqoiw $s nearly . .three times as great, being 4,419,000. From these figures it will be found that more than 7 per cent, of the world’s tqtal shipping is now employed! in the transport iof oil in bulk. , i

An American visitor was giving some examples of the extraordinary speed and completeness with which the process of Americanisation is carried 1 out even in the case of extreme alien types. Perhaps the most extraordinary instance occurred in the newly-erected mansio,n built in the style of an E-shaped Elizabethan ; manor, of a Chicago multi-million-aire. He decided to import n ghost to heigh/ten the illusion of antiquity, and, aft£r a prolonged , search and the expenditure of a Considerable sum of money, a satisfactory jafrecimer. was picked up in Devonshire and shipped to Chicago in cold storage.. It walked by daylight and had every appearance, both as regards garb and figure, of having just missed the sailing of |the Mayflower. The. millionaire andi his friends, some of the best people in Chicago, were delighted with its old world looks and solemn deportment. On the third day, unfortunately, it was (seen eating a doughnujt.

A paper mill approaching completion in Chicago is to manufacture newsprint from waste paper under an entirely new process. , The mill is expected to produce from 10,000 to 15,000 tons of newsprint annually.

M. Eiffel, who is now 89 years old, has a small apartment on the highest platform of the tower which he built, so that he has been eompara-. tively free from the discomfort caused by the recent heat waves, which the Parisians have ndt been enjoying. Eveiy precaution is taken to prevent rust, and M. Eiffel considers that the structure has a practically indefinite life. The Eiffel tower was ■ erected over 30 years ago, at a cost of 1,800,000 dol. i

A new fining system is used in Prague. The police carry receipts for fines for various sums in their pockets, and present them for immediate payment to hilarious citizens who break the peace by singing of playing on musical instruments on the streets at the wrong time, or where the volume of harmony is too great. This tends to allow the citizens of this old city to get some much needed rest. This system has worked so well and has ; become so popular that it was extended to traffic violations as well.

AccordSng to the president of the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers the newer dances are gradually finding favour at State balls. There is no greater lover or better exponent of modern ball-room dancing than the most popular of ■- men, the Prince of Wales. For the coming season the dances; in vogue would undoubtedly be the fox trot, one-step and valse (in its modfern form, and smooth footwork and steadiness of body would predominate. England has long been the dumping ground for Continental and American concoctions, and the time has , come; for this to cease. ' . ' i

“It seems the normal aim of many young priests to get married as soon as possible, and their spiritual efficiency as severely impaired thereby, w Birmingham, speaking at a convention of Anglo-Catholic priesjts at Oxford. ‘Those who are bound either by vows of celibacy or whose, deliberate intention is to remain.unmarried should be careful,” he added, “to avoid such friendships with the opposite sex as in the circumstances may lead to marriage. Some' priests do not realise bow seriously their influence is injured by neglect of such a rule, and how the ideal, of priesthood is lowered in the eyes of the world.” ■ ■ 7