TIT-BITS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 15, 30 December 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

TIT-BITS.

By using a microphone, you can hear u i!y walk.

Only one person in 15,000 roaches the age of 100 years.

Tho intrinsic value of one penny is less than a farthin".

A ton of soot results from the burning of 100 tons of coal. Icebergs in tho Atlantic sometimes last for two hundred years. Tho horse succumbs to cold more quickly than any other animal.

There are about 20 men to 1 woman holding life assurance policies. In many police-courts in Southern Nigeria the lines arc paid in gin.

There are over 70 miles of tunnels cut in tho solid rock of Gilbraltar.

Europe has had altogether 321 monarchs since tho Battle of Hastings. Tn parts of Germany it is illegal to play the piano after 0 o’clock p.m.

Three-quarters of the total population of Spain arc engaged in agriculture.

A shipyard at Ominato. Japan, rtilj tn operation, was established I.SXK) years ago.

Ono of tho minor expenses of a locomotive is 100 gallons of lubricating oil a year. • • * • The Bank of France can compel its customers to receive one-fifth of money drawn in gold.

The horn of a rhinoceros is not (oined to the bone of the head, but grows on the skin. In some of tho Swedish hotels women are charged half rates, because they eat less than men.

Some Japanese young girls, when they desire to look extremely captivating, gild their lips.

The highest point to which man can ascend without his health being very .-.■eriouslv alfected is 16,5tXlft. • * « • Two hundred penny-in-the-slot machines which supply newspapers are now installed in Berlin.

The largest grasshoppers arc found in the Karoo Desert, in South Africa. Thu biggest of them hare a ten-inch spread of wing.

The first mention of the pipe organ in history is in connection with Solomnn’s temple where there was an organ with ten pipes. A single bee. with all its industry, i-nei-gv. and innumerable journeys, will m>u collect more than a teaspoonful of honey in a season.

An ant-hill 2 fi<-t in height was proved to bo inhabited by 93.751) ants, whilu other hills contained 67,500, 53,000. and 43.000 respectively.

Last year in the United States about £15.090.000 was spent on candy, about £5.<>90.000 on chewing gum, and about £6-1,000,000 on soda-water. • « « « There arc 10.390 persons in the United Kingdom with incomes over £5OOO a year. Their total incomes arc £I3i),OtK),(KIO, or an average of £12,621.

Great Britain maniifaMtiros £16,00009f) worth of stes-l pens annually; Franco £5.509.0(K). tin* United States t!2l .000.000. It is calculated that over •f,(KK:.(iOi) pens are destroyed daily.

Long-Jigged birds have short tails. A bird's tail serves as ;i rudder during the act of flight. When birds are provided with long legs, those are stretched behind when the bird is flying, and :o act as a rudder. Size for ‘■ww. a thread of spider’s silk is deciih-dly tougher than one of -t'*-.-l. An ordinary thread, "ill bear a weight of three grains. This is fifty per cent, stronger than a steel thread of the same thickness. Mahoganv grows rapidly in Southern Nigeria. The site cf n town destroyed sir tv .wars ago has been covered with a fo:*i-rt containing mahogany trees, mime of which are mor? than ton feet tn diamofer. Ir-i-br-rg gardens are by no means uncomnrin. Moss tale n to t!i<* icebergs liy tho I'eet of animals decays and forms u’s'iil in which light-winged seeds lodge. W hen in some sheltered corners these, seeds g< rminaw. A G -rman workman named Gatischv lii‘: re-ontly b<-c-n released from tho gaol at Mnlhansen after serving -1-> ri'iiri.’ imprisonment for murder. Tins tit lit - - a r->--;"d as regards a contin:i"U'- term cf iacarecrntion in modern times.