TIT BITS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 288, 9 November 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

TIT BITS.

NEWS GATHERED FROM EVERYWHERE.

French post-offices will in future be provided—-officially—w>,th stamp-mois-teniug appliances, an innovation which, is hailed by the Press as a hygienic reform.

Lives lost in connection with the British mercantile marine last year totalled 1,021, of whom only twentyfour were passengers. There were nearly 250,000 seamen engaged in British merchant ships.

The Rev. R. P. Tyson, known as the carpenter-parson, is superintending the erection of the new Taylor Memorial Methodist Church at New York, and will do much of the carpentering work himself. He was a builder before lie became a minister.

An Oklahoma resident has petitioned the authorities to have all the street lamps turned out by midnight, alleging that his fowls feast all night on the grasshoppers attracted by the electric lights. The hens are drowsy next day and do not lay.

Trying a case over the telephone is the novel method adopted by a New York coroner in order to save time. Mr. Hellcnstein, a coroner, took the evidence of witnesses, listened to argumente, and gave his decision without leaving his study chair.

In Lisbon the straw coat has become very fashionable. It is a rather cumbrous garment, but the Foriugueso find chat it serves excellently the purpose of a mackintosh. It is made entirely of straw, and the wet runs down the individual straws, and so drops to the ground.

A talking clock has been placed on the market at Berlin. Instead of striking periodically the clock calls out the exact time every quarter of an hour “ in a clear human voice.” The mechanism can be so adjusted that these announcements cease at a certain time and continue again automatically after a stipulated inlerval.

A free grant of 10D to 200 acres of forest land is made by the Canadian Government, on the simple conditions of residence and cultivation, to any settler over eighteen years of ago, in the provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and 160 acres of land in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, and some parts of British Columbia.

An umbrella made thief-proof by being locked in such a manner that it cannot be opened has been invented by a London cloak-room attendant. The locking device consists of a metal collar, one end of which may be slipped down over the rib-tips, and is securely locked to them by revolving the three metal rings. These rings bear the letters and numerals of tho secret combination.

Curious specimen of English discovered in a Dutt’h bulb catalogue recently sent out: *‘ Encouraged through the many accounts of contentments which received again last year we recommend n.i in your appreciated favour and shall try to send exclusive best quality bulbs and plants. Those amateurs to whom we have not had the pleasure to send bulbs or plants we kindly invite you to send us a trial order and next year you tffiall send her again to us.”

Weighing Set. and standing 3ft. Ilin, in height, Master Maurice Reginald Piuthero, the fivc-y<far-old son of a Petersham (Surrey) builder, who has just celebrated his birthday, is believed to be the biggest baby boy in Britain. His chest measurement of 40in. is exceeded by 2in. at the'waist, whilst his calf measurement of 14in. is lin. less than the muscles of the arm, and his limb:;, far from being fat and flabby, are much harder than those of the average child. He is in splendid health.

In the matter of fares the TransSiberian puts all other railways to shame. For first-class the charges are about two-thirds of a penny per mile; second (only a little inferior), less than a halfpenny for the same distance, while if you /'are to risk a third-class journey you get your four miles for a penny. Even this is the height of extortion when compared with the emigrant rate. This works out at something like a shilling for a hundred miles, and if the .'migrant does not possess the shilling the Government will lend it him!

Superstitious people in France are worried by the new method of counting the hours. Trains which start at 1 p.m. (.now thirteen o’clock) are much less crowded than others, especially on Fridays. It is curious how the superstition of thirteen persists. Massenet never dated his letters on the fatal i’:i v F.von his manuscripts lia numbered this; 12. 12 bis. 11. By a strange coincidence or fatality the great composer died on the thirteenth of the month in a year whoso figures added up amount to thirteen.

The statistics of French insurance companies prove beyond question that women Live longer than men; nor is the feminine advantage in longevity a matter of a few months, or even years. The difference is one of almost a third. Thio, th.-j iivciage age of death for women annuitants on the books of one company io seventy, ar.d for men a bare fifty. Another company has several centenarians, all women, on its books. This company is now thinking of rc-vi.-ing the tariffs and making " one law for the man and another fot the woman.” • « * *

An extraordinary scene was witnessed tn Galo'irta recently when a small trolly, studded with rows of or. which a Hindu was Fong at '.n! length, was being polled through tlie. streets. A largo crowd was following. Implirire, eli.-ited the information that the man ilrs doing penance, and wax on h's way to the temple of the goddess Kali at Katighat. The Hindu hui been several days on the journey, and was in a terrible condition. The spikoo which numbered about 1511, were quite sharp, and the man wore only a oincloth. He must have been suffering acute pain from the fact that his body was bruised and lacerated all over as .a result of lying on the sharp nails. Nei-

ther the police nor any passer-by macie any attempt to stop the self-imposed torture.

Some very strange beliefs are recorded in a recent book by Air. Edgar Thun'.ton on ‘‘Omens and ,Superstitions in Southern India.” Every animay seems to have some superstition connected with it. 'thus the sight of a jackal i<> very lucky for anyone going on an errand, while that of a hare bodes ill to a traveller, and that of a cobra or a rattlesnake should cause the posrnonement of a project. Pigeons are believed, on account of their habit of (standing on ODu leg, to lead to poverty. If a hopse is infested by mosquitoes, or the furniture or bedding by bugs, the names of a hundred villages or towns should be written on a piece of paner, which is fastened to the ceiling or bedpost, and relief from the pests will be instantaneous. A huma i bone from a burial-ground, over which powerful formulae Lave been recited iftlirown into an enemy's house, will cause his min.