INTERESTING ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 314, 23 November 1910, Page 6

INTERESTING ITEMS.

■ -oCooks in the Navy are paid from £3O 8s 4d to £B2 2s 6d per annum. There were last year only 564 candidates for commissions in the British Army. Our National Debt originated 'in the reign •of William 111., whose first loan was obtained in 1694. Europe has 20,000 newspapers, of which Germany possesses the largest number. England, however, has the greatest number of daily newspapers. There is 50 per cent, less loss of life on tho water than on land by rail and tram in comparison to the number of passengers which are carried. The Duke of Richmond has many titles. He is not only Duke of Richmond and Lennox, Earl of Darn ley and Baron Methuen, but also Duke of Gordon and Duke of Aubigny. While Mr Mcßorie, an angler visit-

ing Loch Tay, was fishing in the Kilh'n waters with two rods, two salmon took the baits simultaneously, and both were secured. The salmon weighed 171b each. In Turkey, Persia, and some other Oriental countries the bow-string is the method of execution. This is a stout cord of cat-gut placed around the victim's neck with two slip-knots, which are suddenly drawn tight by two strong men. This kills the criminal by strangulation. In his youth the King of Servia was a great athlete and boxer, as two footpads discovered when they waylaid him on his way home and demanded his money or his life. They got neither. But one of them got the royal boot in the pit of his stomach, and, leaving his assailants in the gutter, King Peter resumed his interrupted progress. Andrew Carnegie at a recent dinner in Washington said that too many selfmade men neglect the intellectual side. This sometimes put them at a disadvantage. "I know a self-made man who said to his nephew: 'Well, Tommy, my boy, what do they teach you at school?' 'Latin and Greek,' the boy replied, 'and German and algebra.' 'Dear mo! 5 cried the selfmade man. 'And what's the algebra for turnip?' "

While Senator Piatt was on his last visit to the Manhattan Beach Hotel, he allowed a pretty girl, a Western millionaire's daughter to be presented to him. The little girl, in the course of one of her many delightful chats with the aged statesman, said, "Tell me, won't you, Senator, what political economy is?" "Political economy, my dear child," Senator Piatt replied, "is the art of never buying more votes than you actually need." As a boy the Rev. Joseph Plocking exhibited an exceptional fondness for reading, and would walk to the nearest town, seven miles away, when twelve years old, in order to spend a few coppers on a cheap reprint of some valuable book. He had read nearly all Sir Waiter Scott's books at twelve years of age, and at fourteen he had completed a three-volume novel. He became a land surveyor at sixteen, and continued surveying until twenty.