INTERESTING ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 535, 22 January 1913, Page 2

INTERESTING ITEMS.

It is said that the Czar of Russia carries life poi'cies amounting ta £1,800,000, while the Kaiser is insured for £1,000,000, and King George V. is covered to almost the same extent as the Kaiser.'

All German soldiers must learn to swim. Some of them are so expert that, with their clothing on their hsads and carrying guns and ammunition, they can swim rivers several Hundred yards in width.

The Italians in London are sufficient of themselves to form a large town. There are as many as 14,000 about 2,000 of whom are ice-cream vendors and 1,000 organ-grinders. The other 11,000 are chiefly engaged as plaster bust sellers, artists' models, cooks, valets, teachers, artists, restaurant and hotel keepers, and so on. \ '■

Fire alarm boxes fitted with loudspeaking telephones are no\v installed in the suburban district of Kiel, Germany, and they are placed at various points along the streets. ' This, appears to be the first time in which loud-speaking telephones have, been 1 applied to fire-alarm' use, The telephones are mounted in an iron box, and ui: on , opening the cover an electric contact is made which rings up •the nearest Fire Department station. /Ow in* to the use of such telephones the voice is always heard clearly, m spite of the street noises. ' '

A Parisian inventor has devised a craft for, getting over the water, which is so light and compact that it can. be folded up and packed' into a box no bigger than an ordinary suit-case. The case part unfolds and joins together to form the main framework or hull of the boat, which is oi the catamaran order. The two cigar-shaped floats are made of waterproof canvas. When packed up they occupy little space, and when 'in use they are blown up with a bicycle pump. The framtwerk is fastened between them by means of ribs and straps, and when, you have fixed a /three-jointed, double-bladed paddlf together and ]>ut a folding seat in place you are all ready to set out on vour marine travels.