GENERAL INFORMATION.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2660, 19 May 1908, Page 7

GENERAL INFORMATION.

The French unit of horse-power is one-seventh less than the English.

The skeleton measures one inch less than the height of the , % One-seventh of Great Britain's foreign commerce passes the Suez Canal. *JL %>»

The average depth of British coalmines is 800 ft. The limit of practical mining is 4,000 ft.

The only country in the world where the fashions in women's dress do not change is Japan.

An Englishman eats more butter than any man of any other nationality < His yearly average is 131b.

Victoria is twice as densely populated as any other Australasian Colony. ; / I /

The swiftest river in the world is the Sutlej, of British India, which in 180 miles h&s/a descent of 112,00 C feet. i . f * tt '/I.

The annual out put of coal in Japan has increased from 200,000 tons to 11,500,000 tons during the last thirty years.

Galileo discovered, the yse of the "pendulum. -In 1639 he published a work dealing with the use of the pendulum in clocks. f

Among the worst foes ®f the memory are too much food, too much physical exercise, and, strangely enough, too much education.

Elephants have only eight teeth. All young elephants' teeth fall out when the animal is about fourteen years old, and a new set grows.

A vast portion of Australia is virtually empty. The ratio of, f jvhite population in' Northern Australia is about one to every 700 square miles.

Lord Roberts is studying Esperanto, and has joined the British Esperanto Association. This announcement was received with enthusiasm by the delegates to the Esperanto Congress at Cambridge.

"His Majesty the King by no means approves, of says a writer in "The World amHSIS' Wife," ''and does his best to suppress the practice."

Iron cloth is largely used to-day by tailors for making the collars of coats sit properly. It is manufactured by a new process from the steel wool, and has the appearance of having been woven from horsehair.

The touiiage werld'i? >•;' merchant shipping fleet, according to the latest returns, is 37,554,017 tons. '

Of this total, no less than 31,744,904 tons represents steam shipping, and 17,611,096 tons of the whole is under the British flag.

A new industry has been started in Australia in connection with rabbits. Nearly hallf a gaJlqli st of oil pote&sing valuable lubricajtinjjj qlualjtieis has •been obtdillied by " a rabbiter at GoF gonda, New South Wales, from 731b. '

j of skins, without lessening the commercial value Of tie latter.

A prospecting party has been sent to the Hudson Bay district to search for diamond fields, hopes of which are based on the official reports of the Canadian geological survey. €;yiadiaft, scientists predict that these fields will be found to be the richest in the world.

Two Indian girls, not yet fourteen years old, were sold to the highest bidders in the open markets at Alert Bay recently. £2OO cash was paid

for the girl who was first sold. The 6econd who was put up to barter was sold for £IOO, payable in dirty > blankets. 1602.