GENERAL INFORMATION.

North Otago Times, 1 November 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL INFORMATION.

The upkeep of a lifeboat costs a* bout £BO a year. James V. of Scotland was the first to put dates on his coinage. A Russian woman may not enter a university unless she is married. The drum was the first musical in* strument used by mankind, Tea was cultivated in China 2.7U0 years before the Christian era, Twenty-seven out of every hundred people in the world live under the Union Jack. .!« For all Europe the rate of suicide in May, June, and July is nearly double the rate in the winter months. When a new Great Seal is made, the Lord Chancellor receives the existing one as a percpisite, Among the llasutos, and also with the natives of the New Hebrides, his« sing is a sign of applause. •!* It is thought that the first game of ! whist was first played in the time of j King Tlenrv VIII. !<

The oldest lighthouse in existence is at Corunna, Spain, It was erected in the reign of Trajan, and was rebuilt in 1634.

The distinction of being the oldest living thing undoubtedly belongs to one of the giant trees, and many attempts to locate it and determine its age lmvc been made. .t, The oldest guild in England is the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths. It still enjoys the ancient right of inspecting" any smith's shop within four miles of the boundary of London.

There Ims been discovered at Greenock an old-fashioned umbrella with whalebone ribs, which must be quite 120 years old, When opened it affords shelter for a whole family.

Although the. name of the first ropemaker and that of the land in which he practised his art Imve both been lost to history, Egyptian sculptures prove that the art was practiced at least 2000 years before tho time of Christ. What is asserted to be. the oldest lifeboat in existence is preserved at South Shields as a valued relic. It was built in 18JJ0, and during more than fifty years of active service was instrumental in saving 1,028 persons. The oldest mathnieticnl book in the world is called the "Papyrus Rhind." It is in manuscript, of course, and was written by one Ahmes, an Egyptian, who lived in the year 2000 li.C. The book is now in the Brit' ish Museum. ' Tho oldest architectural ruins in the world arc believed to be the rock-cut temples at Ipsambool, on the left bank of the Nile, in Nubia. The largest of these ancient temples contains fourteen apartments, hewn out of solid stone. Tho ruins are supposed to be 4,000 years old. ' h- ' The oldest, university in the world is at Peking. It is called the "School for the Sons of the Empire." its antiquity is very great, and a grand register, consisting of titoue columns, 820 in number, contains the mvnes q* ® { m flai.