GENERAL INFORMATION.

North Otago Times, 22 May 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

GENERAL INFORMATION.

—-I It takes fifty nests to make one pound of Chinese birds'-ncst jelly. '

St. Peter's Church in Homo will contain 54,000 persons.

Several thousands of hairpins, in many styles, have been recovered from Tonipeii.

The natives of India never allow a fakir—of whom there arc 3,000,000 who live by begging—to starve.

India's population is 300,000,000 -one-fifth of all the people in the world,

Most of the shoes worn in Japan are made of straw or wood. In the entire country there is but one factory where leather shoes are made.

The tallest man of whom there is authenticated measurement was Funnam, of Scotland, who was lift, 6in. in height,

The most expensive and roomiest railway station in the world is that of the Peninsula Railway at Bomhay.

The United States favours the names of writers for its towns, There arc 30 Miltons, 30 Scotts, 20 Byrons, 4 Dickens, 3 Goldsmiths, 2 Tcnnysons, and 1 Thackeray. A portrait of Chaucer, on a panel of date 1380, and also one of Henry IV. of England, painted in 1405, are said to te the oldest paintings known in England. The goldfields of Western Australia are the largest in the world, covering, as they do, 324,000 square miles. Australian gold is distinctly redder than that from California, while the Ural gold is Hie reddest oi all.

A spider in New Zealand throws coils of its web about the head of its prey until the victim is first blinded and thin choked. In many unfrequented parts of the bush perfect skeletons of small birds have been found caught in these terrible snares.

Sand-dust explosions form an active danger on the Ottawa river. Immense deposits of sand-dust lie along the bed of the stream, and the action of the water generates gas, which, breaking forth periodically; conies to the surface in the form oi a huge bubble, big enough to swamp a boat.

A hunter in Newfoundland who has lost his bearings, or finds himself in a log, has no difiiculty in finding the way, ns, owing to the constant west winds, the tops of all the trees point oast. This fact renders a compass unnecessary.

During the Prince of Wales' last tour, both sides of the railway line from Rangoon to lla'idalay were decorated with a string of lamps burning in transparent petal-like cups of tinted paper. Between every other pair a native stood'with a great double torch, and this illumination was continued along the line without intermission till daylight shone upon the Royal train, The distance thus covered by the double line was 184 miles, and to show the enormous preparation involved, each Burmati stood twenty yards only from his neighbour.

Through the medium of 1,000 miles of heavy conducting wires, which stretch over a distance of 165 miles in two complete circuits of three wires each, the city of Syracuse, in New Y o rk State, is being illuminated by power from Niagara Falls, All possible provision against disconnection with the Falls powerhouses have been made, hut if such should occur the steam plant of the Syracuse company will be always in readiness as an auxiliary. The current will be received at the Syra- , j cuse plant with a 60,000 voltage, / and the transforming station will step it down to suit the requirements of the various circuits,

The Russian schoolboy has tho best time as regards holidays, for the education authorities allow four weeks in spring, five weeks in summer, n fortnight in autumn, and a fortnight in winter. In most other Continental countries practically all the holidays are taken in the summer, only a few days being granted, for the New Year and Easter, In France, the summer vacation lasts from August 1 to October 1 j in Austria, from July 15 to September 15; in Greece, from August Ito Septomber 20; In Norway, from July, S to August 25; and in Turkey, from tho end ol Jum to \totilk~ dl« of August,