MEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12853, 29 April 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEWS IN BRIEF.

Ix 1838 envelopes were absolutely unknown. There are now 374 blacklead miues ia Ceylon.

Pearl ovsters sell in the rough at 24s a thousand. The fishery lasts 22 days.

Close on £200.000.000 a year is paid in rent for buildings in England and Wales.

It takes three bushels of barley to tow a* acre, 'but only two bushels of wheat or beans.

Australians hold the world's record for tea-drinking, consuming neatly 81b a head yearly.

The first equestrian statue erected in Lou(Ion was that of Charles 1.. erected in Whitehall in 1678.

Nearly every Chinaman can read, but about i'O |km* cent, of the women are entirely uneducated.

I'll to the , present 210,000 men have lipcii killed .nil! wounded in the land batlies of the Russo-Japanese war.

My Act of Parliament a soldier cannot be committed for debs unless the sunt is for more than "£3O exclusive of costs."

The 43in of snow hich fell in .New York during the recent- blizzard cost the Municipal Council £200.000 alone for carting away.

Mrs. Stride, who died at Leyton at th« age of 102, had six white cats a:> pets. It was her chief delight to have th« news read to her.

Fish-hooks of precisely the same shapes an those of to-day were made twenty centuries ago. Then, however, they were of 'bronze, instead of steel.

Coal yields a large amount of colouring matte;', the magenta obtained from a ton. being sufficient to dye 500 yards of flannel and the vermilion 2560 yards.

Taking the earth as a large marble one inch in diameter, the moon would 'be represented by a small pea 2jft away,, and the sun by a 9ft globe 960 ft away.

In 1834 one of the leading railroads of the United States printed on its time-table: "The locomotive will leave the depot every day at 10 o'clock, if the weather is fair."

Alfred Sumner, a baker's assistant, poured paraffin over a horse and then.set lire to it. The animal instantly became a mass of flames. Sumner was fined £3 at Willesdeu.

At a Kingston inquest 011 a. resident, aged 94. it was stated that a post-mortem examination .showed that in early life she had suffered from consumption, which had been cured.

The first typewriter was received by the public with suspicion. Tt seemed subversive of existing condition;;. A reporter who took one into a Com (.room first proved its real worth.

The first Japanese newspaper was published in 1363. only 42 years ago. and contained some news translated"from the Dutch papers. To-day Japan has 1500 daily newspapers and periodicals.

The Berlin Cremation Society has sent a petition with 10,000 names to the Pope playing for Hie abolition of the rule withholding the last rites from persons who prefer cremation to burial.

The bride's veil had its origin in the old custom of performing the ceremony under a square piece of cloth, held at each corner by tall men over the bride and bridegroom during the marriage service.

There aie 252.436 miles of ocean cable ill operation to-day, and only 58,797 miles are owned by Governments. The British cables which connect London with all parts of the world have a total mileage of 154,099.

' The fattest man in New York, Michael Glynn, aged 26, fell dead in one of the city streets. He weighed 35sfc 101b, and the removal of his body required the united efforts of six policemen and three bystanders.

According to a French international almanac which has just been suppressed, it appears that as long as he remains in Russia the Tsar draws annually from the Russian Exchequer 110 less a. sum than £8,514,720.

Egypt is not so poorly supplied with periodical literature as is commonly' assumed. There are over 100 periodicals altogether. Fifty-two are political, of which 30 .'.re printed in Arabic and the rest in. European languages.

I'll? J,. and S.-W.R. are arranging for the removal of their locomotive works from London to Eastleig'n. This step will involve the tiansfer of about 3000 operatives, and a • ddeti increase in the population of Eastloigh by about 12,000 souls.

A 1 an innuest held at Willesden on the body of an infant named Felicite Scliwing, who died {16111 bronchitis. Dr. Grant, stated be had never seen such a freak 1 before. Everv.organ in the child's body was transposed. even the stomach 'being reversed.

The .Musical World is troubled became, there is ail undue partiality shown by tie military authorities for "The Girl I Left Behind Me" as a parting tune for military bands. It suggests that the soldier is occasionally heartily glad to leave his girl behind.

When Benjamin Franklin first thought of starting a newspaper in Philadelphia many of his friends advised him not to. hecause llieie was a paper published in Boston. Some of thorn doubted that the country would be able to support-two newspapers. On the last passage of the Union Castle liner Gaika to the Cape one of the firstclass passengers fell in love with a. lady travelling second-class, and they became engaged. Th- first-class passengers gave a "congratulatory dance ir celebration of the incident. A modern church, built upon the site of an ancien' one at Llauderaml. Wales, had no bell. A farmer offered one that was lying in one of his barns. It turned out to be. the one that bad hung in the tower of the ancienl ( lunch, and had .not bee' rung for 500 year.-. In older to liquidate a debt of £1000 on* a Xew York Baptist Church the pastor, the I'cv. C. ,\). Angle, has written and is selling • cookery book, which contains a recipe for making everything except inincepics. Kvcry dish i; guaranteed nut to produce indigestion. _ In the Chicago Criminal Court a prisoner, Walter Wallace, pleaded guilty 011 a murder charge, but the judge refused to proceed. the plea was changed, a jury secured, and by the judge's direction a verdict ol not guilty returned. The proceedings occupied 22 minutes.

I'oo'nbe Cottage. Kingston Hill, says art advertisement in. the Times, is to be let, furnished. fur three years, 'owing to Lord Charles Beiesford's appointment to the .Mediterranean for that lime." The announcement is made " to motorists, millionaires, and city men."

.Mr. .1. F. Hanly. the Governor of tli« State of Indiana, announces that 110 on* who drinks alcohol in any form will bo appointed to any office during his administration. He if fused a position to a prominent puity leader because lie was a drinker, although only in moderation.

The Burnley Blue Ribbon Union were giving a dramatic entertainment recently when all tut- lights were suddenly extinguish* ed. The chorus sang a livmn with lighted tapers in their hands, and then," when the lights _ were turned 011 again, it. was found that a thief had rifled the performers' clothing, taking over £8.

Mr. S. F. Edge has received a letter from the Automobile Club of Nice stating that the usual mile speed race will not take place there this year, owing to the fact- that many constructors are restricting their 'efforts to preparations for the Gordon Ben« nett Cup and the Grand Prize of the Automobile Club of France.

John Hutchinson, .a labourer, was sentenced to acatb at. Notts Assizes lor the murder of Albert Matthews, agei. five years. Hutchinson, who lodged with the boy's parents, had premised to put him to bed,but later the little one'» mother found tho child dead, his body being terribly mutilated and dismembered.