BRIEF MENTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2567, 20 July 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRIEF MENTION.

The latest Parisian freak of fashion is luminous face-paint. The Neapolitans are noted for their dread of the jettatnra, or the evil eye. The Queen is practically lifted into her carriage whenever she. goes out driving. Mr Oscar Wilde once alluded to Punch as “ a paper which he absolutely made." Lord Cromer is famous in Cairo for his habit of nearly always wearing a white top-hat. Out of every 20 patients received into French hospitals 10 are ill from being alcoholised. According to the latest statistics, the women in Sweden outnumber the men bv 148,669. The ideal of Japanese loveliness is a long, narrow face, with a high, receding forehead. It is said that in Woolwich a petition for war forms part of the regular prayers of the devout. It is stated that an American firm propose to issue an “ expurgated edition " of “ Pickwick “ I Chimneys were apparently not made use of in England till the twelth or thirteenth century. There is nothing, except religion and politics, which causes such frequent quarrels as the umbrella. Louis XIV. once invited Moliere to sit down at his table and waited upon him with his own hands. There are ten newspaper editors in the House of Commons, six printers, and throe stationers. The Chinese once lost eleven millions of their people in two months (in the famine of the two Shans). The total public debts of the selfgoverning British Colonies amount to something like L 300,000,000. The lawfulness of instantaneous photography has become a subject of discussion in French legal circles. If we lost command of the sea for.only three months, we ‘should be' left with' nothing to eat.— Spectator,

The Japanese are known by the Chinese as “ imitation devils."

The most remarkable denizen of the lion-house at the Zoo at present is a fine young snow leopard. In some parts of Sicily the people believe that a man in a red mantle will appear before an earthquake. The percentage of casualties among war correspondents is greater than among the actual fighting men. Eight hundred and thirty-eight pairs of corsets for men were made by one firm in England last year. Dover convict prison has cost the nation LIOO,OOO for erection, and a good deal more for maintenance.

The Paris students have special privileges, among which is that of going to the theatres at reduced prices. M tf Astor, the millionaire, keeps two solicitors —one English and the other American —constantly in his service. Bees in a hive never turn their backs on the queen. This is a curious point in the etiquette of animals. Although France has fewer ships than England, she possesses more than Germany and Italy combined. A firm of publishers ha'te asked Mr Labouohere to write his reminiscences. He has declined the invitation. Medical colleges have only existed in Russia about 15 years, and in that time 600 women have graduated. In China missionaries are sometimes addressed in not unkindly tones, “ Well, Foreign Devil, what do you want ?" The value of a complete set of first editions of Robert Louis Stevenson is estimated by an American paper at LBO. It is calculated that the robin requires about 14 feet of ordinary earthworm, or that same bulk of other “ grub," daily. “It is upon the boilers alone that our grand fleet depends, aye, and the safety of the nation." So says Mr Allan, M.P. Determined not to be behind the mother country, American ladies have started a ladies’ kennel club in New York. It was Mr Gladstone who once described the present era as “ this so-called nineteenth century," but he added, “ of progress." Mr Disraeli once said that what was required in the Speaker “ was the courtesy of a gentleman and tho impartiality of a judge." Archduchess Elizabeth, daughter of the Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria, is said to own the smallest dog in the world. When completed, tho Simplon Tunnel, between Switzerland and Italy, will be the longest tunnel in the world, viz., 12J miles. A bill is to be introduced into the next United States Legislature providing for police matrons in all cities of 7000 inhabitants.

Mr W, T. Stead estimates the money locked up in church buildings and sites in London at nearer L 20,000,000 than L 15,000,000.