Items.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7216, 23 May 1898, Page 3

Items.

Probably the most aged lady chorister , in the world has now ceased her terrestrial praises and joined the angelic choir above. She was S6 years of age, and at the time of her demise, a day or two ago, was the titular leader of the music in St. Thomas' Church, Hyde, Isle of Wight, of whose choir she hsd been a member for 79 years. The old lady, who lived in the almshouse of the town mentioned, walked regularly to the sacred edifice, never missing a service. British landlords are said to own 20,000,000 acres of land in the United States, an area larger than that of Ireland. The latest method of preserving eggs is subjecting them to a process in which electricity plays an important part. Half a million clerks are employed in London. The fastest-flowing river in the world is the Sutlej, in India. Its descent i 312,000 feet in 180 miles. There is nothing on the Thames like the Ginnelle Lock on the Seine. There a man can open or shut the lock by simply touching an electric button as he sits comfortably at his ease in a smart office. Out of the—close upon—2oo peeresses (writes a correspondent) who witnessed the Roberts debate in the Lords the other day there were literally not half a • dozen without birds' wings or plumes in their hat 3 and bonnets. The sheriffs cf London bear, perhaps, the most ancient office in the kingdom. It is supposed to date from 1189. Edward IV gave the citizens the right to elect their own sheriffs, who had jurisdiction over the county of Middlesex also. Recent legislation has created a sheriff of Middlesex and also a sheriff of the county of London; but the citizens still elect two 1 sheriffs of the city. Of warships building in England at the ' present time there are, as near as possible, 95. Twelve of these are battleships, 32 cruisers, 41 torpedo-boat destroyers, four gunboats, and six sloop 3. Of these about: a quarter are building at the Government yards, the rest being under construction in different parts of England and Scotland. The Japanese are kind to animals, and ( hold them in honor. Among the monuments erected to commemorate the war in China is one to the horses that fell during that war. Berlin has a new cycle cab. The passenger sits in front in a seat over two wheels. The thing has three wheels, one in the rear. Above the rear wheel a man sits and works the pedals. One of the most noted duellists In Paris, Alfonso de Aldama, has just died of pleurisy. He met death with equanimity, and is reported to have said in jest that he was glad to go, so as to escape the I exhibition of 1900. Mice are fond of music. This fact suggested to an ingenious mechanic the utility of .a mouse trap with a music-box attached. The mice, to get close to the strains of harmony, wander into the trap, and are easily caught. An arrangement to raise and lower car windows without trouble has been patented for the benefit of long-suffering travellers. Compressed air from the engine or elsewhere does most of the work. All the passenger has to do is to press the button. Last year Italy exported 21,000 antique and modern works of art, valued at L 120.000. More than half of them went to Germany. The American pension list has attained to such huge dimensions that the cost of publishing it would alone amount to L 40.000. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, which cost annually L 20,850 to maintain, are the most expensive public gardens in the world. '

* A physician of respectability in Berlin (says the Daily Chronicle) calls attention in a medical paper of that capital to a i state of things which may well aronse anxiety in the minds of invalids and their friends. He asserts that the nurses in the private hospitals are in league with the undertakers, who distribute amongst them circulars offering as much as L 5 by i way of gratnity for a good job. The i worthy doctor calls the attention of his - professional colleagues to this infamous i combination, which has been in force, so ' he declares, for half a centnry, and exists s in other large towns. He suggests the employment, whenever it is possible, of • women working in sisterhoods or actuated ' by some higher motive than the mere pur- - suit of gain. A fnnnv story is current in Paris concerning the expedition of Lieut. Baron ■ Hourst to the Niger River. He took with i him a number of colored pictures of President Fanre—in which he was shown wearing an eyeglass. The dusky Babbaras ladies had never seen an eyeglass before, and their enthusiasm for the French President knew no bounds. This led an unscrupulous servant of the baron to conceive the bright idea of wearing an eyeglass himself, in order to show the French ruler in life. The result was that many of the native ladies forsook their lawful lords and followed him. Then followed a lively demonstration on the part of the jealous chiefs. The photographs of the deputy President had to be suppressed in haste, and the expedition beat a speedy retreat to the sea coast, its object thus frustrated by the means of a monocle.' An Italian has invented a boat with steel fins, which is propelled solely by the motion of the sea water. It goes best in rough weather. The marble bust of Oliver Cromwell recently purchased for LI4OO by Mr Wortheimer has been presented by that gentleman to the Government, and it is now on view in Mr Balfour's private room at the House of Commons. A young man who appeared before the County Court judge at Croydon, lately, said that although he only earned 153 a week, he got married a few weeks ago. He was married on a Sunday, and on the Monday he was in gaol for debt. Twenty-three presbyteries and 111 sessions of the U.P. Church of Scotland, against ovly six presbyteries and 29 sessions, have voted in favor of immediate liberty being allowed in the church as regards marriage with a deceased wife's sister. China has at last adopted an Imperial postage service. It is stated that the local post in Shanghai was closed recently, and that the new permanent stamps of the Imperial Chinese Post Office were issued instead. Of all the local points in China, the Shanghai office was the only one remaining that did a purely local business.