Items.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7325, 27 September 1898, Page 3

Items.

Superstitious people will, says the Pall Mall Gazette, regard the following as Something more than a remarkable series of coincidences. Twelve months ago last April two sisters married two brothers on the same day and at the same church. A couple of months since each sister gave birth to a female child on the same day. The children received the same names, and . they were christened by the same .clergyman. Subsequently each child became unwell The same doctor attended both, bub, despite his attentions, they died and were buried the same day, and by the same minister, and undertaker. Some of the screws used in watcheß are so small that it takes 380,000 of them to weigh a pound. A Spanish soldier's usual meal consists of bread, olive oil, and. garlic. Meat he rarely gets, and to this has been attributed the fact that his wounds heal so rapidly. Of British birds the cuckoo lays the smallest egg In proportion to Its slz9. There are 20,000 newspapers in existence in the United States, of which 2250 are published daily. It is stated that 1,000,00Q bonnets were sold in London during one week recently. !Forty tons of rust has been taken out of the Menai iron tubular bridge at one cleaning. A naval seaman has once every day to salute the quarter-deck of his ship, even if no officer is upon ib. The largest room in the world is ab Sb. Petersburg. Ib is 620fb long by 150fb In breadth. Ib has been used for military displays, and a whole battalion can completely manoeuvre in ib. There have been numerous revolts in Cuba against Spanish rule. One of the most formidable lasted from 1869 to 1876, when 145,000 Spanish soldiers were employed to quell the rising. There ar& 11 cities in the world with a i population of over 1,000,000. They are I London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pekin, Vienna, Tokio, Canton, and St. Petersburg. The largest painting m the world, exclusive of panoramas and cycloramas, is in the grand salon of the Doge's palace at Yenice. The painting Is 84ft wide by 3ift high. ' Snow Is altogether unknown In Cuba, though ice sometimes forms at nighb after a oontinnanoe of northerly winds. The

temperature ranged from 72 to 82 degrees. The greatest pilgrimages to the Holy Land are undertaken by the Russians. It has been calculated that between 30,000 and 40,000 Russians visit Palestine eveiyyear. A sale of work will take place in the City Temple on Thursday afternoon and evening. Keep your eye on Clayton, Gardiner and Co.'a advertisement over, tobn leader, it changes often.