OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10755, 20 March 1897, Page 8

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

NEWS AND GOSSIP.

The codlin moth is attacking frnifcin Gore.

The Giants' Club in Berlin admits to membership bo one nader 6ft in height.

A papier-mache truck w one of the latest ideas. It is said So be practically indestructible.

Two-thirds of the.popnlation of the Channel Islands are females.

The Joseph Arch Annuity Fond, which will be shortly closed, now amounts to £1200.

" Love's goldsn dream is ore," sang tbe chorns-girl, as the connted up her breach of promise damages.

Seven psr 1000 of the population of England are fined for drunkenness in the course of tha year.

In Japan the dead are always bulged with the heads towards the nor-ih and f setXtowards the. south. \

"Kyphosis bieyclistarram" ig said to he the correct scientific name for ths " bicycle riders' stoop."

The most wonderful vegetable in the world is the truffle; it has neither roots, stem, flowers, leaves, nor seeds.

. According to histcoronttion oath, the Emperor of Japan undartakes to Sicure fair weather at proper times.

"Henry County." A very fice-flavoured Aromatic Tobacco, made from the best Carolina lesf, obtainable only from C. DiCKixsos. Grand Hotel Buildings.—Advt.

There are over 3000 miles of canals in t-hs United States. Aboot half of these are owned by the railway companies.

A fiua trout weighing 121b was caught in the Orcti Kiver by Mr BL BS'Kenzie.

Mr W. Moir, late of the Farmers' Arms Hotel, Balclutha, is reported to have nurchased the Stirling Hotel for £14C0.. . *

The Stratford Town Board are endeavouring to have the town declared a municipality. Weasels are reported as frequently attacking and killing sheep in ths Waikato district (Auckland).

The obituary of 1896 covers 153 fcitlss—l6 peers, 19 pearesses, 1 archbishop, 29 baroiets, 53 knights, and 40 companioas. A In 10 (recent) years the Bcthschilds furni3ae<3 £100,000,000 in loans. to England, Austria, Prussia, France, Russia, and Brazil.

More than £11,000 sterling worth of silver is eaid to be wasted every year in the circulation of British crowns, half-crowns, florins, shillings, aad sixpences.

The Bisley meeting of the National Rifle Association of this year is to open on Monday, July 12, and close on July 24 with the shooting for the Queen's Prize.

Mr Beverage, a recent arrival from Home, has been appointed organist and choirmaster fot the Palmerston Presbyterian Chuich. It seems that a lawyer is something of a carpenter. Ec can file a bill, split a hair, chop logic, dovetail an argument, mike an entry, get up a case, frame an indictment, empanel a jury, put them in a box, bore a court, chisel a client, and other like things. At the West Christehurch school baths on Thursday evening a boy named Munro sank in 9ft of water for the third time, when a boy earned Fred Peogelly, 12i years old, dived in for hrm and brought him out.

The Dnnlop tyre has undoubtedly proved itself to be the most comfortable and reliable tyre on earth, and is essentially the only tyre «■ which will stand the wtar and tear of New Zealand roads. It te guaranteed for 12 months, and can be procured everywhere.—Advfc. M&wrs R. S. Sparrow and Co.'s tender of £740 for the boiler for the Brace Woollen Company's mill has been accepted. We are informed that the boiler k 28ft long by 7ft 6in, and tint it is one of the largest made in the colony. In the British Museum there is a queer and ancient lore letter, engraved on a brick. It is a proposal for the hand of an Egyptian princess, and is about 3500 years old. ; A mathematician has computed the move* ments of a rider's feet while working a bicycle, and has demonstrated that it requires" less exertion to travel 15 miles on. a bicycle than to walk three miles.

On the Msngishlak Peninsula, in the Caspian Sen, there a five small lakes. One of them is coveted with sat crystals stroDg enough to allow man and beast to cross the lake on foot, while another is perfectly round in shape and of a lonely rose colour. '

V. .ile the vicar of AU Souls, Brighton, was rsceutly making announcement of several intended marriages, the'eurste rose in the case of one of them and forbade the banns, advancing ss his justification that the man was a divorced person.

Sir E. Watkin, the railway magnate, says that the most costly piece of railway line in the world is that between the Mar>sioa Honse and Aklgate stations in London, -which required the expenditure of close upon £2,000,000 » rnfle." Mr H. Richardson, of Gore, suggests the formation of a New Zealand- Horticultural Society on the lines of the Royal Horticultural Society, or, if that is not possible, a South Island Society. An annual show would beheld, it bsing provided that tbe show should not be held thrice in succession in any one town. Hn thinks such & society would do a great; deal of good in many ways. / We understand that the sub- committee appointed by the Dunedin Free Kindergsrten Association at the meeting held in the Town Hall on Monday Ust have been msst successful in making arrangements for the record refcrn festival, to be held in the Garrison Hall frsTm the 22nd to the 266h of June next. Signer Borzoni will superintend the spectacoJar programme, the music for which will be tinder the supervision of Mr Robertshaw. Xha Garrison Band have kindly velunteered their eerviees-f-nr one evening. A principal feature of the-festival will be the large number of compstitions in connection with each stall, a list of which wiK appear on the back of the admission ticket. E*ch ticket will entitle the holder to a chsoce in the grand art union. A bicycle and a large number of other prizes will be presented to tfea winners of the pictures.