MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 53

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Last year the number of locomotives in Crept Britain and li eland was 19,825. In 1860 the number was 5801, all told. Taking the average value of a new locomotive as £3000, the railway companies have not far c -hort of 60 million pounds invested in engine". The London and North-western posfeasea 3000, valued at about nine million pounds.

—An inventor has hit upon a method of putting stone soles on boots and slioec. He mixes a waterproof glue with a suitable quantity of clean quartz sand and spreads it over the leather sole used as a foundation. These quartz soles are said to be very flexible, and to give the foot a film hold, even on the most slippery surface.

—On a recent .scientific test, a worker in metals succeeded in drawing a penny out into 5700 ft of v.iio.

—It requires an average of more than 20,000.000 pins per daj- to meet the needs of the British people.

— There are nearly 2000 stitches in a pair of haiid-sewn boots.

—It is estimated that only one couple in 11,500 live to celebrate their diamond wedding.

— It is colcu'aled that illness costs every inhabitant of England on an average a guinea a year, 011 account of the lob& 01 work involved, and as much more for medical fc&j, medicine, and extra comforts'. That is to say, £2 2s per annum is the avearge cost of illne^d per inhabitant. — One r-jpect of the food problem has assuredly been soVed by a company in New Haven, Connecticut, which undertakes to serve hot meals to all and sundry within a radius of 70 mile^ from its headquarters, and that from 25 to 50 per cent, cheaper than they tan be obtained elsewhere. These meali are sent out in waggons with compartments for ei'ch prliele ; the meals ore placed in the different compartments smoking hot, and are kept at a high, temperature until placed on the purehassr's table. —In Paris the thousands of sardine and other tin boxes that are thrown away every month form the basis of an industry which has reached va6t proportions. These refuse cans are stamped by machinery into tin soldiers, and sold so cheaply that the pooiest children can possess them ; yet the manufacturer makes a fair profit, which he could not do if he used new material.

— The Prince of Wales has lately amused himself by collecting pens of famous writers of the Victorian em. He has one that belonged to Tennypon. one of Browning's, of SwiiiDtirne's, of ilardy's, and 50 or 60 more, including a curious inkstand, once the property of Robert Louis Stevenson,

— The average whale is from 50ft to 65^ in length and 35ft in circumference. Tho, jaw-bones are 20ft to 25ft long, and a tongue^ has been known to yield almost a ton of oi!o

— A sturgeon, of 46 stones weight, the lar-i gest ever caught in the Solway, was landed htf a fisherman named Byers near Skinburnese,\ It was lO^ft long. Messrs Harrison and Al\ cock, Carlisle, who sectired the Royal fisli^, telegraphed to the Queen asking if her Ma-« jesty would accept a portion, and received irom the Master of the Household the reply.'. The Queen will accept a small portion oi 1 the sturgeon caught in the Solway." Tha fish contained over five stones weight of roe,, which is used to make caviare-, a dainty whicKt letches a good price in the market. —In the parish of Runwall. Essex, an ap» paratus hos been lately invented by the rectos tor ringing the church bells by electricity. The origin of the invention is rather curious, The rector, finding a difficulty in obtaining; bellriugeiv, rung the bells for three monthsi him&elt. In order to save the labour involved in performing this task, he inventecj the '" Automatic Ringer," and erected the apparatus in the church tower. By connecting the machine with the electric current al* ready in use for lighting the church and rectory, the bells are now" rung with perfect order and precision. — Sir George Ncwnes, presiding at the au-i imal meeting of Weldons, Limited, at St,. Martin's Town Hajl, congratulated the shareholders upon the fact -that, notwithstanding the excitement of the last -few months over the South' African war, they were still able to maintain their dividend ot 10 per cent. After giving a number of inlerestinsr particulars in regard to the business and its' smooth' and satisfactory working, with no bad debt 3, stock good, and taken at coel price, j or less, he concluded by moving the adoption of the report and accounts. This was seconded by Mt E. W. Weldon, and carried unanimously. A vote oi thanks to the chairman 'terminated the proceedings. — The pian ol using floating nets to reduce the force of waves at sea or at the mouths 1 of harbours is being tested by Baron Benvenuto d'Alessandro, an Italian living m Paris. Such nets form a crust over which the waves cannot climb and under which they become much flattened out. A nee 'lately made is 350 ft long and 50ft Avide, with square me3he= oi l^in, tho material being waterproof hemp, and the weight less than half an ounce per square toot. T»ns was anchored at the port of Havre to protee'L some unfinished hydraulic works.' irom a heavy surl. — According to the lndependai.ee Beige, a prize 3i lOOOIr is waiting lor the inventor -who shall produce a glove that can be used by electrical workmen to safeguard them from accident. The premium is offered by the Trench Accidents to Workmen Assurance Association, and the conditions are: that t le globes must cover the toiearm as veil a? the hands; that they must be light, and^leave the utmost liberty to the lingers, h one specification does not come, up to the required standard the prize will be divided among those inventors who most nearly approach it, the" decision being left with a special commission . nominated by the association. — Among the varied treasures of the anan perhaos the Peacock Throne ought to bo accorded premier place. The frame is entirely' of siher, and aoo\-e it the gleams of silver melt "into molten gold. It is encrusted from" end 10 end and irom top to bottom with dis,--mondf. Tiie rug on which the Shah reposes' is edged with amethysts, and tho pillow onwhich he reclined his imperial head is fringed' with pcarL. Some travellers, Burton amongst them, have estimated the value of the Peacock 1 hron& at £5,000,000. — A big Berlin manufacturer received ir one shipment, tour truck-loads ol chicken feather., from Russia. Turkey feathers come Irom America in great quantities. Chicken plumage brings from 6s to 16s a- pound. Turkey ie worth about the same. Fine wing and tail feathers bring a little more. Peacock plumage sells for Irom. 16s to 30s a pound. T&e most expensive cf all is the soft egret plumage, which brings from £5 to £10 an ounce. Paradise birds are also co3tly. They sell always by the whole bird, and cost irom £1 to £2. — The London Metropolitan Police cost more per inhabitant and par constable than any force in England. The nolicc force in London numbers.' 15,326 officers and men, of whom nearly 2000 are employed on special duties. The total cost of this force for a recent year was £1,37 1, 765, which works out at 46 lid per inhabitant, and £96 9s 4d per constable. The co»t of the Liverpool police ir the tame period was £111,523, or 3s Bid per inhabitant, and £90 13s 7d per constablo. The Manchester police codh £95,076, or 3s 9d per inhabitant, and £92 4B4 B 4d per constable ; while in Birmingham the charge was, only £60,941-, or 2s 6d per inhabitant, and £91 4s 8d per constable. — It is somewhat remarkable that the gene-^ ral managers of four of the great railways having their termini in London began life at tlie bottom ot tlie ladder. Mr F. Harrison, of the North -western, entered the service of that company in 1864 at Shrewsbury as a' clerk. Mr G. Ef. Turner, of the Midland, was a lad when he obtained a situation with, the Bristol and Exeter Railway shortly after its completion in 1549, and in 1553 he was, appointed goods clerk at Bristol. Mr J. L. \Vilkinsou. of the Grant Western, was a boy clerk in that company in 1859, and before he was elected by the board general manager in 3895 had been a telegraph clerk, 0 booking clerk, and a station--naster. Mr J. F. S. Gooday, of the Great Eastern, was first heard of as a smart young lad at the Bishopsgato goods yards.

— During a thunderstorm near Consett, m the North Durham district, the lightning struck a pasture field and dug a trench varying from 3ft to 3ft 6in deep and 6in or 7iii wide acros? the field for a distance of a dozen feet. The solid clay was. scattered in all directions,, portions thereof being found lying over 20yds away, while the uirf had been cut up as clean as if the work had been done by a sharp implement. One grass sod, measuring about 6ft long and 9in in width, was laid on the opposite side of the fence in another field.

— Electricity is- employed on guard duty in a certain American zoological garden. A fence of line wire mesh about Bft high surrounds an enclosure in which there are a number ol fine game birds. It was found that rats, eats, etc., climbed over this, so that two copper wires were stretched all around the top of the fence about in inch and a-half above it and some distance- apart. A switchboard was put on the side of an attendant's house, and at dark the watchman turns on tlie electric current, which is supplied from the electric light wires. The " silent watchman " is said to accomplish remarkable results in killing predatory animals.

"SORT OF"

Tired, weak, ill, run down, sort of out of sorts— all these are conditiona of existence that call for a tonic. The man who takes Wolfe's Schnapps, the right tonic, recovers from the "sort ©f " habit. He is well*