MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2670, 17 May 1905, Page 54

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— A statistician, has arrived at the conclusion that £5,000,000 is spent yearly by the public of London on cabs. He also estimates that of that great sum perhaps £1,500", 000" represents tips and overcharges." — Notice has been given to the Highways Committee of the London County Council of a proposal that when a blind person travels on the council's tramways accompanied by a guide, only one fare should he charged for the two. — The Kaiser has jusi> been appointed a captain-general in "the Spanish army. There remains now no European force, military or naval, in which he does not hold honorary rank. He possesses at least 150 uniforms. , — The Northumberland "wolf." which after preying upon sheep was killed by a train at Hexkam, is now declared not to have been a wolf at all, but a malomoot — one of the breed of dogs used for sleigh - teams In the Klondyke region. It escaped on arriving in England.

- — Sweden and Norway are the only coun tries where practically every grown man c.m read and write. Bavaria comes next in this respect.

— Shunters ar3 most liable to injury of any class of railway workers. One in 12 is injured in a year. Of stationmasters, only 1 in "617 is hurt in the same time.

— A German pencil maker, recently deceased, has over his grave a gigantic stone representation of half a lead-pencil set as a. tombstone. It is of red sandstone, with a core of graphite Bin in diameter.

— A contemporary points out that in the last week of February 1017 persons in England and Wales were summoned for refusing to pay the denominational school rate, while since the last Education Act became law, two years ago, 44.497 persons had been summoned for non-compliance with the law ; 1627 had goods distrained upon rather than submit to payment, and 105 actually endured the "martyrdom" of imprisonment "for conscience — Philadelphia possesses a great hotel for tramps. ?This is a most imposing buildins, of four storeys, comprising! dining rooms, reading rooms, and the inevitable bathrooms. Tramps who want a night's lodging must do a certain amount of work, graduated according to their physical condition. Immediately on entering the building they are taken to the bathroom, from which they pass to the courtyard to do their task. After the toil is over they have an opportunity of going out to seek for work, and then they come in for the evening 1 . Before going to bed, however, they are compelled again to perform the ceremony of ablution.

— It is a curious fact that a boy's hair grows one-half slower than a girl's. In boys the average rate of growth is 3ft 3in in six years, being an average of .018 in per day. During the twenty-first and twentyfourth years, a man's hair grows quicker than at any other period. It takes an eyelash 20 weeks to reach a length of .429 in, and then its life is from 100 to 150 days. By means of a camera the wink of an eyelid has been measured, and it was found that 2C winks can be made in foiir seconds.

— Disease exhibitions are being held from time to time in Germany. One would not regard them as popular forms of entertainment, but it is believed they have a great educational value. Everything about different diseases and their causes is explained, and books and pamphlets are forthcoming showing how the diseases are to be cured. Two hundred thousand people visited such an exhibition at Dresden, and one beinfc, held at present at Frankfort-on-the-Main is equally successful. Such shows, however, are not for nervous folk.

— For more than half a century the lacemanufacturing firm of Messrs Thomas Adams and Co., Nottingham, have insisted <ya all their workpeople — who number some hundreds of both sexes — attending a short service each morning prior to commencing their day's work. The firm have a largo chapel underneath their warehouse, with an excellent organ, while the choir, composed of their own employees, is one that would do credit to many of out- leading places of worship. A local clergyman attends each morning! for the service, which usually lasts about half an hour, and a sermon is pi-eaehed three times a week. — Capital punishment came near to being abolished recently in France on accouHt of the expense, and the cost of the institution, dees certainly seem rather high. The chief executioner draws 'a salary of £240. He has two first-class assistants, each cjrawing £160 a year. In addition to this, the executioner draws 12fr and each assistant Bft a day for expenses, when operating in the provinces, while the stabling of the guillotine costs £60 a year, and an Algerian executioner is .salaried at the same figure as his Parisian colleague. — A certain gentleman residing in South' London has a curious way of decorating his belongings with all kinds and shapes of buttons. The garden is laid out in plot*, and each plot is bordered by a narrow ridge of cement along- the edge of the path, in which thousands of buttons of every colour and make are set. One pelt is decorated by, glass buttons from feminine dresses only, and another, about the prettiest, by pearl buttons. The garden seats are studded all round with brass military biittons, each seat representing a different regiment in the army. — At a recent wedding in New York State a lady from Illinois and a gentleman from Kentucky were married by phonograph, because the bride had diphtheria. The house was quarantined', no one being admitted, so the bridegroom procured ef clergyman and two phonographs. In one" of tnosj the minister's questions and the answers were recorded. The cylinders wer« then transferred, and the two machines sent to the bride. When they were set in motion, she answered the questions propounded by one machine, speaking' into th# mouthpiece of fch§ other..