MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO

— Perhaps the finest mausoleum in existence is that in Agra, India, which was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan for bimeelf. It was 22 years in couise of erection, and on it 20,000 men were constantly employed during that period. The cost was

£800,000. — Some of the Corsican brigands use trained dogs to attack and pull down their rictims, and he-hi them on the ground until their masters arrive on the scene. ■if —Since the time of Peter the Great four Czars of .Russia have been assassinated: Ivan VI, in 176*, his nominal reign of one year having been succeeded by a very real imprisonment of 23 years from 1741; Peter in, July 14, 1762; Paul, March 24, 1801; Alexander 11, March 13, 1881. > -Prior to the year 1880 Londton had never Had a death-rate of fewer than 20 per 1000. Since 1894 it has never had one »bove that figure, and last year yielded the " irfbsolutely lowest death-rate on record for the metropolis— viz., 15.2. ' . _ The tallest postman in the British service- is Peter Sinclair, bearer of letters to and from Pabbay, Mingallay, and Barra ' islanders, off the West Coast of Scotland. 1 He stands but lin short of 7ft in height. - »-On one day last year, June 1, 5350 French persons and 2400 foreigners took xooms in Paris hotels. During the year the - general total was over one million and aiialf. On December 1 last there were nearly 12,000 hotelkeepers in Paris, all told, from .the highest to the humblest. ■ — To read an inscription on a silver com which by much wear has become obliterated heat a poker red-hot and place the coin upon it. The inscription will plainly appear of a greenish hu«, but will disappear us the coin cools. This method was formerly practised at the mint to test corns ■when silver was called in. Jt — A remarkable young athlete, Tommy Barton, aged 18, of the Government Collegiate Schooi, Burmah, has at the Rangoon innual athletic meetingi cleared 1 in the high jump sft Him. This is believed to be a world's record for a schoolboy. —In every battalion in the British Army there ie a small body of. mem known as pioneers. They are the only men who are allowed to wear beards. Between them they are supposed to know something of the duties of a. carpenter, bricklayer, smith, mason, painfer, glazier, plumber, and gasfitter. — The (ftly female blacksmith in the United States, raerhaps in the world, is Miss Clara Medlin, who has her forge at Wingp, Kentucky. No?; only can she- shoe ahorse; she is also an expert carnage painter. v- -—The Great Salt Lake in Utah is now crossed by a trestle bridge over 20 miles long.- It ie the longest trestle bridge in the ' world, and bears a railway, thereby wiving a cirouit of 44- miles. ' -The cheapest gas -in the world is at Sheffield. The present price is Is Bd, Is 6a, *nd Is 4d per thousand, according to quality, and 't was intended to reduce these prices from the Ist of June to Is 6d, 1b 4d, «nd Is 2d per thousand — A Hungarian blacksmith recently sent ■ novel present to the Australian Emperor. It was a goose egg ' with a horseshoe, a pair of TOncers, a file, and a knife, all riveted to the shell. The work had been io carefully done that there was not even a • crack in the- shell. The Emperor sent him an autograph photograph, a medal, and £3 in return. — A battleship of to-day can discharge in two shots as- great a weight of metal as^-an entire broadside of Nelson's higgest phip. — "What was formerly a wine cellar on Usher's quay, Dublin, is now an under- • ground toarket garden growing sea-kale, rhubarb and mushrooms in profusion. The visitor to the' underground city ' farm is lighted through" the former win© vaults by a lantern. The produce of the "farm" is lent to market twice a week, and it i« j»id that the sea-kale produced in the vaulte now commands the highest pric« m the Dublin market. ' —Dr Maxim Boyd states that the first Dint of liquid air which Professor Dewar made cost about £800, and was the largest quantity then made. To-day, eight years after, it is possible to manufacture one litre (nearly two pints) for about Is Bd. — The electric cabs which have ju.^ made their appearance in the streets of jParis are very comfortable vehicles, lney jeat four persons, are painted blue, and Upholstered in light grey cloth. Taximeters Jwve been fitted to each of them. Only > dozen are at nresent running, but it is expected that 100 will be out in a short (time , • - The greatest of the world's manufactories of hairpins is at Famswicfc, a village ' srivated in the Stroud Valley at the foot of Ihe Cotswold. There are no fewer than SOQ persons employed in turn' tig cut those Itrifles of the boudoir, an-.l hundreds of automatic machines are in constant operation jtransforming miles of wire in go tons o. finished pins. • — Six o'clock in the afternoon comes At St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and )Cairo when it is only 4 o'clock in London; At Tiflis and at Aden when it is only 3 Wclock in London; at Calcutta before it ' jis noon in London; at Pekin before the jLondon banks have opened their doors in the morning, and at Sydney before most {Londoners have com© to breakfast. A couple at Williarnisport, U.S.A.. iwent to a church to get married, but found 'the clergyman and his family quarantined towing to diphtheria in his house. As they were anxious to be wed at once, the clergyman performed the ceremony through an topen window, while the couple stood on the |javement outside. — There are many curious u. c es for fans fin Japan. The umpire at wrestling and fencing matches uses a heavy one. shaped like a, huge butterfly, the handle beintj the fcody, and rendered imposing 1 by heavy 'Cords of silk. The various motions of the lan constitute a language which th© wrestlers fully understand and appreciate. One tootable variety of fan is made of" wafcer'sproof paper, which can be clipped -in !water, and creates great coolness by c y axK^ Iration, without wetting tJie clothes. The flat fan, made of rough pacer, is often used 'as a grain winnow, to blow tbe charcoal jfires. aaid as a dustpan. The Japanese gentleman of the old school, who never hvears a hat, uses his fan to shield his eves from the sun. His head, bare from ehiklliood. hardly needs a shade, and, when it jdoes. he spreads an umbrella, and with this fan he directs his servants and saves talking ' ~ '

A 10 per cent, tax on theatre tickets in Franco yields about £2,000,000 a year; the money is devoted to the maintenance of the poor.