MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 66

MULTUM IN PARVO

— Chatham Island, off the coast of Ecuador,, South America, abounds in cats, every one of which, is black. These animals live in the crevices of the lava formation hear the •coast, and subsist by catching fish and crabs, instead of rats and mice. .—-Miss. — -Miss Lina ~ Clayton Brown© by her ■will, Tjequeathed £12,000 for ihe erection for. ."the gladdening of the- eye" of "an ornamental structure of Gothio design, such as - a . market „e?o ss," in Central London. The will was .disputed in the Probate, Court. It was .-decided that the lady was of unBOund iniad, and judgment was given against -the- will, i--^-, *~ ' ' \-„ —, A- Brighton, railway emp]Q£e& whoHd" been sept to prison.- for -fiswii^cn a book- " maker and had been discharged fTom bis - employment in consequence," 'sued the .company for the amount-, he had paid 'nto the pension fund- He failed, however, the judge deciding chat the clause as to "dishonesty" in the rules meant any dishonesty and. not- merely , dishonesty towards the employing company. j • ■ —A womah who recently died in Chicago bad for yeare kept a ■number of .chickens, ', and-- in; her will she lef fc" £3CG to Tie used in efectingi ,'Ja 'chicken bouse, good and warm,. *nd "lined, inside and' out, for them." f - '— Three otters-^-a - female 3fi 7iw 'bng, ' and 'her two cubs— have been shot near Gra-intborpe, in 'Lincolnshire. „A" reward hid -been ofFered : 'for fheir capture in consequence' -of the havoc they wrought amongthe fieb in the Louth canal. The speed of ihe tips of. the blades of turbine-driven propellers varies, it is 6tated, from the enormous velocity of 12,400ffc par minute in the Brii'sh torpedo bca.t destroyer Viper of 36 knots speed, ■whose ccrewa were 3ft 4m in diameter, down fo 8125 ft per minute on the Car- : mania, whose screws are 14ft In diameter. ■ — A rich Jew in London before his death. altered a codicil to his will to the detriment of a naphew and his family because they had not held to the Jewish faith. The wilf was disputed in the Probate Court, bat- 'the jury found in favour of the.codicil. — After continuous employment for 40 y«irß, without losing a single day's' work arid without a holiday, Vine Hovey, agent mt. Forest City, Mo., for the Burlington railway, has been given a vacation for two y«ars, "with full pay — The London, and North-western railway has inaugurated a motor train service between NortKampton and Daventry. It ia to eery» the country distrit-t, and stoppages are to be made at points remote from railway stations. — - The tallest men of- Europe^ ar« found in- Catalonia, Norman dy.-'sovkshlre, and the •Ardennes district of Belgium.' P.russja gets ' h'ejp tallest recruits from- SchleswijfcHolstein, » the; > 'original home of -rfa£ Angla-Saxoas ; 'Austins/ from 4HO TyioleseC-highlahds.' In : Italy; fcbe^ progress of 'physical ; degeneration j - fcasr extended , to-ihe U]jper' Apennines, but ; the Albanian , Turics are. still ' an" athletic*) tace,\ j uftl.rtie',na-tiv.r- of the Caucasus are as *Biriewyr>"and gaunt as in the days of the ArgonEiits, r •• f ';;-^--Tbe death took place £ few days ago "at 'his residence in Francis stre-et, Waterford, of a venerable inhabitant, named Patrick- Lavrlor, who had-Slled the post of qua/ and river watchman under the Water- ! ford Harbour Board for ' a , number of years. That he had reached his 107 th y«ar was -,«r«l| authenticated*. He was for upwards of 31 -years superannuated bj the Harbour ■Bcardj and wa6 looked on as an authority op many- remarkable events concerning the city- in the past, owing to his wonderful memory. - j — .Insects which inhabit islands have . either wings of "cry little use in flying, or - no- winja at all. This peculiarity keeps them in ■ existence, for if rheir wings were itr'ong enough to support them for any die\siiflS a strong wind would most likely carry them put to sea, to perish there. The explanation is that the long-winged insects -which inhabited the island when it vas firit separated from the mainland have, been thus carried out to sea and exterminated. 'Those with the shortest wings survived, and transmitted their short wings to th<? next ' generation. — The finest profession in the world from k money-getting point of view is the law For those who get front places, as witness Ihe case of the Earl of Halsbary, who religns the Lord High Chancellorship on a jonsfortable- pension of £5000 a year. For . ivc years— lß7s-80— he was Solicitor-general, drawing about' £9000 pei annum in salary . tnd :fees, and he^ has occupied- the ' tvo.il»ck, with 'but a b'rife interval, for 1? years at a salary' of £10,000 rer annum. t Up to the? present, therefore, he has received for his services ' to the State about £195,000, fcb> which £5000-' must now be added fdr-cvery yeajN that, he survives. '- The Irish Lopi , Chancellor, Lord Aebboume, .whoso retirement was also, necessitated by Mr Balfour's resignation.- has -received from public money about £151,000. ~ He will now Lav©' to rest content with the modest pension of £3692 6s per annum. — Scottish firms are filling large orders from South America. All kinds of railway material are in heevy demand, and 500 engines with tenders were sent out there from the Clyde la6t year. Scottish sugarmaking machinery has a long lead on tieGerman and French evaporators, and is being sold in Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia, etc. Large orders have aleo been filled for air compressors and pneumatic took. These American appliances' were slow* to be taken up, but now they are in general use, and the Scottish makers can sell them successfully in South Americ.m ■markets in opposition to the tools manufactured in the United States. Another class of goods in which Scottish manufacturers have been successful is the making of cast iron pipes, and 18,000 tons were Bent to Antofagasta last year, while large orders are etill in hand. —In settling do-.vn at Chiddingstono Caatle, a beautiful old place in Kent, Mr •WhitakeT, yvho recently leased it for a rouutry residence and bis wife naturally explored" all the nooks -and crannies of their»ew possession. While rummaging: about the-- dungeon-like roomsf- in the celjar, Mr I'VYhitaker found some kos&- bricks in tho waU. Trying to dislodge them, he- brought do^m an~avalanche of stones upon hi& head,, getting, badly bruised. Ho was lecompen'sedl by^ tfinding behind the stones a;small, 'rude •2upl>6aTd, in which were* some precious stbn.es -and two antique golden -goblets. A question -has now arisen as to who has tie - greatest claim to them, as the property has changed bands often. Other treasures Vad been discovered in various parts of the house before this. The previous tenant discovered in one of the great old-fashioned chimneys a. cavity containing- jewels, plat-e, I and a, large sum of money* *

— companies are anything ;mt Sentimental^ as a rule"? but thxy Graai Trunk of i Caiiada, which is constructing a new line across the Dominion, is offering a. prize of 250d0l for the best and most appropriate name for the new city on the Pacific coast that is sure to develop around the terminal port of th© continental highway. Competitors must be careful to observe three conditions — the word must r-ot exceed three syllables, it must not coniein more than ten letters, and it must be truly Canadian in origin and meaning. Vancouver is the name of ihe Pacific terminus of the rival line — the Canadian Pacific railway It was a forest 20 years ago. Now it is one of the most flourishing cities in America. — There has just died in the village of ' Clogh, within four miles of the town of Castlecomer, Ireland, a woman named ilary Whelan, whose term of life' ran into three centuries, b?ing born in the eighteenth century. -in the year i7BB, and dying in the twentieth century at the advanced age of -114' years. Up to some short time before her death, though bed ridden for a considerable number of years, her, memory , was very clear, and she had a vivid recol- • lection of the year of the R-ebellion. She was then in her -J-enth year. She was born in Crutt, her father, Alex. .M'Donald, being a "smith. On the occasion of the attack .on the town/of 'Cas'tlecomef by the British «he ! accompanied a considerable number of the men of-'Crutt -and ihe district to the help of the Wexford men, and carried a bundle of pike handles, her father. having forged a good number of heads. Her father' was arrestecj for making the "pikes," and was hung out of the shafts of a- car and left there to die, but a kind-hearted 'Protestant passing by and seeing him cut the rope and saved his life. He never, however, recovered from the strangulation, and he died the sth of the following May. Her mother's name was Harding, and she lived to tr.e a ;re of 103 years. The husband of Mary ; Whelan was a miner, and is dead for over 40 years, and at the time of marriage was 32 years younger than the bride. —Kilkenny Journal. . "