MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 61

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Every prood Sikh prefers to die upon the bare ground. Regardless of Tank or age no rug must intervene between him and the earth when he breathes his last. — The non-commissioned officers of the Ist Herts Volunteer Battalion have been supplied with white pocket-handkerchiefs, on which are printed full instructions for all emergencies and hints on first aid. The handkerchiefs belong to the regiment. — Hunsden House, Harts, which was con▼erted into a royal palace by Henry V^l, js being offered for sale. — A scientist states that the height and •weight of school children increase with the fliae of the houses in which they live. — The chairman of the Gold Coast Concession.", Limited, attended the company's annual meeting in London in splendid isolation. He could not form a quorum, by himself, so he had to declare the " gatherim?*' adjourned —It was stated at a Local Government Beard inquiry et Hadlow, near Tunbridge "Wells that until i-ecently the village has been deprived of the services of a parish council, the councillors having gone oh * 'strike" for two years. • . — The Welsh National Eisteddfod is the biggest open-air concert in the- world. At least 20,000 people attend it every year. — Among the married couples who are anxious to prove their olaims to the Dunmow Flitch are a retired London man and: ilia, wife, who have driven down to the old JEssex town in a coach drawn by four borses in order to make themselves familiar jwiih the traditions of the place. —At a wedding presentation at Norwich, the head of the firm wai presented with a gift from the manager and staff of 28 employees. The staff represented 760 years of service, an average of over 26 ■jeais each. — Fish caught on the coasts of France and Italy are now transported alive by ran «o Germany and Russia for the market. The living fish are placed in covered cisterns, running on wheels, and the water is renewed continually by means of a motor pump and a system of pipes. — A thrush's nest built under a railway

carriage has been discovered at Torrington (Devon) Station. The carriage had been In daily use between Torrington and Exeter for a fortnight. One egg was found in the nest. — There arc still several wooden railways in ' existence in Canada and the United States. One of them is in the province of Quebec, and is 30 miles long. The rails ■re of maple, and trains are run over them \rithy remarkable smoothness at the rate of 25 miles a« hour. This road is used for the transportation of timber. \ — Belgium, where public libraries are 1 almost unknown*, has 190,000 publicbonse*. Xbat means one publichouse for 36 s inhabitants, or one publichouse for 12 men above 17 years oi ng<J, the publican included. During the last 50 years the population has increased 50 per cent., and t&e number of publichouses 258 per cent. — For stealing an egg, value 2d, nine yeirs ago. a man has just been summoned at " Wyoombe County Police Court. He Bad io pay 5s costs. Defendant went through the Souih African campaign. — John Howard Baker, the oldest practising solicitor in England, has died at Birmingham, at the age of 88. He waa admitted in 1839, and was articled to the father of Sir Alfred Wills, the ex-judge. — The little French village of Dampierre, in- the Marne, has just received a "windfall" which is probably a record, in the ■ente that it may be doubted if ever before a legacy so large was left to a place so x email. The place contains 212 inhabitants, all' told and the amount of the bequest is £100,000 The testator was M. Chartrain, a well-known Paris barrister, who was a "native of Dampierre. The bequest is for the foundation of a hospital, of a home Sbr the aged and of scholarships for pupils anil students

— A calculation based on the latest , census returns shows that to provide a pension of 5s per week for every person in the ' United Kingdom over the a-ge of 65 > years would require a sum of. over £36,225,000 per annum. — The owner of the oyster beds at Ems"worth, from which the Winchester typhoid outbreak is supposed to have sprung, was awarded £850 damages against the Urban Council ~of WarbUngton for contaminating the beds -with sewage. The plaintiff had claimed £10,000 damages for loss of business, but the judge held that this could not be entertained.

■*•* Damage 'estimated at over £10,000 was Vkme by an extraordinary cloudburst at JHyde, Cheshire, recently. Tramway and railway traffio was interrupted, houses were flooded, and the roof of a local hat. factory fell in, while part of the machine' room Of 'another factory was washed away. —Travellers who grumble at their hotel J>ilk might pay a visit- to the new Hotel Agragas at Girgenti, on the "" prospectus of J wmeh appears the following: — " Interesing Notice. — The hotel's proprietress does not establish prices. Every passenger at the moment of his departure can pass to >he bureau and pay what he wishes, according to his judgment. This is done for letting know the hotel, and like a reclame for the first year of exercise." It is hardly necessary to say that reclame means advertisement. This experiment is unique outside the monastery of tfoa Grand St. Bernard. — The Duchess of Teck opened an Animals' Hospital in High street, Belgrave Toad, London, which is in connection with Our Dumb Friends' League. The hospital Contains a horses' ward, donkeys' ward, cats' ward, and dogs' ward. Horses and donkeys will be lent to costermongers and other poor men while their own animals ■re laid up in the hospital. — A negro in Davenport, Ta., had appropriated a diamond ring, and. being surRrised by the owner, promptly swallowed ."notwithstanding the heavy setting which surrounded the stone. This was suspected. and, though the culprit strenuously denied ' all knowledge of the jewel, the chief of police sent for the municipal electric apparatus, at the sight of which the negro, believing himself to be confronted with an instrument of torture, confessed the theft. The photograph, however, was taken, and ft revealed the position of the ring. — Frank Buckland states in one of his that the naturalist Broussonet found ' bY experiments that some fresh-water fish would Uve for several days in water -so hot that a human being could not keep his hand in it for a minute. De Saussure, the. Swiss scientist, discovered living eels in the hot springs of Alix. the temperature of ' v/htfh averages 113deg Pah*. Humboldt aleo saw living fish thrown up from a volcano in South America.

— Sinn Fein, a newspaper advocating and working for an **Insn Ireland," made its first appearance early in May. It is published in Dublin.

— Wood pulp or paper floors are becoming popular in Germany, as they have many advantages over the wooden floorings. A rough board floor is first land, and o-> ir thid is spread a special preparation of puip, which, wtien dry, is almost as hard a* stone, and has an absolutely even surface. It can be painted or stained to imitate any wood, and, being absolutely impervious to water, oil, or dirt, it can be kept cleaner than the best hardwood floor. Such a floor costs but two-thirds as much *c one constructed of durable wood.

— The London Metropolitan Water Board sued a number of customers for payment of water rates in the Westminster County Court, among the defendants being a Fish, Gudgeon, Haddock, Hallpike, Ponder, Eodie, Wells, Leakey, and Pipe. — Dozens of retired engine drivers, guards, and porters still cherish the memory of the late Lord Londesboxough, who carried the "tipping" mania to a pitch of unexampled generosity. Invariably, on the way from Yorkshire to London, he presented the engine driver with a handsome gift, the guard frequently received a £5 note, and his lordship merrily scattered gold among the smiling porters who had the good fortune -to take charge of his luggage. — A singular birth certificate was submitted at a meeting of the school attendance committee at Norwich Union. A widow had been called upon to prove that her daughter had reached school exemption age. She produced an egg, beautifully coloured in purple, yellow, and cream, whereon, in almost copper-plate characters, the name and date of nativity were picked out in white, together with the texte: "The Lord shall guide thee continually," and "Teach me to do Thy w^U." This novel certificate was the only record possessed by the mother, and, after being much admired by the committee, was accepted es evidence. — The police force of the British Empire — metropolitan, municipal, and rural — in- I eludes altogether about 214,000 men. Of this total 54,000 are in the United Kingdom and 147,000 in India, the remainder being in the colonies and dependencies. But if we add the number of village police in India who are legally recognised,, and of whom there are at least from 345,000 to 350,000, we get a grand total of 560,000 for the police force of the Empire. This means that, taking the British Empire as a whole, there is one policeman to every 570 people and to every 16 square miles. The police of the United Kingdom cost £100 a yeai each on the average.