OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2761, 13 February 1907, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Out of 80 ordinary men 55 wear hats smaller than 7'e and 25 larger. The average size of steam yachts is 120 tons; of sailing jaohts 18 tons. The same force that moves a ton on a road will pull a 32-ton canal-boat. In the past eight centuries England has suffered from 57 severe famines. Earthquakes are rather more common at full moon than at any other time. The average weight of a goods train is three times that of a passenger train. When the National Debt was converted in 1889 £7,850,000 remained unclaimed. The Falma-r petrel and the parrot can lire longest of any birds without water. Fossil coral found at Suva, Fiji, is the stone whioh best resists the action of fire. Quicksilver mining has a worse effect upon the teeth than any other occupation. According to the last Gazette there aro 455 registered trained nurses in the colony. Railways use one ton of coal in e\erv nine raised, and gasworks very nearly as much. It 13 reported that a galena lode Hirer. lead, etc.) has been discovered at Mokihinui. j A gale blowing at 68 mile* an hour , exert-s a preasuie of 251b to the squaie foot. The late Sir Richard Burton could converse freely in 35 different languages and dialects. Queen Anno, wife of Richard 111, is said to have introduced the side-saddle for ladies into England. If a lion had powers of jumping proportionate to a flea it could easily spring onethird of a mile. So lately as 1902 Lieutenant Bojd Alexander discovered 32 new species of biids in Fernando Po. The groat-cst number of different stamps belonging to any country are issued by the United States The population of Bombay Presidency has increased by no fewer than 15,000,000 in the past 20 years. The average first cla«s ticket price in England is l^d for 10 miles, in Russia it is B^d for 10 miles. A floating bottle dropped in the Gulf Stream as it leaves the Gulf of Mexico will cross the Atlantic in about 180 days. Charles Carr Ashley, late of Kingston on- , Ihames (England l , has bequeathed £70, C00 to the Royal Lifeboat Institution. The fir^rt mention of the pipe organ in history is m connection with Solomon's temp'e, \\heie there was an organ with 10 pipeMr Pak.l Kupe, of Colac Bar. ha-, been cippomtcd a->A^--or of the Name Land Court and Xatne Appellate Couit of ticSouth Island. Se\eial London big retail drapery e^tabi hahments keep daily meteorological obef-r-I \ations, so as to gauge the effect weather lias upon chopping. In 1557 surgeons were first regulailv appointed for the Ordnance Ser\ieo. and after that they always accompanied the armies in the field. Doctors m Sweden never send bil's to their patient', the amount of their if numeration being left entirely to the ■/■ nei OMty of the latter. Tiio (.»i«bo m o School Committee?' A-so-(Miion is initiating a movement for T Le < ,tali'.Minient of a i-^paiate Education I'oaid for the Poveny Bar di-nict. Mr and Mrs John Gardiner, manied in 1846, took up their residence at Topcroft, Norfolk, and have bved in the same hou;e c\ er since. They ha\e ju=t celebrated their <hamond wedding-. j The Xew .South Wa T e=? Government has decided to lesume the Peel River Estate under the compulsory pro\i-ions of the C!o c er Settlement Act. The estate consists of about. 250,000 acres. The Murchison Po-t hear*? on good authority that there is every likelihood of the Government purchasing Messrs Wjlkie and Page's run at Braebuin. The owners fix the piice at £12,000. The amount of bounty for while grown in Queensland paid this season .s j £243.549. 11ns will probably be increased b\ the end of the season to £260,000. Last ,w-on mly £111,608 was paid. Mr Hone Heke, JI.HE, predicts that' the coming session of Parliament will bo > one of tlu? btormiebt on record, the lan/1 J i)iopo>a.l-> of the Government being likely > to pioducc llie result he anticijiiteji

I A swarm of bees, which located itself in ' the Wesleyan Church, Morrinsville (\\ aikato) recently, caused considerable annoyance to the congregation. After a good deal of trouble it was e\icted by the caretaker. British officialdom is sometimes difficult to shift out of its conservative habits. It I has taken six years of agitation on the part of the Daily Mail to induce fclie Metropolitan Police authorities to have the various stations in London connected by telephone. The oldest Christian structure in Ireland is a remarkable building, evidently very ancient, but wonderfully well preserved, at Dingle, in County Kerry. It 16 known as "the Oratory of Gallerus," and has stood practically uninjured for more than a I thousand years. The valuers (Messrs J. Macpher?on. G. Livingstone, and E. A. Atkinson) have nearly completed the valuing of the various sections on Totara for closer settlement. It is said that the rentals will range from 12s 6cl per acre to 20s, there being very few at the former figure. A curious coincidence happened in the Magistrate's Couit at Wellington on Tuesday, when three solicitors were engaged in cases against their namesakes. Mr Blair appeared for plaintiff against a defendant Blair, Mr Peacock appeared apajirst Peacock, and Mr Webb appeared against Webb. A blackboard, now placed in a conspicuous prsition at the Ashburton Railway Station, will contain the name* of through paeseugore for whom there are telegrams. This should p'o\i> a great oonienience to busines- i"'.'n while travelling, and who have to keep in touch with their offices by te log ram. George Hwlop, a porter employed at the Palrnerston Railway Station, had a narrow r^rape from a fatal accident on Tuesday. I Tie was engaged in shunting, and while holding the points he was struck by a passing truck, sustaining a severe scalp wound. Hislop pluckily retained his hold of the points, otherwise several trucks would have left the rails. — Palmerston Times. -An official intimation lia« been received j by Mr Dunoan Rutherfoitl. chairman of the Amuri Count v Council, to the effect that four mclor tars have been oidt-red by the I (!o\ormnent for the Culverden-Hanmer pas"■onser f-or\ice. In coii^o'iuence of the lvjanuf.ictuiri-, being pio^sor] with orders ut pic-MMit, ih< re is "some delay in giving d< livvrv of the motor cars in the colony. An American millionaire is said to have ufi\ red £1000 for the cradle in which Dean Swift was nursed. Years ago this ciaille was included in a sale at Brighton, ai.d uds described as from the. "Hon. W. Ild-itma-'s c ale at Ay!e«ford House, Wor-cPTter-liue."' It is now in Biede Church, Sussex, to which it r;a= presented in 1895 by the rector, the Rev. George E. Trevor. It la stated l>y the Fi]i Times that the Government of Fiji intend advertising shoitly for an inter-island steamer at a Bubs.dy of £3000 per annum for 10 year?. The present contract with the A.U.S.X. Company do",* not expire until another two \oai->' ti.no; but, to enable a proper and appro', ed vo=sol to be built, it is considered advisable to < all for tenders in ample time. A former Tauranga boy, in the person of Mr Geoige Bellers, who has been residing in Rotoiua for some years, has recently received word from the Old Country that he is heir to a considerable sum of money. He loft last week for Wales via Christchurch and Aust r alia. It is Mr Bellers's intention to enter one of the English universities and pursue a course of study for several vcars. It is quite on the raids that Mr J. D. Xathan, of Messrs Nathan and Co., merchants of this city, and ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce, will receive a call to the Upper House in June next (6ays a Wellington paper). In that month the terms for which the Hons. Jenkineon and Rigg were appointed expire by effluxion of time, and it is taken for granted that Mr Rigg will not be reappointed. The record of Mr and Mrs Max Fleischmann, vho nave just returned from a honeymoon trip in the Arctic Circlemust yield to that of Mrs Peary, the wife of the explorer, who accompanied her husband on his expedition to the north of Greenland in 1893 In latitude 77 she becamo the ni'if'i. f o f a rl •usjlit^r, who has the '.l^ti^ci.'ju of lid'wry been boiu nearer

the iCortn Pole than any other civilise^T being. The applications for the join? position of master and matron of the Ohiro Homo totalled 132, including a number fromj clerks, accountants, clergymen, mission* aries, gaol warders, the heads of othea benevolent institutions, and -so on, witla ages ranging from 20 to 50 years. One applicant was a youth of 20. He stated that he was unmarried, but would make) amends if appointed. He was engaged, and submitted a note from his betrothed as evidence of his bona fides. Two ot} three other bachelors gave similar assur* anoes. An extraordinary development has taken place in connection with the Matarawa Poeft Office (says the Wairarapa. Daily Newafi The lady who has been acting as postmistress claimed an increase in salary some time back, but it was not forthcoming, and she discontinued her services. The resi* denoe of Mrs Jones, near the railway sio* tion, ha 3 been used as a post office ToiS many years, but that -is not now available 1 , and a few days ago the Matarawa mail was deposited on the railway line. Tha residents are communicating with the department. A fine display was made by Pohuttl Geyser at Whakarewarewa about the beginning of this month, and was witnessed by a few visitors who happened to be present. The cauldron adjoining the geysei* was in a very agitated state, and shortly] after shot water to a height of about 15ft. A few minutes later Pohutu commenced to play, and continued to eject its liquid store to heights varying from 40ft to 68fti for fully an hour ana 25 minutes. Other minor geysers were also active on the «amc doy, Kereru and the Prince of Wales showing to advantage. It would appear that the feat performed by Mr Donald Chalmers, a cropper on tha Steward Settlement, in extricating tho bicycle from the bed of the Waitaki River which constitutes a link in the charge of burglary and theft against Findlay, was one which called for no slight strength and no little capacity in the water. The river at the spot at which the bioycle was found it sft deep, and the machine was embedded firmly in sand, from which only the front wheel and a handlebar protruded.. Mr Chalmer3 made three attempts U» wrerch the bicycle from its bed, and it was only at the third try that he was successful, and the exertion cost him 9 strained back. — Oamaru Mail.