OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The first stopm-warning signal was issued in 1861. In August of that year t the publication, of weather forecasts was first begun. , The new tariff is to come into operation in the Cook group and other islands attached to New Zealand on January 1. . The autograph, of Queen Elizabeth is worth about £6r that of Henry- VIII £8; , while an autograph of Henry VII fetches,£lß. ~ ."".,. The largest camellia in existence is at Plintite Castle r near Dresden, Germany. The tree is 24ft high, and -produces about 50,000- blossoms annually. ' The most expensive clubs' m Edinburgh; are the University and the New. For eachth© fee is 35< guineas, and the siibscription seven guineas. Admiral F. S. Vander Menlen has presented to the town of Bishop's Stortford a Hock of 14- King's cottages, to be let to the deserving poor at 6d a week. j ■ Thei skull of a human being grows rapidly up to the age of seven years, and ; then slowly up to the age of 20. After i that its growth- oeases entirely. Only one marble statue of the human figure with eye-lasHes is known. It is the sleeping Ariadne, one of the gems of the Vatican,, and was found in 1503. Russia, with a population of 127,000,000, has only 18,334 physicians. In the United States, , with a population of about 75,000,000 there are 120,000 physicians. In a new Hungarian washing machine, , electrified water, it is olaimed, removes all .spots and dirt from 300 garments in less than 15 minutes, no soap being used. The possession of £3000 left to her by a relative co unhinged the mind of a young woman named Bell, of Sterkstfoom, Cape Colony, that she committed suicide. Because her husband stubbornly refuses 1 to purchase restoratives to h«lp tfe growth of hie hair, Mrs John Stewart, of Jersey City, U.S.A., is taking divorce proceedD The Japanese bride affects great timidity | as she is about to be married, and shrinks as if she were- in deadly peril. She- strives to. show that she goes to the altar unwilriii srlv* A prominent lady landowner in ,the Wanganui* district (says an exchange) hasbeen approached with a view to nominating her as a member of the County Council. -„,,. i ■ At a church service m Feilding during" the holiday season, three members of the congregation fainted. At the Christmas service on Wednesday morning the organist fainted. , The lack of moisture has been so severely left in several dairy herd pastures at Carterton that feeding cows on brace 1 is now being resorted to for milk -producing Pl MagS"e Papakura, the Whalcarewarewa guide, is displaying with, pride a postcard which has come to her from tie West. Indies, simply addressed "Maggie, New Zealand." . __ , . Mr Henry C. Frick, the Prtfabnrgr ironmaster, has bought box No. 19 in the NewYork Metropolitan Opera House for more than £20.000. It was the first sale of a parterre box since 1903. /* The Burmese have a. curious idea reea.r<ling coins. They prefer those which h^ve female heads on them, believing that coma with male heads on them, are not so lucky, and do not make money. In 1700 the amount of sugar used in Great Britain was 10,000 tons; In 1800 it had risen to 150;000 tons; and m 1903 the total quantity used' was about 1,300,000' tone, or 78.71b per head of population. __ m I Treasure-hunting has become €h& prmci- ' pal occasion of the islanders of Martinique. > They dig- day and night among the ruins caused by the eruption of Mont Pelee for gold and other valuables. The Scottish Blue Book shows that persons convicted of minor offences in Scotland I prefer to go to prison rather than pay fines. i Of 92,205 prisoners ordered to pay fines in Scotland last year, 45.561 went to prison. There have been 252 entries throughout the Dominion- for the. civil service senior exjamination, to be held" from January 6 to 18 Wellington has 105 candidates, Auckland 35. Chrietchurch 18, and Dunedin 17. Mrs Jane Moll, a widow of 82, on whom an inquest was held at Stepney, was stated 4o_ have supported he^lf by needlework.

An old woman of 80 who Hved in' the same I house stated that she did needlework also. The TaTanaki Herald thinks' that if the New Plymouth Harbour were enlargedand made suitable for the larger intercolonial steamers, it would' be made the first and last port of call for Australian to a depth, of 200 ft in the sea, a piece of cork will not rise to the fiur1 face, again, owing to the enormous pressure of the water. At any less depth it I wilL usually work its way 'back to the surface. ' . x _ The oldest tree on record m liurope- is | asserted to be the cypress of Somma m i Lombardy, Italy. This tree is believed tohave- been in- existence' at the- time of Julius 1 Csesar (42- 8.C.), and is, therefore, about 1950 year old. . . Twenty years ago the' wages of JXottrag* ham lacemakers were as high as £6 and ±-7 a week, and the profits of the employers ranged up to 100 per cent. To-day, if a man is working full time be may^earn ; £ronv £2 10s to £4 a week. ■» ' TVr.es are evidently an expensive item in the upkeep o£ a motor car. It . was expected that the cost of tyres m the reliability trial would be about £700. Each car was' expected to wear out two tyres, and these cost. £20 a pair. _ . j The vicar of Shefford, Beda, Has inaugurated a short service, beginning at 10 a.m., in",ord'er- to give mothers an opportunity of- getting home from church m sufficient ,'timi on Sunday mornings to make hot 1 dinners for their families. . The oldest working clock in Great Britain, is that of Peterborough Cathedral, which dates from 1320, and is conceded to have been made by a monastic clodkmakeis. It ia the only one now known that is wound j , up over an old wooden wheel. i The 'settlement of Native, lands appears 1 to be going ahead at a very-considerable pace. During the sitting of the Native Land Court at To Kuiti recently, leases I aggregating 100,000' acres were approved, I and will very shortly be occupied. Scarcity of shearers this year has kept some of the farmers in the Waimea Plains district back ' with- their shearing operations. Several farmers have not yet made a start. Wool being down in price, buyers have not been so; pressing this year. A Main Trunk labour^ retired from his job .the other day in a state of comparative affluence. He worked continuously on the line for three years, blind to the attractions of sly grog and two-up, and his bankbook now shows a balance of *.40U. James Westcott, one of the most sue-, ' cessful professional gamblers m America, has died at liew York. He left. an. enormous fortune, accumulated- - during; yea* 6 of successful management of gambling clubs at fashionable American resorre. The largest stone ever quamed came from a granite ledge in Maine, to serve as on© of. the columns to support the dp me of an Episcopal Cathedral £n New YorkrT The stone was 64ft in length, B£ft thick, [ and- 7ft wide! Vs weight being 310/- tons. i A, Waikato gentleman.- is at present playing three- games of drausttte by means of the Braille system, with students of the ! Jubilee Institution for the Blind. It is ' suggested that the Government transmit all ' Braille matter free all over the Dominion. A Nelson paper has' Been- informed that the largest of the seals released at Christchurch after the Exhibition- has taken up its 'habitat in the locality of ti» FrencH i Pass;' and from all- accounts is likely to be■come as great an identity as *dg™j£*\ A man who was* accused in Maidenhead of taking fish from the Tliames at illegal hours declared that he was only »w™f eels, and an eel was not a- fish, but water serpent. He was ordered to pay the ToVte! tihTmagistrate- holding that an eel 1S Mr Kelr Hardie, in leading ofi '" AuW lang syne" at his- reception, ai Wellington* reminded the gathering that people in New Zealand followed a wrongs custom in joining hands at the of the song- The right time was at the end of the first chorus. . Statistics of motor accidenta in ttie United Kingdom during the months ol Juno, July, and August last, show thst there were 333 accidente, 74 persons killed, 2298 injured. The Highways Protection League demands strict control ove.? $ne J epeejl '&* motor. cajs t - -

A record haul of fish for Port LytteJtoiS^ , was secured one day this week by the £ trawler Mullogh. The catch included - 106 dozen soles, 27 dozen flounders, 11 brill, ' 8 cod, 5 congers, 7 ling, 3 gurnet, and m number of other varieties. The total! I weight netted was" over tw<k tons. J The gravity of the Wellington. Police ' Court was almost shattered towards _ tho , : close of the proceedings at tße post-holiday-sitting when one- of the presiding, justices " informed! a, prisoner, with all. the dignity ■ attaching to his responsible position,*," You , are convicted and' fined five bob."

The mother. o£ Harry Fairbrother r the, jockey who died in Wellington ' Hospital 5 from injuries received during the progressi * of the Jumpers' Flat Race at the Welling-, # ' ton Racing Club's winter meeting, haa^-, received' £400 from the trustees of the "i Racing Conference Accident Fund. ;l] Tho body of George Fuller, whiqh wasfound by picnickers at Sumner on Boxing; .' Day had lain- sinee 1 ), November 20, asbouft-" _10 yards from the Anglican Church, 30^; yards from one camp", and. 40 from another, C, v The thickness of_the lupins ( in. the uatcJ3!i,|. " where he Fay had prevented, detection. -/, j AYA V Scotsman exhibited!: iss national cau-; $ tion " on " forwarding a" 'Tasß line" in af* ; " Limerick " competition. He omitted to>* , enclose" -the entrance fee of sixpence, ,buti - intimated that it would save, him the .' trouble of enclosing stamps if they would deduct the eaxpence fra» the prize money. " v ' ! In -<order to preserve the cleanliness of i the streets during the ' Holiday, -season, the - 1 Auckland City Council placed receptacles in various parts of Queen streerb for the receipt of waste paper anil rubbish generally. Twelve wicker baskets were placed 'on each side of tihe street at the tram stopping- places. ' A prominent Sounds settler who was in Havelook the r otbYr'd»y'statecl that he had^ not been able to get a single stick of bush cut during this year, owing to the scarcity of bushmen. Several other settlers Have had a similar experience}' though tne prices offered, per acre, varied from . 35s to £2, says a Nelson paper. t ' . The" caretaker on Kapiti Island has* informed Dr Cockayne that -the birds from. • the southern islands liberated on the sanctuary- have, apparently, made.' themselves 1 quite* at home there.. A weekf after . they . had been liberated the' parakeetswere thriv- - ing well, and the - fli-ghtless' ducks were ! happy and contented. At Waikare there, is a peculiar instance", , of what must have been volcanic action on. Mr Alexander's- station — a> -huge papa- cliff , \ almost, as straight as if it had been cub down. The land „in. fr,ont had evidently t dropped away from this cliff, with the_ result that" it was a series of what one might: call .folds and* hummocks. _ '

call Jtolds and* nummocKS. _ ■ An, expensive and popular snell-fislr. iai New 'York, called, "the short-necked* * clam," is- our. despised friend', the pipi- , Mr A. F. Kennedy, of Gisborne, says- so % he. has. .brought back, a^clam shel3i-to- prova. it. The " short-necked " dainties cwefc ' about 4s the plate of six when he was ia the American city recently. # The Rex>eiver7genepaL", haj BBeeiTOd*"ss."'iii: stamps as conscience^ money from an un» known individual,! with the' request,. " Kindly pay to ptiblic 'account." Thar Commissioner of Stamps ha* received a £1 ; banknote and ' 13s in penny stamps fromt some- unknown person, as "amount due- to> the Crown for death duties." Mrs Isaacs, of Waitara, a Maori, gav^. birth to triplets', two boys and a girl,, onf Sunday week. They are all doing wellThe -Natives .around the ,diatrict .aa-e^yery; pleased' at tne ", eyent.' " Mrs Isaacs is a. ' daughter of Parris Tayior, whose fatbeff ■ was of gyeat assiistance r tQ the troops_ at the time of the outbreak: c& war at Waitara. i ,- The New Zealand' Times- says - r — "^Thei, arrogance of»the average.' motorist has a* l " last met with, its deserts. A swarm. of bee^ attacked-one of that iffi: af- I4rfgton Hills ;v, the motorist put on.full speed, but waa, pursued by the insects^ ? and had, to dismount and- divest himself of part of hia clothing before he could rid himself of his tormentors." • •'.''-• \ _, ./,. " During a marriage, ceremony at - (siys. the; Timairu Post)",: as> the ,bridegroomj 'was about to say "I will" to the- cleTgy-. man's momentous question, he was suddenly bvereonie with, It wa<» explained that the bridegroom had been, working exceptionally ,hard of. la*e, a^" on -the wedding morning had omitted to >take his breakfast. * A man named Robertson was found on. Thursday .morning at 4- a.m. clinging, to the water pipes under, the; approach to 'ijhel Bluff -wharf in an exhausteoT condition^ ,3a stated that-- he had Iwen pushed: off the wharf at 11 p.m. on. the previous fifening, and had made His way to tße piping whera he was found. He is believed: to have- on»j. or two ribs broken. v • r , Dr-Vaillant r radiograpbist, of. Pans, nnata t discovered an imfallible method; of preventing premature- burial. He has found that' tne X rays invariably give a blurred photcr- s '- graph when' applied to- the body" of * livingperson,, for the- reason that the organs off 1 the stomach are always- in motion, whereas in, a. "dead- person the' intestines are clearly, to be 6eent in. the picture. , . - A youn^ man arrived" in Na-uier front, , England the other day, anxioius to; mak£hra fortune and return to- the Old Counta^ - within the- time usually set apart for tn«purpose, five years. HHoe o got a job on a ; big building contract a* 8s a day and wa*. pleased, but when subsequently, he ' foundl emplorment as a lumper at. the port,, an* earned £5 I2s in one 'week, he was amazed^ At Oamaxu (says £he Mail), a few days ago, about lift- of small stones was found in ' the stomach of a bullock which was killed for consumption. The beast was bred afc Edendale, and 1 was in, prime- condition, anc? whether the cause of its condition is at-. r tributable to iia pcopensity for a stone dieft" or whether its primeness wasia spite of that diet is a question, for pfcsfcorabsts tot What seems a' "hopeless quesfc fe Being., ma do by Mr James Robertson, of Huntex=. ; ™fle About the year 1870 he left T<StaU« mairiri without .recovering & -VY 0"™"*0 "™"* <>f . Shakespe'aie, which hehadlenttojone«Marit-, Henry Ayres. In a»'le*v«J of the Toluma*. was -i -maAusoript 1 lettet o£ Ebbert- Bunrn^; and Mar llobertaon- off era a reward to anyon* who can furnish' informaiaoa I«adinfF ,t<x iteC TO Mr- e R." O. Bishop has an m§erest£agL coF^v lection, comprising tnree blae-grey> kitten* from Akaroa. Thee© Httens are dewenCf t ants of the origin*!' Frenoßrcatr ■wfiich.^tij*, ' first settlers brought from Vtomcei - Ms-< ; Bishop eaya that the French cafe are bw coming scarce in Akaroa, and 1 thoagfr tper# i *re still tuimbera m Canferburß. theiij > despendants are begimiing ft? aftoig pra'l** - fifths degeneratiQ tabbj^ _

»' ' ' " "' GETTING From now on to X m as W e pp.rvy will be as busy as we can KcAUY be opening up our vast shippQO ments of Xmas Novelties in VM A C Jewellery, Silverware, Lea= XiYlA^. ther, and Fancy Goods, etc. IT'S getting about time for „ you to be thinkingwhat - to get for Xmas Gifts. You j v will find our Showrooms r quite as full of good sugI gestions as ever. ; Some of oar Special Xmas Features. i"' ' x j tk FINE assortment of little articles in Sterling Silver, not ' . ""•**• expensive, but very useful, and mostly complete Novel- •. ties — Toilet Table Requisites for the Ladies and Shaving | - Strops, Match Boxes, Sovereign Cases, Pencils, Cigarette ; Cases, etc., for the Gentlemen. ',-_ *T*HE collection of Vases, etc., in quaint and beautiful f ' *• Doul ton Ware is really very fine, and is another inex- | .. pensive feature. Several entirely New Designs. I QUR great feature in Jewellery is the lovely collection of % y^' Gold and Enamel Jewellery which we just recently - imported. .It is absolutely unique, most beautiful work, and wonderful^ value at the low prices we have* marked the . ~ " „ articles at. : VDESIDES which we can only give passing mention to the , ** varied and exclusive collection of Sterling Silver Brush- , ware, Toilet Articles, etc., and the fine selections in Pearl Jewellery, etc. Q. & T. Young, Watchmakers, Jewellers, and Opticians, $& PRINCES STREET^ JDUNEDIN.

FL-^ New Shipments MM Langley Pottery. We are showing New Shipments of the ever-popular Langley Ware in Artistic effects of Brown, Green and Gold, Myrtle Green and Gold, and" Fancy Decorations. TEAPOTS, all sizes, 1/6, 1/9, 2/HOT WATER JUGS, 1/3, 1/6 COFFEE JUGS,. 1/3, 1/6, 2/A capital selection of Sugars and Creams Oval Bakers Covered Bakers Sauce Pans Stew Jars Moulds, etc. Best Prench Fireproof China, Noted for its superior strength and resistance to excessive heat, in Coflee with filter, Sauce Pans, Milk Boilers, Covered Pie Pishes, Egg Poachers, Oyster Shells, Ramikins, Souffle Dishes, Hot Water Jugs, &c, &c.