MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 75

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— The salt tax in China yields a revenue of nearly £2,000,000 a year. ~ — The pine roaches a maximum age of 700 years; the silver fir, 425; the larch, 275; the red beach, 245;- the aspan, 210; the birch, 200; -the asn, 170; the elder, I*s; and the elm, 130. — Billiards was invented by a pawnbroker in the sixteenth century- H« tised to push the threo brass balk — she insignia of his trade — about his counter with a yard-stick, using boxes fastsned to the aides of his counter," for pockets. — Sheffield Corporation are asking £500 a year as rent for an ace of ground which it is .proposed to vs2 for a' skating rink. — The rates of Sudbury, Suffolk— which has a population of 7109 and owes £40,000 - — for the current, year will be 12s in the pound. — One of the wealthiest hall-portei-9 in Europe has jus-t retired into private life— that of -the famous- Lah:nann Sanatorium, near Dresden. The fcerter, who has only had 10 yoars' service, rruide an annual income of £2500 out of tips.. —In 1885 three persons wera cremated in England. Last vsar the number -was 795. — Paris Is to have a. ''now dish" in the form of meat from zlvs hump- of the zebu. — A r-'.orxl . consignment of 100.000 Egyptian quails-arrived ,iv<^iitly> ! in London from Alexandria. —As a 'result of-the .dearth of Ssh on the Scottish coast many fishermen "have become go!f-caddies. - - -. " — The first Australian cricket team itiat visrted England played' 16 matches, 'iron ll^and !csl 5. — Magdalen Lavsr, in th:> Eppinjr Union. 'is said to be the onJy parish in tho United Kir_g;<k>m v.-ithout an okl-ag-a pensioner. — Investigation into the nutritive values of the red, white, yellow, and violet varieties of potatoes shows that the violotfieshed potatoes stand highest. — *.fc the Clothing- Exhibition at the Agricultural Hall* was shown a hat, the largest /in the world; which would fit a 1 man with a head proportionate to- a height of 49ft. »' —At Paris the' " International Congress of the Map of the Sky " met to view a map giving the exact position of 50 million stare. Twentf-tsro thousand and fifty-four negatives wei^s used in making it. ' — A few years before the Boer war a - clorgj-msn was called upon to christen a child — " Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Eighteen Hundred and- Ninety-seven." He refused to do it ! - ■ — General Booth lives on a'oout £200 a year. — More than a third of the total trails of Turkey falls to Constantinople. — Lord Kitchener's improvements in the Indian army have cost some- £8,000,000. — During 1903 over 3000 persons were convicted for . using false or unstamped weights ana measures. — Always choose J"or an.- : nvalid brightlycolourad flowers rather than white, which are- not cheerful for a -sickroom. — PreskEen t ' Taft is a member of the American' "Bill" XJlub. organissd for the mest important Williams in die country. ; — IrT the _ new town, Concrete,- near XVjtehiagrtoii. U-S--A.., all buil-dings liai-e to to ica«ie of concrete. It is therefore aktfolul'sly fireproof. " • - — With a yieW io educating their apes, many zoological garden.? throughout the world have introduced boy£ as playmates for Ui<? ii:onkeys. -~l*lina,lon has an old Parish Act which forL-irs tlt-e driving- of sheep through the j>ai-is.li on Sundays, and two Jtnen have just be-2!) fined 6d each for doing this. —By letting sites for roundabouts 'and swings in the parks, the London County Council will make a profit of £1486 this year. t — Lady members of the congregation of "Wickford" Earish Church, Esssx, have painted the church gates in order to save expense. — Reading in Bradwell, -Derbyshire, thora are over 60 septuagenarians, 13 ociogenarians, and one — a fine, active, old lady — ii-onagenarian. - — Mother's day in America, a movement only inaugurated a year ago, will be cslebratcd this year by 50,000,000 people wearing the white carnation on May 9. — The rector of - Alderley declared at his vestry meeting that hie usrish church was now entirely free from fees. He stated that he had a conscientious objection to receiving either marriage or burial fees, and thought they were a Foures of abuse. Alderley is -raid to.be the only parish church in England where there are no fees. — The village of Froissy, near Paris, -furnishes arguments for ihe- suffragist cause in that nearly all the- important posts are filled by women. Passengers alighting at the railway station are- met" by a women, who is stationmaster, whilst her husband is only a guard. A 'barber's shop bears the notice that "Mile. Jeanne" will "henceforth shave her customers only on Tuesdays and Fridays, as she has undertaken other •work." At the post office the local telegraph messenger and postman, Mme. LeEobre, is met. She .walks on an average 20 miles a day. The municipal drummer is a- woman in her ninetieth year. — About 60 Chinamen proceeded to the graves of two recently-buried Celestials in Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool. A gigantic tray carried by four Chinamen, and con'fcaining foods, including a fully-grown) roasted pig decorated with red rosettes, cooked fowls, beefsteaks, oranges, and Bwee-ts, was brought on the scene. A bottle or two of Scotch whisky, flanked with eggcups and liqueur glasses, were ako placed on one of the grave^. T,he spirit was plentifully poured upon the meals, and rice was sprinkled upen the grave, and afterwards joss-sticks, paper offerings, and boxes 'of crackers were burnt. The explosion, of the fireworks made a lively diversion in the otherwise solemn proceedings. —Of all the royal palaces of Spain Casa de <3ampo de Miramar is the youngest, and in a sense the least forbidding. It occupied four years in the building, and even now is only 15 years old. The general plan came from the brain of an Anglo-Saxon architect, and its three storeys resemble an ordinary English, country house, euch, as Osborne Cottage, more closely than almost any other in the Peninsula. The Hies were got from England, and the Queen has made &, good deal of alteration since 6he went thefce first of all. Bub the playroom used •by, -the youthful Alfonso— who in those days yv&q called by his doting mother Alfonsito — still retains" some of its original features, and opens out of Qic rooms now occupied fc? their Majesties.