OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Turnip crops in Southland are making splendid growth. Up to date four bodies have been ere mated at the Wellington crematorium. It is said that 7000 separation orders are granted by the magistrates in England every year. The best selling class of cattle in New Zealand at the present time is the purebred Jersey cow built on good dairy lines. The most powerful electric light in Europe is th© one at Hanstholm, on the Scow. It has a strength of 2,000,000 candles. Germany is par excellence the toy-produc-ing country. There is a toy factory in Silesia which has been working for 50 years. It was stated at th© Southwark County Court that in the trade an egg was regarded as new laid for a week, or longer if it had a thick shell.

The Belgian Chamber has passed the section of the Government Military Bill which makes military service compulsory for one son in each family. A match-cutting machine is an automatic curiosity. It cuts 10,000,000 sticks a day, and then arranges them over a vat, where the heads are put on at a surprising rate of speed. Mayfair, the fashionable quarter of London, is so-called because of a fair held there, which began on May 1 and lasted 16 days, under a grant from James I. It was suppressed in 1708. Switzerland has the largest army of any nation in Europe in proportion to its population. No standing army is permitted by law, but all citizens are liable to serve, and in turn undergo annual military training.

The Mackenzie County Council has decided to consult its solicitor on th© question of whether it has the power to prevent residents in the Fairlie township from keeping bees, which cause annoyance to-other residents.

At Toowomba (Queensland) Harry J. Lawson has established a new world’s record for endurance in club-swinging. He defeated Burrowes’s figures by 17 minutes, the new record standing at 67 hours 2 minutes.

Fire broke out at a school in Margaret street, Clcrkemvell, recently, and at once the fire-drill signal was sounded, and in a few seconds the 1100 children were marching out in calm and orderly fashion to the playground. “ I am perfectly satisfied,” said a Wellington surveyor at the recent annual, meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors, “ that within the next 10 years the seat of Government will be shifted to Auckland.”

At Coif’s Harbour (N.S.W.) recently a block of land was sold, on account of the Bishop of Grafton and Armidale, for the sum of £450. This land was bought by Bishop Green, of Ballarat, seven or eight years ago for £3.

Two unusually interesting additions to Feildmg’s population have just been mad'e, says the Feilding Star, twin lemurs having been born in Mr Richard Cobbc’s menagerie. It is a very rare thing for lemurs to have tw : ns in captivity. The Napier Telegraph says it has been noticeable since the municipal baths were opened that there was a great diminution of sea bathing. So marked was this that it became the exception rather than the rule to see the swimmers in the surf. Tire British War Office has decided that dermatitis, a skin ditsease attributed to handling paint, is to entitle any Arsenal workman contracting it to be put on the injury list with full pay and compensation, and not on the sick list with half-pay. la is a peculiar circumstance (says the Danncvirke- Advocate) that, although the Presbyterian Church session in Danncvirke Iras now been established for over 20 years, the death of the late Mr Angus Mackay is the_first to take place amongst its members

The necessity for keeping a record of the rainfall in the different parts of New Zealand, and for making such information available, at the different Land Board offices, is to be brought before the Government by the Hastings branch of the Farmers’ Union. .

The municipal authorities at Oamaru are well satisfied with their venture in erecting a municipal theatre. The town now has a thoroughly modern and wellequiped theatre, and it not only costs the ratepayers nothing, but is a good profitearning concern. A resident of a North Island bush township who gains his living by the sale of ferns to passengers on the trains, as they pass through the township where lie lives, lias just returned from a trip Home; and it is said that the trip was paid for out of the proceeds of his sales of bush ferns. We learn (flays the Hot Lakes Chronicle) that an amicable arrangement has been arrived at between the Maori owners of the land at Okare on which is erected the electric power station and the Government, the sum paid to the Maoris for the land being £3OOO, plus £250 legal expenses. Some Eltham residents are endeavouring to overcome the general-servant difficulty by nominating some young girls as immigrants from Scotland. The local journal m Les that they are coming from good

families, and are being at the instance of .relatives in the Dominion.

Fish are not plentiful at Molyncux Beach this year, and parties who go out netting meet with disappointing results. A party of two who went out near the river mouth on Saturday night, however, landed 15 dozen of all kinds in two hauls, mostly everything but flounders. —Clutha Leader.

Mr Samuel Daw, who for 21 years has driven th( mail coach between Feilding and Kimbolton, has decided to relinquish the post for a younger man. In an interview with the Feilding Star the veteran driver stated that he had never bad any accidents and had never thrown a passenger off nor lost anything.

A record submarine run was made on December 2by the 7th Flotilla, from Portsmouth to Dundee, a distance of 512 miles. Th© entire distance was covered in 56 hours in rough weather, and there was a delay of an hour and a-half while one of the submarines was taken in tow through a slight disablement

The Pahiatua correspondent of the Wairarapa Age says ;- —“ A sheep farmer of this district has shown me th© account of th© sal© of two pelts and one calfskin which were railed to Napier. -Th© skins realised 2s 3d, while the railage from Pahiatua to Napier amounted to Is 6d, leaving a ©redit balance of 9d.”

After a protracted debate, the Presbytery of Edinburgh approved of the overture sent down by last General Assembly of the Church of Scotland proposing th© adoption of a,,new Formula of Subscription to the Confession of Faith. The division gave 23 votes in favour of the overture and 17 against it.

Whooping-cough is prevalent in Balclutha, and most of the children in the southern end of the township have contracted the malady. In Owaka and most of the Gatlins district it is also rife. Had the outbreak ,occurred in midwinter it would (says the Free Press) certainly have had a more serious aspect. General Booth has decided to go forward with a £15,000 scheme for the elevation of destitute men and the housing of poor men in Liverpool Pitt Street Wesleyan Chapel, which is to be rebuilt, has been purchased for 200 of the destitute, and new premises in Park lane are leased for the housing of 164 men at 4d a night. The smart passage of the new liner Ruahine from London to Wellington in 40 days, 4 hours, 8 minutes (actual steaming time) was eclipsed by the Shaw, Savill and Albion liner Gothic. The latter vessel arrived at Wellington on November 24, 1894, after covering the distance in 37 days 9 hours 20 minutes (actual steaming time). The Taranaki County Council proposes to make an experiment with waste petroleum from th© Taranaki Company’s works at Moturoa. A chain of metai will be lifted and two or three inches of crude oil will be spread over the road. The metal will then be replaced and rolled, the oil thus being forced up to bind the road. An instance of poverty was brought under th© notice of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board at Napier last week. It was stated that the children in a family dwelling in the city had had to' be sent to bed on Sundays so that their mother could wash their clothes- in readiness for school on Mondays. A sum of money was granted for the purchase of additional clothes for the children.

Tire holiday traffic on the Wellington trams was very heavy. The total number of passengers travelling between December 24 and January 3 was 771,362, and the total fares amounted to no less than £4967. Tho increases as compared with the previous holiday period were 93,545 passengers and £396 in fares. On Christmas Eve 103,758 passengers were carried, and their fares amounted to £635.

The consignment of fruit on the 10 th was the largest quantity ever despatched from the Alexandra railway station in one day, the exact amount forwarded being 6 tons 2owt. Previous to this the largest was tons one day last year. One grower in the Alexandra district forwarded one ton of fruit from his garden on the 10th, and a similar quantity on the 11th.— Alexandra Herald. Although the Union Company’s training ship Dartford is still laid up at Newcastle, her .cadets receive daily instruction in seamanship and navigation from, the captain and the chief officer. They also receive frequent practice in boating and swimming. The Dartford was not without company of other vessels of_ her class, the White Star Line training ship Mersey and a Belgian training ship being also at Newcastle for a, time.

The highest court of justice in Austria has decided that cremation is contrary to the laws of the Empire. The matter arose owing to the appeal of a newlyformed society for cremation which had endeavoured to obtain a concession from the local authorities in Prague for building a crematorium. The Supreme Court supported the refusal of the' local authorities, on the ground that cremation was opposed to the Christian idea of burial. The St. Pcterbursr Ci rcuit Court recently proved the will of' Father John of Cronistadt, who for a long time was regarded as tire most saintly man in

and a worker of miracles. Father John, who received many thousands of pounds from his admirers, gave awa.y the bulk of his fortune —about £sooo—to the lanoffeky Monastery, whilst his relatives and congregation have had to he content witn comparatively small legacies.