MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3312, 5 September 1917, Page 51

MULTUM IN PARVO

A Woking shopkeeper gives widows or dependents of soldiers or sailors killed in the war 12£ per cent, discount on purchases.

German statistics show that the number of criminals under the ago of 18 was four times greater in 1916 than in 1914. Chineso have discovered a great bed of coal, in places 233 ft thick, in North Manchuria

Government figures indicate that the per capita consumption of sugar in the United States is increasing at about twice the rate of increase in population. A motor sleigh built for a Russian grand duke has a cigar-shaped body, and is propelled by a suction turbine operating against the air in front. JReoent Government figures show that only one person in every 1000 in Denmark is unable to read and write, compared with seven in each 1000 in the United States.

A farm worker who has died at Ruehir.gton, New Forest, England, at the age of 94, was for 87 in continuous employment on the same estate. Eight thousand eigh.t hundred and five artificial limbs have been" made by private firni3 for soldiers at a cost of £127,293, and 7000 men are still to be supplied. Before the war freights from the American cotton ports to Liverpool were 20.33 cents per lOOib; today they are quoted at 300.325 cents per 1001 b. —To deal with the army's post bag there are 85 officers and 4000 N.0.0.'s and men, aiid in London 140 discharged soldiers and 700 temporary sorters. A Victoria Cross, awarded to Private William Jones for heroism at Rorke's Drift, was recently sold for the record price of £llO. October 18 was an historic date for Greece. It was on October 18, 1909, that Venczelos formed, his first Cabinet; on October 18, 1912, Greece declared war on Turkey; and on October 18, 1916, the new Cabinet was constituted. The Rome Municipal Council has passed a, resolution asking the Government to demolish the Palazzo Cafarelli, on the Capitol, hitherto the seat of the German Embassy, which stands on the ruins of the anoient Temple of Jove. Hopes are entertained of recovering an enormous amount of pure gold, which, according to Tacitus, was deposited by the Romans in the foundations of the temple as*a votive offering. Despite the fact that Canada has nearly 500,000 men under arms at the present time, and that emigration from Europe to the Dominion has practically ceased, there were no fewer than 525 applicants for free land grants of 160 acres each in the month of March in the four western provinces. These represent an aggregate of 84,000 acres. The United States headed the nationalities, apart from Canadians, with 44 applications. The British Islands came next with 26.

Scotland Yard would appear to bo governed in these days by a mythical lady who always manages to keep in the background. Several inquirers have been informed of late that "Dora" makes it impossible for their requests to be granted. "Dora" is always in evidence. She won't let you do this, and she objects to that, but always quite politely. Who is Dora; who is she, that bold, bad men condemn her? The secret has leaked out (says the Daily Chronicle). She is nothing more dreadful than the official name of the Defence of the Realm Act. , For over a year largo numbers of Chinese coolies have been employed by the French behind the lines, at the various posts, and in munition factories. Since the rupture of relations with Germany the Chinese Government, I hear (writes the London correspondent of the Birmingham Post) has identified itself with the movement, and it recently issued instruction to the provincial authorities asking them to recruit labourers on the basis, of 10,000 from each province. This work may for a time be interrupted by the present unrest in the country. The culture of rice is alluded to in the Talmud, and there is evidence that it was grown in the valley of the and in Syria before 400 B.C. Brwas taken into Persia from India, and later into Spain, by the Arabs. Thence its culture was introduced into Italy about 1468 A.D. Tho Spaniards are also responsible for its introduction into Peru and other sections of Spanish America during the early colonial period. The "starch scare" in Gx*eat Britain appears to have been premature. _ As far as men's collars are concerned, it is now announced that there is sufficient starch in England to stiffen them for at least the next two months, and a certain proportion will be available for " nurses' collars and cuffs. The chemists attached to the Launderers' Association have succeeded in producing a stiffening which is said to be satisfactory and contains no starch whatever. It is being tried by five of tho important laundries in London, and, if it answers expectations, the substitute is to be put on the market. « —ln Germany (says Professor Delmer in the London Times) there is at present in use a method r=ecretly but very extensively practised of, obtaining a kind of flour from wood. This' "flour" goes by the name of Hokmehl. The Russian forests in the occupied districts, he has heard, are being ruthlessly cut down and turned into woodmeal. This wood meal is intended primarily to serve as a cattle food. "Of its nutritive properties I know nothing. They are said to be low. Bread is also made from it. and I have been told that it is given to the soldiers. I am more inclined to think that it is reserved as a delicacy for the prisoners' camps." Australian doctors who have worked both in Gallipoli and in France have found a big d : fference between the two fronts. One of them savs that the wounds received by the men in Gallipoli were caused largely by rifle, machine gun. and shrapnel Trallets, but that in France most of the wounds are due to shell fragments, rifle and shrapnel bullet wounds beinpr comparatively rare. In Gallinoli, where there was much lonerrange firing, he says, bullets frequently lodged in a man's tissue; but in France, where the long-range firing is less, when a bullet hits a man it usually goes through A correspondent of the Field savs that in Carmarthenshire and other -parts of Wales a simple method of economising in fuel is. used as follows: —Mix with water in a bucket a small quantity of lime and small coal until the whole is a thick grey mass. Plaster this over the top of the fire, imkIng a few holes in it with a poker. The fire will then last without replenishing for 11 or 12 hours, and an extraordinary saving In coal is effected. Another method is to maka balls of clay and small coal.