MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3330, 9 January 1918, Page 47

MULTUM IN PARVO

powerful aeroplanes, some capable of carrying from 30 to 40 persons. Hungary is confiscating all tablecloths and serviettes in tho country to provide cloth for 150,000 new army uniforms. Penalties imposed at 'the Thames Police Court, London, one day in a recent week amounted to considerably over £9OO. The statue of Xit, tho famous dwarf of the Tower of London, unearthed at Lewes, has been acquired, by a local hotel proprietor, and adorns 'the entrance to his hotel. - —lt was stated before the Brighton (England) Tribunal recently that a hairdresser who worked voluntarily at a local military hospital had given 5J>,000 free shaves and hair-cuts to wounded soldiers. '—Prince Palatine, winner of the St. Leger in 1911, and one of the greatest long-distance champions the 'turf has known, has been sold to go to France for £26,250. The Italian Boys' Brigades, which before tho war numbered 60,000, now number 120,000, divided into 400 sections. They are doing excellent work at the front. The total war expenditure of AustriaHungary for the first three years of the war has amounted to £1,162,000,000, while the expenditure for the fourth year of war is estimated at £500,000,000. _ The rarest and most expensive gold fish in the world is the Chinese bushtail, a pair of which sell for £3OOI Probably there is no other living thing of its size and weight that is worth so much money. Lieutenant J. O'. Muller, a Dane, 51 years of age, oycled, paddled, ran, sculled, walked, and swam- the half-mile distance between Putney and Hammersmith bridges, covering the total of three miles in 29min 10 2-seec. Canadian defrosted fish two years old, but still of perfect flavour, was recently served at a luncheon given in honour of a Canadian officer in London. —ln tho Censor's office, London, there are, it is considered, the most remarkable women linguists in the world. One woman is conversant with almost every known language. During the war 437 aeroplanesandseaplanes have been received by the British Government as gifts from different parts of the Empire and from. British subjects in neutral or Allied countries. Though the population is only 1700, of whom 250 are with the forces and 50 in the workhouse, a war savings association at Bingham, Notts, has collected £6103, averaging £SOO a month. —ln French towns which may be shelled or bombed almost every window has two strips of paper pasted from corner to corner diagonally on the inside. This minimises 'the risk of breakage through concussion, and many thousands of panes of glass have been saved by this simple precaution. Fright at the sound of the guns_ during a recent morning air raid resulted in Miss Ruby Rugg, of Hanwell, London, recovering her sight, after being blind for four years. She complained of terrible pain at the back of her head, and then, in her own words, "something seemed to snap," and she rushed 'to her mother crying, "Oh! mother, I can see!" The portraits of the generals who are fighting our battls on tho western front are to be preserved for posterity. They are being painted by Mr William Orpen, who is recognised as one of the leading British artists. He has 'been made a temporary major for his services. A somewhat rare fish in British waters, the eting ray, has been caught in one of the Eastern Sea Fisheries' steamers while netting in the Wash near Boston. It weighed 40ilb, and was 44in in length. A saw-like spine is attached to the tail, with which the fish is ablo to inflict painful and sometimes dangerous wounds. Eighteen miles .is eaid to be the longest distance on record at which a man's voice has been heard. This occurred in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, where one man, shouting tho name "Bob" at one end. was plainly heard at the other end, which is 18 miles away. It is recorded that at Gibraltar the human voice has been heard at a distance of 10 miles. -r- English women married to German husbands are to be granted a_ measure of relief under the Aliens' Restriction Order. It is now announced that a Secretary of State may, under certain conditions, grant to any alien who being a married woman or a * widow was before her marriage a natural-born British subject a certificate of exemption from all or any of the provisions or part of the order. Medico 'tells a truly marvellous story of a woman he knows in tho .South of England. In spite of the fact that this woman was born without arms she does all the work of her house, almost as well as if she possessed those useful members. She uses knife and fork (with her feet) most dexterously, if we may use the word ; writes an excellent hand with her left foot, and does beautiful needlework. Tramcars are being used as funeral hearses in many Austrian towns. This is duo to the fact that there ar.e no horses left, and 'that tho lack of pettol prevents tho use of motor hearses. At Prague the municipal authorities run "funeral trams" at regular fixed hours in order to provide accommodation for as many coffins as possible, without detaching too many cars for this purpose. Each funeral 'tramcar has been reconstructed in such a way as to convey six coffins. Two other cars attached to tho hearse car convey tho mourners.