MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3347, 8 May 1918, Page 47

MULTUM IN PARVO

—Roumania is the only country that has a higher birth-rate than Quebec.

For men etationed about Jerusalem the Y.M.O.A. has instituted tours in 'the Holy City.

A litigant of law should havo three bags—one of papers, one of money, and one of patience.—Proverb. You never hear of a bluff succeeding; when it does succeed the bluffer is too sharp to admit it was a bluff. Six, or at most seven, hours' eleep is for a constancy, as much as you or anybody can want; more is only laziness and dozing, and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying.—Lord Chesterfield.

Tho death is announced of Katharina Schratt, tho actress who was for many years tho friend of the late Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. Tho Emperor left her 250,000d0l in his will. "... A porous glass for ventilation is being made in France, 'tho holes being small enough to exclude dust and draughts. During the war tho Rev. O. H. Rowntrce, vicar of Scawton, Yorkshire, has been a flourmiller, a blacksmith, a land worker, and occasionally he helps as a postman. Even on the French front "Safety" First no'tices are deemed hecessaxy. They include "Look out, the enemy is watching you," and "Bo ready with your maske." Brighton Corporation has invested in War Loan £57 13s, the proceeds of the sale of 141 bottles of sherry, vintage 1848, which were bequeathed to tliem many years ago by Or Willett. "The Extortioner-general."—A letter so directed, with London added as the only address, reached the Chairman of the Inland Revenue without the delay of a. single post, said Lord Hylton in the House of Lords.

The unique distinction of being the oldest male twins in the British Empire is held by Messrs Peter and James Robertson, born at Tarbet, Loch . Lomondside, in October, 1833, and now of London and Rothesay, respectively. They are 85 years of age, and belong to a family of 12. The municipal authorities in Jersey City are taking steps to arrest all men. rich or poor, who may be found idle in war time.

Denmark's State-owned telegraph and telephone systems returned a net profit for 1916 of 18 per cent, on the capital invested. The Alaska salmon catch for 1917 was the largest' in the history of the territory. The pack of canned salmon will aggregate fa,300.0C0 cases valued at £10,000,000. —ln 1915 there were 139 establishments in Chile, South America, turning out paper and paper products of one kind and another.

—lt is estimated by experts that millions of bushels of wheat have been lost in the past in the United States bv leaving them to old stacks through careless thrashing methods. Exports to Russia from the United States of America for the fiscal year 1917 amounted to 558,000,000dal as compared with 23,000,000d0l for the year 1914.. „ Speaking to a London audience on the law of the war, Mr Justice Scrutton commented on the huge number of regulations and orders under the Defence of the Realm Act. 'And," he added, "I hope you will forgive me if I say that everyone in this room has broken at least one of them." "" It is announced that the Cunarcl Company has purchased Stevens House, at 27, Broadway, and intends to erect on the site a 26-story building, the scheme involving an outlay of 10 million dollars (£2,000.000).

Quite a nice sealskin jacket can be made from otter pulled and dyed, or from rabbitskins that have been sheared and dyed. White rabbitskins are sold as «rmine. and the same, suitably dyed, as chinchilla. Opossum sheared and coloured js sold as beaver. Burns to the contrary notwithstanding, I don't believe thero are many of us lying awake at nights pining for a chance to S"e ourselves as others see us. It wouldn't add materially to Mrs Jones's happiness (says a writer) when she started down tho street filled with the conviction that her new costume was a. dream if she could know that Mrs Brown, who was watching her through her sitting room window, had decided that her skirt hung badly, and her hat was atrociously unbecoming. Every officer and man in the United States navv is to have his finorer-print on his identification disc. The disc has the man's name, elate of birth, and of joining up on one side, and on the other the finger-print impression. The latter is engraved on the metal from the original impression of tho index-finger of the right hand. The risk in making a wrong identification is estimated at only 1 in 65,000.000. What is probably the first instance of an aeroplane actually joining in a fox hunt is described in Country Life by a correspondent. "On January 29,'" he writes. 'Svhile. running wo saw an aeroplane following us overhead about . 100 ft up. The airman waved us in th" direction in which our fox had gone, and when wo checked wo hoard several 'Holloas' from aloft, and wore put right by our friend above, the hounds verifving his information. A little later ho l anr!od ; n a field, 'told the master ho had seen the fox, then rose and circled above us. But the fox beat us " An unthought-of result of the war has been the creation of a lead-pencil industrv in Japan. In 1911 Jnoan imported 65 000.000 pencils, most of which came from America and Germany. But with the opening of the European conflict German sources of supnlv woro cub off and native manufacturers, who had been producing only in. comnaratlvMv Bmnll Quantities, seized their onnortunity and made the most of it. In 1914 Jnmn exported over 9.CC0.C00 pencils, and jn IPI6 the number had increased to 168.000:000. Thero is strong indication that manv of tho markets won by tho Orientals will be hold bv them after th-? war. for they have the advantago of very cheap labour. Most of the load which 'thev nee is imported from India and this country.

—OF the coal wiser! during 1916 in this coimh-v—256.375.7i66 tons —wo exported 3°.351 553 tons to th° following countries: Franco, over million tons: Ttal;/. nenrlv 5? mil'inn tons; Norway, over 2-£ milfoil tons; Denmark, over 2lt million tors : Spain, over 2 million tons; Sweden. o*'er li million tons; Netherlands, over l£ million tons. Adrlin? thr. 3.661. ZPA tons,' exported in the form of enke and rr. vellfflctured fuel anrl *h« 12.958.172 tone shinned for the use of T?>'it,jgh and foreign steamers enerasred in foreiarn trade, the total cpiiT-t.ifcv"" of coal whirshlfft the country was 55.00!! 113 tons. Tfermi'nintr for horn* corsumptio.'i was 201.374.253 tons, or abowi four and a-half tons per head of normlntion. T'ij averac-n price of coal was 15s 7 24d r>er ton in 1910 fts compared with 12s 5.60 d in 1915.