MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3773, 6 July 1926, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Rye’s famous clock, built more than 600 years ago at a cost of £2 15s 4d, is once again in good going order. Tasting bird-seed is one of the subjects taught to bird fanciers in evening classes held at the Battersea County School. ... Owing to the number of children in English reformatory and industrial schools decreasing, it has been necessary to increase the flat rate of public aid to 14s a week. . Building materials, such as stone, slates, fireplaces, panelling, ceilings, and staircases, taken from old houses, have a ready sale for use in erecting new buildings in England. A baby coudor which arrived at the London Zoo recently has a winrr spread of 10ft, although he is still too young to

fly. Where children’s clothes are made at home many families throw away cuttings each year worth about £5, as new woollen rags fetch from 3d to 5d per lb nowadays. . Belts, which contain compressed air which is allowed to escape rouqd the body of the wearer, have been designed by a Birmingham scientist to keep miners cool during their work. A material has been invented which, while looking and feeling like silk, is said to permit the ultra-violet rays from the sun to pass through it. The motor ambulances maintained by the London County Council answered 31,700 calls last year, the average time taken to arrive on the scene working out at only 7min 24sec. Felt hats are imported into Great Britain in such numbers that the British industry is suffering severely. The number of foreign bats has risen from 1,154,550 in 1911 to 8,707,884 last year. Mapping the heavens has taken 30 years, but the work is now practically completed. It has been an international task, the British section being done by Greenwich Observatory and the Cape Observatories. As big as a small lemon, the shell of the Babassu nut, found in South America, is so tough that special machinery is needed to crack it. Attempts may be made to grow these nuts in the Royal Botanical Gardens, London. British railway stations must look to their laurels. Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, claims that nearly 300,000 persons pass through it daily. The figures for Liverpool Street and Waterloo, London, are about 244,000 and 146,000 respectively. boats for use at selected coast places. Thus, the lifeboat at Douglas, Isle of Man, is called the Manchester and Sal-L-d. Nottingham, Birmingham, Northamptonshire, and Westmoreland are now raising similar funds. Boot soles are now said to indicate character. If they are worn level all over it shows an even temper, while wear bn the inside is a sign of listlessness. Bicycles are to be provided for Wiltshire (England) children who live far from schools; but parents will have to repair punctures in the tyres of these machines. After fasting for 33 days, a young American scientist kays that, after the third week, he lost interest in everything except getting some food to eat. England’s famous schools are longlived. Westminster existed in 1339 and Winchester in 1373. Eton was founded in 1440, Rugby in 1567, and Harrow in 1571. Barking dogs which become a nuisance can now be “cured” by having their barks removed, as a result of experiments carried out by the American Veterinary Medical Association. London’s longest thoroughfare is Harrow road, which is over three miles in length, while the shortest street, only 44ft Tong, is Shorter street, in the neighbourhood of the Tower Bridge. Rubies, when fine, are from ten to five times more valuable than diamonds of the same weight. A four-carat ruby may be worth from £I4OO to £3OOO. A 10-carat ruby recently sold for £IO,OOO. Accompanied by a suite of more than 20 people and 200 trunks, the Maharajah of Patiala arrived recently in London, where a whole wing of a famous hotel had been reserved for him. What is said to be the largest door in the world is now in an Ohio (U.S.A.) bank. It is 4ft thick, made of solid steel, and weighs nearly 200 tong, but the balances are so delicately adjusted that the door can be swung easily with a push of the hand. The efficient business man nowadays, we hear, keeps an alarm clock in the office—-not necessarily to wake him when it is time to go home, but as a reminder of appointments with callers. The clock is ingeniously constructed, and if, say, you have to keep an appointment at 2.30, you merely insert a card in a slot opposite the half-hour mark, and forget it until the bell reminds you of your duty. Most men who have at one time or another sped the passing hours in convivial company are - familiar with the phrase “no heel-taps,” but how many know its origin? It is really a survival of the old, hard-drinking days, when “the way of the clock and no heel-taps” was the formula of the unnamed final toast among Devonshire squires. These were the days of the “five bottle men,” but not everybody could carry his liquor like the veterans. So, after a hard day’s stag-hunting and a night’s drinking, the weaker vessels among the squires would sometimes empty the final glass or glasses into their jack-boots, which, next morning, formed a very convenient “tap” for their servants. A new idea in theatre construction has been evolved by the French architect Perret, who built the Theatre des Champs Elysees, considered by many critics the most beautiful playhouse in Europe. M. Perret’s plain is an auditorium which will be longer than it is wide. At the narrow end there will be a small stage, suitable for drawing room comedy and intimate scentw. Running along one of the sides there will be a much larger stage designed for tragedy and spectacular drama. Both stages may be used during one play, as all the seats in the theatre will swing round on pivots, wo that the audience can turn from one stage to the other as the action changes.