MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Bearing an inscription in Esperanto, two stamps of different values have been issued in Russia. Collectors should keep watch for them, as they are not expected to remain long in circulation. — Work dope by any machine can now be registered by the electrograph, a new device which shows on a ribbon of paper exactly what work the machine does and when it stops. — Among the flowers in the famous gardens at Hampton Court Palace are 20,000 pansies, 12,000 snapdragons, and 10,000 chrysanthemums. There are half a million plants in the gardens altogether. —No new pennies have been struck at the Royal Mint since 1922. In spite of this, there is a glut in this coin, the stock being estimated as sufficient to give 36 to every man, woman, and child in the country. — Live fresh-water shrimps, wild animals (including tigers, a panther, and a bear), 100 steam rollers, and 20 great 1 • emotives were among the unusual j ht carried on British railways <!v

— More than 30,000 . street accidents occurred in London in the last three months—lo,ooo more than in the previous quarter. — Two special trains of 25 vans each carried 42,000 carrier pigeons from New- ' castle to Selby, England, for an annual race. — Bullets from machine-gun practice' on the downs north of Dover struck an Ostend steamer and wounded a passenger. — Much of the noise made by motor cycles is said to be due to bad driving and lack of care in the use of the throttle and gears. — A special typewriter has been invented for the blind. It places raised marks on the paper in accordance with the Braille system. — Members of the congregation of a church in Brixton, Landon, are to be permitted to ask the vicar questions during sermon-time. . — Ranging in age from 79 years to eight weeks, a party of 1256 Scots recently ar-rived in Scotland from America on a month's visit. ■ — The official salary of the Bishop of London is £lO,OOO. The greater part of this, however, goes in diocesan and other expenses. — The vestry where Little Dorrit slept at St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark, London, has been opened to the public, and is being hung.with Dickens pictures. — Diamonds _ are a better investment than pearls, in the opinion of many jewellers. Pearls can be destroyed, but diamonds cannot. — Spraying a Lincolnshire field of potatoes with_ powder from an aeroplane took about 2o minutes. In the ordinary way the job would have occupied two days. 7 Goldfish range in price, according to variety, from 6d to £3 apiece. The most expensive is the Lion Head, which comes irpm America. ,7 ® a ® s used for oiling engines and other machines can be collected, the surplus oil extracted for making into soap, and the rags cleaned for use again. . —Largest of all privately-owned yachts Arct urus, an oil-engined boat of '' ons > "vviHcn belongs to an -American whose hobby is deep-sea fishing. —ln the 10 years of his life Cecil Cross son of a wireless expert, has travelled more than 40,000 miles, includtrips to India, Australia, and Trinidad. —-There are 40 direct telephone lines working between London and the Continent. these carried upwards of 900,000 calls last year. — Snakes, which are quite popular as pets, are sold at prices ranging from Is 6d for an ordinary grass snake to 4s 6d for a dice snake. Wigs were quite commonly worn in Egypt 3000 years ago. Recent excavations m Bedfordshire disclosed human' remains which suggest that wigs were also worn m England about 1200 b.c. — For the first time since 1889, a giant arum lily has bloomed in Kew Gardens the plant is sft 7in in height and 3ft m diameter, and produces leaf one year and a-flower in the following year. ~. ln their desire to return to their old home a ewe and seven lambs swam five miles across the Menai . Strait, which has a strong current in many parts. The ewe and three lambs were saved by a boat. —At a recent wedding at Chertsey, feurrey, the bride and her groom, her father, her bridesmaid, the clergyman and the verger were all bellringers. The’ ’I 1 -? an ‘J, I* er sister have been members ot the Chcrtsey Church bellringers for some time. 7^'’y , jty loud speakers and 652 pairs of headphones cau be worked by the 14-yalve wireless set installed in a (England) infirmary, at a cost of £l2OO. There> are 2,608,512 foreigners in Trance. this number includes 807,659 Italians. 467,156 Spaniards. 460 925 Belgians, 310,265 Poles, and 146,273 Swiss, lhere are 84,000 British. .—A reckless boy in England, who jumped on a motor lorry, thinking he could drop off at his school, rode 80 miles before he dare get off, owing to day! SPee<1 ’ He not eet to scllool that Curtain-hooks which stay fastened, a rubber ring for fixing on pails to make them less noisy, and a safety roundabout for children were among the exhibits at the Second International Exhibition of Inventions. All these novelties have been designed by women. „ ~ T . he Mines Department is the only -British Government department whose expenditure is limited by Act of Parliiih'ent. Its yearly allowance must not exceed £2a0,000. . —Claiming to be the oldest volunteer an the Home Counties, England, Mr W. L. Ellison, of Stainword Hill, who is now in his ninety-fifth year, enrolled in the 2nd Essex in 1860. — Running a big West End (London) dance-hall is a costly business, the maintenance costs often being as much as £l6OO a week. Of this £5OO goes in rent, £2OO •n bands, and £5O in lighting. . — Stamps to the number of more than Iplf a million, and worked into artistic designs, have been used for papering one Fpom and the hall of a house in Simon’s Town, South Africa.