MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3805, 15 February 1927, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Greater London lias 2300 miles of streets, and their upkeep costs about £3,Q00,000 a year. — The longest-lived trees in Northern 12-rope are the pines of Norway and Sweden, but 570 years is the greatest period. — One famous orphan school in South London was closed recently owing to the lack of applications for admission. — One of the reasons why the flesh of the salmon is red is that it contains a pigment of that colour found in sea plants. — To evaporate one cubic foot of water requires the consumption of 7Jlb of coal, or about 11b of coal to one gallon of water. — High heels owe their origin to Persia, where they were introduced to raise the feet from the burning sands of that country. — The oyster probably provides more nourishment than any other food of the zsams» (Size or weight. It is also very easily digested. —A downpour of black rain which fell recently on Fresno, California, was coloured by particles of soot from an oil fire 90 miles away. — St. Peter’s at Rome will accommo- <' 54,000 persons, Milan Cathedral b.,000 persons, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, 25,000 persons. —lt is still the rule of an English bank that their staff must wear frockcoats while on duty. Thsy are also compelled to be clean-shaven. — Parisians who suspect adulteration in the food-or drink they buy can take it to the municipal laboratory, and have it analysed free of cost. — Left for a moment by the driver on a pass in- Wales, a motor car fell 150 ft down the mountain side, and was smashed to’ pieces. .— Women’s hats are now made different sizes in the same way as male headgear. This is due to the prevalence of shingling. . —According to a British recruiting return, 50,000 meh out of 80,000 candidates were turned down in 1923 as below the military standard. — In the towns of Chili most shops are open till midnight, and during the hot afternoons, when everybody takes a siesta, they are locked up. — France spends nearly three-quarters and Britain over half of the national expenditure on paying for past wars and preparing for new ones. . This year South Africa will probably export 200,000,000 oranges, and it is expected that in five years she will be exporting 1,000,000,000. In America it is becoming quite a usual thing for a wealthy man to devote at least a portion of his riches to the development of public education. — The world’s record cheese was made in the United States. It weighed UOOIb, and was 9ft in circumference. It was made out of ssoo quarts of milk. —By absorbing its suburbs, the Japanese city of Osaka has raised its 'population to 2,000,000, and it is claimed that it is now the fifth city in the world. The town of Simla, in India, is built on the side of a steep hill, and the roof of one house is often level with the foundation of the house on the next tier. — Representing nearly three and a-half years work, at a cost of £2OO for materials, a model locomotive weighing scwt has been bought by the South Kensington Museum. — For climbing to the top of a high tree in the dark and rescuing a black kitten, Mr George Baker, of Aidershot, England, has received the R.S.P.C.A bronze medal. — The British Office of Works has accepted the offer of the Colleges of Pestology to rid Hyde Park, London, of caterpillars by removing the cocoons.’ — Crocodile leather in various bright colours is being tried out in making men’s shoes. It remains to be seen if this new fashion will be popular. — The tolls collected by the Panama Canal last year amounted to £4,600,000. In March 506 vessels, with 2,600,000 tons of cargo, passed through. — Garden and other produce of an estimated weight of nearly 1,000,000 tons is dealt with annually at Covent Garden, .London s famous market. ~~, A Persian cat belonging to Mr J. Dunkerley, of Sheffield, England, gave birth recently to a remarkable kitten. It had two heads, six perfect legs, and two tails. Smoke in industrial areas so pollutes the air that town dwellers receive onlv one-third of the sun’s ultra-violet rays' which those who live in the country en-/ joy. — Spain announces that though she is withdrawing from the League of Nations she will continue her co-opera-tion with the International Labour Office at Geneva. , * ,~ An . improved typewriter brush, which includes three brushes in one is designed to reach' all parts of the machine that require cleaning. — Every question asked in the British . arliament is estimated to cost, in printing, research, and so on, an average of £1 as to ask and answer.-, — Every officer and man in the Navy . and Royal Marines may now be ordered to make occasional flights in aircraft as part or his ordinary duties. Among the cold-blooded animals there are many cases of latent life. Snails, water-beetles, frogs, and fish can all be frozen, and yet remain alive. g AV’ br ? ed , er , s must keep a record ot all cattle raised by them, each animal having a registered trade number engraved on a ring fastened to its ear — Long nails, it is stated, never in’dicate such great physical strength as short, broad ones. Very long finger-nailed and S °lungs le aPt baVe delicate chests the last 21 months British air liners have flown nearly 2,000,000 miles and carried 25,000 passengers, without a single mishap involving injury to either passengers or crew. — There is a fresco in the Peers’ Corridor, House of Lords, depicting the embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers. They are shown hoisting the Union Jack—more than 200 years before it came into use. — Iwo thousand and ninety-nine new postage stamps were issued during the 12^ ths / b, ; in Sing the world’s total up to 4t>,378 standard varieties, exclusive of shades, perforations, and so on.