MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— In the quarter ending September 30 last 83,947 boy babies and 80,062 girl babies were born in England and Walee. — Among the edible fish little known to the "general shopping public are saithe, ling, gurnard, megrims, witches, and cat-fish. — With a total capital of £1,716,915, jio fewer than 115 companies to promote dog racing have already been registered in England. —A toy balloon sent up in the English Lake District was picked up the next morning by a shepherd girl in Poland, a thousand miles away. — Cafes and similar places outnumber bakeries in France by more than ten to one. Paris alone has one drinking establishment to every 75 inhabitants. — Guy’s Hospital. London, was founded by Thomas Guy, a bookseller at the time of Queen Anne. — Eating an apple after a meal or at bedtime is almost as good for cleansing the teeth as a good brushing. — Flying upside down for lOmin 58sec, a. German aviator named Fisler recently established a record at the Zurich (Switzerland) flying field. —ln spite of the magnificent work of the L.C.C. in rehousing schemes, there are still 200,000 houses unfit for habitation in unhealthy areas in London. —Although £lOO,OOO has already been spent on the safeguarding of St. Paul's Cathedral, it is not expected that the work will be completed before 1930. — The first moving picture was produced in 1894 by Alexander Black. It was entitled “ Miss Jerry.” Black was the author of the scenario, director, and cameraman. — It is good to hear that all the vessels of the Bibby Line are now fitted with separators, which recover "-ast” oil and prevent its discliarge into the sea. — The British taxes u;-....„■ ..ie war equalled £3 Ils 4d a head; to-day they are £l4 11s Bd. — The space round Dante’s tomb at Ravenna, Italy, is to be cleared, and the tomb is to be preserved with greater respect. — The Great Western railway engine King George V, which was shown at the Railway Exhibition at Baltimore, U.S.A., was seen by some 2,300,000 visitors. — Kitty M’Hale. aged 13, broke all records at Wombwell. Yorkshire, by skipping 3028 hops without a break. It was her response to a challenge from a girl ‘who had skipped 1722 hops. .-The engagement is announced of Miss Joan Fry, the international lawn tennis player, to Mr B. E. Pagden, of Port Elizabeth, whom she met when touring with the British women’s team in South Africa. — Records show that when .William It made the New Forest as ’ a hunting ground, 20 villages, some quite large and about a dozen hamlets were destroyed. —An Italian fruit hawker seen in London recently was selling Spanish nuts, Seville oranges, and American apples. On his barrow was a notice, “ Empire Produce.” No new churches have been built in the last 10 years in 13 English dioceses, including Canterbury, Bristol, Carlisle. Coventry. Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, and Southwalk. — Most of London’s street traffic accidents are due to trade and commercial vehicles, followed by private motor cars, motor cycles, omnibuses, push bikes and tramears, in that order. — The Government of Czechoslovakia lias presented a wonderful glass chandelier* to the new cathedral in New York. It - contains over 1000 pieces of glass, and 40 men worked a year to make it. • — Tobacco imported into Great Britain from the Dominions overseas increased 15,953,3591 b in 1925 to 33,958.1591 b in 1927. One company is now engaged in marketing nothing but Empire tobacco. — lhe largest flower grows in the island ot Sumatra, a Dutch possession in the East Indies. The botanical name of it is Amorphophallus, and it i s related to the arum family of plants. The fullgrown flower may be Bft high. — The chain of office worn'by Middlesbrough s Mayor is not yet paid for. although it was bought 50 years ago. Of the original price of £250, only £177 has been paid off, and at the present rate of repayment it will take another 20 years to wipe off the debt. Eastern custom was observed at the fc- 4 v- ‘Jalsiduta (8000 tons, bcindia Steam Navigation Company, Bombaj) at Lithgow s yard, Port Glasgow when flowers were placed on the bows’ on thThiffi go °i d ll ’ ck si ' OT was l ,aintc d on the hull, and a coconut was broken against the vessel’s side. T ’l rim Eiver - in China, rises in WeH-watered mountains, and has a .length which t it a L lUn( l Jrad ’P lles ' over a Part B of £h’ch it exceeds in size many of the wellknown rivers of the world. But it never fiats h o S f Sea \ In the sanda and salt DXr? le . eastern 1 part of tlle Tarim t the river is lost by evaporation.