MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3889, 25 September 1928, Page 75

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—Cardiff has to-day not a single house unfit for human habitation. Edmonton, in North Landon, has sent a shield to Edmonton, Canada, for competition among schoolboy cricketers. —More than 40 icebergs were noted in one day by the Cunard liner Ansonia during a recent voyage from Canada to England. Precious stones are smuggled into the United States to such an extent that it is estimated that half the diamonds and other gems sold- there have never paid duty. —Apartments are so scarce in the larger German cities that thousands of young married couples are condemned to live for years in boarding houses or with their parents. —Nearly 3000 miles of canals are in use in England. —An open-air school roofed with vitaglass has been opened at Hastings, England. —Motor ears are more widely used in the provinces than in London. —The food and drink consumed by the average man each year weighs about a ton. —Great Britain has £4,000,000,000 invested in foreign countries. The figure for the United States is not much more than half this. —Milk contains 874 per cent, of water, while cauliflowers contain 90£ per cent., cabbages 89J per cent., and tomatoes 91J per cent. —Milk made from soya beans can be used for every purpose to which the product of the cow is put, including cheese making. ■ —Bath, England, has had a “ Book Week.” arranged by the municipality, with an exhibition to show the evolution of a book. —lnsurance against wet weather is growing in favour in Great Britain. Race, tennis, and aviation meetings are all insuring their gates. —Two new engines a week and 30 overhauled and repaired is the working capacity of the L.M.S. railway locomotive works at Crewe. London.

—Copper kettles and frying pans, worth about 35s each, were found in a sackful of kitchen refuse collected from a military cookhouse at Aidershot. - —There are 15 divorces for every hundred marriages in the United States of America. The majority of wives who divorce their husbands do so on the plea of cruelty or desertion. —After disappearing from a Norfolk church in 1919, a piece of silver plate has just been bought in a London saleroom. 1 he cup to which this belongs, which also disappeared, was recovered in 1921. —Every known Scottish word will be included in the new dictionary which is projected by an Aberdeen professor. The work will take about 10 years to complete. The first Scottish dictionary was produced by a Scottish minister in ‘lBOB. —England manufactures thousands of millions of needles every year, and supplies practically every other country in the world. SO per cent, of the output of Redditch being exported. Yet no one has discovered where all the old needles go. —A cigarette machine which automatically “talks” to the purchaser as packets are delivered has been installed in a New York shop. “Cork tips protect the lips,” says the machine with one brand of cigarette. “It’s toasted” and “Thank you are spoken as other brands are delivered.

—The Secretary of State for the Colonies has recently been appealing to the public to smoke more Empire-grown tobacco. He emphasised its cheapness, but there are many people who actually prefer it to other kinds. Still more would do so if it was not for its tendency to dryness. But this can be rectified, either by mixing it with some moister tobacco or by placing a slice of apple or raw potato in the jar or pouch where you keep your supplies. There are now an infinite variety of tobaccos obtainable, and there should be something to suit every smoking taste. Even a synthetic tobacco was produced in Germany about 18 months ago. It consisted of specially prepared paper impregnated with nicotine, and chemically stained and perfumed to give colour and odour. —A woman passenger from Europe caused a sensation in rum-running circles by attempting to elude the New York Customs with small bottles of concentrated liqueurs fixed round her knees in the shape of garters. She had declared several small taxable articles which she had bought in Paris, and denied having any alcohol in her possession. As she walked away from the officials a clinking sound was heard. She was stopped, sent to the women searchers’ bureau, and the hidden bottles were disclosed,, disguised as garters ! —A new camera developed by the aerial corps of the United States Army is said to have a range of more than five miles, and will be capable of photographing an area of four square miles at an altitude of 30,000 ft, or beyond the reach of anti-aircraft guns. The prevent the shutter from freezing at extreme altitudes the camera will have an electrical heating system. The machine is operated automatically and fitted with a device which records the time the exposure was made, the altitude, and the length of the exposure.

—A curious-looking object was seen bobbing up and down on the waves at a North Wales coast resort. Vi’hen landed it was found to be a solid brown mass with a thick salt-like coating. This was removed and disclosed an Osram lamp bearing the identity mark of a place a mile and a-half across the water. The lamp was placed in circuit and lit up in the ordinary way, although it must have been tossed about in the sea for a long while.__ —lnhaling the smoke of quite a small number of cigarettes renders one liable to carbon-monoxide poisoning, according to Professor H. Hartridge. He found 6 per cent, of carbon-monoxide in the blood of a famous scientist, who complained of being unwell, and who said he ha<Loversmoked and inhaled. This was a day afterwards, and the percentage was probably greater just after the smoking. Speaking about coal gas poisoning, Professor Hartridge said that though coal gas_ could easily be detected by its smell, the olfactory mucous membrane was soon fatigued, and people could imagine they had got rid of gas in a rooia when they had not.