GENERAL INFORMATION.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 17, Issue 58, 24 July 1906, Page 2

GENERAL INFORMATION.

The original manuscript of Scott’sj History of Scotland ha* been sold; lor £1,600 in America. .1. Most birds have three toes in front i and one behind,.but the woodpecker 1 , has two in front and two behind. * Grafting experiments conducted recently have produced a hardy variety of orange-tree which bears fruit in frosty latitudes. .J. — Sir William Soulsby, the well-known clerk to more than a score of Lord Mayors of London, has more foreign orders than any other civil personage in the country. * ; About seventy specimens' of the extinct great auk are now preserved in museums. A specimen recently sold in London brought £400.. * The happiest village in "Merrie England” is Twyford, Leicestershire, where a large number of labouring men are the owners of 1,000 yards of land property, which they have acquired by paying merely fourpence a week for for ten years. p There are 19,582 English newspapers in the .United States ; 741 German ; 65 Swedish ; 56 Spanish ; 51 French ; 35 Bohemian ; 33 Polish ; 25 Italian ; 18 Dutch, and 18 Hebrew. . *— ■ . A new metal derived from metallic tantalum, is so ductile that it can' be drawn into a wire 1/800 of anf inch in diameter. Mixed with unaltered oxide it becomes harder than the. diamond and, tougher than the best steel, and ai? moderate cost it would be the ideal battleship armour The use of milk of lime for quickly and effectively extinguishing fires in coal-mines is not a new suggestion, but it has been newly tested with satisfactory results. The emulsion—which can be used with hand or power-pumps—runs into and fills the crevices of the coal or mineral —v — One of the longest leases known was granted for a small piece of meadowland, some sixteen acres in extent, in Surrey. It is for the term of 2,900 years, and was granted on St. Mic- r ' hael’s Day in 1651, at the singular rental of a "red rose when demanded.” It is not stipulated that, the rose shall be the product of this land which is fortunate, for no such rose grows anywhere on the sixteen acres. The bird-eating spiders of South America, Africa, and Australia are beasts of prey worthy, of their tropical jungles. Their appearance is repulsive. ■ They are of immense size ; some which have been caught have" been nearly the size of a rat. They are of a dark, dingy colour, either quite black, or brown verging upon black, and the hair with which they are covered is mixed with, short, coarse bristles. * • The battleship “Victoria,” which was rammed and sunk by the “Oampcrdown”off Tripoli! had two 110-' ton guns on board ; but only two ships in the Navy carry, them now. The money paid for a single 1.10-ton gun would purchase six or about five guns for the Royal Field Artillery. The life of a modern gun is much-longer than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and ingenious inventions have contributed to manipulating the weapons more quickly and safely. ’ ' Severe snowstorms arc very costly affairs to the railway companies of . England, and it is a somewhat remarkable fact that the month of January, is the most unfortunate in this respect. It was in the early part of the year when a great snowstorm raged over some parts cf the country in 1891, the effect of which was to wipe, off something like £56, . 000 of the amount available to the Great Western Railway Company's dividend. That company had to excavate over 111 miles of snow, varying, according to the drift, from 3ft. to 1.0 ft., in which no fewer than fiftyone passenger trains and thirteen goods-trains were embedded. A curious freak of a baboon in a menagerie is recorded. She found time to look after not only her own youngsters, but also other wee monkeys. Nay, more, when extra moukeylings wore scarce, she was in tho habit of stealing kittens and puppy dogs, which she carried about with her wherever she went. The curious thing, however, was that, in spite of all this show of kindness she refused to share her food with her fosterchildren. A kitten which she had adopted wont so far ns to give her a good scratching for denying it food. Although the baboon was greatly surprised at this treatment, she did not lose her presence of mind but at once inspected the kitten's foot, and nibbled off the claws Of India’s 295 million inhabitants, only a quarter of a million speak the language of the Mother Country. Twenty-five distinct languages are employed, commencing with Hindustani and Bengali, spoken by 87 and 44 millions respectively ; Tclugu by more than 20 millions, Mahratha and Punjabi by nearly as many, and so on—nineteen languages, spoken each by .more than a million, till you come to such outlandish tongues as Karon. Mundari, Tulu, Oraon, and Khand—even these the tongues of more than the total English speaking there. China does not intend to remain indefinitely behind the times. Events have not been lost on her. Her awakening is coming, if slowly. All the world is discussing the question of a Russian Parliament, in view of the Czar’s proclamation regarding tho first National Assembly. In the year 191.7 China will adopt Parliamentary institutions. Russia must look to it that she is not beaten in the race by her unwieldy neighbour. A Chinese Commission is starting on a tour round the world specially to study the character and operation of Parliamentary Government in various countries. At tho same time n number of students are to be maintained abroad for the purpose of acquiring that insight into popular institutions which will permit of a new condition of things coming into operation twelve years hence. If there is to be nothing precipitate fbout tho proceedings, it at least is an earnest that China is prepared to follow at a respectful distance in the y wake of Jaoan. 1484.