NeWs Items.

Colonist, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7814, 15 December 1893, Page 4

NeWs Items.

(From our latest Exchanges.) London pays four millions sterling ' a year 1 for the gas she consumes,; but tli 9 decrease cod sequent upon < leotrio lighting has began, and when competition has brought down the price of fittings greater redactions will; Jojlav?. '•"' : - " Experiments made by the scientists appointed fro* ' th&"' purpose by the ! French Government sbow that the resistance of the atmosphere to the motion of a high epsed train of ton amounts to half the total resistance which the locomotive must overcome. At a meeting of the Bank of England Governors recently it was stated as an interesting fact that the capital in the United Kingdom in banking operations is about £900,000,000 of money, £80,000,008) more than the whole employed by France, Germany Austria, and Eussia combined. A beport from EM. Consul at Zurich, Switzerland, dated Bep ember 26th, states that the 50,000 signatures, which the SwißS Socialist Party nndsrtook to collect for the purpose of introducing a cause into the Federal Oonstitdiion, embodying the "right to have work provided," havebsen handed to the Federal Council, and a referendum will have to decide as to the admission of this clause. If the demand is accepted, which is said to be unlikely, Switzerland will be the first country to guarantee work to every one of its citizens willing to accept it. The skilled workmen of Switzerland are actively, engaged in organising the unskilled, the foinieif finding it impossible to improve their position unassisted* A powerful inducement to join existing ofginisations is also said to be foublin the faoUbattbey afford some support in times of distress and want of work.i .■-,-- • ■■■■■!■■« ■ '■■■"™> '•— "■-■ ■'■ ::v - u The Bath. — A bath is cooling or stimulating according, to the friction applied An authpnty on this subject gives the following' preßoription for a cool or summer bath*, A dip into cool water ; white sbap^ if the skin needs eieatfsmg ; mop dry firat with a sponge and, then with a soft towel. This sort* of a bath; has a wholesome effect on children, and is particularly good for yoribg motherß and nurses who neeS to' economise i. their strength;, The bath taken with the friction of flesh brashes andooarae towels is stimulating and: should be followed by rest or some light nourishment to counteract t'ae exhaustive results, There 'are 7,000,000 pore* in the body. These windows of the respiratory system are wide open after a stimulating bath* and if convenient to go from the bath to (he bed the very beet results will be obtained. A catnap of five or ten' minutes will iprevent an attack of cold and give the, ibody the sensation of accumulated force. The sanitary value of the sponge path can hardly be exaggerates. ; I A distressing instance of 1 the disaster attending the failure of the banks in Melbourne is offered by the estate of the late Mr Justice Kerferd, who died on the last day of 1889, leaving a widow and ■' eight g^own-up children. ißy his will he direoted that the estate, jwitb the exception of his residence, should be realised, and the net proceeds invested in public debentures or the shares of incoorporated banks for the benefit of the widow and children. surplus amounted to. and of this amount a sum of about ifißß97 waß-WpJunV : and July 1891 'invested in shares of the Commercial Back, the National Bank, and the jOity of Melbourne; Bank, the prices paid averaging jGlli, £10 12s, ana £6 4s respectively. All theso bank) u thia year suspended payment, and under the schemes of reconstruction the estate is called upon to pay a total sum of about £5285 upon the shares. The sale of the property at Glen Iris will be insunicient to meet these demands, asd the consequence is thai the tvHow and obildren are liiely" to be UfV nenwil^ :

Fabmb for tlie prppogation of froga l^»ve been gitajrted in the Ohg§§peake The city of New York alone consumes 60,000 of the legs of these creatures annually. They are now sold canned. In Vienna, the frogs are bougbt by the 30.000 or 40,000, and kept in pits, the months of which are covered with boards. Edison's latest invention is precious stones. It is aaid his rabies are equal to the real thing, and that his emeralds defy detection. The price will place these ''gems" within tha reach of even the domestic Mary Anne. Several weasels have la'ely been seen in the neighborhood of Boatman's (sayß the Beef ton ' Guardian '), and a number of the mischievous vermin have been caught. Settlers wou'd do , well to keep an eye on their fowl yards, as the weasel is very partial to poultry. These new pests are also reported to be getting numerous in and arorind Hokitika. In sorithern districts they are reported to be making great havoc amongst native groand birds. rr Think of living. ' Thy life, were thou thepitifnllest of all the daughters of earth, is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. It is thy own, it is all thou hast to front eternity with, — Carltle. ' OADBURY'S 00001. 11 Of the bighestdegree of purity.' —Health Man postpones or remember a ; he does not live in the present, bat with r^verfced eye' laments the pust, or heedleas of ihe riches that snirouod him, stands on tiptoe to foraes the future. — Emerson. A curious discovery has recently been made in arboriculture. Most people know that r ad,; o l over -will not fertilise unless visited, by bumble bees, who dnly mix the pollen, of the flowers. But nobody suspected until lately that fruit trees were equally dependent upon the insect world. Yet tbia proves to be the case. With the object of preventing the dissemination of blight by insecs the experiment was made of excluding insects altogether Irom access to a plantation of /mit trees. The result was *hat though the trees blossomed profusely no fruit set. This was tha case with all the varities of app es and pe-irs with which the trial; was made. They escaped blight, bat they bore no fruit. This may be news to New Z- aland fruit-growers, and useful too. iccoRDiNG to German political prophets pngland has to look forward to the formation of a vast and powerful French Colonial Empire in the East, which will one day menace the prosperity of British dominion and influence in those parts. The whole of Biam will be gradually swallowed up, like Ooohin China, Cambodia, Annam and Tonkin, and the French will take good care that the negotiations for regulating the onsfcoms and commercial relations with their vanquished adversary will reboand to the advantage of their own country. ALukiNiuMisnot, section for section, a very strong metal. It is only one half as strong as wroaght iron. It has a very low elastic limit. It is not rigid, but bend 3 under a transverse strain readily. It is in its alloys that its utility commences fcj appear. With from eight to twelve per cent of copper, or aluminium bronze, we have one of the densest, finest-grained, and Strongest metals known. An account of a very plucky attempt at rescue reaches an English paper from Lahore. An orderly of the officer commanding at Bauger tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into a well 45 ft deep, daptain Griffin, of the Ist Bengal Cavalry, was ia bed at the time, and heard a splash, but did not know what it was. Hearing groans, however, he jumped up, and without hesitation lowered himself by a ropg to the bottom of tHe well. The night wa's pitch dark. When Captain Griffin reached the bottom, he found that the man bad sunk in the ten feet of water there was in the well. Meanwhile Mrs Griffin collected a few servants and let down a lamp lor her husband to see by. He dived three or four ume3, and at last got hold of the man. He then tied a rope round him and had him hauled up. Just as the man reached the surface— he was then alive — the men en the rope jerked, and the m *n got loose irpiri itandfell to the bottom again. Captain Gtiffin went down again and fastened him to a rope and got him up. The man was alive when he reached the surface; but died a few minutes afterwards. The Chinee Government expresses satisfaction "with the agreement between Sir Mortimer Dnracd, British Commissioner, 'ana the Ameer of Afghanistan, respecting the Osus frontier. * ' \ i; THE HABIT OF HEALTH. ' ThoQonßtant aaa ofPKA^B' Soap.