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Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12460, 9 February 1909, Page 4

The Maoris state that the katipo : spider retires to an underground cell ; in the winter months \y_ and passes ; them in a torpid condition, when it--may be handled with impunity. j ■'■- Rice paper is not made from, rice, . but from the membranes of .^he bread ; fruit tree. . .1 „ ' '■ ' .'.-'■■. ■'■■■' i In- a creek near Ngatapa the other : day (says 'v the ' 'Manawatu~ . Standard") there was found an old-time rifle, evidently a relic, of tne fighting in that vicinity. 40 years ago. . At Tauton, which has a population of 23,000, only four deaths were registered in one week in December. These were two men and two women, their ages being 80,. 85, 86, and 88 years, giving the average of nearly 85 years. One of them was an in- ■ mate of the Workhouse. j Experiments have . recently been made in Berlin to ascertain the height at which a balloon may be' considered immune from hostile rifle shots. Captive balloons were sent up, and they, were shot at from angles of" from. 15 to 45 degrees.- Balloons travelling at a height -of from 600' to "2000 yards " could be hit only once out of every six shots, while they were perfectly safe at a --height of 3000 yards.

A Belgian has designed a new type of aeroplane. This inventor has selected as his model those insects which belong to the locust or cricket variety and he has therefore named his machine the "Orthoptene," because he hopes that it will reproduce exactly the mode of flight adopted by the insects belonging to the orthoptera class. The wings will have an area of six square yards,. and motor power will be obtained through a 100 h.p. motor, weighing only about 2201b5. The weight of the whole contrivance will not exceed 8701bs. Mr Keir Hardie, in the course of his speech on the Unemployed Amendment Bill debate, declared that, taking the skilled and unskilled workers togethI er, there were 2,250,000 people out of 1 j work, and that, allowing for their I dependents, this" gave the appalling * total of 6,750.000 persons whose condition the House of Commons was "considering. - # ■ According to a West Coast exchange,, there are signs that the Grey . river is about to change its course. / During the last few years it has en- j croached perilously near to the, grand- I stands at. the Omato . racecourse, while at low water the river is some distance' from the place where it used to flow some time ago. It is suggested that, the" stream will be diverted to a narrow channel which leads off *- oh, the Goal Creek side of the river. M. Eiffel builded -better than he knew, for tbe^ Eiffel- Tower, having been tho ' chief ornament of an international exposition', baa since then been of .toe 'greatest service in scientific expetiment. Investigations of meteorological phenomena, of wiud currents, of atmospheric . electricity, as well as of the pressure" of air on falling planes, bave been made by the meaDg of it; anL" besides serving as.a ryepecb for adventurous], aeronauts, if; has for some \liime : past."served as a magnicfient ae-. rial-station for wireless* telegraphy. Regular comunioation -by means of it has been kept- up ; with Morocco, and the success ot .these ."aerogTams' 'has induced . the Government to tit the^ 3oo-metre tower, with a new ■ installation .of antennae, which will enable, communication to be maiDtainea over still greater distances. _ ,-."!.