BRIEF MENTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 3130, 9 December 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRIEF MENTION.

In Paris there are over 1000 professional fortune-tellers. The parchment on the best banjoes is made of wolfskin. A perfumer m Cannes uses iv, eu'.y tors, of violets every year. Edelweiss is said to grow vigorously on the chalk soil m the neighbourhood of Guildford. j Fifty years ago there were but 260 Roman Catholic priests m Kngland ; now there are 2500. Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company, and education mu-i (inish him. Mr Rudyard Kipling i> about to re.-vi«it Australia, "and will break the journey m South Africa. The doll is probably the nu*t- antique of toys. It has been found inside the graves of children of ancient Rome.. In Si Petersburg is the largest bronze statue m existence — that of Peter the. Great, which weighs 1000 tons. The Queen has commanded that osprey plumes shall no longer be worn m the army. Their place will be taken by ostrich feathers. At a sale m London a mseauy 1360 lihree lire yellow s^amp fetched £43 10s, another specimen, of a deeper shade, realising £35. Artesian wells were known, at Thebes as long ago as the time of Timerion, 2000 years before the beginning of the- Christian era. A church m London still po»ses.ses an income originally given to it for the purpose of buying faggots for burning heretics. It is said that so difficult is the art of cutting gloves that most of the principal cu f ters are known m the trade by name and by fame. ' Germany, m anticipation .if a war with France, has a golden treasure o: the. value of 960,000.000 marks stowed away m ,i sale place. The steepest public street m. England is at Ventnor, m the Isle of Wight, where Tulse Hill inclines to an average 1 m 4 to 4 feet. Little boys of Rome. 2000 years and mote ago were accustomed to "play knuc#!e-down with marbles of baked clay just as children do now. The Rhind manuscript, now m the British Museum, is tlie oldest intelligible nvithematical work extant that has ever l.>»t-i. deciphered. In stipends, salaries and wages to their numerous officers, clerks and staff, the Corporation of London spends yearly upwards of £100,000. ' ' ; The town crier at Cranbrook, who has died, was blind, as also was his successor, the office for seventy years having been held by blind men. ■ An engine-driver, who has just retireii from the service of the London and Northwestern Railway, has travelled 3.050,000 miles on engines. The Romish Church will commemorate the year 1900 by the erection of nineteen colossal cast-iron statues of Christ m different parts of Italy. ! Over £1000 m coin and notes, the proceeds of a theft, lay safely m an unlocked handbag m a cloakroom on the District Railway for five week-. . At Rotibaix. one of the Socialist strongholds of France, the 11,000 public school children receive free food and clothing, at the expense of the town. A Lutheran pastor, m a town m the Russian Baltic Province, has been sent to gaol for four mouths for speaking againit the Russian Orthodox Church. Miss Houldsworth, of Baling, who has been celebrating her 102 nd birthday, attributes her great- age to quiet, regular habits and " freedom from the worries of matrimony." : There are now about 40.000 miners at work m the gold-mines of Siberia. The grains of Siberian <jold are said to be on an nverage larger than those of any other part of the World. An apron is the Royal standard of Persia. Gao. a Perxiam blacksmitn, raised a revolt which proved successful, and bis leather apron, covered with jewels, is still borne m the van of Persian armies. An American claims to have invented, a telegraph instrument that will print messages m typewritten letters without the aid of an operator at the receiving office, which may be hundreds of miles away. It is not generally known that the sprat is one of the most difficult of fish to capture alive, as, when caught m the ordinary way, the fish dies when it comes m contact with' the meshes of the net. An exhibition of hair-dressing and toilet requisites has been ' held m London. It ivas stated that the rarest kind of hair was naturally eurlingg grey or white, which is worth three guineas an ounce. In Northern China many of tJie natives ar« draped m dogskin. There are many establishments where dogs of a peculiar breed are raised for their skins. They are killed when eight months old. The artificial incubation of eggs orogina.tfd m Egypt, where it is still aimed on. According to a Consular report, no fewer than 75.000.000 eggs are hatched m this way every year on the banks of the Nile. : A corps of ska.ters is attached to the Norwegian 'army, tihe mwnber-s being men selected for good physique and accurate markman.ship. These skaters can be manoeuvred upon ice or over the mountain. Anyone am distinguish a. poisonous s-pr-nent from a harmless- one. for a venomous snake invariably possesses a tviangula-rlv-shape<l head, and a blunt nose, wiliile its tail is con-espondintdy blunt and stubby. The biggest King m the world — m point of size, at any rate— is probably the Sovereign of Butaritari. who recently entered a protest against the British protectorate over the Gilbert- Isles. He weighs 21st 101 b. Saturday has always been observed .as Sunday m Raratonga, m the South Pacific, owing to the mistaken reckoning made by the early missionaries. The island legislature has just passed a Bill rectifying tlie matter. The custom of shaking hands, which, is the most common t-hiiii; among nations, mines undoubtedly from remote burbarissm. when two men meeting gave each other (heir weapon hands as a security against treachery. About 250,000 gallons of artificial wines are being made from barley <>veiy year m a large factory m Hamburg. The medical profession m Germany thinks very highly of the wine, and recommends it in, "the hospitals of that couinry. Baxter's, house at Acton is to be demolished. It was from this abode that the Puritan divine watched the progress of file Great Fire of London. The house has of late been occupied by a bird dealer. A bank will be elected on the site. Peeresses of Great Britain. Scotland, or Ireland by birth, marriage, or creation, are free from arrest or imprisonment on civil process ; and m tlie event of a Peeress l>eing charged with a criminal offence she would !><> tried by the House of Lords. A peculiar way of commit-tini: M iicide is said to be practised by the African tribes who dwell near Lake Nvassi. When a despondent tribesman tire's of life hv wari.>s inr-o the lake and patiently waits untir an alligator ;ipproauhes and kills him. Czar Nicholas 11. is .said to have an aversion to the needless slaughter of animals of any kind. He has recently foresworn the pleasure of the chase and tlie shooting nf game, and the birds and beasts m the , Imeprial preserves live m undisturbed quiet. The recent tripos- list at Cambric: _'? contain the names of no les* than ten natives of India, of whom three are Moiiamm. \U\ s. and one is a woman. It is .still more noteworthy that one a.p]Ksirs m the tiv-r ci.iss v\ classics, and another amongst (he AY rangers. It is stated that there ,ny niole priests, monks, and nuns m Jerusalem m proportion to tho population than m any other city m the world. They belong h> every nation of Kurope, and nuiuv of Asia, anil me of every creed, form of worship, and dress. Plans have been submit <<*1 to the Sotitlt-end-on-Sea Town Council for improving the svu-front. They include a s«i-wa'!l 60ft high, to surround a marine lake. The scheme is estimated to cost £300.000, and it carried out will vastly ; mpro\ii this famous seaside resort.