BRIEF MENTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11998, 21 February 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

BRIEF MENTION.

Eggs recently sold at and 4d each in Pretoria. The French Government has twenty tobacco factories, of which three are in Paris.

_ Defective teeth led to 2451 soldiers beinoinvalided home- from South Africa durin? tiie war. °

A person usually begins to lose height at the age of fifty, and at the age of ninety has lost at least l£in. In the Bank of Kngland sixty folio volumes or ledgers are filled daily witk writm f m keeping the accounts. .. -i, ,?, ? m;llIe *t newspaper in the world is U lekgijuna," of Gaudalagra, in Mexico. p;Je\ U1 s l uare , and contains four

mPlfif 7 Stat€s finishes more than one-half of the world's supply 0 f swine more hau one-third its cattle, and oneseventh its sheep. The testament on which witnesses are sworn at Weston Police Court, near Bath « dated 1796. Medical authorities think ii is about time it was disinfected It is a curious fact that two out of eventing Insnmen who go to America remain m the Eastern States, while two out of

The Shah of Persia has more hard cash put by tnap any other Sovereign. ]„ | liß palace at Teheran the "king of kings" is supposed to have no less a su,„ il,-,„ £10,000.000 in specie. - . Another submarine of the Goubet tvne is to be built in Paris. It will have a displacement of ten tons, with- a speed of board ;.. man-of-war for use in the-ocean, or to explore the entrances of harbours and nvers.

A novelty m the way of an alarm clock has been perfected by an American jeweller. It :s about the size of a hazel-nut. It is made to wear on tk* finger. The alarm is not a bell, but a sharp pin, which pricks the finger at the time the man or woman wishes to rise.

We are. hvmjr in an age of decadence, and we pretend not to know it. There is not, » feature wanting, tliough we cannot motion the worst of them. We are Romans of tne worst period, given up to luxury and effeminacy, and earing for nothing but money.—G. W: E. Russell.

In these days of cheap literature, when the masterpieces of British- writers can be had for it is interesting to note that JUSt n™° , yciu ' s ll =° tll& ou "ntess of Anion gave 200 sheep, one load of wheat, one load at rye, and one load of millet for a volume o1 sermons written by a German monk.

The British Prime Minister has probably delivered more speeches in a single day than any other public man. Some time ago he delivered six speeches before as many public meetings within twelve hour* As each of the meetings was held with a distinctly different end in view, his task was not by any means an easy one. The War Office negotiations with the Duke „f Buceleuch, for a large tract of land m the south-east- of Scotland, for manoeuvre purposes, are now nearly complete. In all, 25,000 acres are to be acquired furnishing a ground fully ten miles lon» and several miles wide. The ground' is "hilly and Dot unlike the Transvaal in character '

According to information from a trustworthy source, says Reuters correspondent at Ilie Hague, the point in dispute which is to be referred to the arbitration of The Hague tribunal by Japan on the one hand and Germany, France and Great Britain on the other is the question whether foreign landowners in Japan are to pay only a laud tax or a tax on the whole of ' their real estate.

Professor Doughts, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Literature in the British Museum, lias obtained for the Museum a curiosity, in the shape of a Chinese banknote of tlie. fourteenth centurv, which was three hundred years prior to 'the introduction of paper money into Europe! ' The note in question was discovered in the ruins of a bronze statue, probably of Buddali, at Pekin.

The report that the King lias discovered some precious china in the kitchens at Windsor Castle should impress on humbler people the probable advantage to be gained from examining the contents of the kitchen and servants' rooms in old house's. On coming into a property recently. Some people found Victorian veneer worth, nothing in the drawing-room, and some Sheraton chairs, worth nearly £IOO apiece, in the housekeeper's room.

Berlin has a child exchange. The pooler people of the city who cannot afford outings send their children to country peasants, and receive in return, for an equal length of time, peasant children who wantto see the city. The plan lias worked so well that the charitable German women who originated it would like to extend it. There is even talk of exohjpgiiig children between neighbouring countries so that they will gain more valuable experience. India is, next to the United Kingdom, by far the most important member of the Empire. India maintains at her own expense :i well-equipped and powerful army, ready for service at any moment iu any part of the globe. In spite of- occasional famines, the wealth of India is enormous, and her financial position is far better than that of almost any 'European State.—" Graphic." The Hon E. W. O'Sullivan, the Minister of Public Works in New South Wales, can boast of having filled every' position on a newspaper, from the lowest to the highest. Born in Tasmania, at the age of ten he was installed as printer's devil in the office of the '■' Hobart Mercury.", He afterwards became successively compositor, reporter, subeditor, accountant, advertisement canvasser, publisher, editor and proprietor. ' To-day he owns both morning, evening and weekly journals. A material that can be carved may be made out of peeled potatoes, which, are prepared for this purpose by being first blackened for .thirty-six hours in eight parts of sulphuric acid to one hundred of water; it is next dried with blotting-paper, and then pressed. The French now manufacture pipes, in close imitation, it is said, of meerschaum, from this novel substance. A heavy pressure gives a material so hard that good billiard balls in imitation of ivory can be made, from it. A man who died recently left £IOOO to lils widow and eight children, of whom

- Maw is to receive £4O mure than the i.th.'f children, Nicholas £lO less. John £ll less than his brothers and sisters, Anna £7 10s less. Joseph, I'eteiy Gabriel and Frank receive each an equal part, which will be £4O less than that of Mary, £lO more than that of Nicholas, £l4 mure than that of John, am! £7 10s nunc than that of Anna." Tin- executors will bo well provided with interesting employment during the winter evenings. l'eople in Melbourne are beginning 1,-» say that in order to do any good in Victoria your name must be Clarke. The Governor is Sir G. Sydenham Clarke, the lale AgentGeneral in London was Sir Andrew Clarke, the first Victorian baronet was Sir William Clarke, the richest squatter is Sir 'Rupert Clarke, the new Bishop of Melbourne is Canon Clarke, the most prominent member of the Melbourne Stock Exchange is Mr A. Clarke, the chief Australian novelist is Mr Marcus Clarke, and "the handsomest Victorian matron" is Ladv Clarke.

Every evening for 262 years the bells of the mission of San Miguel, in Santa. Fe. Xew Mexico, have pealed forth the angelus. The mission of San Miguel, established bv the Spanish Jesuits in""1640, is the oldest, church in the United States. It was- built id" sun-dried bricks, or adobe, and has stood the test of time for nearly three centuries, tu the second oldest cite in the United Slates. Hut. old as it is, San Miguel is young beside other buildings neat it.' Oi.lv ill wtone's throw away is what is said to be the oldest in the new world, built in 1583, and a Spanish castle built in 1581, 321 years ago. The house is still used, and it was in a room of the castle that General Lew Wallace wrote " lien Hur." He was then in command of Fort Marey. The castle that witnessed the rule of the Spanish conquistadores is still habitable.