Brief Mention.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5333, 10 August 1895, Page 2

Brief Mention.

English barmaids earn on an average 10a a week. Drunkenness is very rare amongst Japa« nese women. Eoman women at one time tisod to oba7o and grow beard*. England hae twenty-two certificated lady sanitary inspector-;. A Russian is not legally of age until he iatwonty-aix years old. The fint envelope ever made is in the possession of the British Museum. It is estimated that 90,000 conversations take t>laoe daily over the telephones in New York. It is claimed that Lake Erie produces more fish to the square mile than any body of water in the world. There are eoarcely ever fewer than 200 ships near Land's End leaving or bearing up for the British Channel. It is calculated that in moving about from one place to another, the people of England spend abont .£150,000 a day. It iB not generally known that, with certain exceptions, the population of the British Isles is liable to conscription for the Militia. The Weat India migratory crab is the only creature that is born in the sea, matures in fresh water, and passes its adult life on land. There are 800,000 more widows than widowers in England. In Prance for every hundred widowers there are one hundred and ninety-four widows. A nine -month -old infant died from nicotine poisoning in Scotland recently. It wub given a pipe, as a playing, daring the brief absence of its mother. The death of Lord Selbourne leaves Sir Henry James with the distinction of being the one man living who has refused the seals of the Lord Chancellorship. The record of the largest number of notes struck by a musician in twelve houra ia said to have been made by a well-known player, who struck 1,030,300 noteß. If there were but one potato in tfao world, a careful cultivator might produce 10,000,000,000 from it in ten years, aiid that would supply the world with seed once more. A female money-lender sued a tailorees in the Bow County Court for money lent, interest on the same being charged at the rate of 1000 per cent. The jndge let the borrower off lightly. Considerable demand is springing up for aabe3tos plates. They are of use in very hot ovens and on heated stoves for protecting the bottoms of kettles, saucepans, and other weapons of the cook. Some years ago, a lady took out a patent for perforated bed-clothing. . Her contention was that the sleeper ran less risk of incurring rheumatism and lumbrgo if the perspiration was allowed to escape. Two English gentlemen succeeded in croßßing the Channel, from Dover to Calais, in a tandem oycle boat, the journey occupying seven hours and a quarter. The boat was 24ft long, fitted with a paddle cycle. The smallest city in the world is the miniature place known as Steward City, Alaaks, United. States, its three inhabitants being respectively Mayor, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, and President of the Common Council. An improvement on the ordinary water* ing-can has been patented by Mr E. Gamble, of Hastings. It consists of a perforated plate inside the rose, which can be operated by a lever from the handle, co as to adjuet the spray of water aa desired. The Dnke of Northumberland, whohaß just been celebrating his eighty-fifth birthday, and surprising everyone by hit wonderful vigour, is one of the very few survivors of the unreformed Parliament, having from 1831 to 1832 represented Beeralston. . . ■ ; . The life of a diver will be moro comfortable in future than it haß been hitherto. A German has invented a Email huuße capable of holding four or five persons, which may be imraerß'd and used in work* ing sunken ships or valuable wreckage of other charaoter. Among the many unforeseen reßults of the war between China and Japan is an enormous diminution in the supply of camphor, and uuless some serviceable substitute can be found, the moths are likely to hold high carnival among our put* away clothes ere long. At a sale which took place recently in Carnarvonshire, an old and very dirty picture was bought for £5 by a gentleman, who sent it to Christie's in order to ascertain if it was of any value. The painting is believed to be a missing Rubens, and is roughly valued at £7000. Old newspapers are said to be of value in wrapping up winter clothing in the summer, beoause the printers' ink is aa noxious to the moths and their larva aa camphor and coal-tar. Being impervious' to air, they also make good wrappers for ice and for liquids which it is desired to keep cool. According to the trials of carrier pigeonß, recently made in the American Navy, these birds are likely to prove very useful at sea in carrying despatches. Only 10 per cent of the pigeons sent off failed to return "home," andßomeof the "homers" covered 200 miles of ocean at a speed of 30 miles an hour. The first drinking fountain in London was erected on Snow Hill thirty-seven years ago, and to-day the association which caters for man and beast in this reapeot has erected and maintains 700 fountains for human beings, and over that number of drinking troughs for cattle, in the treefcs and open spaces of London. We learn from an Amerioan contemporary, that a church at Boston has announced Sunday services at 8.30 in the morning during the early summer months, in order to accommodate those people who take an outing on Sundays, " and by reason of so doing feel compelled to absent themselves from Church eervioea later in the day." At Venice, when anyone dies, it is the custom to fix a placard on the front of the dead person's house, as well as in the neighbouring streets, as a sort of publio notice, stating his name, age, place of birth, and the illness of which he died, affirming also that he received the holy sacraments, died a good Christian, and requesting the prayers of the faithful. This is the method of making tea in Thibet : For six persons, boil a teaspoon* fnl of tea in three pints of water for ten minutes, with a heaping dessertspoonful of soda ; put the infusion into the churn with one pound of butter and a small tablespoonfal cf salt. Churn until the combination is as thick as cream. Thibetans prize butter for its age— forty, fifty, or even sixty years old 1 To be " hanled over the coals " is a saying which is generally understood to mean being brought to task for short* comings. The phrase owes its origin to. ' the fact that at one time, if the King or baronß wanted money, the Jews were made to find it, and were put to torture if at all obstinate. One common form of torture was to haul them over the coals of a slow fire ; in other wordß, to give them a partial roasting. There will be seven stations on the Jungfrau railway, all, save the first, bored in the live rock. Each station will contain dining rooms and miniature bed* rooms, resembling the etate-rooms of a steamer, to enable travellers to pasß a night at various altitudes. The exits of each station lead to pathways by which passengers may continue the ascent on foot if they wish. The lift by which the Bummit is reached rises 216 ft, and there is a spiral staircase for those who prefer to US9 it. An exhibition of curious old clocks and watches has been organised at the London Aquarium. Among the two thousand examples acquired are several of sptoiat interest. Of the general exhibits one of the most interesting is a dock built by a pious Scotchman a century and a halt ago. To guard against any possible consequences of breaking the Sabbath, he so constructed it that at . midnight on Saturday it stopped dead and never to much as tioked until Monday morning began.