BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 4

BRIEF MENTION.

Great Britain lias ooe-f anr<sb.o£tbe 'Wealth of Europe, with -but one-nintlh, of tie population. Thirteen, millions sterling ia yeariy valne of the potatoes grown, in. iheaUmbed Kingdom. One hundred and twenty Ssstaan^are^tequired to feed -the furaaceo of-\a, first-rfasa Atlantic steamer. It has becui estimated by <conrpetent authorities that four tbbusandustags^are anr.ucally killed in Scotland. France has set up about 300 'monuments to more »r less disfcinguisfafiici;- PBeodmsea during the last twenty-five yeais. Endless -leather belts,- acting as-^movisg staircases, convey the patrons of^aJazgdi Pansian store from one floor to another. The Grand Canyon of the YefltHsstone River, .in America, with its magmficeßkandi gorgeons-colourmg, is from 12C©ft4»*K0Qft deep. Making*£he flies that are used asd&ftinjr bait is woric that is done for the most part by women. Men's - fingers do not iae^an neatly. Port Darwin was discovered by Captain Stokes, of tiu* Beagle, in 1839, and was named after 'his able naturalist, Charles <Darwin. The emerald improves in colour on«exposure to the ligl^ f Pearls kept i n the dark loee their lusfcae, but regain ifc on exposure to the sun. The English Sodety^of Railway Servants nas come to the conclusion thafc " tapsr" to railway porters, if not immoral, at least i tend to keep down wages • The largest parish in Lon-fon in poimSof arauis Lewiaham, winch jBS-5773-aras and the largest _m pap*da**>n is IsSngfcon, which : has now 330,000 inhabitants. • One hundred years ago the arkof laho-gtaphy-was originated by a.-man*jf *wentvtwo years, who lived in one of -tbo.jnnj.. Dlest of the- town of "Nhn6dx. The^ricar of Nafferton, aged eighty^aor was married to a wealthy clergyman's widow, sesrenty-nine- years of age. The bride was escorted to the <aJtar by?her nephew. Food is served in one of the London restaurants on electrically-heated plates,-W that the guests can eat leisurely and -stiftj have the viands .warm until the close- of the meal. The Duke of Beaufort is one of the»f«r people in England who have carried on*ex- ■ tensive experiments in the -breeding of the i large- moles used in Flanders and-Spam^for 1 light road work. A proverb found in one form-orsanother-in every European or Asiatic language having a is "Familiarity breeds contempt." Its earliest form is -believed to be of the Sangkrit. It is estimated* that the. output of the mines • at Butte and Anaconda, U.S.A., is over 11,000 A tons«i/ day of copper ore, and-that-this' will be increased 20-p^r cent -before the close of the present year. The Bratash Customs revenue for the year amounted "to £22,052,718, there being a great increase from tobacco. Tea had shown an inci^ased consumption of four and a half million pounds. Dr SeraphinuTff. of the Russian Observatory, at Pulkowa-, has located a star-like condensation in th c centre of the Andromeda nebula. This discovery will be of great importance to astronoit^ers. A German paper *calls attention to the fact that at Asehen. alone 800 tons of steel wire are useo.^ up annually in the manufacture of needlW— 4,500,000,000 in number, valued at £300,0*00. It is a mistake to suppose- that Spain is decaying. The population"- has nearly, if, not quite, doubled in the present century, and the country in itself is Lifinitely better off than it was a hundred years^igo. An attempt was made to cross the Alps in a balloon, but the wind canned it in a wrong direction. An altitude of' 20,670ffc was reached. The specially constraeted balloon was said to be capable of cairying 10ft tons. Electric tramways and launches-have*beeji installed in the. Paris sewers. Twiae a month, on two Wednesdays, visitors '*are admitted to -the number of about 1200, though the applications ate nearly always far more numerous. An exhibition for the purpose of celebrat- : ing Senefelder's invention of lithography of 1798 is being held by the Science and Art Department, Sonth Kensington, and samples of all branches^ of the art and works- of historical interest will be on view for about four months. In one of the Canary Islands there is a» tree of the laurei fannly that occasionally rains down in. the-,early5 v evening quite a copious shower of wate.tdrops from its tufted foliage. The water canes out through > innumerable little pores situated at the edge of the leaves. A process has been discoversdN by which sails for vessels of all kinds can' be made out of paper-pulp, and it is claimed thafc they serve auite as^well as. canvas, »and ara very much cheaper. They swell and flap in the wind like thevoid-fashioned article, and are supposed to bentctearable. The tinder bos and flint -are by no means to be accounted things of 'the past. Their' manufacture is still carried on in the village* of Brandon, on the borderswrf Norfolk and Suffolk, a large demand for this primitive form of lighting being created* by hot, damp climates, where matches cannot possibly be kept. To the utmost of their ability Russian military officers are agitating for increased pay. The position of the subalterns is the worst, and to meet their difficulties they ask for an advance of from twenty-four to> fifty shillings a month. The pay of a second 1 , lieutenant in Russia is £3 19s to £4 2s a month. One of the newest things in the' building line is the aluminium hut. A Pennsylpania firm is faid to be making this article for the* Kloudyke miners. When packed for 'carriage it weighs 1101 b. It is composed of four sidqs and a roof of thin sheets of aluminium, and when put up the house contains 190 cubic feet. Two inquests on persons named Smithwere held the same day in a London hospital. In the first case, a man named Smith was run over by a cart driven by a Smith, and three other Smiths were in attendanceat the inquest. In the other case— also » fatal accident to a man named Smith — both the parents of the deceased were present. The constable who gave evidence was- also a Smith, as were two of the jurymen. A new alloy has been discovered which is said to be a wonderful substitute for gold. It consists of ninety-four parts of copper to six parts of antimony. The copper is melted, and the antimony is added together with a little magnesium and carbonate of lime to increase the density. The* product can. be drawn, wrought and soldered like the precious metal, to which it bears a striking resemblance when, polished. The cost of manufacture is about* one shilling a pound. Messrs T. Wood and Son's jam factory a*. Swanley, Kent, has been besieged by bees, until the factory became on more, than one occasion unoearable to the workers. They settled upon the jams and syrups until the place was literally covered with them, and : the factory had to be closed for a time. The ,men, women, and girls, it is stated, were !- severely stung, and the bees for a time took I possession of the place. They were as speedi.'ily as possible stupefied, and subsequently, • on one occasion during the week, upwards of three bushels of bees were swept up. A singular instance of how daily companionship may induce friendship between two widely different intelligences is apparent at Market Drayton, where a man and ,i chicken are inseparable. The former is such a martyr to rheumatism, that'he is unable to follow his. occupation, spending most of his time by the j-ide of the fire. The latter is a little mongrel, tho only result of a sitting which was bought when a few days old for threepence, and was reared at the same hearth. Since then, the man and the chickea have been, sole companions, and now when the man hobbles out of doors, the chicken follows him about like a dog. The other day he had to make his way two miles or more into the country and back, the-cbickm perking beside him all the way, and a fortnight since it actually followed him through a busy market, keeping close to him as possible, and emerging without any mishap. It is certainly a singular case of friendship and quite as real on the part of the bird. as it is on that of its master.

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