BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7232, 19 October 1901, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

♦ The Italian salt tax brings m £8,000,000 a year. Bath has the hottest springs in England, 115deg. Fahr. John JSuIL make* £3,700.000 a year out of rhs po?li office. Arrowroot comes from the bulbs of South American cannas. Over 1.0G0.000 patients pass through the London hospitals every year. Nut. saii-agH's are "the • latest thing in vegetarian circles in London. France has 2998 collieries, with a joint yield of 25.000.000 tons a year. Out of 100 deaths in London. 40 take place in winter and only 12 in summer. An American ship's life averages eighteen years ; that of a British vessel twenty-six. A shipyard at Ominato, Japan, still in operation, was established over 1900 years ago. The golden eagle has great strength. It. lifts and carries oft" with ease a weight of 8011). Spain has a population of 17,500,000, of which number 11,000,000 cannot read oi write. Only one passenger is killed in 6,947,131 railway journeys and only one in 568,402 is injured. Africa lias nearly 700 languages, and this fact presents great diifleulties to missionary effort. No person under sixteen yeare of age is permitted to enter a theatre or tavern in Heligoland. One inch of rain falling upon one square mile is equivalent to about 17,500,000 gallons of water. The dew that is annually deposited on the surface of England is equal to five inches of rain. One hundred and twenty firemfn. are required to feed the furnaces of a first-class Atlantic steamer. By the death of the Empress Frederick, the Duchess of Fife now becomes Princess Royal of England. Of squirrel" skins the tails are the most valuable part, being used for fur boas and for making camels' hair paint-brushes. The largest tobacco factory in the world is that belonging to the French Government at Lille. It turns out 50,000 tons a year. Eight million pounds' worth of fish are landed at English ports every twelve months. This includes shellfish, but not salmon. 1 The first practical electric motor ever exhibited was at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873. It was a pump worked by j a wire 1400 yds lon^- . ' England spends £8,400,000 a year on her paupers; Scotland, £900,000 ; Ireland, £1,400.000; France spends altogether less than £1,5.00.000. A plant that grows in India, called the philotacea. electrica, emits electric sparks. The hand which touches it immediately experiences a shock. § The long tails of the Shah of Persia's horses are dyed crimson for 6in at f their tips — a jealously-guarded privilege of the ruler and his sons. # Poan- per cent of the population, of the United Kingdom speak Gaelic, including' 660,000; in Ireland, 350,000 in Wales, and 230,000- in Scotland. In Zante, one of the lonian Islands, there is a petroleum spring which has been, known for nearly 3000 years. It is by Herodotus. It is a strange fact that the right hand, which is more sensible fo the touch than the left, is less sensible than the latter to the effect of heat or cold. . London hospitals have 9100 beds, of which* over 1500 are usually vacant for lack of funds. Paris has 9000 'hospital, beds, andi thirteen asylums with 10,000 more. : In London there are 336 places licensed for public entertainments, giving accommodation for 400.000 persons, and since 1889 the seats have been " increased by i 100,000. I For the last 1700 murdters committed in the United! Kingdom, only 57 criminals i were executed 1 . Two hundred: and ninetynine were sentenced to death, but 142 were fouim! insane. People are most liable**© fever between the ages of fifteen amd twenty. Two hundred and nine out of every 1000 cases* are of that age. There are onily ten under five I and two over fifty-five. How absurd it is to keep up the distinction between classes on lines like the Metropolitan and London District! .Why mot . follow the admirable example set by tlhe i " Twopenny Tube," where there is only a single class? So far as behaviour is con l cerned, your workman passenger by the "Tube" is seen to be as good a gentleman as any of his "betters." — "Daily News." The smallest motor-car in <the world anay be seen at the Pan-American Exposition. Ir. belongs to a minute person named Chdqxiita, who is 26in high. The car is a miniature duplicate, all complete, of a fullgrown electric victoria, and "can run 2000 hours. The step is 4ia from the ground and the cushion is 14in wide. The 12in wheels 'have l^in pneumatic tyres, and the front and rear axles are 14in apart. Even with its hood up the car does not reach an ordinary man's elbow. The Romain record an swimming has just been broken by two Italians, not for swiftness, but for the length of time they were j in the water. Under a burning sun, and j with a strongish, wind, they took to the water, Signor Moctalboddi accomplishing twenty -five miles in 7hrs 35min, and Signor Alfieri the same distance in 7hrs 55min. This means, of course, continual swimming' without a break. Both arrived at their destination without great exhaustion or cold. Statistics have recently been collected of the height of 10,000 English boys and men. At the age of 17 (says the "Family Doctor ") these averaged sft 3in ;. at the age of 22, sft 9in. At 17 they weighed 10 stone 21b ; at 22, 10 stone 131 b. No nation is j increasing in height and weight so rapidly as the British. In- 50 years the average has gone up for the whole nation from sft 7£in to sft Bjjin. The average height of th» British upper classes at 30 year's of age is sft B£in, of the farm labourer sfb 7 3-sin. A sixteen-year-old girl an the pulpit is the attraction of Holy Trinity Baptist Church, Brooklyn. She preaches morning and evening, and is able lo make her hearers forget that she is only a young girl, who ordinarily would hardly aspire to anything more important in church work thao Sunday School teaching. This girl began preaching when she was only thirteen, andfrom the first she was able to hold the attention of. her audiences and to impress them vrii'h her erudition and earnestness. Sir Hiram Maxim is more enthusiastic and confident than ever about the future of electricity. He declai-es that in t?he United States more than 4.000. 000.000d0l have been s-pent in the last sixteen years on electric:il plant, the greater part of which had been for electric traction. Electric traction ] had worked a comulete revolution in the i social condition of the people of the United States. In New York city people once obliged to live an the town had now been able to move out, and the property in the suburbs had increased in value tenfold. The Manchester. Ship Canal, which was inspected by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London recently, has an interesting history. The first canal to Manchester was made by the Duke of Bridgwater in 1759, and in* 1773 was extended to Runcorn. This diminished the oast of die transport from Liverpool to Manchester by one-half. Several eifi.ru were made during the fii-st half of the lusr century to start Jarge^ canals between Manchester and Liverpool, but all attempts were in vain, the canals being absorbed by the growing railway power. The rim mo vf in em. *»£ a. public nature was made by Mr Adaw.son, an engineer, and a, man of 'immense energy. He o;ilied a meetn:£ at Didsburv in June, 1882, when a ■;ii:u-uilee fund was raised, and it was resolved to apply to Parliament for a Bill. The idea appealed to all classes, especially to Lancashiie working-men, who sa.w in it a prospect of employment and the certainty of an^expeirditme of capital in the district. The Bill passed both Houses in 1885, and the first Mid \v;is turned- on November 11, 1887.