BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9321, 22 August 1908, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

At the Equator tho limit of perpetual j snow is 14,700 ft. i Tho "most beautiful palace in the world ia the Alhambra. Tho real value of a silver half-crown is only one and nineponce. There aro no fewer than Bovontyseven distinct dialects spoken in England. The largest church choir in England is that of the Foundling Hospital It has 200 members. • Tlie Channel Islands are the oldest appanago of the British Crown. They have been British since 1066. -'In Vienna no married man may make a balloon ascent without*, tho consent of his wife and children. . j A palm which grows in South America has a leaf measuring 50ft lon<£ and I 12ft broad— the largest in tho world. j An African woman, to be considered J beautiful, mast have small eyes, thick lips, a large, flab nose and an intensely black skin. The first muffs wero made for the use of doctors to keep their fingers soft and warm, that they might accurately feel tho pulse of their patients. Miss Emily Easton, of Gateshead (England), has placed £20,000 in trust for providing annuities for spinsters jn Northumberland and Durham. . Tho bride, bridegroom, officiating clergyman and all tho friends who signed the register at a wedding just solemnised at Fingest bore the name of Davis. A leading Swiss scientist declared that the Rontgon rays can be so applied that white horses become black. He is now e^&orimenting on old gentlemen's besMjSs. Fresh dipoveries have been made at Haltwhistle, Northumberland. A Ro--man fort of unusually small internal area little over half an acre, and ton previously unrecorded camps have been brought to light. An alien cannot own a British ship, or any . sha.ro or interest therein. A limited company, composed entirely of foreigners, can, however, own such a ship, provided the company is registered in England ami the business is carried on there. * It is said that tho engagement of Prince Arthur of Connaught to the daughter of an English nobleman is imminent. It is further stated that the King approves, and that York House, St James's, will be assigned to the. Prince and his bride. Surely the time has come for the British Admiralty to follow the German lead and set about providing floating docks which can bo Knocked together m a quarter of tho time that it takes to construct an excavated dock, says the London " Spectator." Encke's comet was rediscovered by Mr Woodgate at Cape Town on May 27. Its position is given as: — Right Ascension, 2hr 59mln; doclinaJion, 7deg 29min south. This object returns to the neighbourhood of the sun about every three and ono-third years, and measures some 12,000 or 14,000 miles across. If you want to drive away depression — be busy. Work is the one unbearable foe of unhappiness. Work, application, concentration. In those three words are contained tho whole thing". It is only the one who works who can enjoy the whole holiday. It is only the man who works, and works hard, who finds the best happiness on the week's day of rest. General Kaznakoff, Military General of Lodz, has issued an order to the effect that the police, when arresting suspects, shall not take them alive if any risk is incurred thereby, but shall kill them' outright. The order adds that if the troops are obliged to uso their firearms against the crowd, as many persons shall he killed and wounded as shots aro fired. The statement that Lord MountStephen is the '< first colonial peer " is challenged by Mr J. F. Hogan, who claims that Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke, was the first colonist to receive a peerage. But it was m recognition of his British career, not his Australian, that he was raised to the peerage in 1880. Lord Mount-Stephen did not receive his peerage until 1891. A wood life, where sin is resisted and virtue cultivated, where . wisdom is stored up and /oily banished, where benevolence and love reign and .malice and hatred are driven away, is tne foundation of a valuable, old age. Bodily strength may decline, but the purity, the wisdom, the experience will remain to benefit society in a manner and to a degree that can flow from no zeal of youth or energy of middle h The abolition of the English coastguard is proposed in the report oi the inter-departmental conference, which has been considering the matter, ims could be effected in about eight years, without the compulsory &f™*& ° f any of tlie present force of 4000, the men, save a few hundred for life-saving and signalling stations, being offered service afloat. Some 250 of the /00 existing coastguard stations would be used as Customs stations. The statistics of crime in the German army show a steady decrease in tiie number of convictions for dl-treatmenb of inferiors, which have fallen tram //u cases in 1901 to 408 in 1908 Ccnsiderine: that the number of non-conimission-ed officers is a round 80,000, this represents a substantial improvement. In the same period cases of insubordination have decreased by. 20 per cent, while acts of personal violence on the part of the men have dropped from Ibob in 1901 to 1341 in 1906. The Federal revenue for the fiscal year, which closed on June 30, totalled £15 014,074. Including balances to be adjusted during 1908-9, the gross revenue reached £15,016,156. Customs and excise wero responsible tor £11.643,948, the post office for £3,287,248 and new revenue for £25.451. The balance was made up of smaller amounts. Iv New South Wales the total receipts wero £5,821,050, Customs yielding £4,520,275 and the post office £1 ,267,303 . The total expenditure was £6,136,560. An interesting sidelight on the development of wireless telegraphy is given by the fact that there are at present in tho United States twenty-five stations in operation for commercial service, while the total number of land j ' stations in the world is eighty-nine, j Besides these, the United States Navy Department has forty-three stations in operation on the sea coasts. The ■ United States Navy has seventy-three i ; vessels equipped with wireless apparatus and there are or. merchant vessels 218 wireless installations. j The oldest tree in the world ie said to bo the famous dragon tree of Tone- ; riffo, which is estimated to be from 5000 to 6000 years of age. This won- i der of the plant world was 70ft or mar- i in height until tho year 1819, wJi^ during a terrific storm, one of tbo ] large branches was broken oft. A similar storm in 1567 stripped the trunk of its remaining branches, and loft it standing alone. The tree derives its * common name from a reddish exudation j known as dragon's blood, found in the 1 sepulchral caves qi the Gaiiehes, and j supposed to have, been used by them in embalming their dead. " < i^tists paint the "high ligbte" of i all gleaming objects white, hocause 1 they appear so to the eye. Fosyn is "• ;omposed of what may be called an ininite number of atoms joined in a coin- < pact mass. Each atom has a high light, presenting in the Aggregate a white ap- ) -learance. Notwithstanding this, if i idewed carefully, it will bo • seen to . liave a shadow ; it may bo ono great j shadow, or the colour may bo dispersed nto groups. It is from shadows, who- • ;her from ono or many, that wo derive j )ur knowledge of form. If tho liquid composing tho foam wa3 sufficiently \ louse in colour, this colour would ho i liseerniblo where it was not subjugated j jy high lights. ' , ■