BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10418, 23 March 1912, Page 1

BRIEF MENTION.

The phonograph has boon in use nearly 40 years, Russia's population is increasing at the rate of 2,500.001) a year. . A peal of bolls in Essex (England) is rung by an electrical apparatus. lho first trial for breach of promise was held m the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Ihe number of female servants in England is 2,058,628, and of male servants a total of 2.415,565 Mrs Amelia Andrews, the first lady to be elected a parish councillor in England, has just died in Kent at the ago of eighty-one. Of the six million children registered on the books of the public elementary schools of England and Wales 10 per cent suffer from defectivo hearing. King Albert of Belgium is an experimenter in wireless telegraphy and telephony At Lacken he has installed in ins palace a complete equipment for experiments in this modern development of science .. .

As the result of forty-four years' work as a warehouseman in the service c * |» Manchester firm, Mr Isaac Oilman, of Warrington, left an estate which was Fv V rl, at £8689 - Tliat be Possessed tins little nest egc came as a surprise to his friends, as Mr Gilman had alwaya Jived in very humble circumstances. It is calculated that the British people spent about £25.000.000 last year for amusements. In 1873 they spent lass than £4,000,000. Millions of capital is invested in English theatres, and something hko four thousand persona are supported by the business. There are sixty-seven theatres in London, and /o8 m the provinces. This does not include 311 music balls.

I lie curious fact is recalled that the Hank of England, which is just now' appealing against its rates, has the right to sell beer without a license. This privilege was granted to the hank in its Charter of incorporation undor the breat Seal, dated July 27, 1004. And so the Bank, if it JikVJ (says a " Daily Uironicle could open a public, house in Threadnoedle Street, or could sena drays round and deliver beer at, your door.

At Cambridge, on December 31, people from all parts of the town assemble on King's Parade. Precisely at midnight one of the largest rockets made is fired- into the air, indicating the departure of the old year. As soon" as the last stroke of twelve dies away another rocket, 'containing a number oi floating stars, is launched into space as an emblem of the New Year. These rockets are visible for ten to fifteen miles round.

The most notable of old English fairs was that of St Bartholomew's held at Smithfield, beginning on the Saint's day. Smithfiold was then fields, and Rahere,.'thc King's jestei. became a monk, and obtained from Henry I. permission to build a priorv there. On this spot the hospital familiarly known as "Bart's" is built, and Smithfield market, or fair, at first for wool'sales, then sheep, then live cattle, became the great dead meat centre it how is. A Viennese doctor has a novel kind of patient—a woman who possesses a musical heart. Since the "age of four she Ihis (inhered from palpitation. On» day she heard a clear and musical sound, .which appeared to come from her chest. , After a while this noise could be heard by people close by, and now the sound is so marked as'to be heard at quite a distance. The heart gives out only two notes, which are described as '•monotonous, but with a certain charm."

The bride of ancient Rome liad h lake broken over her hend as a symbol of plenty. She earned three "ears of wheat in her hand. The early English bride wore wreaths of wheat, which were sometimes golden. The grains were thrown over her as we throw rice and confetti to-day. Often the wheat was ground, made into email cakes, which wrve broken over the bride's head and distributed to the guests in pieces. Hence pur weddingcake placed in boxes. Queen Victoria Eugenia has won her way still farther into the hearts of the poor people of Spain by her charitable works. The charitable organisation which she has founded is waking great headway. For the poor in Madrid no fewer than 40,000 suits if clothes'hare been collected. The Queen made fift-y suits herself. -Branches of the organisation have been started in Bilbao, Seville, Valencia, and Granada, and to each of these her Majesty has sent sixsuits_ made by herself. Princess Patricia of Connaught, the only sister of the Crown Princess of Sweden, has now joined her parents in Canada, where she taker, great pleasure in sport of every kind, and has had much experience of skating, tobogganing and similar exercises during "her various visits to Sweden. She is a much-travelled Princess, for as quite a tiny child she went to India with her parents when the Duke commanded the forces in Bombay; ehe has also been in Egypt, and last winter accompanied tho Duke and Duchess to South Africa.

Delhi was tho central rallying point of the revolted Sepoys during the groat mutiny of when India was nearly lost to the British. Two things' that happened there the Jay after the mutiny broke one saved the country for us. One was the blowing up of the chief magazine by a small but heroic band of British to prevent it falling into tho hands of the rebels, the other was til® holding of the Delhi central telegraph office bv two brave operators long enough to flash abroad over the country the news of what was taking place inside the citv. At Polstead. Suffolk, there still exists a "gospel oak'' which is over ?000< years old. The oak has a girth of 36ft, and, although the " gospel oaks" generally stood on the boundaries of parishes, this tree riands in the centre of the village. "Gospel oaks" at one time, studded the country, taking their names from the fact that they served as stations from which the Christian missionaries preached to the Angles and Saxons 1300 years ago. Very "few of the trees now remiin, but in some cases it is possible to toll vaguely where they stood from the gives given to places, siu'h as Gospel Oak. An official walk of 200.000 miles has been accomplished by Mr Leonard Wavell, a rural postman of Sandown, Isle of Wight, just retired from the service. For the past eighteen years he has daily walked from Sandown to Xowchurrh.' via Apse Ponth and Bcrthwood, and back, a distance of about twenty milop. During the previous thirteen years he covered the samo distance from Newport, the total distance covered being about the same. Thus for thirty-one years he has walked twenty miles daily.

Mr'-Toscf Mntlarasz, who represents tho district of Ksvcszfcnr in the Hungarian Parliament, is ninety-eight years of as;e. M. Madarasz has just contradicted indignantly a report'that he int."ndc<] to rosicrji on account of his advanced ngp. Ho .said : " However persuasive my political opponents may bo in trying to induce, mo to resign, T have not the slightest idea of affording them this gratification. Besides, nty acre is certainly no reason for retiring from political life." Madarasz fairies abcut with him a list of the oldest men in the world, and says that ho intends to outlive them all and to remain in Parliament until after he is 100-