BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10825, 19 July 1913, Page 1

BRIEF MENTION.

jSo bird of prey has the gift of song.' Roughly speaking tliero are 800 mil--lionaires in New York. The custom of the King wearing his crown for the opening of Parliament has been unobserved for sixty vears. In the classification of battleships in the British Navy, no ship is considered, first-class unless she fires a broadside of at least 60001b. An old Swiss thaler, or three-shilling pieco, coined at Bellinzona in the sixteenth century, was put up for 6ale at an acution at Frankfort recently, and was sold for £6lB 10s. .. ; * Mr J.' S. Harrison, "a Manchester postman, who has retired after forty* one years' service, estimates that during that time ho has delivered, 1.500,000 letters, and walked over 800,000 miles. ' A tree between 2500 and 3000 years oid, with a circumference of 65ft, and the lowest branch 45Ffc from the ground,is mentioned by the Acting-British. Consul at Jamsui, Formosa. The,tree is ouo of a species of Cyprus yielding; timber of a reddish colour. ' •Artificial ©yes were first made use of by the Egyptians: they were. 6f gold and 1 silver, and subsequently of copper and ivory. Hundreds of years later, in the sixteenth century, when they, were made in Europe, porcelain was the substance used, and the maker usually stamped his addresfe on the white of the eye. ; News has reached Athens that tho monks of Mount Athos ai*e considering the question of sending to Athens the Imperial robe and crown whioh belonged to the Byzantine Emperors John Tsinxiskis and Nikephoros Phocas, to be used _at the coronation of King Con: stantine. These historical relics arw kept at the great monastery of Lavra. The robe is made: of beaten gold, and weighs 501b. The crown is enriched with precious stones. The crown will probably become the crown of Greece. The lifting of massive iron and steel plates, weighing four, six and twelve tons, is now done by ..magnetism in a number of large steel works. The magnets are suspended <by chains from cranes, and' pick up , the plates by' simple contact and without the loss of time, consequent upon the adjustment' of chain and hooks 'in the older method. It is also' found that the metal plates can be lifted by the magnets while still so hot that it would bo impossible, for the men to handle them.

The medicinal properties _of quinine are too well known to require further comment. It has been found most beneficial for the system taken internally, and for the scalp when applied in the term of a tonic. Certain hair, specialists" have now'gone a step further,' and have added quinine to the ingredients making up certain briHiantiiies. _ If it benefits tho hair when applied in the tonic, the. same good' results should follow-from" the use of the brilliantine, especially when the scalp diWjs • not • require the other toning effects. • • - : ,

< Horse-rncing was .practised as early as the days when Troy vwas besieged by the Greeks. _ In the plain before'the city the bosiegens. celebrated holidays Ibr sports and horse races, and Hoxqer sajs the walls of Troy Were covered with "sporting Trojans watchingthe result. . Charles I. established races at! Hyde Park, but the Puritans .suppressed them dxiriug tho Common wealth. They were, however, revived by Charles 11., who, instead of the golden bells formerly given, presented the victors with silver cups, valued at one hundred guineas.. In life,; if'not in -fiction, it is tho improbable that happens. The paradox is illustrated by the experience of two brothers, natives of Port Bannatyne, Scotland. ■ Twenty-three yeaijs ago the older of, the .two left hie home - for Klondyke, and fourteen years later the vounger brother sailed ror the United States and Canada.; finally settling in Winnipeg. A few months ago, independently of each other, they decided to take a trip Home. They crossed the Atlantic on the samo steamer, but did uot discover each -other's identity until they met at their mothers cotthat boys should be encouraged to whistle as much as they like, provided, of course, they do not make'' nuisances of themselves! Whistling, ho stated, was one of the finest exercisesfor' thai lungs, and he' urged peoplo with weak lungs to whistle as often and as much' as they possibly could while they wern walking about. Whistling, too, breeds cheerfulness, and this' is another reason why it should be encouraged. No ono whistles when he is in a bad temper; and if the boss oomes to tte cffico It! the morning blowing a tune through his teeth, von may bo sure he is in 1 ;a happy frame of mind. It "is said that there are now on th.fi market as a substitute for tea the leaves of a plant which Niebuhr described as long ago as 1776. The plant) is the Catha" eduiis, or Arabian tea, which is cultivated or .grows wild on; the East African const from Abyssinia to Natal, in the Nile Valley, and .in Arabia. The leaves are called by the natives "kut," and when boiled give off a liquor which is said to be a powerful stimulant. The natives drink this tea before starting 011 long marches or other strenuous labours.. Tho tea is said to have a pleasant aroma, and, to -be useful against neuralgia, while in many regions the plant is considered to be a protection against plague. Bis Majesty's famous cutter Brit-; annia, which has been undergoing repairs and' alterations, has been fitted out for tho racing season. The Britannia is to used for cruising, and will ako compete in a number or handicap races during the forthcoming season. When in commission again the Britannia will be in thorough racing trim, and but for the raised bulwarks and new deckhouse will look very similar to the Britannia of old, which so often oarried the late King Edward's flag to victory. In addition to a complete new suit of sails and boom, the. Britannia ho.? a new topmast, • bowsprit and spinnaker boom. She is commanded by Captain J. ft. Carter, of Cowes, son of Captain John Carter, who was, her skipper in her racing days. The Britannia was built at Glasgow in 1893, her designer being the late Mr G. 1,. Watson.

A remarkable miner, Antonio Roifroo, died at San Stefano, near Messina. During fifty years lie carried on the bn sines 3 of money-lender throughout Sicily, nnd at first he was believed to bo a wealthy man. He lived so miserably. however, that finally his neighbours concluded ho must be poor. After his death his relatives, by legal assent, searched tho house, with extraordinary resi'k-s. In a cupboard stuffed with rage were largo bundles of bank-notes for five_ hundred and thousand lire. In old. chairs were coins totalling three hundred thousand lire and Government stock representing four hundred thousand lire. Bank-notes wcro also found, in all sorts of hiding-places, such as old boots, old einthe.s and pots. The total amoun, of tho miser's hoard is estimated at several million lire, and as a million lire is rou glily £40,000, -h© miser's- fortune is an ample one. During bis life tho man- lived almost en-' tirely on potatoes and witli. water,