BRIEF MENTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11282, 9 January 1915, Page 5

BRIEF MENTION.

A needle majdiin© turns out 1,500,000 needles a. week. Tf»ij additional service battalions are to be raised in Scotland.

Among the impromptu ambulances in use in England are many Ixmdon omnibuses.

The longest piers in "Kngla-nd are those in Southend, which an* li mile 14 yards in length; Southoort. -1395 ft: Hyde. 230-i.ft: Rhvi. about 2000 ft; and Blackpool, 1800 ft. The microphone of a telephone transmitter becomes much moio nonsitive if the. air surrounding it is nwefiod, as by heating, and Oernian inventors are working on a practical application of ibis discovery. One of the most beautiful orchids in existence has !x»eii recently exhibited in London. It had' a white flower shaped like a. seagull with outspread wings, and a gold and vermilion heart. It came from Venezuela., a,nd cost ii 1000.

Liverpool has contributed one in every fifteen of her population to the service of the Slate. The total includes 27,000 .men for the new army, 18,000 Territorials and 4000 men for the Navv. Doctors, nurses and others bring up the total to 50,000. The coffee stall O]>oned in the Bank of England for the refreshment of the refugees recalls a little-known privilege of the Bank—no lees than tho right to sell beer without a license. This privilege was allowed the Hank hy the Charter of Incorporation, dated July 27, 1604. and the directors, if they chose, could open a public-house -in Threadneedle Street.

To supply walking sticks for wounded soldiers is the aim of the little Surrey village of Chiddingfold, a centre of the stiekmaking industry. Local factories have agreed not only to sell sticks at cost price, but to add one as a. gift to every one purchased, and to pay carriage. A fund has been started in the village, and already six gross of sticks have been dispatched. In the old days, before metals and better materials were employed, a candle was literally carried on a stick. An old writer says:—"l have seen a stick slit at one end for the'purpose of holding the candle, as also three nails stuck in a stick for the same use; and we still call this utensil a candlestick, though it may be made of silver, brass, glass, etc>." Another' form of the word was candlestaffe.

At Cruchow, in the coalfield of Upper Silesia, is the deepest well in the world. It has reached a depth of over 7348 ft, a trifle under a\nile and a half below the surface. America has three wells ranking next in order. That near M'Donald, Pennsylvania, some ten miles south-east of Pittsburg, is 6860 ft deep; one in Putnam Heights, Connecticut, is 0004i't deep, and' one now being bored at Derrick City, Pennsylvania, has reached the depth of 5820 ft.

Since the outbreak of war there has been grent difficulty in getting a sufficient}' ol pit props, the supply of which lias hitherto come from the Baltic ports. On the Corporation estate of Ardgoil there is a large quantity of growing timber which is, it is believed, well suited for the purpose, and the proprietors of a large colliery in the west of Scotland have entered into a provisional arrangement for a trial of this wood for props in their pits. Despite the discovery of both Poles, a large portion of the earth still remains unexplored. Roughly, it is estimated that about 7.000,000 square miles, or approximately one-eighth of the total land surface of the world, is still a mystery to civilisation. Included in this area are vast tracts of Polar region, portions of Arabia, jungle and mountain in South America, spreading wastes in Australia, regions in the Himalayas, dark haunts in. Borneo and the Congo basin, and stretches of the Sahara.

There were 2,000,000 Slavs in America, according to the census of 1910; there are 3,000,000 acording to their leaders. Of these the Poles, numbering 941,000 in 1910, are the most numerous. Bohemians and Moravians counted 228,000. Illiteracy runs from 1.7 per cent among the Bohemians up to 53.4 per cent among the Ruthenians. Except among the Bohemians, there is little industrial experience or valuable skill. "It is as if great numbers of the English of the sixteenth century had suddenly appeared among us."

The German Emperor's left arm being almost useless, lie may be described as almost a one-armed man. But this physical defect has much enhanced the power of his other arm. A visitor to the Imperial yacht relates (says the "Daily Chronicle") that he could not help watching " that active right hand of the Emperor. There was a question of unpacking a yachting cup whose case had been corded up in brown pa.per.' The Kaiser seized the parcel himself and picked the knots loose as deftly as though he had brought two thumbs and eight fingers to a job which few men achieve without querulous fumbling." In Servia and Montenegro alike many blind, lame, or crippled minstrels eke out a comfortable existence in travelling from town to.town with the ancient one-stringed lute and singing to the peasant* the deeds of their fathers and the ancient glory of Servia. From the fourteenth century to the present day every national hero has been immortalised in verse by humble versifiers. The authors of this wealth of epic poetry must forever remain unknown, but the verses themselves have been preserved, not in books or upon paper, but in the memories of the people. To demonstrate that, a substantial meal can be provided at a cost not exceeding one penny a sample " penny dinner" was given recently at the Brunswick Hall. Whitechapel' Road, bv the organisers of the Children's Dinner Fund of the London Vegetarian Association to 160 secretaries of societies engaged in relief work. The menu js appended : —Soups : Scotch broth, pea soup. Savouries: Lentils and tomatoes, baked haricots and tomatoes, savoury pie. Sweets: Currant pudding, baked suet pudding, apple cake, treacle pudding. With the soup bread was provided, and the cost of the meal per guest did not exceed the stipulated penny. "*

A gun which shoots signs into plnre has been invented, which, in appearance, is not unlike a shot-gun. The sign, which it discharges, is rolled tightly about a heavy stick and a cord is attached to a ta-ek which is temporarily fastened, point out, at one end of this. The other end of the string i.s fastened to the top of the sign. When the instrument is loaded with one of these and the trigger pulled, heavy strings furnish the propelling; force which sends the- roll endwise through the air like an arrow, at whatever object i( is aimed. The tnck imbeds itpelf, while the jar f f the impact loosens the sign and makes it unroll, falling into place. Posters have been placed at heights of 30 ft from distances of fiOft and more with this unusual gun.— "Popular Mechanics." Blankets have a long historv to their credit, for their invention is said to date from the year 1340. Their creator was n cloth merchant -Thomas Blanket, one of three Flemish brothers settled at Bristol—who accidentally stumbled on his discovery at a time when liis hnsiness was declining rapidly. Tt was an excessively cold winter, and he and his wife suffered greatly owing to lack of fuel a.nd scanty bed covering. Looking for something wherewith to indue© warmth during the bitter night", he came upon a rough and unfinished piece, of cloth, which, being put on the bed, produced the desired warmth. But it did more: it suggested to him the idea, of specially manufacturing winter bed coverings. He promptly did so. calling them after his own name, and so great was their success that the cloth merchant quickly acquired riches*. He became Mayor of Bristol, and when he died his useful invention was mentioned in the inscription, on. hie tomb.