New, Odd and Interesting.

Waipa Post, Volume VIII, Issue 362, 30 October 1914, Page 1

New, Odd and Interesting.

There are nine kilted regiments in the British Army.

Wire hairpins were first manufactured in England in 1545. Before thai time the female coiffeurs were held ic place by fine wooden skewers.

The constant labor of four persons, for an entire year, is required to produce a cashmere shawl of the best quality.

Sharks are patronising the Suez Canal, and are making their way through it, from the Red See to the Mediterranean.

The ancient custom of putting a coin in the hand of the dead is still occasionally followed in the rural districts of France.

Throughout the world the total number of Roman Catholics is estimated at 264,500,000, and of these there are 5,758,000 in Great Britain and Ireland.

The Swiss are very thrifty people. Two-fourths of the grown people of Switzerland have bank accounts, and beggars are few.

In Belgium, by a recent regulation, all bulls and cows are to wear earrings as soon as they have attained the age of three months.

A curious butterfly exists in India. The male has the left wing yellow and the right one red; the female has these colors reversed.

According to careful estimates three hours of close study wear the body more than a whole day of hard physical exertion.

Forty years ago Japan had only " coasting vessels. Now it has several steamship companies, the largest of which runs 63 vessels.

Among the Moors women do not celebrate their birthday. A Moorish woman considers it a point of honour to be absolutely ignorant of her age.

In Paraguay there is found a “railway beetle,” a kind of glow-worm, which emits a strong red light from head to tail, but also a green light along each side of its body.

In every 1,000 marriages in Great Britain, 21 are solemnised between first cousins. Among the nobility the rate is much higher, amounting to 45 in 1,000.

A young man named Dubois is bringing an action against his sweetheart at Marseilles because she boxed his ears for being late to take her to the. theatre.

In Finland thevwomen of the lower classes perform labour” that in other countries is usually assigned to men. They wheel handcarts and barrows containing heavy burdens. They also sweep the streets, act as boatmen, and even assist in loading ships.

The Florida Keys Railway runs from the. mainland for a distance of one hundred and 24 miles over what is practically open sea. Imagine a stringof tiny islets, stretching like the broken-off piers of some Titanic bridge, right out into the great salt ocean, and you have the Florida KeysMost of them are only a few' rods in extent. Here and there is one that reckons its area in acres; while four or five among them are islands, rather than islets, covering several square miles. Big or little, however, they serve merely as stations for the railway, which runs over and upon them with the open sea on either side of it. Moreover, the viaducts and embankments that carry the trains, although immensely strong, are so narrow and steep that the passengers look out upon ogean only. There is no land whatever in sight during the greater part of the trip.