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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 6112, 14 December 1898, Page 4

" It is an ascertained fact," writes a prison chuplain, "that thore is scarcely n habitual criminal in the country who has not been imprisoned as a child."

Mahogany is plentiful in many ol Cuba's virgin forests. It is vory hard, shows n handsome grain, and is preferred to the mahogany growi elsewhere.

Before big guns aro tired on modern battleships every man on board Ims his ears stuffed with cotton wadding. The shock of the firing sometimes shatters every pane in the skylights,

Numerous experiments to determine the best fire-resisting materials for the construction of doors have proved that wood covered with tin resists fire better than nn iron door. Most of the small silver coins of Culm have bolesin them which do not alto their commercial value on the island.

Probably tho largest species of spider known to entomologists makes its homo in tho most mountainous regions of Ceylon, It spins a huge net of yellow silk, sometimes ten feet wide.

In Spain it costs £20,000,000 to maintain the Army,nnd only £300,000 to educate tho children. It is the exception to find a Spanish farmer who is able to road or write,

According to French law, upon tho expiration of the franchise of nn electric railroad company, tho entire line, with all power stations, becomes tho properly of tho Stato. in experiment was recently made to seo how fast a bee could ily Its hive was attached to the rout of,a train, which aftnined a speod of thirty miles an hour boforo the beo was left behind.

Ono of the most beautiful orchids was recently exhibited in London. It was a white flower, shaped like a seagull with outspread wings, and a gold and vermilion heart. It came from Venezuela, and cost £IOOO. It is easier to crush tho hardest stone known than steel. Warm baths will often prevent the most virulent disease. Prussic acid is the most rapid poison in affecting tho human system. The huge guns of modern navies can only be fired about seventy-Bye times before they are worn out, The largest house iu England is Weutworth Woodliouse, owned by Earl Pitzwilliam, and situation iu Yorkshire.

Engine diivoisin Germany receivefrom tho Government a gold medal aud £IOO for overy ten years of service without accident,

It is a mistake to suppose the iusurgont leaders in the Philippines are not civilised oue of them is ut graduate of a Paris school for engineering-.

A fire-escape has been inventei for use iu hotels and large buildings It is formed of a large cnshionei chair with a box iu the seat, whiel contains aropo ladder to ho ultncliei to tho chair and hung out tho win dow.

A youth s heart wns recently washed at Parma, Italy,byanltaliau professor, Tho boy recovered, mid now seems all the better for the washing.

io keep himself in good physical condition, the Czar of Russia'lakes a brisk run of about three-fifths of a mile every morning before breakfast. Telegraph wires will last for forty years near tho senshoro. In the manufacturing district tho samo wires last only ten years, and sometimes less.

To cool a hot room wet thoroughly a large sheot and hang it up iu the middle. Tho temperature will go down ten or twelve degrees almost immediately. Tho Krag-Jorgensen rifle-ball will go through twenty-four inches of oak. A projectile from this weapon, fired at 100 yds, will pass through six men standing in close order, and lodge in the seventh.

Tho Mikado of Japan has recently issued a decree allowing a Japaneso woman to lead, if she chooses, a single life. Hitherto, if found unmarried after a certain age, a husband was selected for hor by law. A man has invented what ho calls an " aquatic glove," which is intended to bo worn in swimming, Tho lingers of tho glovo are connected by a web, like the toes of a dnck. Maiwnlchin, on tho borders of llussia, is the only city in tho world peopled by men only, The Chinese women are not only forbidden to live iu this territory, but even to pass tho great wall of Kulkau aud enter into Mongolia, All the Chineso of this border oily are exclusively traders,