NEWS AND NOTES.

Western Star, Issue 1291, 24 February 1897, Page 3

NEWS AND NOTES.

The average life of a ship is about 36 years. The population of the earth doubles itself in 260 years. Dulein, a new sweeting material, is said to be 225 times as sweet as sugar. A bill has been introduced in the Georgia Legislature making it a misdemeanour to play football. “I know now, ” remarked the young man who was sued for breach of promise, “why they call it ‘courting! ’ ” The singular punishment for bigamy in Humgary is to compel the man to live together with both wives in one house.

An average of three British seamen lose their lives every day by drowning, and 300 British steamers and sailing vessels are lost yearly at sea. A Nelson cyclist rode too fast down the Nelson railway wharf a day or two ago, and disappeared over the end. Both machine and rider were rescued. Of 47 applications for letters patent, of which particulars are given in the Gazette, no fewer than II have reference to inventions for improvements in cycles.

The Czar of Eussia receives no salary. His income arises from 1,000,000 square miles of land, which he inherits with the crown. Hia average income is a trifle more than £6OOO a day. The Mahinapua took 6755 packages of butter from the Hew Plymouth freezing works for transhipment to London. This is the largest consignment yet sent. Bounty has been paid on more than 40,000 sparrows in Gratriot County, Michigan, during the past year, and yet the birds seem to be as numerous as ever.

A new method of stopping hiccough is said to have been accidentally discovered in a French hospital It consists in thrusting the tongue out of the mouth and holding it thus for a short time.

A typical South African household, described by Olive Schreiner, had an English father, a half Dutch mother with a French name, a Scotch governess, a Zulu cook, a Hottentot housemaid, and a Kaffir stable boy; while a little girl who waited at the table was a Basuto. An innovation in book covers is a white metal cover that cannot be bent at the corners. The volumes thus far produced in this style of binding are rather heavy, but their indestructible quality will be of great advantage to libraries and other book-using institutions. Aluminium is also proposed for the purpose, if its cost will prohibit its use.

A doctor says the X rays exist in nature and are produced by the common glow worm. The light from these tiny creatures will even penetrate solid sheets of aluminium.