INTERESTING ITEMS.

Western Star, 28 March 1911, Page 3

INTERESTING ITEMS.

Vienna has ItaJay 32,000 neggare and their average income is mori than that of most working men.

Among the best needle-workera it the world are the men of Japan* their chief rivals boing the wonsea oJ Persia^"

The quantity a* water ua*l JWW year for washing straets and court* in the City of L,ondon was' 77,424,WQ gallons.

Chedomir Mtl'tovitsh, a Molgradt policeman committed suicide after his sweetheart bad informed biro she could not leave her situation to follow him on hie new heat.

The smallest tree that grows in Great Britain may be ween on th« very top of Ben Lomond. It is the ttwarf willow, which at maturity reaches a height of only two inches.

Vegetable marrows which, when young, had inscriptions cut on therr were a feature of the exhibition of the Hornsey AHotmer-.t Association. The inscriptions grow with the produce, and on one large specimen the Lord's Prayer was neatly engraved.

Switzerland receives nearly £6,000,JOO per annum from its visitors, ffhile twice that amount is spent svery year in Italy.

Great Britain consumes 47,000,000 ;wt. of meat a year, or 1201 b. per iead of tMe population. Of this 54 per cent. Vis produced at home. r The colour*iof French official books [equivalent to our blue books) is Fellow ; Spain, red ; Germany, white,; ttaly, green ; Portugal, white ; and Austria, red.

The a sheep was transferred to the arm of a patient at the Charity Hospital, New Orleans. The forearm of the patient undergoing the novel operation had been shattered by the discharge of a gun- The operation was pronounced successful.

Mr, Francis Fishburn, a tailor, of Burnley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, has jast completed a house that he has built entirely by himself. He drew the plans, dug the foundations, prepared the stone, and executed all the brickwork, joinery, painting, plastering, and slating in his spate time.

Michael Bari, the public executioner at Budapest, has addressed a protest to the Hungarian Parliament against the exaggerated humane tendencies of the day, which result in his being unemployed for the greater part of the year. He demands either a regular salary or that there shall be fewer reprieves.

•In German prisons chess clubs are by no means uncommon. They are encouraged by the authorities as providing healthy mental relaxation for wall-conducted prisoners. Recently the inmates of Brixton Prison have been regaled with oratorios, while at Aylesbury there are lectures and services of song.

In Belgium cock-crowing competitions are very popular among the working classes. The cocks are ranged in cases, and markers note the somber of crows. The chanticleer who has sounded his shrill clarion the most times in an hour carries off the prize. In a competition recently held at Poulseur a cock gave voice 134 times.

The jg/&& bell of St. Paul's is sever tolled excepting at the death Mid funeral oi! any member of the Royal Family, the- Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dean of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Dean of 8t Paul's, and the Lord Mayor, ihould he die during his mayoralty. Only the clapper and not the bell is moved when it is tolled.

There was a novel equipage at a marriage at Calais, the bridegroom arriving in a gaily-decorated coster's barrow drawn by the best man, with (lis "second" pushing behind and a dog harnessed beneath. After the wedding the bride and bridegroom drove through the boulevards in this vehicle, the event created a great deal of merriment.

It is said that many of the curiosity shops ' planted in the back itreets of moat of the small towns in England are kept up by large London firms, wbo, from a prolonged 3tudy of human nature, have discovered that people who are shy of buying old furniture or old silver in the Westend of London are ready and Jager purchasers of precisely the same objects at a rather higher price when they come upon them in the back streets of a country town.

A of salts of lemon iissolved* ifl hot water will clean all kinds of white straw hat 6. A little nail-brush should be dipped in the jolution and the straw gently scrubbed. Afterwards rinse the hat with :old water and then let it dry. When the band is readjusted the hat looks lew. The dining-rooms of some of the /urge cafes in Russia contain a pool of fresh water in which fish of various kinds and sizes swim about. Any patron of the restaurant who may wish a course of fish for dinner goes to the pool, picks out the particular cne he may desire, and in a moment the waiter has captured it with a dip-not and sent it to the chef. An extraordinary discovery baß been made by some corporation workmen at Leijrb, in Lancashire. The men were water pipes in the yard behind the house of a minor, when they discovered a petroleum spring about two feet below the surface. The news spread, and hundreds of people visited the spot and were supplied with petroleum cheaplyThe oil was clear and burned brightly. More than 100 gallons were served out, and then the landlord appeared on the areae and took possession.