ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14584, 5 February 1921, Page 9 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

FROM THE WORLD'S PRESB. India has one coin square in shape. A hen, when sitting, turns her eggs entirely round once a day. The Prince of Wales' London estate includes Surrey's famous cricket ground, the Oval. Horse-racing establishments in th» United Kingdom employs more than 25.0U0 people. The men of the Midlands are said by one West End tailor to be better dressed than Londoners. Special kinema films are being shown after Sunday evening service in a Middlesborough church. The estimated increase of population in Great Britain since 1914. in spite of war losses, is 1,000,000. The British Ministry of Pensions employs one-ilfth of the total number of medical men in the oountry. "Real velour," claim the hatmakers, should only be applied to the material made from hare's fur. Documents prove that William the Conqueror* our first Norman King, could not sign his own name. Considering all expenses, it costs an undergraduate at Oxford at least £320 a year to carry on his studies. "Real velour," claim the hatmakers, should only be applied to the material made from hare's fur. Special cinema jllms are beins shown after Sunday evening service in a Middlesborough Church. The estimated increase of population in Britain since 1914, in spite of war losses, is 1,000,000. New York has a public clock with a dial thirty-eight feet across. It is said to be the largest timepiece in the world.

Directly, and indirectly, 128,000 people are employed in Britain in growing manufacturing, and selling mustard.

"My premises are as clean as a whistle," was a description given at Shoreditch County Court. "What is there remarkably,* clean about a whistle?" asked the judse. Some very ancient books are to be found in the sacred relics of Ceylon. They are formed of palm leaves, written upon with a metal pen, and are bound merely by a silken string. The largest munitions plant in Toulouse is being adapted to the manufacture of phosphate, fertiliser, and ammonia, through the extraction or nitrates from available powder supplies.

Of 594,467 acres under cultivation for potatoes in Ireland, the total crop for one year runs to three and threequarter million tons. Munster alone is responsible for 680,000 tons ot "murphies." Peach stones, it has been discovered, in California, burn as %vell as coal, and give out more heat in proportion to weight. The stones taken out of the fruit that is tinned or dried, are collected, and sold for this purpose. British cigar dealers are becoming alarmed at the slump! During June 124,2611 b was imported, and only 62791 b was sold. In June, 1913, 79,7311 b out of 129,5181 b were disposed of. Retailers have large stocks on hand.

A firm of Newry solicitors, acting for a Newry syndicate, have purchased Gosford Castle and estate. County Armagh, the property of the Earl of Gosford. The csstle was erected 120 years ago, and cost £250,000.

"For God's sake get a saw and saw my leg off and get me out." Such was the piteous cry of Aaron Walker, son of a Whitehaven, Cumberland, collier, before dying from injuries received from a fall while gathering coal under the cliffs on the seashore.

"I am an artist, a portrait painter," said a man of colour at Clerkenwell County Court. "It is feasible that a man who has to use a brush could be drunk every day?" "I have not seen any specimens of your work," replied the judge. Ninth of [lie breed to produce 200(> gallons of milk in a year, Mr Chaiies .Mead's U J urleigh, Essex) British Friesian cow Sparrowycke Darkeye has yielded 2001 gallons in 271 days, and is still giving more than four gallons daily.

During the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in .Norfolk, 916 cattle, 5C04 sheep and 3G7 pigs were slaughtered. This meant a serious national loss. The Go\ eminent upaid about £66,000 in compensation (not full value;, and expenses cost over £4OO.

For selling loaves which were short in weight, lines totalling £l5O, on three summonses, was imposed at the Guildhall on George Bartlett, a Finsbury baker. It was alleged that only one out of sixteen loaves was found to be of proper weigiit. To sell bread short of weigiit at a time like tliis is most dishonest, said Sir John Bell, tlie magistrate. (Proclaimed as the largest uncut precious sLuiie in tue wuno, an enormous, absolutely flawless black opal, recently discovered in America, is now in tlie ofiice of a Government oflieiai in \vashington D.G. Tlie gem contains approximately 21 cubic inches, and weighs 2,572,332 carats. It is valued ul £SO,OUU by the owners. Tlie iraesLion whether the statite of itie Venus ul Milo was discovered with or without arms has never been settled. The statue was found a hundred years ago by a Frencn naval lieutenant, half hidden in a held at Milo, a Greek island. It was siiipped to France, and became one of the most treasured possessions of the Louvre.

lias which possesses explosive qualities sufiicient to chive motors, ainl which may also be used for purposes of illumination, is being produced at the Arlington, Virginia, experiment farm of the Department of Agriculture, from the destructive distillation of ordinary held straw, la making this announcement, experts of the department added that "the possibilities of straw gas are not yet fully determined."

The Aquitania, on her last voyags to New York, carried £3,7uu,00U worth of gold, the largest gold consignment ever sent by a single vessel. She also carried the biggest diamond ever taken to the United States. It was in the possession of the manager of the Madrid branch of the Mercantile Bank of America, who said he received the diamond, which is 183.15 carats, and a perfect specimen, from the ex-Sultan of Morocco, to sell ia America.