All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 19, 19 July 1906, Page 38

All Sorts

The University of Calcutta ft said to be the largest educational corporation in ths world. It examines more than 10,000 students annually. A little Wanganui boy was looking at his baby brother, who was a few days old, when he startled his father by sayipg : ' Aren't we going to plant any h a ir on him, daddy '!' The banana is said to be the most prolific of all - food products, being forty-four time more productive than potatoes and one hundred and thirty-one times moro than wheat. ' Sorry not to have heard your lecture last night, said the loquacious lady. ' I know I missed a treat; everybody says it was great.' ' How did they find out V asked the lecturer. 'The lecture, you know was postponed.' In London |.sa} s the 'Daily Chronicle 1 ) 400,000 people live in Single rooms ; 40,000 live five in a room; and 8000 seven in a room. Overcrowding is the rulefresh milk and good food the exception. Babies fed on cold cabbage and kippers, with an occasional nip of gin and water to hearten them up, rarely develop into strong men. 'Hi ! Hi ! porter,' said the fussy old gentleman for the twentieth time -.^eiore the train started, ' are you *Juitq sure you put my trunk in the van? 1 ' Quite sure,' replied the busy porter, ' an' I only wish,' he added in an undertone, 'ye were an elephant, for then ye'd have yer trunk tied in front of ye. 1 * The only place in the world where violin making may be said to constitute the staple industry is Markneukirchen, in Saxony, with its numerous surrounding villages. There are altogether about 15,000 people in this district engaged exclusively in the manufacture of violins. The inhabitants, from the small boy and girl to the wrinkled, grey-headed veteran and aged grandmother, are all constantly employed making some part or other of this musical instrument. Since Lord Kehin is one of the greatest — if not the greatest— of living mathematicians, it is interesting to learn why he did not carry off the mathematical bine ribbon of Cambridge. This is how it was. The examiners are in the habit of setting papers much longer than can possibly be done in the time allowed. It bjecomes then a question of rapid writing as well as mathematical ability. One of the students of Lord Kehin's year saw this, and set himself by daily practice to acquire the art of rapid penmanship. When the examination came he was able to write so much that he headed the list, Lord Kelvin being second. The total cost of the Prince and Princess of Wales's trip to India will fall short of £100,000, which is comparatively small as Royal travelling expenses go. For the incidental expenses of their Royal Highnesses' tour £20,000 was provided, to which shoutd be added £50,00,0, the cost of fitting up the battleship ' Renown ' as a yacht. Including the expenses of trains and other transportation, the actual money expended in travelling is not expected to exceed £5000, the balance of the total cost of the trip being for entertaining, etc. When King Edward made his visit to India, Jiowever, the cost of his gifts alone was £40,000, whilst Queen Victoria's yearly visit to the Continent used to cost something like £15,000. The recent outbreak of plague in Sydney reminds us that the decrease in the death" rate . of great cities during the last few years can only be appreciated! by comparison, with similar statistics in the past. In the twelfth century not less than fifteen epidemics of plague and many famines carried off the people of England. The thirteenth century saw twenty plagues and nineteen famines, while the fourteenth had a black record of disease. In 1348 the ' black plague ' or ' black death,' which was brought into the country from tho East, caused the death of 100,000 persons in London alone, while in Europe altogether 25,000,000 people fell victims to its ravages. In 1485 the * sweating sickness ' appeared in England, causing great destruction) of human life. It reappeared at various intervals for a century thereafter. The last terrible visftation of the plague in England was in 1664-1666, by which 100, 000 lives were lost hi London alone. This epidemic was followed by the great fire of 16.66, which oestroyrd~ 16,000 Lt.uiit:;. including all the most densely populated portions of the city. The rebuilding of London Mth some regar-l to" sanitary laws appears to have put the first check on the epidemic diseases that had previously devastated its population.