All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 6, 7 February 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

-The title of marquis was first given- by Richard II to Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford; Iwho-was made Marquis of Dublin in 1386. . ' ' "

The gizzard is an everlasting grinding, mill. Called into action it always reduces the grain as it is swallowed, so- that the crop is rarely distended.!- • " • The- mandolin was an old instrument a couple of centuries ago, having then, after a long series of evolutions, reached its present shape'-at Naples,, which city has- always claimed the. honor. of its origin. Little Jeanie— My mamma is always saying, ' Why did you do that ? ' and < Why didn't you do this? ' and \\ hy in the world did you forget so-amd-jso •? ' Tommy— How awfully strict she must be ! What an awfully bad time you must have :. Little Jeanie— Oh, .it. isn't to me she says all that • it's to pa. '

The British Consular Report on Immigration to America says :— ' The. Irish in particular differ in one respect front all other races, in that their female immigrants outnumber the males. Most of the women -like the -Scandinavians, are domestic servants, of whom Ireland provided no less than 23,000 last year, one-fifth of -the total number of servants who arrived.- Of -the men about 16,000 are unskilled laborers; but in this the Irishman is being ousted by - ttheaper races, and the Irish navvy is no longer the feature in American labor that he used to be. 1

Strange as it may seem, many people imagine that rattan and willow furniture are the same. Rattan is the Chinese importation, brought direct from Singapore, and is reed, susceptible of bending double without even cracking. It possesses, besides this] great firmness and , strength, and a chair of rattan could be thrown /rom an express train and picked up intact Rattan is therefore used for such articles, as baskets and lighter ornamental furniture. Each has its use the rattan, however, being better adapted for working up into intricate designs.

The man of this story is a very light sleeper, one who is easily wakened and who is a long time getting to sleep. In a Christchurch hotel he had at last got sound: asleep, when -a loud rap, repeated, awoke him '. W.hat's wanted ? ' ' Package downstairs for you.' ' Well, it can wait till morning, I suppose.? ' The boy departed, and after a long time the man was sound asleep again, when there came another resounding knock at the door. ' Well, what is lit now ? ' he inquired. ' 'Taiiut for you, that package ! '

Ihe manufacturing house of Kynoch, Limited, 'which has nine different works in various parts of the United Kingdom, has announced that it will very soon adopt the metric system of calculation. Mr. Arthur Chamberlain says that the English system of weights and measures is seriously retarding British commerce, as foreigners will not bother themselves with figures based on a system of reckoning having no intelligible principle. All the weights and measures of the firm are to be adapted, to. th.c new. standard,- and the piece .workers' yearnings, will be ' calculated on the". decimal system The chief inspector of weights and measures at Birmingham thinks tnat the step is. wise, but that on account of its expense it will not be generally imitated, for the present at least.

• Have you any idea of the ' intrinsic value of your life ?; says a writer with a taste for figures. Supposing (he says) you could .be bought .as ' a mere human machine, what sum do you suppose y"bu fetch ? It ■ha.s been estimated that- a laborer aged twenty-five is worth £1100, and that a lawyer aged- forty is worth £5870. The life of an average laborer is worth most at the age of twenty-five, while the professional man is worth most at forty. A thirty-year-old clerk earning > 45s a week would be valued .at about £1900 ; a factory worker of the same age would be considered 1o be worth about • £1600 ; an average commercial traveller aged thirty • would represent a oapitalised value of £2450. A m a n whose earning capacity is £1000. .-a year, and who has reasonable, expectations of. twen ,& ye ?, rs of workin S life . would be valued at "about £15,000, allowance "being made for cost of" his main•tenafice, and for the possible diminution! of his earning , powers during the 1 following -twenty years