All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 40, 3 October 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

Two thousand two hundred trains leave^ London ordinarily every twenty-four hours. ~ "• ' . ■ - A great authority on fish says that every Square mile of the sea^ is' inhabited "by one hundred and twenty millions of finny creatures. Husband— That door wants painting" badly. I think I'll do it myself. * Wife— Yes, do it yourself if you think it wants to be done badly. According to statistics compiled by an American tobacco merchant, (T, 5 00, 000 acres of ground are now required to grow the world's tobacco crop. Sydney's first Government House was a canvas hut .. imported from England for £125. It was' erected in Bridge street, opposite the Lands Office, in 1788. In the Canadian House of Commons each member has an allowance of £500 for the session, with a de-~ duction of £3 a day for the days the member does not attend. It has -been pointed .out that the idea of The Hague Conference was anticipated by, the Abbe de St. Pierre, a French priest, who in 1713 proposed the formation 0f. % a European Senate for the settlement of international disputes. ' Under -.what ;circumstances,' asked the chief examiner, ♦ would you call in another physician J. or a consultation ? ' '• 'When I didn't want the patient to die on * my own hands,' promptly answered the iredical student. Breaking all records, the total passengers landed at New York during, last year by the- ocean steanrship lines from foreign ports, reached the huge number of 1,198,434, which is 208,309 more than for the previous year, arid a greater gain than ever before recorded. ' Will you please signal to me in the gallery when Mr.i begjins to speak ? ' asked a constituent of- a M.H.R. ''Certainly, sir, certainly,' replied the member. 'Well, what shall the signal be_) ' asked the constituent. ' I'll leave,' answered the. legislator, with much enthusiasm. A book" canvasser went into a barber's shop and asked the proprietor if he could sell him an encyclopaedia. ' What's that ? ' asked the barber. • It's a book that contains information on every subject in the world.' There was a victim in the -Ghair, and he put' in feebly : ' He doesn't need it.' The population of France in 1870-1 was 40,000,000 ;, ** it is 40,000,000 now. There has been no emigration worthy the name. The population of Germany is 65,000,000 ; it was 40,000,000 in 1870-1. It has sent out millions of emigrants in the intervening years. It has over "a million of its sons in the big cities of Prance. A New .York magistrate, recognising, the incon^venience it is to a woman with a large family to at,tend the regular courthouse, says : ' I will go to "the tenements "in my street costume, take with me the court seal, a clerk, and policeman. I will hold court in -the kitchen where- she can attend her household ■z, duties. Justice must'be done if the -ceiling fall.' That the administration of justice- is often affected by extrarieous circurr .stances is a truth which .-becomes evident early in life. The bright six-year-old son of a . genial medical man of the historian's acquaintance had been engaged with some of his- friends in, wrong-doing, and he was called into the house under circumstances that seemed, ominous. ' Did .you' get licked ?-1? -1 inquired one of his matter-of-fact companions the next day. c Well, yes, Jj did,' admitted the young philosopher, ' tout I should have got off all right if there had been anything for supper that father liked.' Besides "Lieutenant Shackleton's and the proposed Belgian expedition to the Antarctic, a third one is now being -prepared under the * auspices of the French Government. The estimated _ cost o.f , the latter is £30,000, of which the State is providing. £24,ooo, and the rest, is to be raised by public subscription. It appears the expedition was recommended some months ago by resolution of the Academy of Sciences, which declared that it would benefit the whole world, and would be of great scientific utility. A special ship is being constructed by the Governn ent for the purpose at . a cost of £12,000, and a commission has been appointed by the Academy of Sciences to draw up a scientific programme of work.