Show BITS OF INFORMATION Nearly three and a quarter million tons of potatoes were raised In Ireland last year The aggregate regate value of the mineral production production production pro pro- for British Columbia for the last eleven years was Sixty-five Sixty hundred Inventors were were too poor to make the final payments on their papers apers during the last year and for this reason eason forfeited them A balanced grand piano has been In Invented invented invented in- in vented in England One side Is a duplicate cate ate of the other and the lid is hinged Inthe in inthe the he center so as to distribute the sound waves evenly For the first six months of last year Bibles were printed and circulated In n China while during the whole of the previous year the tho number was only 00 Nearly every ery Bible was paid for In Turkey there Is also a great Increase The shah of Persia possesses one of the finest nest bedchambers In existence Its suite of furniture is manufactured from Ivory vory and Inlaid with gold and precious stones tones The curtains and curtain hangers hang- hang ers era rs aro are of or the finest Brussels net Interwoven interwoven Inter inter- woven with silk Cocoa Imports have grown rapidly durIn during dur- dur ing In- Inthe ng the decade decade- those of 1909 having been been- the le largest on record In 1909 pounds valued at were Importe imported imported im Im- im- im ported porte the slightly lower value In 1909 1109 compared with 1907 being due to a fallIn fall tall falln In n from 17 Hl cents a pound In 1907 to o 11 cents In 1909 Singapore Straits Settlements British Is s the docking and shipping base of that part art of the world wend New docks costing I O are being built U as a a rendezvous Ol hea r ed th dil ous for the fleet e It lt I is believed that the Australian Indian and China British I squadrons may in the future constitute I Ia a great eastern fleet with headquarters at t Singapore In the tho French state collection of furniture furni- furni c ture ire there 1 Is a a- Masonic bedstead surmounted surmounted sur- sur c mounted by a large canopy It is of ot extraordinary ex- ex C d bight I and Is ornamented n d with tl II t some ome of the most delicate a carving r It is possible for the tIle hand of man to turn out The he French government has had several tempting offers for this beautiful couch and nd It refused some time ago guineas for It An extraordinary capture of gray mul- mul 1 let t was made at Plymouth yesterday esterday The Tho fish sh were found In the Great Western Railway Hallway company's graving dock at Mill Mill- ba bay ay The dock gates were closed and when hen the water was pumped out the fish fishero were ero captured and sent pent to market They weighed about four foul and one half tons and nd most of or them thorn were consigned to France ranee London Times Foreign banking institutions are gain gain- ins Ing ng so rapidly In Chile that a bill Is proposed proposed pro- pro posed in the Chilean congress to subject them hem to taxation On October 30 1 1909 09 they ley held deposits of gold again a a- again again gain of in four years ears In the same period the tho Chilean banks gained from to The tax proposed Is three tenths of 1 i per pel cent on the entire capital used in Chile whether the stock is held In Chile or not A novel entertainment took place re recently recently re- re In Berlin under the auspices of the und fe A prize In the shape of a massive silver shield appropriately appropriate In Inscribed Inscribed inscribed In- In scribed was contested for by fifty hair hair- dressers Each l ch contestant endeavored to produce In the shortest time a fashionable fashionable fashion of ot able or an historical arrangement U hair of ot hl his model and the thet theman man who secured the most points at the hands o of the expert Jury was to be proclaimed the victor At a a. sign from the presiding officer officer orrl- orrl and to the music of The Barber of Seville tho the contest began before a a. large audience and In fifty minutes a a. m master ster from Bremen was declared the winner with a perfect artistic creation of ot tl- tl the period In all there are twenty-five twenty physicians and surgeons attached to the royal house houses hold Of these these however four are appointed ap i pointed In Ireland and an equal number In Scotland and would In the event of their services being required only be called upon to attend the king when the court happened to be In Ireland or Scotland There are five physicians altogether sp ape ape- dally daily appointed to attend King Edward but Sir Francis Laking one of the physicians clans In ordinary is his majesty's most frequent medical adviser The king sees one of ot the household physicians every day but the Interview Is a a. mere matter of form and lasts but a few minutes The Thel fact however that the interview has taken talc tak- en place Is noted In the medical diary In liil charge of the physicians in ordinary In which Is kept a daily dally record of his majesty's majesty's tys ty's health M 1 M. M A. A P. P The Germans are eminently a churchgoing church church- going or at any rate a church belonging people According to the last federal can cen J cen-J BUS ails taken four years ago the total population population pop pop- pop pop-I was This church census census cen- cen J cen-J sus gives the church membership Evangelicals Evangelicals Evan Evan- Evan 3 and Catholics combined as 59 1 The The Evangelicals far outnumber the Catholics the figures being Evange Evange- Heals licals Catholics The Free Thinkers number only In connection with the proposed memorial memorial memo memo- memo rial in Westminster Abbey to the late prime minister of the United Kingdom Sir bir Henry Campbell Campbell-Bannerman the Westminster Gazette mentions mention's the abbay's abbeys abbey's ab- ab beys bey's full legal title the Church of St St. Peter Westminster Ve Very Ver few people have ha heard the famous burial burla place so designated A collegiate church as distinguished d from a parish church Isone isone Is ls one that Is administered by a college of priests Instead of an Individual rector How a cormorant dives for sea trou trout and gets them Is told by a writer I II I had rd th the e cormorant o under r observation s only for t the s space of four or five minutes oan and andl 1 during that short period It had captured four sea trout all of considerable size After being under water for a n. few seconds the bird would reappear with a sea trout I wriggling In Its bill but In spite of the thel victims victim's desperate efforts to escape It was deftly swallowed and after a few gulpS gulpS' e the cormorant would resume its fishing operations |