The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-31
CURIOUS THINGS THAT
 ARE NOT WIDELY KNOWN

died could first appoint his children wards in ehaneery and the lord chancel- Tor. acting for the king, would have to take care of them. The law survives in the fact that many English children are thus placed under the royal guardianship. none of them however. being made wards in chancery unless there are reasonable sums of money available for their sup port. Over these children the lord chan | cellor of England actually acts as guard ian until they become of age and enter into full possession of their inheritanees. Grape growers in France have lately found new way to preserve their grapes and present them in mdwinter as fresh. | apparently as if just brought in from a neighboring vineyard. The grape grower goes out in autumn when the grapes are at their best. selects some of the finest punches and cuts off some five six i Inches of the vine with the bunch at- tached to it. In his cellar he arranges large number of wide necked bottles, i filled with water. in each of which he inserts a single bit of vine leaving the bunch of grapes hanging outside. The grapes are thus supplied constantly with moisture through the stem, fresh water being added daily, and in the even tenn | perature of the cellar the fruit hangs as if growing in it's native vineyard until such time as it goes to market at value of two dollars or more for every pound 1 of grapes.
 If you really want to live a long life keep as much as possible in the sunshine Such at least seems to be the moral of certain old age statistics recently brought together by a German statistican, for by these figures ripe old age is much more | frequetly attained in the warmer re- gions of civilised Europe than 1t Is in the colder climates. France, for exam pie, includes 213 persons who are known to have reached the 100 year period; Eng | land has 146, and the harsher climates of Scotland, Sweden and Norway have re- spectively only 16, 10 and 2S centenarians. Belgium has five of them against two in Denmark and none at all in Ewitzer- l land. Spain, on the sunny side of the column has at least 401 inhabitants who
 
 summers and winters; and little Servia with total population of less than 3,0OO,- GOO souls, includes among them 575 oldest inhabitants whose total ages would amount to more than a like number of centuries. If the proverb is right in say ing that the good die young, however. what comparatively awful lot of wick edness there must be in Servia!
 Perhaps the most generally contented working man in the world is the import ed Kanaka laborer of Queenland Austra- lia. Originally, and not so very long ago either, this Kanaka labor was practically no better than slavery. The plantations needed workmen and the business of kid napng the Kanakas from their native Pacific island and forcing them into Aus tralan labor, became both prevalent and profitable; in 1890 1t was put a stop to by the colonial parliament But without the Kanaka laborer it was found that the prosperity of the country was in danger of serious diminution and he was again admitted, this time as a paid servant un- der government protection.
 Everything touching these laborers is regulated by the government, their wages, working hours, diet and even clothing. Wages are paid semi-yearly in the pres ence of a police magistrate and if a la borer is taken i'll full wages must be paid during his illness and his doctors bills must be paid also by his colonial master He is legally provided not only with bread, meat and vegetables but also with an allowance of soap and tobacco. Any innkeeper caught selling him liquor loses his license and the Kanaka laborer saves a good share of his money for the simple reason that he has no way of spending it. His working hours are eight in winter and nine in summer, with Sat urday afternoons as a half holiday. More than that he Is said to be model of in- dustry and contentment.