NEWS TIT-BITS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 41, 16 February 1918, Page 19

NEWS TIT-BITS.

Out of G459 total arrests made in Portland, Maine, during 1916 some 4583, or over three-fourths, were made for drunkenness, or drunkenn-ess coupled with disorderly conduct.

It is reported thst a Canadian company i? manufacturing metallic magnesium of a higher quality than that ■manufactured in Germany. The magnesium is being produced in the form of wire, ribbon, ingots, and powder.

Two cf the world's most famous diamonds have disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown. One ol these is named the Napoleon, and was worn by the Emperor in the hilt of his sword; the other is the famous Great Mogul.

"L'lndependance Beige," which has been printed daily in London since October, 1914, has ceased publication. It was formerly published in Brussels, and after the German occupation was transferred to Ghent, then to Ostend, and afterwards to London.

Henry Ford, the former non-militant, is now" quoted as favouring universal military training. The Government must never "abandon "the barracks and army eSmps that are now being built, he s-nid recently. Young Americans need discipline. In this service army the Government c-an teach them order and train them to work.

A flood of light is thrown iipon the mentality of the latest Imperial German chancellor, George, Count yon Hertling, fey the revelation in the "Figaro" that fl e deems Grillparzer greater than Goethe. That stamps him, to Krencii Etudtnts of his temparanient, as the kind of German who takes his cue from Vienna rather than from Berlin.

The British Government has decided that t.ie new nation.il housing scheme shall be controlled and directed by tiie local government board. The returns *nJ reports already received from the c <ty, borough, town, and city councils throughout the country show that about 100,000 new workmen' 3 dwellings are Wgently required, but it is un-derstood feat from 150,000 to 200,000 will be erected to meet the after-war conditions.

The Father of the House of Commons, Mr Thomas Burt, celebrated his eightieth birthday recently. His mental vigour is said to be unimpaired. He hears well, without glasses, and walks on fi ne mornings round Brandling Park, w here all the healthy breezes of the north are always blowing. His wife, to *norn he has been married nearly fiftyeight years, is still active about the flouge. Their three sons are all connected directly or indirectly with the war. " J

The Ken- England States are making strenuous efforts to overcome the evil ot 'abandoned farms." In response to tno *PPeal of the national food administra- ', lon it is estimated that in Vermont 81,000 bushels of wheat will be grown taw rear, against 2.j.(W0 bushels last I'ear. Thy Vernionten have also done Wl along other line.=, for the estimated yield of corn, wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes iii 1017 is 10,i;'.i8.000 bushels compared with 7,847,000 bushels in 1016.

It is not generally known that for two years there has been a Jewish branch of the V.M.C.A. in London. But, unlike its parent association, the Jewish branch has to rely for its upkeep on whatever contributions are sent in by sympathisers.

Southern California produces 87 per cent, of all the lima beans grown upon the face of the earth. The only other place where limas are extensively grown is on the island of Madagascar, and only about a quarter of a million bags a year are produced there. This year Southern California has grown 1,500,000 eighty-pound bags of lima bei'.ns, the value of which is about 13,250.000 dollars.

The director of the Radio Telegraph Pepaftment of the Commonwealth of Australia lias invented an electrical device for increasing the rainfall, and thus far his experiments have been remarkably successful. He filled a dam in the desert country with 10,800,00(1 [gallons in three months. A long time and not much water, it is true, but still remarkable in a region of very low rainfall. His device is a huge kite supplied with electricity. These kites are let up on galvanized flexible wire, and they go Ito an altitude of bet-wen 4000 and 0000 jfeet. The negative current is taken i from the earth by means of a terminal j which is well grounded.

The recent sale of Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel, containing about 100 inhabitants, calls attention to the fact that this bit of the British Empire lying of! he southwest of England Has fer more than a century and a half been ruled find governed without reference to the British Government. The various owners of the inland during this period have been "sovereign lords." To the Rev. Hudson Heaven, the recent owner of Lunoly, it was a source of supreme satisfaction that while the island hart neither rates nor taxes, it likewise had no poor, because every one of it 3 hundred inhabitants was in constant employment, ■nnd no police, because there was no need of any. The revenue department was kind" enough to ignore the existence of the island, so that there was no gun, dog, or liquor license to pay. It was and 13 extra-parochial, and is [totally unacquainted with the motorcar.

In February, 1016 (writes a correspondent of the " Spectator") our soldier son, while on leave from the front, bought ii beautiful Persian kitten as a .present to his father, who is devoted to cats. Puss was called Marquis after Itis French cousins, this being (so our son said) the favourite name given to cats in France. In July of the same year our whole household moved to a town 12 miles from our home for a month's holiday. The day we arrived Marquie took fright, and to our great regret ran away. Our distress was all the more intense when a week later our son laid down hig life on the Somme. On November 10th, nearly one year and four months later, a lady brought a Persian cat to us which she found scratching at the window of her nouse, a stone's throw away from ours It was Marquis, who at once walked off to the kitchen, where he formerly lived, seeming to recognise the household on the way. He took one sniff at his basket and curled himseh in it 'again, and generally behaved as if he had never for a moment been -xbeent.