NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7270, 7 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The first air-pump wm made In 1654 Football is to be suppressed in AraertiftS as brutal. . --

There is one daily paper to every 10,000 of population in the United States. It is estimated that there is sufficient cod in England to last nearly 1000 years. In 1883 60,000,000 gallons of water were used in extinguishing fires in London. The increasing number of Jewish under* graduates is much remarked at Oxford.

Germany is establishing coaling station* in New Britain and the Marshall Island.

London bas four fire brigade each brigade having 600 men and officers.

There are over 50,000 Jews in Jerusalem alone, and the number of arrivals is increasing. Daring; the dry season 50,000 men were employed on forty-seven miles of the Panama Canal.

A tract of 100,000 acres in Utah has been secured for the establishment of an Irish colony. It is stated that at the next general elec« tion Mr. Parnell will stand for the city of Dublin.

The Government of Japan intend to call • conference of foreign Ministers to revise all treaties.

There are now in London nine exclusively vegetarian restaurants, all of which are nourishing. Public-houses in the United Kingdom have diminished 6861 in number during the last eight years. The Daily News says Bismarck is insulting England in order that Gladstone may be forced to resign. Butterine manufactured in Manchester is shipped to Cork and thence exported a> genuine Cork butter.

It is estimated that there are in New York city alone over 20,000 Italian men, women, and children who are without work. The Japaneso Poet-office, which in 1881 was ten years old, carried 95,000,000 letters and transmitted 3,000,000 telegrams.

Twelve million five hundred thousand postal orders were issued in England last year, representing a sum of £5,000,000. There are over 407,900 persons employed by railway companies in America, not including the officers, clerks, or book-keepers. An Omaha paper can count 145 deliberate murders which have occurred in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado since the Ist of last August. A Swiss statistician says that in thejyear 2000 the population of Europe will be 565,801,141, as against 106,000,000 at present.

The State of Georgia has 250,000 Baptists, about equally divided in number as to colour. The Georgia Association has just celebrated its centennial. The Smack-ownera , Conference in London recently decided in favour of a white mast* head light, with a red flare, to warn ap« proaching vessels. The Labour Bureau at Castle Garden, New York, last year found employment for 23,677 immigrants—ls,292 men and boys, and 8385 women and girlti. Over one hundred million copiea of the Scriptures have been issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society during the eighty years of existence.

In the Pullman palace cars in America there are nearly 30,000 sheets, 20,000 pillow slips, 10,000 hand towels, and 3000 roller towels to be wauhed every day. Mrs. Jane Patterson, of Millbersburg, O; who was bitten by a rattlesnake over thirty yean ago, has on every return of the anniversary felt the effects of the bite. A physician writes in the Boston Globe that the fumes of tar and spirits of turpentine, in equal parts, burned in an iron pot or dish once in two hours, will cure diptberia. It is calculated that there are over 200,000 lepers in British India, the minority being in almshouses and asylums. The others roam over the country and subsist on charity.

The Italian papers comment on the depletion of the working population of that country. They state that one Prefect issued last year 6000 passports for emigrants to America.

It is stated that the Claimant has been warned by the Home Office to be more guarded in his language at meetings which he addresses, and that unless he attends to this warning his ticket will be recalled. A steamer having succeeded in running the French blockade otf the coast of Madagascar, the Hovas have received the substantial support of a cargo of war material comprising ten thousand Snider rifles, a million cartridges, and several field-pieces. The city of Paris has spent £26,000,000 during tbe last twenty years in new works. On new streets and roads, £7,640,000; on architectural works, £4,400,000; on waterworks and sewers, £1,920,090; and on parka and gardens, £320,000, were expected. The age of an elm has been estimated at 335 years, that of some palms at from 600 to 700 years, that of an olive tree at 700 years, of a plane tree at 720, of a cedar at 800, of an oak at 1500, of a yew at 28S0, of a, taxodium at 4000, and of a baobab tree at 5000 years. The last census reveals the fact that of the 349 kinds of work done in England women participate in seventy. In three professions —medicine, education, and the dramathere are more women than men ; in the case of medicine nurses are included in that profession. Some startling facts as to the loss of wealth by the nation in consequence of sickness have lately been compiled. It is estimated that in England and Wales alone, there is thus lost annually 20,000,000 weeks' work, or say as much as 20,000,000 healthy people would do in a week.

There are said to be 39,000 people employed at making baskets in Germany, and the demand for material has greatly stimulated willow culture, although 20,000,000 pounds of withes are imported annually yet. The willow grows on low land, where nothing else could be raised. The standard of height and cheat measure* ment for boys entering the Royal Naval training ships has been reduced, and are now -.—Boys 15 to 15$ years of age, sft. in height and 30in. chest; 15 to 16 years, sft. lin. in height and 30Jin. chest. For boys over 16 the standard remains without alteration.

The importance of the Public Laboratory in Paris is now so well appreciated that it requires a staff of forty persons to test the samples of food, liquors, etc, for adulterations or imparities, while similar institutions have been established in other French cities, under the central administration of Paris.

The shipment of Canadian produce to England is rapidly increasing every season, The last mail states that in one day alone as many as 17,000 bushels of apples, 15,000 boxes of cheese, and 5000 tubs of butter were shipped from Montreal to England. This would not, however, appear to be an exceptional shipment. The rapid increase of new steel vessels built at the different yards in Great Britain still continues; in 1881 there wore four sailing and thirty-seven steam vessels built; with a total tonnagfi of 49,402 nett, while in 1883 there were twenty-three sailing and one hundred and thirty-seven steam vessels built, with an aggregate nett tonnage of 130,483.

In the lead productions of different coun. tries Spain holds the first place, the amount reaching some 120,000 tons in one year, or one-iixth more than America, which cornea next on the Hat, while Germany follows with 90,000. Of Spain's total production, some 67,000 tons are derived from one district, that of Linares, in which more than 800 mines are registered. The total length of all the submarine cables at present laid is 60,000 geographical miles, about 111,000 kilometres, equal to 68,352 miles, or nearly three times the circumference of the globe. Each cable consists of an average of forty wires, so that the total length of iron and copper wire used amounts to 25 millions of miles, or ten times the distance between the earth and moon.

Terrible destruction of life and property it reported to have been caused by a recent typhoon in Japan, especially on the west coast. At a placet called Kurashiki 500 houses were destroyed, and 1800 persons are said to have been killed. At Tamaehina the sea walls were carried away, 100 livee lost, and 430 houses blown away ; while at Imabari, Matsuyama. and Ivo, 151 houses were wrecked, 118 junke Bunk, and 170 persons 'drowned.

The number of American telegraph offices in 1882 was 12,917. and the number of telegrams forwarded during the year was 40,581,177. The number of telegraph offices in Great Britain and Ireland in 1882 we* 5747, the number of telegrams forwarded being 32,965.029. Germany had 10,803 offices, and 18,362,173 telegrams were for. warded. France had 6319 offices, the number of telegrams forwarded being 26,260,124. Ruseia had 2819 offices, the number of telegrama fo.jruiu* WUJJJ 9,800,201,