NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9497, 28 April 1894, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

There are 100 national banks in Japan. Germany's forests cover 34,350,000 acres. Only 9 per cent, of cases of amputation are fatal. The Czar talks of leaving St. Petersburg permanently. China is arming her sea-coast chain of forts with Krupp guns. In some parts of Berlin there are special public-houses for women. Eight attempts have been made by assassins to kill the Queen. The Tower Bridge, London is to be opened in June by the Prince of Wales. Diamonds ure twenty times more numerous than they were thirty years ago. The Imperial Institute Fellowship has increased by 514 sine© January 1 last. Europe has 130,000 more armed men than. one year ago, according to the late estimates. Pious Russians do not eat pigeons, because of the sanctity conferred on the dove in the Scriptures. The London County Council has asked Parliament for power to rebuild Vauxball Bridge at a coat of £454,000. The head of a large Lancashire asylum says that one lunatic out of twelve owes bis or her insanity to love troubles. A " Christian Scientist" in America recently drank poison to prove his con« fidence in the "faith cure," and died. The finest emerald in Europe belongs to the Czar. lb weighs only thirty carats, but is of perfect colour and transparency. An advocate of electrical cooking claims that of every 100 tons of coal used in a cooking-stove ninety-six tons go to waste. To give one an idea of the size of the royal palaces, the kitchen of Buckingham Palace is a quarter of a mile from the diningroom. A priest is being .tried at Mayenne on charges of murdering a widow to obtain her property, and also with poisoning his rector. Triplets, girls, having been born in Cork workhouse, a question has arisen whethez the mother or the guardians should receive the Queen's £3. An artesian well has been sunk in London to supply some artisan dwellings. At a depth of 512 ft a yield of 3000 gals of water per hour was secured. The expenses incurred in connection with the administration of justice at the Central Criminal Court cosb the City of London Corporation about £10,000 a year. A proposal has been revived to connect the east and west coasts of Scotland by means of a Forth and Clyde Canal, sufficient to carry the largest ocean steamers. The Hebrew Board of Guardians of London last year lent about £2900, without interest, to deserving small tradesmen in the East End who were pressed for money. There is a superstition that a ship no longer seaworthy, just before breaking up between the strains of wind and wave, has been known to give forth wailing sounds like moaning. Japanese jugglers are deft smokers. Several of them will sit before a curtain, and from the tobacco smoke which issues from their mouths will form a succession of readable letters.

It is stated on the authority of one of the best London jewellers thab most of the jewels in the crowns of the Continental sovereigns are, in reality, nothing more than coloured glass. A parcels van driven by electricity baa made its appearance in London streets, It is stated that this van can be run and maintained at about half the cost of one oi the same size drawn by horses. , " Queen Jumbo," the largest elephant in captivity, has been suffering from influenza in America. One day the animal consumed 10 gallons of whisky, while half a barrel of mustard was applied to her externally. A lady 101 years of age, who is living to'day, says she can remember the time when that now congested quarter of London at Moorfields was without any houses, and a favourite resort of nursegirls and children. An advertisement appears in a Vienna paper purporting to come from a little boy who is advertising for a " new mamma," hia mother having died. She must, however, have money, or his pa might not be content with her. So many Anarchists are now in custody in Paris that there is no more room in the prisons for suspects. The Anarchists, it is said, received money from wealthy people, who imagined that their donations would ensure them protection. It is proposed by the British Government to commence at once a graving dock at Gibraltar.. This work has long been considered necessary for our Mediterranean Fleet and the Channel Squadron, which frequently go to Gibraltar. The latest sensation in Berlin is a love tragedy. When two young persons were informed that their parents had declined tc sanction the much-desired union, the girl repaired to the house of her sweetheart and shot herself dead on the doorstep. The Admiralty have ordered the muzzle« loading and obsolete breechloading guns, stored in various parts of the world for the arming of merchant cruisers in time of emergency, to replaced by breechloading and quick-firing guns of the latest pattern. The Administrator of the Seychelles has been compelled to adopt legislative steps to put a stop to the larceny of " heart leaves" of the coco-de-mer in that dependency. The straw plaited from these " heart 'leaves" fetches a high price in the European markets. A firm of electricians in England are trying to apply electricity to agriculture, especially for the propulsion of large ploughs. Should the experiments succeed, they intend to introduce such electric ploughs in districts where the use of steam is difficult. A shorthand writer in Berlin attends the funerals of prominent persons and takes down verbatim the addresses of the officiat ing clergymen. He prepares highly orna mental copies of these and sella them to the friends of the eulogised dead. He is doing a roaring trade. A De Jong case is reported from Vienna. A young man induced several young women to leave their homes for the purpose of getting married to him. In each case the young women disappeared mysteriously, and no trace of them can' be discovered. He is in custody. A remarkable surgical operation has been performed at Cardiff. An old lady 64 years of age was unable to swallow through au affection of the throat. A surgeon having made an incision in the pit of her stomach, he inserted a tube, through' which she has now been successfully fed for over a month. In the British Museum there is a very old Chinese bank-note. It was issued in the reign of Hung-Woo, the founder of the Ming dynasty, who died in 1398. The face I value of the note is about a dollar, bub it ia i one of the only issue of paper currency , ever guaranteed by the Chinese Government. The Congo will occupy an important place in the forthcoming Antwerp Exhibition. There will be a Cairo street,larger and more realistic than the one at Paris in 1889, and local colour will be represented by a wonderful reconstruction of old Antwerp, the famous city oi: which. Charles V. was proud to hold the title of burgher. The cotton crops of Corea are principally gathered by women, who also are largely employed afterwards in separating the seed. The instrument used by the natives in this process is the primitive roller-gin, but the Japanese in the settlement have introduced machines of the modern saw-gin type, and obtain 351b of clean from 1401b of seed cotton a day. A law case of a truly sensational character is causing much gossip aft Madrid. The : Spanish Public Prosecutor has applied to ; the Court of Cassation for a warrant of arrest againsb Senor Zapata, senior of the Madrid judges, who is charged wibh complicity in a will forgery. A barrister, a solicitor, and the testator's servant, in whose favour the will was executed, are already in custody. -,■" . r . ''■■:■{>■?'■-''■■■_ As the, boys of ■ Charterhouse School, Godalming, were about to be photographed, on March 14, the stand on which they, had i been placed, gave way, and the 600 lads were thrown to the ground. Notwithstand- t ing the alarming nature of the accident and ; ; the facb thab a number of boys were injured, and having arras or wrists broken, ' there was no semblance of panic, all behaviog with the utmost coolness/, "■