NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10347, 23 January 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The firsb British translation oF the Bible was in the Irish tongue. One man makes a fortune to eight that become bankrupt in England. Three times as many herrings are con. sumed as any other kind of fish. It is said that there are more than 50,000 people of Welsh birth in London. Tho land covered by now houses ia Greater London every year is 1163 acres. The figure of Britannia firsb appeared on the copper coiiw three hundred years ago. Only about ono in a thousand married couples live to celebrate their golden wedding. If a cyclist undertook to ride through all the streets of London he would have to ride 1364 miles. There is black, white, brown, and greet amber, as well as that of the ordinary yellow colour. Islington, with a population of 336,76) persons, is the most populous parish in th( United Kingdom. It is 70 years since the first railway in the world was finished, and now eomi 400,000 miles are in existence. The Ist and 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards (Blue) rank first amongst tht regiments in the British Army. A county court judge hits laid it down that mistresses cannot legally detain servants' boxes after they have left. The annual census shows that on the first week ot November there were 65,252 outdoor and 37,001 indoor paupers, a slight decrease.

Australians are the greatest tea-drinkers, and annually consume 7'661b per head. The people of Great Britain consume only 4001b oa'ch. Gold dust has been discovered in the river at Barmouth, and a vein of gold quartz was discovered in the famous Panorama Walk.

More than 10,000 persons are engaged in the manufacture of explosives in England. Last year 40 persons wore killed, and 161 injured by accidents. The most remarkable canal in the world is the one between Worsloy and St. Helens, in Lancashire. It is sixteen miles long and underground from end to end. The Benson Memorial Committee hav« already had a gratifying response to then recently-issued appeal for subscriptions, -the fund at prescnb standing at) over £1200. It is reported that Heath Charnock, Lancashire, with 1100 inhabitants, possesses neither church, chapel, nor school, theonlj public erection boing a pillar letter-box. When the Queen ascended the throne 45 per cent., or nearly half, the population of Great Britain were unable to write. Now only 7 per cont. are unable to sign their names.

There ia a "boom"in freehold groundrents in London, and at an auction sale a bid of over 50 years' purchase of a rent scoured on premises in Cheapside was actually refused. it is said that a healthy girl of seventeen, devoting herself to hospital nursing, dies on the average twenty-one years sooner than a girl of the same ago moving among the general population. From some reason unexplained, inarriagea in Ireland last year went up with a bound. In the pasb decade there had not been 22,000 marriages in any year, but last-year the total rose to 23,120. It is said by philologists thab there are thirteen original languages — the Greek, Latin, German, Slavonic. Welsh, Biscaycn, Irish, Albanian, Tartarian, Ulyrian, Jazygian, Chauein, and Finnic. A young girl, uamed Bradley, was work, ing in a glove factory in Union-street), Worcester, when her hair caught in a machine. It was torn completely from her head, and she was instantaneously killed. There are 536 authorised guides in the' Alps, 104 of them have taken a regular course of instruction in their profession and have received diplomas; 35 of them are between 60 and 70 years of age, and 6 are over 70. . .-.,., . The annual salo ot the immense assemblage of unclaimed property left in railway carriages on the Great Northern took place in London. The articles included 2000 odd gloves, thousands of umbrellas, and a forest of walking-sticks. In Wales there exists the " falling tower" of Caerphilly Castle, which is 77fb in height, and inclines no less that lift out of the"perpendicular. In proportion this is much great than the Tower of Pisu, which is 180 ft, and leans loft. Frenchmen consume more alcohol than other Europeans. The annual average consumption of alcohol per head of population is 13 quarts iu France, 10 in Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy, 9 in Germany and England, 4 in Sweden, and 3 in Norway. The Rev. Thomas Cook, Wesleyan connectional evangelist, who has recently raised £500 towards fitting out additional home mission cars for country districts, has received permission from the Home Missionary Committee to raise another £500 for the same purpose. The income of the Emperor oE Russia for one day is £5000; Sultan of Turkey, £3600; Emperor of Austria, £2000; German Emperor, £1600; King of Italy, £1300; Queen Victoria, £1300; King of Belgium, £1300; President of France, £1000; President of the United States, £25. The ceremonies at the creation of a

knight have beon various; the principal were a box on the ear and a stroke with a sword on the shoulder. The blow with the naked fist was ii: use among the ancient Normans. It was afterwards changed into a blow with the flat of the sword on the shoulder of the knight, and this ceremony

is still in use. A sensational story comes from Grimsby. Ib seems timfc a girl named Ruth Harring. ton dragged a five-year-old child named Carter into a house in Victoria-street, locked the door, made a frying-pan redhot, and then burnt the child with it. Carter is not expected to live. Harrington is said to be of weak intellect. A baker, when a youth, married a girl ab Folkestone, and, having no homo, they never lived together. Two years after they casually!met at Eastbourne. Subsequently he married again, believing ho could legally do so, as the first marriage had never been consummated. Hβ has jusb been tried at the Kent assizes for bigamy and sentenced to a fortnight's imprisonment. The greatest distauce between two succeeding stations on a British railway is 14$ miles, which is the distance between Athy and Kildare, two succeeding stations on the Great Southern and Western Railway iu Ireland. The greatest! distance between two succeeding railway stations in Greafc Britain is 14J miles, between Altnabreao and Scotscalder, on the Highland Railway. One of the most remarkable echoes in tho world is thab produced by the suspension bridge across the Monai Straits, in Wales, The sound of a blow with a hammer on one

of the main pieca is returned in succession ■from each of the cross-beams which support the roadway; in addition to which the sound'is many times repeated between the water and the roadway, at the rate of 25 times in ssec. There are earth tides as well as sea tides. Professor John Milne states that the tall buildings upon the earth's surface are being continually moved to and fro like the masts of a ehip upon the ocean. In Germany and Japan, a tide-like movement too great t« be produced by lunar attraction has been observed. There are also waves from distant earthquakes, which are appreciable to the senses for only a few hundred miles, but which may extend round the world. Mr. Edison thinks we are on the eve of a great extension of motor vehicles, and he is certain that the flying machine is coming. Every new discovery now, he says, tends to cheapen things and to bring them within the reach of common people.. Mr. Edison does not think much in the way of powei can be expected from the tides. The wind in some places is now used in generating electricity, and the internal heat of the earth is a great reservoir of power aa yet untapped. The Belgian Government 13 about to add a magnificent new steamer for the Channel service between Ostend and Dover. It is expected to be the fastest paddleboat in the world. In the trial, trip a speed of 22*5 knots was attained, which is the record. The measurements of the Princess Clementine 351 ft; breadth, 77ft; and 23ft 2in from keel to upper dock. . She is builb entirely of steel, has three complete decks, and her engines will develop. 8500 horsepower.